I don’t really remember how it started. Who had the crazy idea first, and who decided one day that it was a good idea? .. Like many of our plans, Gary and I are on the same wavelength and it immediately became a family project, a huge project involving the whole family: A world tour for 1 year? Pourquoi pas!
I had the chance to travel a lot with my parents during my youth, and Gary is a true citizen of the world, having lived in South Africa, UK and Australia before settling in Canada. We wish to pass this taste of discovery on to our children, to give them the desire for adventure, exploration, and to show them that nothing is impossible or out of reach. Thus, our Light Year has quietly taken shape.
To be honest, we had some inspiration from our friends Simon and Marie-Noëlle. Having already sailed the Caribbean with their three children for a year, they are now at it again! This time a Pacific crossing planned to last around two years. They have become a bit of a role-model for us, demonstrating that dreams can be made into reality. Although it has to be said – they are much cooler (or crazyier) than us, as our own journey will be a more conventional affair travelling by plane, bus and train.
This is our plan: A year spent travelling (actually 10 months), four people, five continents, with about two months on each continent. We are well aware that even with all this time it will be impossible to see all there is to see, so we needed to make some tough decisions prior to departure that would allow us to maximize the trip without exhausting ourselves or getting the dreaded travel fatigue. So, we decided the best plan would be to settle in one place for a longer period of time and really get to know our local surroundings, but without necessarily visiting every single tourist attraction on the map. This does not mean we will be staying indoors though! We have a ton of things we want to see, places to visit, wonders to behold, some unexpected surprises too, we hope. Selecting the countries to visit has not been easy, the first list was spread over several pages until the constraints of time, budget and climate helped us trim it down… How did we do it? We first asked our pint-sized crew what they wanted to see most:
Gregory, who was then 7 years old, wanted to visit the set of the film The Lord of the Rings, and see pandas in their natural environment.
Nina, 6 years old at the time, wanted to see safari animals again (after her first visit to South Africa) and also to go to the land of the croque-monsieur (why not?)
Then, by adding the parents’ wish-lists, we came up with the following route:
France, United Kingdom, South Africa, Namibia, India, China, New Zealand, Easter Island, Argentina , Mexico. There will also be a few extra stops between destinations (such as: Barcelona, Dubai, Hong Kong, Sydney, Bora Bora …) since they are on the route! The countries underlined above are where we expect to spend the most time, by renting a house or apartment for a period of 4 to 6 weeks. We will take the opportunity to really settle down and experience the atmosphere of the place, we well as do school, take some local classes, and also to relax!
As of Fall 2014, the start of the trip is expected in just under 2 years time. We are already excited just planning it! The departure date is still too far away for the anxiety of the final preparations to overcome us, but close enough for us to really imagine it. It’s a date for the end of October 2016!!!
WHY “A LIGHT YEAR”?
A light year: a unit of distance (we will be covering a great distance!), but with a notion of time too (one year away from our usual routine, far from the creature comforts of home). And the concept of light (sunshine, and a break from the often brutal Quebec winter will be welcome too) can also be interpreted as lightness, that is to say without our usual high cost and high consumption lifestyle requirements, and also as a feeling of freedom that is easily lost in our current North American environment …
A Light Year Family 