Article #1 in the Student Travel Stories Series from our tour of Beijing, China. By John, Age 17, 11th Grade in Boston. Born in the U.S. to parents from Vietnam.
Q: John, what did climbing the Great Wall make you realize?
A: I pay so much respect to the Great Wall of China because it is over 3,000 miles long. That is as far as the distance between Boston and California! I [...Read More!]
HOORAY! We are all safely back from a phenomenal student tour in China!
I burst into tears of emotion when my fiance picked me up at the airport last night, so happy was I about what we accomplished over the past 8 days.
Here are the facts:
On the morning of Thursday 2/16/12, after a YEAR of planning, fundraising, and meetings, 42 Boston Students and 6 Boston teachers boarded a plane from Boston to [...Read More!]
“Sell-out!” jeered a cyber-heckler when I posted my article about going on a 3-day Florida-Bahamas Cruise.
So I can only imagine this heckler’s horror when he learned that this “brave solo world traveler” (a.k.a. me) super “sold out” and accepted a free 40-person teacher travel tour to Spain over New Year’s through EF Tours.
Why are many hip travelers so against the idea of large-group travel?
“Ugh– It’s like being in a bubble of [...Read More!]
Happy New Year from Madrid, Spain!
What a year it’s been, eh? As December 31, 2011 draws to a close, here are some glittering photos of holiday-decorated Madrid, Spain (as snapped last night), along with a kind of “State of the Union” run-down of statistics from this teaching-traveling website empire for 2011. (As always, click blue-highlighted words for related articles.)
2011 IN NUMBERS:
First-person world travel articles written on AroundTheWorldL.com in 2011: 59 Global education interviews and [...Read More!]
Hello From Madrid, Spain, where I am on a wonderful, whirlwind Free Teacher Training Tour run by EF Tours!
On this 5-day trip, I am in training with a group of teachers who have flown in from around the United States to prepare as much as possible to lead a group of our students abroad. In my case, I will be leading 42 Boston students to Beijing, China in just 1.5 months!
So far, this [...Read More!]
Never in my life have I been more dizzied from cultural differences than the afternoon I saw the Girls’ Bathroom in a 4,000-student school of Yunyang, China.
It wasn’t that the bathroom was rather run-down and dirty that shocked me. No– I’ve been a teacher in large urban schools in Boston for seven years and have seen (and smelled) my share of dirty school bathrooms. I’ve also squatted in all sorts of [...Read More!]
Hello from China, all the way across the world from where I was last week!
In the five days since I arrived here, I’ve already hiked the Great Wall, reunited with my dear friend Gareth who is teaching here through Peace Corps, toured the Forbidden City and Tienanmen Square, taken a 15 hour sleeper train to the center of the country, and (continuously) stuffed myself silly on mouth-watering Chinese food. In short, life is [...Read More!]
Exactly a year ago today, I returned back to America after nine straight months traveling around the world.
What a change a year makes! My life now is unrecognizable from 365 days ago… and it’s an inspiring reminder of how we never have to be stuck!
On May 12, 2010, I flew from Madrid back to Boston with no secure job, no apartment of my own, a fragmented social scene, and a small [...Read More!]
“Hey Lillie,” said Sherry by Skype yesterday, “I met someone last month in Sri Lanka who knows you!”
“What?!” I gasped?
“Right!” Sherry laughed. “This guy, Brooks, is out traveling the world now because of your “Meet, Plan, Go!” 2010 Boston career-break travel conference!”
I almost swooned from happiness. Last year when Sherry Ott and Michaela Potter founded the “Meet, Plan, Go!” extended travel movement and asked me to coordinate the Boston chapter of the [...Read More!]
Sometimes we nearly faint from despair, thinking, “I can never travel, because I don’t have enough time, or money, or opportunities!” …But that’s simply not true!
On March 31, 2011, in glorious Boston, I coordinated Teaching Traveling Inspiration Night, which aimed to help more teachers fulfill their travel dreams, thus transforming our world’s educational system through renewed energy, resources, and connections. Over 100 participants learned that night a whole new set of [...Read More!]