Life-changing experiences, unforgettable recollections and exquisite footage — these are issues that come to thoughts when individuals consider a year-long household journey. 

However there are additionally blunders behind the adventures, mentioned Margaret Bensfield Sullivan, recalling the yr she spent overseas along with her husband and two youngsters.

From encountering piranhas in Brazil to getting trapped in an airport in Mozambique, the Sullivans endured many surprising challenges throughout their journey to 29 international locations.

“I feel individuals have been very shocked that we have been doing this as a result of we didn’t match the profile of a household that you simply image once you consider a household that may do that,” Sullivan mentioned. “Our lives have been good. We have been settled, coming alongside — two nice youngsters, good careers, condo, a canine.”

However that modified after Sullivan, who beforehand labored as a companion at a model advertising company in New York, got here again from a piece journey in Tanzania in 2017, which she described as an “eye-opening occasion.” 

The journey made her notice the world was huge, and her life operated in a such a small fraction of it.

“So I needed to ask myself: ‘What else am I lacking as a result of I am busy at work or consumed with the day by day duties of my life?'” she mentioned. “And I spotted our household type of wanted a shake-up. We would have liked to get on the market and see what was occurring.”

Plus, Sullivan mentioned she needed to spend time along with her household whereas she nonetheless had the prospect. 

“I fear that I’ll get up at some point, and ask myself: ‘The place did the time go?'” she mentioned. “Taking a yr off like this was a option to future-proof towards remorse.”

Earlier than they left, Sullivan and her husband Teddy, an entrepreneur, spent months making ready for his or her yr overseas. She mentioned that they had each reached pure stopping factors of their careers, so that they determined it was time to take a yr off.

“The perfect half: canceling all payments. Not a single invoice and we hit the highway … our house was now our suitcase,” she mentioned. 

Budgeting for a yr away was an enormous consideration, she mentioned.

“What saved us sane was — it was finite,” she mentioned. “It had an finish date, and that was very reassuring.”

Sullivan mentioned she and her husband selected a heat climate itinerary, or to “comply with the solar,” which later turned a part of the title of a ebook she revealed about their yr overseas.

“We purchased an enormous white wall map, put it on the wall of our condo. And we’d spend every single day simply looking at it dreaming in regards to the locations we needed to go,” she mentioned. 

In the long run, the Sullivans employed journey brokers to assist with planning.

“This was not a ‘winging-it journey’,” she mentioned, including that once they left that they had three months of plans in place.

In January 2019, the Sullivans left New York, journeying first to South America, then to Africa, the Center East, Europe, and eventually to Asia and Oceania earlier than heading house. 

Through the journey, the Sullivans endured a “horrible” abdomen bug in Beijing, altitude illness in Peru and a lice infestation in Berlin. 

“We had packed each conceivable medicine, and it by no means occurred to me that we might encounter lice,” she mentioned. “In New York, there are every kind of companies the place individuals would come and eradicate these lice out of your kids. That didn’t exist in Germany.”

There was additionally what’s now referred to as “The Piranha Story” within the Sullivan family, which occurred whereas fishing within the Amazon rainforest. 

Sullivan, who’s afraid of fish, mentioned somebody threw a dwell piranha onto her lap of their boat.

“I screamed bloody homicide, lurched backward, crashed into the ground of the boat, taking my daughter again with me, all whereas the dwell piranha flopped round between us. It was probably the most absurd factor that has ever occurred to me,” she mentioned. 

“We wound up consuming the piranha that evening, and its jaws are framed in our house now.” 

In addition to the mishaps, Sullivan mentioned her household made their fair proportion of errors too, together with following a journey agent’s recommendation to go to an orphanage in Vietnam.

“We instantly realized we should not be there. We felt horrible about it,” she mentioned. “I can’t state strongly sufficient that this type of vacationer vacation spot is totally irresponsible, and nobody ought to go to an orphanage.”

In Cambodia, the Sullivans encountered an indication close to the airport that acknowledged: “Kids should not a vacationer vacation spot. Don’t go to an orphanage.”

“Rich vacationers come into a spot and really feel like they wish to contribute or do good. And so, they … hand out faculty provides at a college and that is not useful for a group,” she added. “It’s dangerous and doubtlessly exploitative.” 

“Visiting a rustic with deference and respect and curiosity, the identical manner you’ll go to France or Japan, is simply the best way to go,” she mentioned. 

Throughout their time overseas, the Sullivans additionally mirrored on the hole between their expectations and the truth of their year-long journey. 

“We assumed we might have tons of free time,” she recalled. “I assumed: ‘this was it, this was my huge yr’ to take a seat again and do all these inventive tasks I needed to do, and [watch] all of the reveals I meant to look at.”

“However we had two young children with us. There was no free time,” she mentioned, of her youngsters, who have been 4 and 6 years outdated on the time.

The Sullivans reluctantly left house with solely carry-on baggage, however have been shocked to return house with their luggage solely half full.

“You simply do not want as a lot as you assume,” she mused.

The couple additionally discovered themselves shocked by their power ranges throughout their intensive travels.

“We have been in our rooms asleep by 8:30, mainly each evening. Seems, relaxation and the dearth of stress can do wonders to your power,” she famous.

As they ventured into unfamiliar territories, Sullivan mentioned the household division between adults and kids disappeared.

“My husband and I have been bumbling, clueless, did not know the language, weak … we did not know all the pieces. We rapidly shed that invincible mother or father facade,” she admitted. “On the identical time, our kids are proving themselves to be very humorous, very courageous, and really curious.”

Amid all of the challenges, Sullivan revealed that the largest lesson for the household was studying tips on how to go to locations with out bias. 

“We simply discovered to go to a spot with a clean slate,” she mentioned. “Take it in, simply ask questions as a result of all of us have assumptions about different components of the world.”

After journeying to 6 continents, Sullivan mentioned she discovered individuals are simply attempting to assist one another by life.

“World wide, the widespread language actually was kindness,” she mentioned. “We got here house from that yr considering there have been extra good individuals on the earth than unhealthy, that most individuals simply wish to assist.”

When requested if she had any recommendation for others, she mentioned choose a date and keep it up. 

“As soon as it is on the calendar, you possibly can work backwards,” she mentioned. “It makes it extra actual.”