The Paradise Family’s Travel Blog
Ten Tips for Campervan Living in New Zealand with Kids
If you get the opportunity to travel New Zealand in Campervan with your kids, here are some tips to maximize the fun and minimize the headaches. These are ten tips from the Paradise Family who traveled with their three 'tweeners in November of 2017.
Roadschooling: Swim With Dolphins When You Can
Sometimes, you need to take off your shirt in public if you want to swim with the dolphins. And you need to be prepared to get cold. Really, really cold if you want to follow a dream. This was the unscripted lesson plan on November 18, at Ship Creek Beach, New Zealand. We pulled off to do a short hike, stretch our legs while heading down south to Queenstown. This was a diversion, a rest stop, on the way to the destination.
Sometimes Travel is a Slog
It’s not all instagrammable days. Sometimes, it’s literally a slog to get from one place to another. The twenty-four hours from Guangzhou to Christchurch was one of those times.
China: Roadschooling On Trains
We officially love the train as a mode of transport and took five extended train trips to kris-cross China.By taking different types of trains, we could interact with the different socio-economic groups in China and see more of the countryside than we could have in a plane.
Lucy’s Place in Maoming
This is the real reason we came to China: to bring Lucy back to the place she spent the first three years of life. Seven years ago, we met our daughter, Lucy, in the Social Welfare Office of Guangzhou, not in her orphanage five hours away in Maoming.
Lorna’s China Post
We have walked on the Great Wall, had high tea on the eighty seventh floor of the seventh-tallest building in the world, (for my bday) and gone shoe shopping in Shanghai (also for my bday). China has been really great, especially the food. I really miss friends, but modern communication is keeping me updated.
Anhui Province – Chrysanthemums, Needles and Landscapes
The Huangshan area of Anhui province is the misty mountain landscapes and red-lanterned villages of Asian paintings. It’s the water buffalo in rice paddies and the farmers with conical hats picking chrysanthemum flowers for tea. Every vista is postcard-worthy.
Hiking The Remote Wild of The Great Wall
We hiked along the Great Wall through fall colors for six miles along this remote section; we never passed another person although the path was easy to follow. This is road schooling at its best. History becomes alive and real to a child when you have an opportunity to tangibly experience a link to the ancient past.
Off the Path China: Exploring A Qiang Village
The Qiang are known for their stone houses (not a great mix in earthquake country), embroidered shoes and fascinating hats. The womens hats look like a folded dinner napkin on the top of the head and then held into place by two braids, Heidi-style.
Chengdu Panda Sanctuary
There’s a reason the panda’s popularity is so unwavering. They are objectively adorable and there’s nothing scary. They maneuver bamboo with big paws, roll around and snooze in trees. What’s not to love?
China! First Impressions
We are so glad that we decided to include China in this itinerary. Already Lucy has said that she is proud to be Chinese. Done. Everything has been worth it.
Roadschooling Myself: Ten Lessons from Nepal
Before this year-long educational odyssey of fun and adventure, I created my own brand of curriculum for my kids. I thought of books to read, projects to enjoy and fantacized about all the real-world learning that would happen for my kids. But Nepal schooled me too. Here is my listicle for the ten lessons I learned from Nepal.