Taking the Kids: Taking a travel 'sabbatical'
For five years, David and Shari Jacobson saved as much as they could, but they weren't saving for a dream house or college for their two sons. They were putting money aside for a dream family trip many thought would never happen.
The Jacobsons, from San Diego, saved to take their sons Sean, then 10, and Ryan, 7, on a seven-month, around-the-world odyssey with one suitcase and backpack each, said Shari Jacobson, whom I met on a trip to Antarctica, which marked the family's seventh continent together.
"The hardest was trying to figure out what to put in the backpacks," recalled Sean, now 15. He added, that in retrospect, he wished they had taken even fewer electronics because "We'd be watching a movie or playing something and not looking at stuff," he explained.
Five years after that sojourn, which began in Australia and ended in Africa -- the Jacobsons figured it would be easier for the kids to visit Europe on their own later -- the family continues to reap the benefits from that extended time-out, unplugged from work and totally present. "It solidified us as a family," said David Jacobson.
Both Sean and Ryan now have a better understanding of and appreciation for different cultures. And, after seeing abject poverty in Africa, they realized that back in the United States, back to their own lives, they didn't need so much "stuff."
"It's one thing to read about it," said Shari Jacobson, a former teacher. "It's another to see it firsthand."
Today, it seems, with people able to work and go to school remotely or take a time-out, such trips appear more popular; this at a time when, according to MMGY GLOBAL research, presented at the TMS Family Travel summit I co-chair, millennial families are traveling more widely abroad and seeking new adventures to share.
"There's no doubt you're hearing more about it," said Rainer Jens, a former National Geographic executive, who was spurred to start the Family Travel Association after his year-long trip around the world with his wife and kids when the kids were just 8 and 11. "It was a time of self-discovery and learning that they could never have had in the classroom," he said.
And it was career-changing for him. "I came back from the trip determined to inspire more families to travel and help them discover what's possible, "Jens said. "Too many parents are just simply not aware of all the cool things you can do with your kids."
Just be prepared for a bumpy re-entry -- for the adults anyway, said the Jacobsons. "You are living a minimalist life when you travel," David Jacobson explained. "That changes your priorities when you get back."
...continued
(c) 2017 DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
