Our Journey: Learning Our Way Around the World

Join our family of three as we explore non-traditional education and holistic wellness across Southeast Asia for a year.

We’re Tristan, Bekah, and Hazel, a family of three spending a year exploring Southeast Asia. CURIOUSx3 is where we share what we learn along the way: honest travel stories, practical tips for families, and a look at how we’re tackling school on the road. Hazel will share her own posts, photos, and opinions too, including her verdict on the best street food in Asia.

How we got here

We were both fortunate to be exposed to travel early. Tristan was born to a German mother and an American father, and he spent childhood summers and Christmas holidays visiting his grandparents in Germany. Bekah’s family moved to a new community in the United States every few years, and she was hooked on international travel after her first trip abroad. In college she went to Russia to share principles of student government and to work in an orphanage. Having both traveled and lived abroad, we found that our love of travel helped bring us together. We’ve visited every continent together, culminating in an expedition to Antarctica for our honeymoon.

When Hazel joined the family, we knew travel would change and bring new challenges, but also that it would stay a priority. She first slept through the night at nine months old, when we visited Europe and realized she’d been operating on a different time zone all along. In her early years we traveled on our own schedule. Once she started elementary school, we were locked into the school calendar, traveling during summers and holidays along with everyone else.

Why a year, and why Southeast Asia

We had talked about taking a year for “world schooling” before Hazel was even born. As she grows up fast and becomes more embedded in school, activities, and friendships, we realized it was now or never, so we chose her fourth grade year. Bekah lived and worked in Cambodia sixteen years ago, while Tristan and Hazel had never been to this part of the world. The consistent (hot) climate would make packing for a year easier, and the relatively low cost of living would stretch our travel budget further. That made Southeast Asia the natural choice. Over the year, we expect to travel to Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, with perhaps a few unplanned detours along the way.

Hazel is completing fourth grade on the road, in coordination with our school district back home. During the hottest part of mid-day, we typically tackle structured online lessons in math, reading, and writing. Mornings and evenings are for everything else: haggling at a market is a math lesson, a temple visit is history, a yoga session is PE, and a journal entry about any of these experiences is writing practice.

We’re not trying to replicate a classroom. We want Hazel to be adaptable, curious, and comfortable in unfamiliar places, while staying on track academically. We’ll share what works and what doesn’t, including the days the plan falls apart.