Our Most Valuable Worldschooling Trips

Family travel is a wonderful thing. It has made our family tighter and been an education for all of us. We set out purposefully to provide the kids with maximum education through travel and it was something we thought about each time we chose a destination. Today, after 20 years of educating my kids outside school, what were the most valuable educational trips for me and them? I asked the kids. This is what my now adult kids thought were their most valuable experiences around the world.

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When I asked, D mentioned Egypt, Vietnam, a few places in Thailand and Pashupathinath in Nepal. Boo came up with Egypt, Greece, Vietnam, Kathmandu/Nepal/Everest, parts of Thailand and anywhere with good food. I asked them to elaborate, find out why they chose these destinations, and a few others, below.

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Best Worldschooling Trips

Egypt

Egypt was the first country both of the kids mentioned. I understand why. Both of them already had a deep interest in Ancient Egyptian history and mythology from reading Rick Riordan’s novels. They wanted to go to Egypt above anywhere else.

Egypt was also my dream destination as a kid, I eventually went when I was 32. And on that trip I met my husband, their Dad. Maybe there was a force guiding me there. Maybe the kids have some pull to Egypt too.

There’s something very magical about Egypt and we’ll be returning to see the new Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza when it opens. We have amazing memories of staying in the village below the pyramids, meeting the locals and just having a really great time.

There’s a lot of new information about Egyptian history today, what we were taught is likely untrue, but still, we’ve been there. We know what it feels like to be there, we know the Egyptian people and their hardships. I think that is more valuable than knowing who Cheops, Khafre and Menkaure were.

If you want to talk about world schooling in terms of passing exams, Ancient Egypt was one of the topics D studied in his History A level course. It wasn’t on the curriculum. He and his teacher just took a deep dive because they had time and they loved the topic.

Isn’t it a shame that kids can’t study the topics they’d like to in school? Wouldn’t the whole educational system be better if they, and the teachers, could follow their interests? Boo started taking History GCSE, expecting it to be interesting. He found the French Revolution so boring that he dropped that subject. His interest was destroyed by the syllabus. But still, he knows a lot of history, more than most.

Vietnam

I think they both picked Vietnam because we spent so much time there and really got to know the place. We spent almost 6 months total just in Hoi An and D and I have been back since and visited Saigon, Hue and the DMZ.

The kids still haven’t been to Hanoi, Chef and I did on our first RTW. I was due to return to Hanoi this month for the Hanoi Marathon, sadly, I keep injuring myself. Maybe next year.

The Vietnam War was on the history curriculum. Undoubtedly, having been on the groud and visiting the tunnels, Khe San, the Ho Chi Minh Trail and the war museums was beneficial to his understanding. Likewise Laos, the remnants of the conflict are still very visible there.

Boo said Vietnam was “more real” in terms of culture and way of life than a lot of other more Westernised Southeast Asian countries. Even in a tourist hub like Hoi An, the traditional ways of life are still evident.

This child loves to eat and to cook, that played a huge part in his enjoyment of Vietnam.

Tibet

Tibet was a short tour because that’s the only way you can visit Tibet. For me, it was mind-blowing to be inside the Potala Palace. D says it was a great trip and really interesting, but it’s for older worldschoolers. I’d read a lot about local history and tradition, the kids hadn’t. I don’t think this trip had as much impact on them as it did on me. But still, they’ve been, they know a lot.

To appreciate Tibet you have to know the history and understand who The Dalai Lama is. The politics is too complex for small children.

We were being watched and listened to constantly. Our Tibetan guide was very careful in what he could say. I can’t repeat a lot of what we learned, but the kids learned it too and had their eyes opened.

I still dream of being in the presence of The Dalai Lama. Chef and I have been to his house in Dharamsala, but he wasn’t home. I was blessed by a visiting Lama at The Tiger’s Nest in Bhutan. The energy I felt from him was other-worldly.

Nepal

D immediately said Pashupathinath, one of the major temples in Kathmandu. Boo said Nepal and Everest. I think walking to Everest Base Camp was pretty much the pinnacle of our worldschooling adventures, it was great for self-esteem and it was a fully engaged 3 weeks with no distractions from anything online. It was just us 4, our chatter, laughs and struggles, and the landscape. They’ve done it, they’ve been there. That’s something they’ll have forever.

Recently Kathmandu flooded. We’ve looked at the photos and videos and felt the sorrow. We’ve checked in with our Nepali friends. Nepal’s tourism industry will be on its knees again. They’ve struggled with the Maoist uprising, the earthquake, COVID, and now these floods. Lack of tourists destroys incomes in Nepal. The guides, porters, hoteliers, cooks and shopkeepers will struggle and it’s bad.

After the earthquake, we saw the suffering. People living under blue plastic sheeting and no clean drinking water had more impact on us than the destroyed historic buildings. We know these people and we understand how tough it can be. That’s the most valuable learning we took from Nepal.

D mentioned Pashupatinath. It’s where the burning gats are on the Bagmati River. We saw cremations, lepers, cripples and holy men. We learned a lot about Sadhus, we even spotted a human skull cap in a shop, as used by Aghori Sadhus. It was a few paces from a monastery which was destroyed in the earthquake, killing dozens of monks.

Is this useful in passing exams? Nope. But it’s much more interesting. I think empathy and understanding are great things to have. We also met Prince Harry in Nepal, that was kinda cool.

Romania

Like Vietnam, Romania was a place we spent a lot of time in. Years! Again, we really got to know the place, as much as a foreigner can. You can never fully understand, you’re an observer, not a participant, but we walked the walk.

Will knowing what it’s like to live in rural Romania help kids pass exams? Of course it won’t. But we picked up a lot of life skills. We own a farm today, practical skills picked up from the villagers in Romania have made us all more capable and resourceful.

If you want to learn more about where and how we lived in Romania, go to this post about Breb, our beautiful village.

We learned to do without. We did without a fridge, washing machine, running water, heating and an inside WC. A lot of people couldn’t even imagine living that way. We’ve done it and it was fun. I guess we learned to be more resilient and adaptable.

On our farm right now we have a bathroom for the first time in 8 months. We had a hosepipe and a bucket. It was fine. Now the tiling is finished it’s such a luxury! You really appreciate and enjoy a luxury like that when you’ve been without.

You also realise that doing without isn’t such a big deal.

Other “Educational” Worldschooling Places

Museums are great for the sort of learning that appears on exam papers. As are zoos, historic sites, climates, ecosystems, coral reefs and rainforests. Everywhere has history and we always did our best to find out about it.

We have every bit of knowledge at our fingertips today, and that’s an incredible thing. I’m Gen X. In my younger years we just didn’t know things! Anything you want to know today you can look up in a few seconds. I just looked up Aghori Sadhus, just to make sure I had that right, for instance.

I used to read endless travel literature and factual books about places, religions and cultures. Sure, you can learn all this from books, but nothing beats actually going to the place yourself. You can’t force a kid to be interested enough to read a book on a topic. But you can just place them in the middle of an experience.

Reading and basic maths came naturally, quadratic equations had to be learned. Geography was a constant and honestly, I think Boo was better with Geography than his teacher.

She famously told him that the Boxing Day tsunami only affected Thailand. This to a kid who knows a family that survived the waves in Sri Lanka well, and has seen some of the damage there first hand!

I should also mention that the English class on blogging as a genre was laughable. I felt sorry for the teacher having to present her content material. Why are people teaching kids factually inaccurate stuff? It was ridiculous. This was an online school, so Mum could usually hear what was being taught.

The Education Continues Beyond The School Years

Both of the kids are past school age now, I’m well past school age, but we’re still learning! This year we learned more about Singapore, Thailand and the UK. Next year we have a trip to Java for a huge Buddhist festival booked in. We’ve been to Japan, Jordan and Bali last year. I’m still aiming to visit every country, but we keep getting pulled back to the old favourites. Everywhere you go, there is something to learn and every part of life has new things to teach.

Life is a limited-time opportunity. Through our worldschooling, nomadic years we aimed to make the most of it.

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