May 31, 2025 • 24 mins
Andi Almond is a global communications leader, author, and former Associated Press journalist whose work has been published in TIME, National Geographic, The Guardian, NBC News, CBS News, and more. Originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, she is a leading voice in the worldschooling and travel communities.
Andi is a passionate advocate for expanding access to travel and learning opportunities, serving as Vice Chair of the Board of The Global Livingston Institute and donating a portion of her book proceeds to IES Abroad to support scholarships for global learning.
She shares her family’s adventures, worldschooling advice, adventure travel tips and more on her popular blog and Instagram, @4almondsabroad. The Everywhere Classroom is her latest book, focused on extended family travel and worldschooling.
When not exploring the far reaches of the earth, Andi is a communications leader at a global consulting firm. She calls Colorado her home with husband Randy, two kids, two cats and a dog… until wanderlust sweeps her away again.
Andi is a passionate advocate for expanding access to travel and learning opportunities, serving as Vice Chair of the Board of The Global Livingston Institute and donating a portion of her book proceeds to IES Abroad to support scholarships for global learning.
She shares her family’s adventures, worldschooling advice, adventure travel tips and more on her popular blog and Instagram, @4almondsabroad. The Everywhere Classroom is her latest book, focused on extended family travel and worldschooling.
When not exploring the far reaches of the earth, Andi is a communications leader at a global consulting firm. She calls Colorado her home with husband Randy, two kids, two cats and a dog… until wanderlust sweeps her away again.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
I'm Cynthia James, and this network is about changing lives,
one woman at a time. Hello, and welcome to Women Awakening.
I'm your host, Cynthia James, and I get the honor
and the privilege of introducing you to fantastic women, women
(00:26):
who have decided to take charge in their lives, to
bring their wisdom to the planet to be change makers.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Actually, I think that this is the.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Time on the planet where women are emerging and our energy,
our wisdom, our caring and our nurturing spirit is needed
more than ever. So I'm grateful that I get to
do this. We meet every Friday and we're on all
the platforms Spotify, iTunes, Iheartspeaker, We're on Amazon and video
on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Please subscribe, share this to.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Any woman you know that might need it, and come
back again and again every woman.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
This is not an exaggeration.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Every woman I've interviewed has been an inspiration to me,
and so I'm really grateful. You can also go to
Cynthia James dot net. I have lots of gifts for you,
and there's lots of things going on in my world
and I'd love to support you and have you be
a part of my community. So I want to introduce
you to someone that's new to me recently. Her name
(01:28):
is Andy Allman. She is a global communicator, leader, author,
and former Associated Press journalist whose work has been published
in Time, National Geographic, The Guardian, NBC News, CBS News
and more. Originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, she is
leading voice in world schooling and travel communities and his
(01:52):
passionate advocate for expanding access to travel and learning opportunities.
She is serving as the vice of the board of
a global living institute and donating a portion of her
book proceeds to IEES Abroad to support scholarships for global learning.
She shares her family's adventures, world schooling, advice, adventure tips
(02:16):
and more in her popular blog and on Instagram at
four Almond Abroad the number four Almond Abroad. She's also
got The Everywhere Classroom. It's her latest book and it's
focused on extended family travel and world schooling. And when
she's not exploring the far reaches of the Earth, Andy
(02:40):
is a communications leader in a global consulting firm. She
lives in Colorado with her husband Randy, two kids, two cats,
and a dog. Until the wonder Lest takes her out again.
So Andy, thank you so much. I'm so grateful that
you're here, so.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Nice to have to be here. Thanks Cynthia.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Well, I'm really grateful to talk about, you know, being
in the world and education. But I want to start
with where you came from. You know, I'm very aware
that people evolved over time and that they move into
you know, so you're a journalist and then you're an author,
(03:21):
and then you're a consultant, and then you got your
family on a trip. How did this all evolve?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
How did you grow up?
Speaker 3 (03:28):
So, as you mentioned, I grew up in San Juan,
Puerto Rico. My mom was Dutch and an anthropologist. My
dad was a lawyer from Idaho and they met on
the East coast. Loved sailing and sun and the islands.
My mom was from a small island in the Caribbean
called Carrosaw, which is a Dutch part of the Netherlands Antilles,
(03:51):
and Puerto Rico was actually kind of in the middle
of Idaho and Carrossow, so had easy access to both
their families and you know, growing up on an island,
it sort of instilled in me a little bit of
a sense of wanderlust. From an early age and the
sense that you know, you're kind of on this little
(04:13):
piece of land in the middle of the ocean, but
there is this wider world around you. And we did
a little bit of travel as a family, but not
tons later. At seventeen, I left to go to college
in the mainland US and then my first job I
was a consultant. I worked in change management and communications,
(04:33):
working with large companies to help them navigate big changes,
and that took me to Germany, so I got to
live abroad for the first time and experience the generous
vacation packages that you get in Europe and the cheap
travel options to any in every place. We would just
go to the train station, see what train was leaving next,
(04:57):
kind of hop on it and take it where it
took us. That was, you know, the path that started
sparking a love of travel and wandering and getting off
the beaten path for me and eventually took me into
journalism for a while. And then now I work in
professional services firms in communications, so helping again at that
(05:19):
intersection of consulting and writing and reporting.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
You know, how do you move from being a journalist
to being a consultant and exploring the world.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
What I mean.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I know you had lived in Germany and everything, but
it's a little bit of a you know, journalists are there,
are in the world, but they also can be kind
of stable in certain places.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah. So when I was in college, I lost my
mom very unexpectedly. She passed away overnight from an aneurism
and a cerebral hemorrhage. And I will say that was
a very pivotal moment in my life that shaped the
rest of it in terms of really realizing that the
(06:09):
only thing you are guaranteed is today, and tomorrow is
not a given. And so it probably spurred me to
be a little bit more risk taking than I would
have been otherwise and to embrace that sense of carp
adm a little bit. And that played into some of
the travel. After Germany, I had met my husband. He
(06:33):
and I spent a year backpacking and volunteering in South
America Southeast Asia. It was over the course of that
year that I decided I wanted to become a journalist
and make a positive change in the world through writing,
and so I pursued my masters in journalism, worked as
a reporter for a while in Los Angeles, As you mentioned,
(06:53):
I was an Associated Press reporter and I loved it,
but I found it to be very solitary, so it
was exciting in many ways. I was assigned to different stories.
As an AP journalist, You're covering the news very quickly
because it's a wire service, so it goes out to
different news organizations across the country, across the world. But
(07:15):
it was very reactive and it was fairly fairly solitary,
and I missed the atmosphere of having a team, of
being more proactive, of being able to be more strategic.
And that brought me back into the world of consulting,
and what I found worked really well was intersecting the
writing and the client angle into corporate communications. And I
(07:40):
also did some DEI work as well, which was very
passionate to me. So that's been the arc of my
professional life. And then the travel has always been something
that I knew, like I said, was kind of deeply
ingrained from early on, and because of that sense of
carp adm, I never wanted it to be something that
we just put off until retirement, or something that you know,
(08:02):
you do in a big chunk at sixty five or
you know, seventy we really wanted to incorporate it into
our lives. So we did that gap year in our
twenties as broke twenty something year olds, like I said, backpacking,
and then it wasn't until I was in my early
forties when I thought, you know, we had two kids,
(08:25):
we were settled in Colorado. Both my husband and I
had corporate jobs that were really demanding. You know, you're
navigating at this frenetic pace that we're all doing, and
kind of occurred to both of us, you know, what
if we just stop and try to do another trip
around the world as a family and sort of put
a pause on life. And we backed up tried to
(08:48):
see could we make this happen. We had some savings,
but would have to really actively save to be able
to pull something like that off. So in twenty seventeen
we decided, yes, we would love to pursue sort of
a sabbatical as a family, and so we spent five
years working and planning and saving to be able to
(09:11):
make that happen, and then in twenty twenty two, we
set off as a family on a trip that ended
up taking us to twenty seven countries all seven continents.
We traveled for thirteen months and world schooled our kids
along the way. And that was another moment of where
(09:31):
all the things come together. I wrote as I went
with an eye toward wanting to write a book that
would be the book that I wished i'd had before
we set off, as we started dreaming about a trip
like this where it really would be the in depth
look at the good, the bad, the hilarious, the ugly
of what it could be like to be a family
(09:52):
on a road on an extended time. And how do
you make education and learning in the world work, whether
it's on a trip that long or shorter micro journeys.
And so that's that's kind of how how it all
evolved together.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well, I have so many questions.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
So first of all, bravo that you and your husband
r on the same page to create this and set
a plan.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
So how old were your children and what is world schooling?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
They were thirteen and ten when we set off, They
were eight and five when we first started conceiving of
the idea, And we would talk about it over the course.
Once we decided yes, by really saving and you know,
allocating money differently toward this goal, we probably would be
(10:50):
able to make it happen. We started talking to them
about the idea so that they had time to process
and be part of the planning and the ideation and
world schooling is a funny one because I think there's
not one standard definition, and when we first started thinking
about it, I had never even heard of it. So
the concept of how would we educate them on the
(11:13):
road was a big topic and potentially a sticking point
for us. I'm not a teacher, Randy is not a teacher,
but at core, the idea of world schooling is it's
an approach to education that, at least for a time,
puts real world experiences at the heart of your kids schooling.
And so for us, we chose to create our own
(11:36):
curriculum that was a bit of a mix of some
online materials, So like math, we really had to follow
pretty similarly to the curriculum that they would be learning
back home in Colorado. So we purchased materials online, which
is amazing in this day and age that you could
do that, and you could get YouTube videos, and we
had tests and rubrics and tutorials so they could follow
(11:59):
along with that. For other subjects that we knew could
be tailored to the places we were traveling, we created
our own curriculum. So I'll give you an example like reading.
I met with the kids English teachers here in Colorado
who were super supportive and amazing to brainstorm with me
on what we were putting together. And I would figure out, well,
what are the texts they'd be reading here in the States,
(12:21):
and so, for instance, like the kids would have read
To Kill a Mockingbird, which is all about race and
justice and so many amazing themes. Instead of reading that
on the trip while we were in South Africa, they
read Trevor Noah's Born a Crime. We read Alan Patten's classic,
and we talked about similar themes that were deeply local
(12:44):
in context, and that you know, we supplemented with the
real world experiences that we were seeing on the ground
in South Africa. So it became so world schooling for
us is it is a more immersive way of learning
that brings traditional learning and on the ground experiences together.
And the nice thing is it can be done on
(13:06):
trips of any length. You don't have to go away
for a year to make the world of class worm.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Well I love that you did that.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Did you then send stuff back to teachers to show
them what was happening with your kids.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
We didn't you know. But each state has very different
requirements for homeschooling, which another definition of world schooling is
sort of like homeschooling without the home. So different countries,
different states in the US have different regulations. Colorado, we
aligned with our school district ahead of time on the
(13:42):
rough curriculum that we were going to do. There weren't
that many checks on whether we followed it, but when
we always knew we were going to be gone for
a year and then the kids would come back to
their school, so at the end of it, they definitely
did have some subjects that they needed to test into,
so for instance, math to see what level would they
(14:04):
test into after a year away, and they both tested
into the advanced levels. And then language was another one
that they needed to test to make sure that they
had kept a certain level of aptitude. So that was
actually kind of a fascinating one because for Spanish, we
did some Spanish language learning in Argentina for both kids,
(14:26):
and our daughter was able to continue with duo lingo,
so bringing in some tech. For our son, he had
been learning Mandarin and he had taken two years of
Mandarin here in Colorado, and that was the one subject
we were completely unprepared to support him on through the trip.
So he was fourteen at the time the second half
(14:47):
of our trip, and we knew to bridge a full
year and have him test with his class, he would
have to do some kind of immersive language learning. So
he actually spent a month on his own in Taiwan. Fourteen.
We dropped him off in Typey. He lived with a
local family. We gave him his passport and said do
not lose this or we will not be able to
(15:09):
leave in a month, and he navigated Typey on his own.
He spent at the month at this language learning school
called LTL. That was wonderful, And when he came back
and tested, he actually tested three levels higher because there's
(15:30):
no there's no comparison, especially for language learning to being
immersed in.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
A country one hundred percent. Well, I think this is
so exciting. So now I want to get logistical because
I'm sure people out here are going, well, where'd you stay?
I mean, so, so so you went, you mapped out
all these places, where did you stay and whether different
(15:54):
periods of time and how did you navigate that?
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Yeah, so what's funny, we didn't plan that much ahead
of time. We booked our trip to Morocco was our
first stop, so when we set off in June of
twenty twenty two, we had a flight book to Casablanca,
which we were on a budget and so we always
(16:18):
took the longest and most connections possible. So it was
a journey to get to Casablanca from Denver, and we
had our first night, first two nights days booked at
an Airbnb in Casablanca, and other than that, we really
didn't have much planned. We figured we would plan it
as we went. Now, we did map out a bit
of a sense of overall flow, so we knew we
(16:41):
wanted to start in Morocco and then we'd have a
little bit of time in France and the Netherlands visiting family,
and then we were gonna head to Eastern and Southern Africa,
so that would be the first three months of the trip,
but we didn't have it to map doubt before we left.
(17:01):
Then we'd have a few weeks in the Middle East.
We knew we wanted to spend some time in South America,
and then we would head in the second six months
to Asia Pacific, and roughly in our heads India, Japan,
parts of Southeast Asia. We wanted to see Vietnam, Thailand, Nepal,
(17:23):
and then Australia and home. We mainly stayed in airbnbs
as you think about a trip like this, to keep
cost slow and by the way, the whole trip costs
less than what we spend in a year in the
US by prioritizing places that are a little more off
the beaten path, places where the dollar goes a lot farther,
(17:47):
like South America, Southeast Asia, and then when you go,
we tried to pick places that were off their peak
tourist time when you know your dollar goes a little
bit farther, and looking at places. So we never stayed
at big brand name hotels. It was always looking for
(18:07):
local airbnbs. We did some homestays where you live with
a local family and you really get a sense of
the culture. So really trying to give again that full
immersive experience into a true sense of a culture.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Well, I'm so impressed that you and your family were
so willing and that you were so adventurous and like, okay,
let's go here, let's look at this. So I want
to talk about your book, because you were writing this
blog as you were going, and did that become the
foundation of the book.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
It did, so we I documented the trip on Instagram.
Our instagram is four Almends Abroad, and that was really fun.
I hadn't been on Instagram before the trip. I figured
it out as we went, and I'm still figuring it out,
and that was really to be able to capture a
lot more of the visuals the impressions as we went.
(19:07):
And then separately, I kept just offline and I didn't
even have a laptop, so it was kind of capturing
impressions on my iPad. I kept essentially a journal, but
it was journaling with an eye toward the book. I
would want to write at the end, which meant a
focus on the experiences we were having, which was a
(19:27):
way for me to process all the amazing things and
what we were experiencing, but with the focus on the
educational pieces, how was what we were doing educating our
kids in the world. And it was fun as well,
because when you're writing, you're in the moment and its
(19:48):
very point in time. And then when I got home,
I actually had double the amount of material for what
I could use for a book. So I think I
had I don't even know, two hundred thousand words and
I needed to whittle it down to one hundred thousand
words to make it not war in peace. And when
you look back, you can see the arc of maturation
(20:11):
of the kids in a way, and how some of
the learning experiences really helped them grow and have their
own awakenings as individuals, growing into you know, young adults
through the course of this trip, which was a little
less obvious right when you're journaling in the moment. So
that was a really powerful process for me.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Well, what I love about this is that you know,
when you travel, then all the misconceptions about other people
and other cultures get to fade away, and because you
get to be with the people, you get to be
in the culture. So I think it's so important and
how incredible that your kids got to do this so young,
(20:57):
because now the wanderlust I'm sure is in cod within them.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
In different forms.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
So I want to know how do people find you
and your book and connect with this incredible journey.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Absolutely so I'm online. My website is www dot andy
A n D I almond a l M O n
D dot com and also on Instagram at four Almonds Abroad,
And it's kind of fun because our last name is
indeed Almonds, like the not and I've had people ask
like why four Almonds Abroad? Why not four Wellness or four?
(21:35):
Do you just really like almonds? That I said, no, no,
that's actually the last name.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Well, that's great, ladies.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
I hope you will get this book, and especially you know,
I've always wanted to travel since I was very young,
and I started traveling when I was a teenager. But
if you're a traveler, you know, I mean, you know
Andy's twenty seven countries.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Did you say?
Speaker 1 (21:57):
I mean, that's incredible. And the immersion thing is so important.
So I asked the same last question of every guest
on this show. The show is called Women Awakening. What
do you think is the most important thing about women
awakening on the planet in this moment?
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Well, I just think right now, we are in a
moment where everything is so frenetic and harried, and there's
so much division and our society and everything's just bombarding
us so quickly. There is something really incomparable about being
able to step out of our routine, get outside of
(22:40):
our bubble, even if it's just for a week. And
that's the wonderful thing for me about this idea of
viewing travel in a bit of a more purposeful way.
It doesn't have to be far, it doesn't have to
be long, it doesn't have to cost a ton of money.
In my book, I talk about little tweaks that we
can all make to just push ourselves and see the
(23:04):
world in a bit of a new way, which I
think gives so much renewal. And it's that that willingness
to hit pause, even if just for like I said,
a weekend a week and step outside. I feel like
it gives us more joy and balance and that ability
to renew, which I think is at the core of
(23:26):
the awakening that many of us probably really need and
want right now.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yeah, I think you're absolutely correct. It's one of the
reasons I take people on pilgrimages, so you know that
seven to twelve days can be a game changer for
you just to get away. Well, I'm very grateful you
were here. I'm so excited about your book. I'm so
excited to journey with you in different areas where we connect,
and I'm grateful that you did that with your family.
(23:54):
I think it will create it has created a memory
that will be profound as your children and grow.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Thank you so much, Cynthia.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Love chatting all right, everybody, I say the same stuff
with different words every show. This is what I want
you to know. You know, you were put on this
planet to be a couch potato. You were put on
this planet to thrive, to explore, to research, and to
(24:25):
bring your gifts and to open your perception and your
field of knowledge so that you can be the best,
most powerful person that you came here to be. I
want you to know that the world needs you, that
you're important, and that you matter. And I'm so grateful
you were here today. I thank you and I will
see you on the next one.
I'm Cynthia James, and this network is about changing lives,
one woman at a time. Hello, and welcome to Women Awakening.
I'm your host, Cynthia James, and I get the honor
and the privilege of introducing you to fantastic women, women
(00:26):
who have decided to take charge in their lives, to
bring their wisdom to the planet to be change makers.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Actually, I think that this is the.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Time on the planet where women are emerging and our energy,
our wisdom, our caring and our nurturing spirit is needed
more than ever. So I'm grateful that I get to
do this. We meet every Friday and we're on all
the platforms Spotify, iTunes, Iheartspeaker, We're on Amazon and video
on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Please subscribe, share this to.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Any woman you know that might need it, and come
back again and again every woman.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
This is not an exaggeration.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Every woman I've interviewed has been an inspiration to me,
and so I'm really grateful. You can also go to
Cynthia James dot net. I have lots of gifts for you,
and there's lots of things going on in my world
and I'd love to support you and have you be
a part of my community. So I want to introduce
you to someone that's new to me recently. Her name
(01:28):
is Andy Allman. She is a global communicator, leader, author,
and former Associated Press journalist whose work has been published
in Time, National Geographic, The Guardian, NBC News, CBS News
and more. Originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, she is
leading voice in world schooling and travel communities and his
(01:52):
passionate advocate for expanding access to travel and learning opportunities.
She is serving as the vice of the board of
a global living institute and donating a portion of her
book proceeds to IEES Abroad to support scholarships for global learning.
She shares her family's adventures, world schooling, advice, adventure tips
(02:16):
and more in her popular blog and on Instagram at
four Almond Abroad the number four Almond Abroad. She's also
got The Everywhere Classroom. It's her latest book and it's
focused on extended family travel and world schooling. And when
she's not exploring the far reaches of the Earth, Andy
(02:40):
is a communications leader in a global consulting firm. She
lives in Colorado with her husband Randy, two kids, two cats,
and a dog. Until the wonder Lest takes her out again.
So Andy, thank you so much. I'm so grateful that
you're here, so.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Nice to have to be here. Thanks Cynthia.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Well, I'm really grateful to talk about, you know, being
in the world and education. But I want to start
with where you came from. You know, I'm very aware
that people evolved over time and that they move into
you know, so you're a journalist and then you're an author,
(03:21):
and then you're a consultant, and then you got your
family on a trip. How did this all evolve?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
How did you grow up?
Speaker 3 (03:28):
So, as you mentioned, I grew up in San Juan,
Puerto Rico. My mom was Dutch and an anthropologist. My
dad was a lawyer from Idaho and they met on
the East coast. Loved sailing and sun and the islands.
My mom was from a small island in the Caribbean
called Carrosaw, which is a Dutch part of the Netherlands Antilles,
(03:51):
and Puerto Rico was actually kind of in the middle
of Idaho and Carrossow, so had easy access to both
their families and you know, growing up on an island,
it sort of instilled in me a little bit of
a sense of wanderlust. From an early age and the
sense that you know, you're kind of on this little
(04:13):
piece of land in the middle of the ocean, but
there is this wider world around you. And we did
a little bit of travel as a family, but not
tons later. At seventeen, I left to go to college
in the mainland US and then my first job I
was a consultant. I worked in change management and communications,
(04:33):
working with large companies to help them navigate big changes,
and that took me to Germany, so I got to
live abroad for the first time and experience the generous
vacation packages that you get in Europe and the cheap
travel options to any in every place. We would just
go to the train station, see what train was leaving next,
(04:57):
kind of hop on it and take it where it
took us. That was, you know, the path that started
sparking a love of travel and wandering and getting off
the beaten path for me and eventually took me into
journalism for a while. And then now I work in
professional services firms in communications, so helping again at that
(05:19):
intersection of consulting and writing and reporting.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
You know, how do you move from being a journalist
to being a consultant and exploring the world.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
What I mean.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I know you had lived in Germany and everything, but
it's a little bit of a you know, journalists are there,
are in the world, but they also can be kind
of stable in certain places.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah. So when I was in college, I lost my
mom very unexpectedly. She passed away overnight from an aneurism
and a cerebral hemorrhage. And I will say that was
a very pivotal moment in my life that shaped the
rest of it in terms of really realizing that the
(06:09):
only thing you are guaranteed is today, and tomorrow is
not a given. And so it probably spurred me to
be a little bit more risk taking than I would
have been otherwise and to embrace that sense of carp
adm a little bit. And that played into some of
the travel. After Germany, I had met my husband. He
(06:33):
and I spent a year backpacking and volunteering in South
America Southeast Asia. It was over the course of that
year that I decided I wanted to become a journalist
and make a positive change in the world through writing,
and so I pursued my masters in journalism, worked as
a reporter for a while in Los Angeles, As you mentioned,
(06:53):
I was an Associated Press reporter and I loved it,
but I found it to be very solitary, so it
was exciting in many ways. I was assigned to different stories.
As an AP journalist, You're covering the news very quickly
because it's a wire service, so it goes out to
different news organizations across the country, across the world. But
(07:15):
it was very reactive and it was fairly fairly solitary,
and I missed the atmosphere of having a team, of
being more proactive, of being able to be more strategic.
And that brought me back into the world of consulting,
and what I found worked really well was intersecting the
writing and the client angle into corporate communications. And I
(07:40):
also did some DEI work as well, which was very
passionate to me. So that's been the arc of my
professional life. And then the travel has always been something
that I knew, like I said, was kind of deeply
ingrained from early on, and because of that sense of
carp adm, I never wanted it to be something that
we just put off until retirement, or something that you know,
(08:02):
you do in a big chunk at sixty five or
you know, seventy we really wanted to incorporate it into
our lives. So we did that gap year in our
twenties as broke twenty something year olds, like I said, backpacking,
and then it wasn't until I was in my early
forties when I thought, you know, we had two kids,
(08:25):
we were settled in Colorado. Both my husband and I
had corporate jobs that were really demanding. You know, you're
navigating at this frenetic pace that we're all doing, and
kind of occurred to both of us, you know, what
if we just stop and try to do another trip
around the world as a family and sort of put
a pause on life. And we backed up tried to
(08:48):
see could we make this happen. We had some savings,
but would have to really actively save to be able
to pull something like that off. So in twenty seventeen
we decided, yes, we would love to pursue sort of
a sabbatical as a family, and so we spent five
years working and planning and saving to be able to
(09:11):
make that happen, and then in twenty twenty two, we
set off as a family on a trip that ended
up taking us to twenty seven countries all seven continents.
We traveled for thirteen months and world schooled our kids
along the way. And that was another moment of where
(09:31):
all the things come together. I wrote as I went
with an eye toward wanting to write a book that
would be the book that I wished i'd had before
we set off, as we started dreaming about a trip
like this where it really would be the in depth
look at the good, the bad, the hilarious, the ugly
of what it could be like to be a family
(09:52):
on a road on an extended time. And how do
you make education and learning in the world work, whether
it's on a trip that long or shorter micro journeys.
And so that's that's kind of how how it all
evolved together.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well, I have so many questions.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
So first of all, bravo that you and your husband
r on the same page to create this and set
a plan.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
So how old were your children and what is world schooling?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
They were thirteen and ten when we set off, They
were eight and five when we first started conceiving of
the idea, And we would talk about it over the course.
Once we decided yes, by really saving and you know,
allocating money differently toward this goal, we probably would be
(10:50):
able to make it happen. We started talking to them
about the idea so that they had time to process
and be part of the planning and the ideation and
world schooling is a funny one because I think there's
not one standard definition, and when we first started thinking
about it, I had never even heard of it. So
the concept of how would we educate them on the
(11:13):
road was a big topic and potentially a sticking point
for us. I'm not a teacher, Randy is not a teacher,
but at core, the idea of world schooling is it's
an approach to education that, at least for a time,
puts real world experiences at the heart of your kids schooling.
And so for us, we chose to create our own
(11:36):
curriculum that was a bit of a mix of some
online materials, So like math, we really had to follow
pretty similarly to the curriculum that they would be learning
back home in Colorado. So we purchased materials online, which
is amazing in this day and age that you could
do that, and you could get YouTube videos, and we
had tests and rubrics and tutorials so they could follow
(11:59):
along with that. For other subjects that we knew could
be tailored to the places we were traveling, we created
our own curriculum. So I'll give you an example like reading.
I met with the kids English teachers here in Colorado
who were super supportive and amazing to brainstorm with me
on what we were putting together. And I would figure out, well,
what are the texts they'd be reading here in the States,
(12:21):
and so, for instance, like the kids would have read
To Kill a Mockingbird, which is all about race and
justice and so many amazing themes. Instead of reading that
on the trip while we were in South Africa, they
read Trevor Noah's Born a Crime. We read Alan Patten's classic,
and we talked about similar themes that were deeply local
(12:44):
in context, and that you know, we supplemented with the
real world experiences that we were seeing on the ground
in South Africa. So it became so world schooling for
us is it is a more immersive way of learning
that brings traditional learning and on the ground experiences together.
And the nice thing is it can be done on
(13:06):
trips of any length. You don't have to go away
for a year to make the world of class worm.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Well I love that you did that.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Did you then send stuff back to teachers to show
them what was happening with your kids.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
We didn't you know. But each state has very different
requirements for homeschooling, which another definition of world schooling is
sort of like homeschooling without the home. So different countries,
different states in the US have different regulations. Colorado, we
aligned with our school district ahead of time on the
(13:42):
rough curriculum that we were going to do. There weren't
that many checks on whether we followed it, but when
we always knew we were going to be gone for
a year and then the kids would come back to
their school, so at the end of it, they definitely
did have some subjects that they needed to test into,
so for instance, math to see what level would they
(14:04):
test into after a year away, and they both tested
into the advanced levels. And then language was another one
that they needed to test to make sure that they
had kept a certain level of aptitude. So that was
actually kind of a fascinating one because for Spanish, we
did some Spanish language learning in Argentina for both kids,
(14:26):
and our daughter was able to continue with duo lingo,
so bringing in some tech. For our son, he had
been learning Mandarin and he had taken two years of
Mandarin here in Colorado, and that was the one subject
we were completely unprepared to support him on through the trip.
So he was fourteen at the time the second half
(14:47):
of our trip, and we knew to bridge a full
year and have him test with his class, he would
have to do some kind of immersive language learning. So
he actually spent a month on his own in Taiwan. Fourteen.
We dropped him off in Typey. He lived with a
local family. We gave him his passport and said do
not lose this or we will not be able to
(15:09):
leave in a month, and he navigated Typey on his own.
He spent at the month at this language learning school
called LTL. That was wonderful, And when he came back
and tested, he actually tested three levels higher because there's
(15:30):
no there's no comparison, especially for language learning to being
immersed in.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
A country one hundred percent. Well, I think this is
so exciting. So now I want to get logistical because
I'm sure people out here are going, well, where'd you stay?
I mean, so, so so you went, you mapped out
all these places, where did you stay and whether different
(15:54):
periods of time and how did you navigate that?
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Yeah, so what's funny, we didn't plan that much ahead
of time. We booked our trip to Morocco was our
first stop, so when we set off in June of
twenty twenty two, we had a flight book to Casablanca,
which we were on a budget and so we always
(16:18):
took the longest and most connections possible. So it was
a journey to get to Casablanca from Denver, and we
had our first night, first two nights days booked at
an Airbnb in Casablanca, and other than that, we really
didn't have much planned. We figured we would plan it
as we went. Now, we did map out a bit
of a sense of overall flow, so we knew we
(16:41):
wanted to start in Morocco and then we'd have a
little bit of time in France and the Netherlands visiting family,
and then we were gonna head to Eastern and Southern Africa,
so that would be the first three months of the trip,
but we didn't have it to map doubt before we left.
(17:01):
Then we'd have a few weeks in the Middle East.
We knew we wanted to spend some time in South America,
and then we would head in the second six months
to Asia Pacific, and roughly in our heads India, Japan,
parts of Southeast Asia. We wanted to see Vietnam, Thailand, Nepal,
(17:23):
and then Australia and home. We mainly stayed in airbnbs
as you think about a trip like this, to keep
cost slow and by the way, the whole trip costs
less than what we spend in a year in the
US by prioritizing places that are a little more off
the beaten path, places where the dollar goes a lot farther,
(17:47):
like South America, Southeast Asia, and then when you go,
we tried to pick places that were off their peak
tourist time when you know your dollar goes a little
bit farther, and looking at places. So we never stayed
at big brand name hotels. It was always looking for
(18:07):
local airbnbs. We did some homestays where you live with
a local family and you really get a sense of
the culture. So really trying to give again that full
immersive experience into a true sense of a culture.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Well, I'm so impressed that you and your family were
so willing and that you were so adventurous and like, okay,
let's go here, let's look at this. So I want
to talk about your book, because you were writing this
blog as you were going, and did that become the
foundation of the book.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
It did, so we I documented the trip on Instagram.
Our instagram is four Almends Abroad, and that was really fun.
I hadn't been on Instagram before the trip. I figured
it out as we went, and I'm still figuring it out,
and that was really to be able to capture a
lot more of the visuals the impressions as we went.
(19:07):
And then separately, I kept just offline and I didn't
even have a laptop, so it was kind of capturing
impressions on my iPad. I kept essentially a journal, but
it was journaling with an eye toward the book. I
would want to write at the end, which meant a
focus on the experiences we were having, which was a
(19:27):
way for me to process all the amazing things and
what we were experiencing, but with the focus on the
educational pieces, how was what we were doing educating our
kids in the world. And it was fun as well,
because when you're writing, you're in the moment and its
(19:48):
very point in time. And then when I got home,
I actually had double the amount of material for what
I could use for a book. So I think I
had I don't even know, two hundred thousand words and
I needed to whittle it down to one hundred thousand
words to make it not war in peace. And when
you look back, you can see the arc of maturation
(20:11):
of the kids in a way, and how some of
the learning experiences really helped them grow and have their
own awakenings as individuals, growing into you know, young adults
through the course of this trip, which was a little
less obvious right when you're journaling in the moment. So
that was a really powerful process for me.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Well, what I love about this is that you know,
when you travel, then all the misconceptions about other people
and other cultures get to fade away, and because you
get to be with the people, you get to be
in the culture. So I think it's so important and
how incredible that your kids got to do this so young,
(20:57):
because now the wanderlust I'm sure is in cod within them.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
In different forms.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
So I want to know how do people find you
and your book and connect with this incredible journey.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Absolutely so I'm online. My website is www dot andy
A n D I almond a l M O n
D dot com and also on Instagram at four Almonds Abroad,
And it's kind of fun because our last name is
indeed Almonds, like the not and I've had people ask
like why four Almonds Abroad? Why not four Wellness or four?
(21:35):
Do you just really like almonds? That I said, no, no,
that's actually the last name.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Well, that's great, ladies.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
I hope you will get this book, and especially you know,
I've always wanted to travel since I was very young,
and I started traveling when I was a teenager. But
if you're a traveler, you know, I mean, you know
Andy's twenty seven countries.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Did you say?
Speaker 1 (21:57):
I mean, that's incredible. And the immersion thing is so important.
So I asked the same last question of every guest
on this show. The show is called Women Awakening. What
do you think is the most important thing about women
awakening on the planet in this moment?
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Well, I just think right now, we are in a
moment where everything is so frenetic and harried, and there's
so much division and our society and everything's just bombarding
us so quickly. There is something really incomparable about being
able to step out of our routine, get outside of
(22:40):
our bubble, even if it's just for a week. And
that's the wonderful thing for me about this idea of
viewing travel in a bit of a more purposeful way.
It doesn't have to be far, it doesn't have to
be long, it doesn't have to cost a ton of money.
In my book, I talk about little tweaks that we
can all make to just push ourselves and see the
(23:04):
world in a bit of a new way, which I
think gives so much renewal. And it's that that willingness
to hit pause, even if just for like I said,
a weekend a week and step outside. I feel like
it gives us more joy and balance and that ability
to renew, which I think is at the core of
(23:26):
the awakening that many of us probably really need and
want right now.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yeah, I think you're absolutely correct. It's one of the
reasons I take people on pilgrimages, so you know that
seven to twelve days can be a game changer for
you just to get away. Well, I'm very grateful you
were here. I'm so excited about your book. I'm so
excited to journey with you in different areas where we connect,
and I'm grateful that you did that with your family.
(23:54):
I think it will create it has created a memory
that will be profound as your children and grow.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Thank you so much, Cynthia.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Love chatting all right, everybody, I say the same stuff
with different words every show. This is what I want
you to know. You know, you were put on this
planet to be a couch potato. You were put on
this planet to thrive, to explore, to research, and to
(24:25):
bring your gifts and to open your perception and your
field of knowledge so that you can be the best,
most powerful person that you came here to be. I
want you to know that the world needs you, that
you're important, and that you matter. And I'm so grateful
you were here today. I thank you and I will
see you on the next one.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.