Things change so quickly.
I learned that the hard way. So, I’m taking life’s lessons and trying to apply them to my life. My children are now 20, 18, 15 and 11. Things are going to change really REALLY
soon. Recently I have felt an urgency to
best utilize the time I have with my children, and the time they have with me. Soon there will be jobs, school, marriages
and possibly even missions. So before
they leave my nest I want to teach them how to maneuver their way around the
world. There are so many things you
learn when you travel. Many of you know that Jon was raised around the world as a "navy brat". He spent his childhood in the Philippines, Spain, Japan as well as the east coast USA. I loved that he was able to embrace cultural differences. I always felt safe traveling with him because he had acquired the skills of someone who was comfortable with differences and confident in his ability to navigate through the world. I want our children to have the same skills and confidence (and Im sure he does too). Traveling also gives you perspective that you cannot see when you are close to it. In our short trip so far, the kids have already learned a lot about their home. I have heard them say repeatedly, "we really are from a small town". I also think it is important to be challenged, to eat and try new things, to have new adventures, to learn geography and history and hopefully a few words at least in each new language. Also, you receive increased confidence in your ability to problem
solve outside of your comfort zone. Most importantly, we will gather hundreds of cool stories and memories of times spent together
discovering new things about new places, new people, and hopefully about
ourselves. The memories we create will
come up in conversations for the rest of our lives. Remember that time when we were in Paris and
…… Remember that time we were working in
an orphanage and …. . I understand that
society says we should save our money for retirement. To be completely honest, I do not have a
retirement fund. When I’m retirement
age, my kids will be off making memories with their own children, and I wont
have the opportunity to be with them like this.
I don’t mind having to work a little later in life, so that I can do
this now. For those of you who do not
know our itinerary it goes like this:
June 10-22 France
and Spain
June 23 Italy
July 1 Greece
July 10 Ghana
Africa
July 20 Dubai
July 23 Thailand
August 5 Cambodia
August 11 Bali
August 18 New
Zealand
*with brief layovers in Egypt and Australia
And so here we go, around the world in 80 days ……
awesome awesome and so awesome!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Nikki this is Pierre Mouchas , your long lost friend from Tahiti , I know it has been a long time since I have talk to you but anyway I have been following your trip around the world. I really enjoyed all the pictures , especially the ones in France, my mom leaves there in Pontoy its about 5 hours from Paris, anyway I also enjoyed reading about your trip especially the on a the LA airport , I had a similar experience but a the Hawaii airport with my passport, anyway things somehow with all my travelings , somehow always end up to turn out good, if you know what I mean, one day I would love to see you again and see your children . I am still in Boise Idaho with my 3 children for now and planning on going back to Tahiti soon , I got engage to my long time friend from back home that I have not seen for 25 years, I went down to see her in February the 14, yes my friend on Valentine's day, and on a night out to a show at the Intercontinental Hotel , I got on my knee and proposed to her , she was speechless, anyway that is about me at this moment, I will talk to you later , have fun and please send my Aloha's to the kids, Maruru Roa . Pierre Mouchas.
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