Sam Pease - The Jet Project: A 600-day Global Ed-venture With My Son

Grand Canyon, USA.

Id dreamed of doing this trip for over a decade, but one thing always got in the way. Money. Or rather, a lack of it. Every time I came close to having anything even remotely resembling savings, my plans were delayed by unforeseen bills and life shocks. It seemed like Id only ever see the world through Google images.

Then an unexpected windfall changed everything. It wasnt enough to travel for long, but it got me thinking If I sold my house, too, I could do all the things Id always wanted to. Yes Id be essentially homeless when I returned but after losing both parents in a two-month period I needed to create new memories and prove there was life after death.

I started this trip when my son Jet was 10, mindful that he would soon be a teenager, and if hes anything like me itll be a stroppy few years of puberty, confusion and hormonal upheaval. So, I gave him the greatest gift any parent can give their children: quality time, before he teens-up and thinks Im annoying (and terminally embarrassing).

This book is full of tips on how to travel with kids in a way that lets you relax and enjoy the experience. Constantly moving isnt draining if you learn how to travel well. And I learnt well: we hit more than 50 cities in 600 days and did enough kilometres to take us around the globe four times.

We also:

• swam with 21 million harmless jellyfish in a remote lake in Palau
• received a 2 billion dollar cheque for DJing in a club overlooking the White House
• floated through the Grand Canyon
• camped with nomads in the Sahara Desert
• danced on the Great Wall of China
• got kicked out of the Vatican City
• learned to ski in the French Alps
• ate lunch on the grassy knoll
• and were VIP guests backstage at a famous bands gig in Singapore.

And those are just a fraction of the surreal new memories we made.

We were supposed to be away for a year. It turned into nearly two. And we still didnt do half the things we planned to. Thats because I discovered the art of slow travel. Not at first we were zipping around the world crossing things off our bucket list but once we landed in Europe we slipped into a gentler pace; I decided to live instead of visit.

Capturing the essence of a place takes time. Have you ever returned from a holiday needing a holiday? If so, you were probably doing too much. Slow travel isnt something that comes naturally when youre overseas, but embracing it will make your trip memorable without the exhaustion of travel. Theres an art to it Ill show you how to get the most out of your trip and your family while youre away.

Travel doesnt have to be expensive. In fact, it can end up costing not that much more than what you would spend if you were at home. It all depends on what you do and how you do it. Ill teach you all the tricks on how to parent on the move without draining your resources.

Despite all the amazing things weve seen and done, the best part of The Jet Project has been hanging out together without the distractions of school, work and boring house-chores. The best conversations with your kids always happen when theres nothing planned. Mostly because you have the time and emotional bandwidth to relax into a chat about nothing.

Low-tech downtime has led to some of my favourite moments: counting 100 stunning sky-wide lightning strikes in Miami, making up stupid lyrics to well-known songs while horrifically lost in Provence, mummifying Jet in toilet paper while stranded indoors during a storm in Nice, and playing idiots hide and seek in Las Vegas, then trashing the room. We had to. It was Vegas. And lets face it a gentle room-trashing from a mother and son is not the same as a stag night suite-smash in Sin City

Sahara Desert.

Carcassonne, France.

For one year Jet was in a global school, with me as his facilitator. In the second year he went to a local school in France, where only two people spoke English. Yes it was a bold move. But it was a calculated risk Do I feel like he was disadvantaged academically or socially by missing out on a year of school? Not in the slightest. I introduced him to a wide variety of cultures, languages, historical events and learning experiences that he couldnt have got in a traditional education system.

If youre worried about taking your kids out of school for an extended period, think about the value of learning on the move. But every child is different. Many kids will accept the erratic routine of unschooling, others will thrive, and some will buckle under the strain of no fixed abode. If youre thirsty for knowledge, new experiences and understanding new cultures then unschooling could work for you and your kids. It did for us.

As Jet said, We did lots of amazing things on the trip like seeing a space shuttle in Cape Canaveral, touching roof tiles that were melted when the atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima, or going to the museum of math in New York and creating a double pentadecahedron and winning a competition for best shape of the week. But some of the little things were just as memorable. Like someone thinking I was really French because Id gotten better at speaking it, and being able to hold a long conversation in French without trying to remember the right words.

Jet and I have always been close, but now theres a new connection, one that stems from having only each other as company, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for close to two years. Im confident that this next-level bond will help us both navigate the undoubtedly challenging teenage years with openness and honesty. And when youre a family of two that is super important.

The Jet Project was an absolute success. Its given us some amazing new memories and cemented an indestructible bond (which after a devastating double-loss was needed). But unexpectedly, it has completely restored my faith in people. I was terrified we were going to end up hurt or seriously injured, but, it turns out, people all over the world are kind. And warm. And friendly. Despite what you read online.