Disqus - Latest Comments for soultravelers3

Re: World Schooling is a Wild Ride That Just Might Be the Best Thing For Your Kids

soultravelers3 — Thu, 27 Oct 2016 20:42:53 -0000

We've been world schooling for 16 years in 3 fluent languages in 49 countries and with 4 instruments for our daughter and it's been the most astounding education ...better than I imagined. She graduated high school with High Honors at 14 ( she got higher on her SAT test at 13 than 97% of seniors that take the test) and started college at 14 with a 4.0 GPA while also working in film, TV and a booming singing career, plus volunteering to help others. She started her own business at 12 and wants to change the world. There really is no better way to educate as the world is our home and a child needs to know that and experience it!

Re: The 50 Best Family Travel Blogs (To Travel With Kids)

soultravelers3 — Thu, 05 May 2016 20:18:18 -0000

Thx! You go girl!! I do think learning languages is KEY for global kids & we started with her in the womb! So much easier to get it as a kid & life long benefits!! I wrote a series on this topic that may be of use to you - http://www.soultravelers3.c...

Spanish is a great second language and you are lucky that you can start now on giving him both since you already know some Spanish. Mozart was already fluent in Spanish when we arrived in Spain ( like you my husband was a .5 in Spanish) when she was 5, so it made the transition so much easier for her ( and then easiest to learn to read and write it in Spain).

Good luck!! Happy Travels!!

Re: The 50 Best Family Travel Blogs (To Travel With Kids)

soultravelers3 — Wed, 04 May 2016 00:04:25 -0000

Thanks so much for including us in this awesome post! There is really no better education nor better way to bond than through family travel. Welcome to the world of family travel blogging Sue! We're passionate about the joy and rewards of family travel, so excited to see you and so many spreading the word! Our decade of non-stop world travel and our trilingual daughter being fluent/literate as a native in Chinese & Spanish has been & will continue to be a HUGE advantage in her life. In our shrinking world, every kid should be a global kid!

Re: Questioning the Evidence for Breastfeeding

soultravelers3 — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 14:57:27 -0000

Much better Science-Based Medicine from Dr Melissa Bartick MD

Internist and an Assistant Professor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance

"This week, a widely reported sibling study by Colen and Ramey concluded that breastfeeding has “no effect” on “child well-being.” But, what’s the truth here? To start with, there have been thousands of studies on breastfeeding and health outcomes, and the best and most effectively designed studies available today demonstrate that breastfeeding changes health risks for mothers and children. Strong evidence exists for a relationship between breastfeeding and SIDS, necrotizing enterocolitis (a deadly disease of premature infants), hospitalization for lower respiratory tract infections, ear infections, diarrhea, Crohn’s disease,ulcerative colitis, and acute leukemia. Several of these diseases have significant mortality rates and huge economic costs for families, the healthcare system, and society at large. But this study looked at only two physical diseases, asthma and obesity. Thus, for the authors to conclude that breastfeeding has “no effect on child well-being” is a gross overstatement and is overtly false.

There are some great summaries on the state of breastfeeding research from reputable organizations available online including the WHO, the AAP, and the AHRQ, that provide information on the extent to which breastfeeding changes risks for mothers and children. These are risks across the population, but they do not guarantee a particular outcome for any individual baby or mother. Some of those risk changes are small and some are quite large which is why it is so important to educate parents-to-be so that they truly can make an informed decision.

This new study looked at over 1700 siblings where one child was breastfed and the other was not, and followed them over time. In addition to asthma and obesity, this study looked at intelligence, behavioral compliance, and parental attachment. However, the study was problematic from inception because the definition of “breastfed” used was problematic — a breastfed child in the study may have breastfed for as little as one day, or may have breastfed for as long as several years. For purposes of the study, both were treated the same. We know, however, for most conditions, the duration and intensity of breastfeeding is very important to health outcomes.

Although the authors concluded that breastfeeding had no effect, their results actually showed the opposite. From a statistics point of view, all children in the study who were ever breastfed did statistically better than all children who were not, with the exception of asthma. When they looked within siblings where one was ever breastfed and one was not, children who were ever breastfed still did better, including asthma, but the differences were not statistically significant (in other words the better differences between siblings could simply be chance).

Even the conclusion on the intelligence in this study is opposite the most powerful study to date on breastfeeding and IQ, the PROBIT study. This study was the gold-standard in study design, a randomized controlled trial in Belarus between hospitals and clinics that implemented supportive breastfeeding policies and those that did not, therefore eliminating the issues of other environmental factors. Infants in the intervention group had significant increases in intelligence compared to the control group, despite the fact that less than half of the intervention infants were exclusively breastfed for three months.

Another problematic area in this study is that it assumes that siblings would have the same experience and environment, which is a pretty large leap. Context and environment might change the mother’s perception of her ability to breastfeed. Thus, the premise any differences between siblings may not be due to breastfeeding, but may be due to the same factors that influenced the mother’s feeding choice. Further, the authors assume that a healthier child might be the child who is selected by the mother to breastfeed. However from practice, the opposite is actually more likely because so much education and effort is aimed at supporting mothers who have less healthy children to breastfeed, especially mothers of preterm and low birth weight children."

Re: 22 kids whose travels are super inspiring

soultravelers3 — Sat, 17 Oct 2015 19:04:43 -0000

Great to see families traveling!! We've been slow traveling around the world non-stop for over a decade to 48 countries on 5 continents! Our daughter is now 14 and just graduated high school and started college and writes songs in her 3 languages, Spanish, Chinese & English based on her rich experiences ..... and already has two of them in two movies! It truly is the best education and wonderful to be able spend so much time together as a family, living large on so little & being monolingual parents raising her as a trilingual global citizen!

Re: This family sold everything they own to visit 400 national parks in an Airstream Bus

soultravelers3 — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 13:39:39 -0000

This is a great story and I hope it inspires more traveling families! As beautiful as the USA is, don't limit it to just this country. We've pioneer digital nomads who've been traveling the world for a decade and it is the best possible education for a global citizen/ 21st century kid as well as freedom and closeness for the whole family. BEST decision ever! We've been to 47 countries on 5 continents on $23/day per person. Slow travel and seeing the world brings joy! http://www.soultravelers3.com

Our daughter is 14 now and fluent and literate as a native in Chinese and Spanish & at 13 got a higher SAT score than 97% of seniors who take the test! Roadschooling rocks!. We used a small, used camper all over Europe, but have a very low carbon footprint as we've seen the world mostly by walking or bike. We've also crossed the USA from West Coast to East Coast & more and explored many of our best parks. For anyone looking for a freer life, look into this more deeply and GO!

Re: A bilingual brain is prepped for more than a second language

soultravelers3 — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 12:50:07 -0000

We raised our blond American 14 year old around the world so she could be a truly global citizen & have the best education. She is fluent as a native & literate in Mandarin &Spanish along with English & is now adding French. BEST decision we ever made! Languages help in so many ways & although we parents are monolingual, we began her language learning in utero! Recently, at 13, with only a months notice, she took the SAT test and got better than 96% of high school seniors & I think the languages made a huge difference with that as she has been mostly homeschooled so has taken few tests in her life. It is hard work for monolinguals to raise bilingual or more children, but so worth the effort & wish ALL schools would start language learning from K up.

Re: Homeschooling in Paris

soultravelers3 — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 05:05:14 -0000

You certainly have a valid point, but I can tell you that this and more IS available to MANY more ordinary people than is often realized and is a growing trend. I just discovered this because we were mentioned in this article. Today, most can work, live, school ANY where if they want to ( if you can work at home, you can work in Rome!) and traveling the world to educate your child can actually be MUCH cheaper than living in the USA.

We're not just doing middle school in Paris and Italy, we've been on an open ended world tour to educate our daughter around the world ( 46 countries on 5 continents) the last 8 plus years ( her entire primary years from 5 years to 13) on just $23/day pp! We're monolingual parents and she is fluent as a native trilingual/triliterate in Mandarin, Spanish and English and will soon add French. She is a talented musician too, so the first kid since Mozart to do extensive world travel with a violin and piano ( and just added the didgeridoo in Sydney and a guitar in California). She is already far beyond age peers in her education ( just completed a senior year high school class online in Asia with Johns Hopkins University CTY ...on a scholarship...and got an A, will soon easily test out of AP Mandarin and AP Spanish classes for both high school and college credit), has much more free time than most tweens, has become a budding entrepreneur teaching her 3 languages to adults and kids around the world since 12 with a long waiting list, is writing a kids book series about each country she has been to and got her first paid singing gig at a huge Chinese wedding in Asia singing in Mandarin, won a Mandarin Elocution contest in a 1000-kid Chinese high school and recently was the youngest presenter at the Global Educational Conference.

It's true that many wealthy folks are putting their kids ( like Suri Cruise) in traveling immersion schools that focus on Mandarin, Spanish fluency and cultural advantages of long term travel as an educational aid for 21st century kids in our shrinking world, but if you don't happen to have the 80 grand a year that takes, with a little creativity and open mindedness, you can do even better on your own, have more time with your kid and enjoy a more free life... living outside of the box.

Neither world class travel or a world class education has to be expensive. I didn't know this was possible before we did it, but I can tell you that it was absolutely the best decisions of our lives! Instead of assuming it can't be done, start reading things like the 4Hour Workweek ( we were case studies in it) and finding ways to make it happen if you have this kind of dream for your child.

Trust me, this great Goodman quote is NOT normal ( and you don't have to be rich to live a rich life):

“Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and
driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for - in
order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and
the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.”

Re: Resources for Traveling Homeschoolers

soultravelers3 — Fri, 03 Jan 2014 10:53:24 -0000

Oops, sorry about the typo...twas late here. So happy to see your passion for this topic ( as clearly it is one of mine too).

Re: Resources for Traveling Homeschoolers

soultravelers3 — Fri, 03 Jan 2014 03:08:39 -0000

Interesting Shannon! I think we have the most experience worldschooling through travel, since we have been on an open ended world tour for the last 8 plus years to 46 countries on 5 continents to raise our child as a fluent-as-a-native trilingual global citizen. Our reason for our world travel is just to educate her and have more time together and it has been an amazing blessing and I think best education in the world. How many kids get to travel their entire primary years, have deep friendships in 3 languages, endless time exploring the world with both parents and feel at home everywhere?

Like you, we think travel is key to education, so we started when she was 2 weeks old ( started her Mandarin and Spanish education when she was in the womb...despite being monolingual parents) but didn't start our world tour until she was 5 and reading well. Starting at 12, she began her own entrepreneurial business teaching her 3 languages to adults and kids on 3 continents and writing a series of books about each country she has visited...so homeschooling middle school and high school ( she is already taking high school and college classes) looks like it will be even more fun around the world!

You can't really know another culture without knowing the language, so I think that is one of the greatest benefits of long term travel with a child. What a wonder it was to go to China with a blond child who could talk to everyone and read everything...helped us all connect so deeply! MIT Linguist Pinker's quote, ”One free lunch in the world
is to learn another language in early childhood.” is sooo true and now she is already reaping the benefits and will for life. Soon we are back to France and Tahiti as she adds French and she can already test out of the Mandarin and Spanish AP classes for both high school and college credits!

Our daughter is a gifted musician/singer/songwriter, so we've also managed to do our world tour with a piano and violin and recently added a didgeridoo and guitar! At 12, she recently finished an advanced senior year in high school music theory course through Johns Hopkins Univ.'s CTY program with an A ( a magnificent organization that she has done many courses through in math, science, literature, writing and more...so add to your homeschool resources). She also just got paid for her first singing gig...singing in Mandarin at a huge Chinese wedding in Asia...the only Caucasian there ..again.

We are primarily homeschoolers, but have also purposely dipped into local schools in 3 languages and 3 countries for short periods, which has really added so much to her educational experience, community/cultural connection and lifelong friendships around the world. As you know from meeting her in Jordan, she is a very social child, so we made up a system with many "homes" around the world that we return to often which helps her keep up long term friendships.

She recently was the youngest presenter at the Global Education Conference and said that soon many would have primary years like hers and I think that is true. Our 21st century kids NEED the benefits through travel, culture and language immersion in our shrinking world! So good on you for sharing the experience with your niece and leaving resources for others too!!

This kind of homeschooling leads to full scholarships to places like Harvard and Standford and they will be tomorrows leaders with a better understanding about just how connected we all are!

Re: LadydeeLG, You never know where a blog will take you.

soultravelers3 — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 00:24:09 -0000

Wonderful! I just found you from the Multilingual Kids Carnival and we too are raising a multilingual kid ( Spanish/Mandarin/English...soon adding French).

I can so relate to your story because we've been traveling the world non-stop for 8 years to educate our child ( 45 countries on 5 continents so far on $23/day) partly because we are monolinguals so it's the easiest/cheapest way to give her languages/cultures and raise her as a global citizen.

We blogged it just to keep a record for her and maintain ties with family and friends at a distance...but low and behold..sooooo many opportunities have happened due to our blog, twitter, youtube channel etc.

An amazing world we live in today!!

Re: Google makes Gmail’s new compose window default for everyone, soon won’t let you opt out of it

soultravelers3 — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 01:54:00 -0000

I am glad to see I am not the only one who absolutely hates this. Why doesn't Google make this optional? Makes me want to change to a different email service.

Re: The 23 strangest habits you’ll pick up after living in 23 different countries

soultravelers3 — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 04:18:10 -0000

I loved all of these..and can relate as we are about to hit our 8th year of non-stop travel around the world as a family ( and like you, actually taking time to live, immerse and learn languages...not just ticking off places).

I like the haggle one! My 12 year old daughter has become quite the master at haggling in markets around the world in several languages in the 45 countries we've been to. Since her Mandarin is almost flawless ( she just won the Mandarin elocution contest at her large Chinese school in Asia..1st Caucasian to ever do that!)...she really shocked the shop keepers in China with her Chinese, blond hair and mastership of bargaining for one so young. It was fun to watch them get a good chuckle out of it...as they are quite masterful hagglers themselves. ;)

Re: Eating Paleo in Thailand: Where to Get ‘Hard to Find’ Items

soultravelers3 — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 03:26:29 -0000

Interesting post. We are eating a paleo template/wapf diet in Penang and find in quite challenging in the grass fed beef area. We do have great DQ pastured chickens you should check out. We've got great raw goats milk and make it into kefir which is super healing.

I am wondering if any of my organic stores can get some of this stuff like the meat. I know a LOT of people looking for grass fed beef here.

Re: The Case for Getting Married Young

soultravelers3 — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 21:06:29 -0000

I
got married young and divorced young as well, so I totally disagree
with the article based on my experience and others I know. Divorce is
heartbreaking, but thankfully I didn't have children then purposely as I
always dreamed about doing that at the last moment and did. I never thought I'd divorce, but it led me to great things & fab career!

I've
been married for 21 years now to my soulmate and got pregnant at 47
after almost 10 years of blissful marriage and advise my daughter to
take a similar path of late marriage and late to children. IMHO much
more to offer to both that way.

http://www.soultravelers3.c...

Of
course there are exceptions as some do great marrying young and having
children young, but I personally am sooooo much a better partner and
parent because of life experience than I would have been at 20 and I was
able to give all to my career and all to my child ( we retired early
to raise her around the world these last 8 years). YES, one CAN do a "cornerstone" at a mature place because life can have many phases, is long and the author misses the point of the advantages a mature parent and marriage brings to child rearing.

Re: 9 of the most unlikely countries to find the language you want to learn

soultravelers3 — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:29:06 -0000

So true Andrew! We're monolingual parents who raised our baby/preschooler as a trilingual ( Mandarin/Spanish/English) in California just by finding native speakers to immerse her, starting in the womb! While all our friends and neighbors missed these free opportunities, we are firm believers in MIT linguist Pinker's quote ”One free lunch in the world is to learn another language in early childhood.”

Adding languages is easier for the brain of bilinguals/trilinguals from birth, plus all the other benefits.

To add reading and writing skills like a native, we've added dipping into foreign local schools selectively to our homeschool and world travel plan. Penang is a great place to do this for Mandarin and this enriching experience allowed my daughter visiting China at 12 for the first time , to connect deeply with locals since she could already read, write and speak Mandarin well.

I love your examples Benny! Here is why we chose tropical Penang for Mandarin and Chinese culture immersion before China:

http://www.soultravelers3.c...

We'll move onto Provence and Tahiti for French next! ;)

Re: test oembed photo gallery

soultravelers3 — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 08:21:51 -0000

Yes, I suppose like most questions it is all relative, but from someone who has been traveling the world non-stop for 7 plus years, we found the internet " access and accessibility" in China MUCH better than MANY places around the world.

We sometimes have had problems in places like Paris or London, so I was a bit worried about it before going.

We always use Witopia VPN, and were REALLY happy we had it in China. We were mainly based in Beijing ( for immersion for kidlet) lived with locals primarily and used internet in MANY places daily, and also visited Shanghai and Xi'an.

It wasn't perfect access, but I got a blog post up every day, some business done online, calls home to USA on Skype etc without any problem.

From my perspective it was great and so much better than I had expected before going. I have many friends in China (locals and expats) who also manage fine with the internet there long term.

I am not a fan of the firewall, but it can be gotten around rather easily ( and we were there when the Gov't change was going on, so more added firewall security, but that didn't impede us).

Re: The top 13 travel bloggers of 2013

soultravelers3 — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 05:43:50 -0000

We are really surprised and honored to be voted as one of the top 13 blogs in 2013! We're a family into our 7th year of non-stop world travel and blogging on $23/day pp, so spend most of our time unplugged these days and we were in China when this took place.

Thanks Chris, and the amazing folks who nominated and voted for us! Congrats to all the winners!

I wrote about it here- http://www.soultravelers3.c...

Keep up your good work Chris and give those cute kids a hug from us!

Re: test oembed photo gallery

soultravelers3 — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 22:49:43 -0000

We just left China and had great internet there...you just need a vpn to access sites like FB etc.

Re: test oembed photo gallery

soultravelers3 — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 22:07:07 -0000

You got that right!

We've been traveling the world as a family the last 7 plus years non-stop to 45 countries on 5 continents on $23/day pp, living large and have NEVER been lonely. We are case studies in 4 Hour Workweek and prove this is an option open to almost everyone.

http://www.soultravelers3.com/

We love it today as much or more than when we began and find it so much easier than most realize. As Ferriss said about us, " You don't have to be rich to live a rich life".

It's not just the travel experiences that are wonderful, but the time to bond with family and friends and the best possible education for a 21st century kid. We're monolingual American parents raising a now 12 year old kid who is a fluent-as-a-native trilingual/triliterate ( Mandarin/Spanish/English) and already a true global citizen at home in our shrinking world.

Don't let anything stop you from following your dream, if there is a will, there is always a way!

Re: Reinventing family travel

soultravelers3 — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 05:21:24 -0000

I couldn't agree with you more Chris, you tell 'em!

We've been traveling the world non-stop for 7 years to 45 countries on 5 continents, on $23/day pp. As monolingual parents raising a fluent trilingual kid in Mandarin/Spanish/English I am convinced travel is the best education possible for our 21st century kids.

We've yet to do a cruise and just made it recently to Harry Potter's World and Disney, but we've enjoyed WILD family adventures like hiking up Tigers Nest in Bhutan, riding camels in the Sahara at 6, Petra, Jordan at 10 and Great Wall in China at 12, learning to surf in Hawaii, swimming with sharks in Bora Bora, reading Homer at Troy and Mycenae, swimming with dolphins in Portugal, eating reindeer meat in a kota with friends in Sweden, bringing kids from Harlem with us virtually ..and so much more.

Re: 5 habits we left behind to travel the world (and never need to pick up again)

soultravelers3 — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 20:27:53 -0000

It's amazing how travel changes you in so many ways isn't it? Lovely post and I can relate.

We've been on a non-stop family world tour for 7 years now ( 44 countries on 5 continents on $23/day pp) and though we were frugal and lived below our means before going, we have come to know just how little one needs to be happy.

We still manage to live a VERY luxurious life ( more so than at home in California and we add to our retirement fund as we roam ) but we travel the world with just a carry-on each and still find we have too much stuff. ;)

Your year seemed to go by so fast ( 7 years has zipped by for us and I can't believe my 5 year old is now 12). I hope you can keep the lessons learned.

This kind of trip changes one forever in a good way..so proud that you went for it! Funny that the lessons aren't just about travel, eh? ;)

Re: Behind the Cover: Are You Mom Enough? - LightBox

soultravelers3 — Thu, 17 May 2012 22:09:34 -0000

"Using religious images of the Madonna and Child"

Religious images? Ha, that is a joke!! More like taking ideas from Playboy and totally misrepresenting and disrespecting this highly educated woman, long term breastfeeding, child led weaning, attachment parenting and Dr. Sears. This very sexualized photo was all about creating controversy, conflict, disgust and arousing ignorant men. It was all about selling the magazine and a cheap shot.

Hmm, why was a slim, young, blonde mom picked who had a large male child?

Who in the world would EVER breastfeed like that? Kids do not stand on stools and most mom's don't wear skin tight clothes when breastfeeding.

As someone who raised my child with attachment parenting so knows first hand the value ( on so many levels) I sure hope the article is better than the cover photo.

The normal pattern with a child breastfeeding at this age, is usually just at bedtime and awakening in the morning and usually the father is also in on the cuddling and caressing. It is about loving, nurturing, nutrition and bonding...not sex. Jeesh.

Tons of science backs up the value, not to mention happy families who have raised great kids to adulthood this way who pass it on to their kids, possibly even impacting world peace by creating greater peace in this world...one baby at a time.

Re: Should we have a mandatory tech time-out?

soultravelers3 — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 23:28:18 -0000

Oh yeah, I am very BIG on unolugged time for kids and adults ..today's biggest luxury. I worry deeply about today's kids and tech and the damage it does to young brain and our social fabric. Does it teach addiction? Screen time takes both adults and children away from face-to-face relationships, which young children, depend on for learning, connecting and growth. Abundant research shows that young children especially need to be introduced to modern technology very slowly and gradually for optimum growth.

It is not an accident that top execs at Silicon Valley giants like Google, Apple, Yahoo and Hewlett-Packard send their kids to a school where no tech is allowed at home or school. http://www.nytimes.com/2011...

Go the nontech game way for sure and do those songs...fun I still remember from my childhood long road trips. We've been traveling the world as a family nonstop since 2006 ( when our child was 5) and we purposely have no iphone or smart phone, never gave kidlet a nitendo ds etc. and yet we do MANY long drives as we travel Europe by motorhome.

Long rides are VERY doable without tech or movies..we do it all the time.

http://www.soultravelers3.c...

Re: I can’t believe I fell for that! (+ win a free Boingo account!)

soultravelers3 — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 22:43:08 -0000

Good stuff as usual Chris and hope you are enjoying this year with your family on the road. We've been on our endless family world tour since 2006, but I've never tried Bongo so would like to enter the contest too ( as we travel on a low budget of $23/day pp).

Since we started, we've been to 44 countries on 5 continents, but internet has always been a Russian roulette challenge and still is. I am writing from tropical Asia with a USB stick that is sloooooow. We even bought a mobile satellite at first, but that didn't work.

Here we are at a busy street corner in a foreign city ( Dijon) in 2006 trying to find some steps to sit on near the train station to pick up a budget hotel's free wifi. Yep, even called my Mom on skype via a laptop,shouting on this busy street perch. http://www.soultravelers3.c...

BUT that is not the most unusual place. We've had a horrible time finding internet in London and Paris: http://www.soultravelers3.c...

But sometimes cheap internet can be great in the oddest places..like in the middle of the Sahara desert! Campgrounds in Europe can be OK for internet..I once did an interview for the NY times from my RV in Barcelona, caught up outside under a grape pergola in a campsite in Cinque Terre and again outside in the middle of the night in Andalusia trying to arrange an upcoming interview with the BBC. Might sound glamorous but it wasn't as internet can be maddening and slooow on the road. Yet, it is part of the adventure.

We also found decent internet in rural Bhutan near the Tiger's Nest,very slow, expensive internet on a cargo ship in the middle of the ocean, internet from an archeological dig in Australia, outside by the pool in Santorini for a month, at an airport in New Zealand, found out about my step dad's death from a cafe in Bora Bora, from planes, steps away from Petra in Jordan, from a very rural eco retreat in north shore Kauai, from a hostel in Norway, from a rural native Tahitian home couchsurfing in Moorea, with a view of Hagia Sophia and Bosphorus sea in Istanbul, from a B&B in Key West, with a sea view in Dubrovnic, Croatia, from a bus in Penang, Malaysia, from a friends cottage in rural Sweden, a coffee shop in Galicia, Spain, Prague,CR and Cologne Germany, with a pool view in our riad in Marrakesh, while eating dumplings in Krakow, Poland, watching the sunrise at California's oldest beach town Capitola, from Lovely Ljublijana,Slovenia,from a cave in Cappadocia to name just a few strangest places. ;)