One Year Off

A cyber friend, Kiky lent me this book. Well...actually we exchanged our favorite stuffs, I lent her Muallaf DVD and got this book in return. it turned out that this book is so engaging. Once I read it, I just couldn't put it down.

Imagine, a family of 3 children (8,7, and 2 yrs old) made a very big decision. They left their usual life behind and planned to travel around the globe within unlimited time, what do you think, is it a brilliant idea or the stupidest that you've ever heard?

This experience exactly what happened to David Elliot Cohen. After celebrating his 40th birthday, he suddenly felt uncomfortable with his life. He thought he needed to purify his life by leaving it all behind (selling his house, his cars and most of his possession, closing his business and pulling their children out of school) and began the journey with the whole family with just a suitcase, a backpack and a passport each.

In my opinion, it is a very brave decision. I can't imagine having a long traveling with 3 small kiddos. So many things to consider. But The Cohen family did it. They made it within 13 months and 16 countries. Started from California and ended in Luang Prabang, Laos.

Reading their heartfelt experience is really enjoyable. A lot of exciting yet touching moments there. David told their stories in e-mails form to their family and best friends in his humorous and simple way. It made me laughed a lot and too curious to know the ending. From their experiences, I just learn that traveling with kiddos is different, tourist spots that in our point of view is a must-see-item, not for them, for kids, it's just ordinary thing. Just like Cohen kiddos, after spending some time in France and exploring all the museums and churches there, they obviously didn't want to visit any other churches in Rome. According to them museums and churches are similar, where ever they are. For them, the best place to visit was Africa, where they could observe wild animals almost everywhere and enjoyed the Safari tour. Ah...kiddos, they're cute with their own simple thoughts.

A very recommended book. Thank you Kiky for your great book :)