Our family has published a book about our family gap year. It is called "The BIG Trip: a Family Gap Year". What it's about:
Taking a year off from the rat race is an idle dream for many, but the McManamy family, including their three teenagers, decided to make it happen. "The Big Trip: A Family Gap Year" tells how they put high school, college and work on hold while they learned Spanish in Spain and volunteered in Bolivia, Guatemala, and Kenya. Choosing home stays and local transportation over hotels and rental cars, they undertook a deeply immersive journey of “slow travel,” living simply and experiencing life as the locals do. The teenagers contributed their own creative poems and stories to The Big Trip. A vivid account full of adventures and lively observations, the story also offers a template for anyone yearning to undertake an intellectual, emotional and spiritual journey of discovery. It is possible for families to take a Big Trip and enrich their lives without breaking the bank, losing a job, or falling behind in school. This compelling travel memoir motivates us all to follow even the wildest of our dreams. Here is where you can order it, hot off the press: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/mcmanamy
It is also available at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com
This is what some of our friends have said about the book:
Martha McManamy has written a fascinating chronicle
of the year spent with her three teenage children traveling through Spain,
Kenya, Guatemala and Bolivia where they lived with families and offered
volunteer service. The fun, caring relations they developed with each other and
the people they encountered filled me with admiration and hope, knowing these
young people will continue to live as caring citizens of the world. –Barbara
Hildt, former Massachusetts State Representative and Peace Corps
volunteer
The Big Trip thoughtfully shows readers how opening up to the bigger
world actually can bring families closer. I really enjoyed the sharing of
practical considerations to see how the McManamy family made the extensive
overseas stay work, as well as the contributions from the children. – Homa S. Tavangar, Author, Growing
Up Global: Raising Children to Be At Home in the World
Martha McManamy offers a
fascinating story that gives parents of teens (and students themselves!) great
inspiration to plan and implement their own grand adventure. With humor and
warmth, she explores both the challenges and the delights of shepherding young
almost-adults through experiences that help them grow as individuals and
citizens of the world. Thanks to her, more parents will choose to take their
kids on a truly mind-enriching and heart-opening journey abroad. –Maya Frost, Author, The New Global Student
A captivating travel memoir! This inspirational book
shows that teens can learn far more "on the road" than they ever
could in a classroom, whilst forging friendships and family memories that will
last a lifetime. The world would be a more tolerant, peaceful place
in which to live if more families would pick up on their lead. –Christine Stewart, President, Stewart
International, Ltd.- This is a great account of one family's admirable decision to replace the traditional learning/working trajectory with an experiential one and immerse themselves in the uncertainty of the world waiting for them. –Kristin Houk, President and CEO, NamasteDirect
