Customer Reviews

Bring Your Own Children: South America! A Family Sabbatical Handbook

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Robin and her family exemplify how to abandon the deferred-life plan for a luxury lifestyle based on time and mobility. Serving as a perfect example of how families can travel together for an extended period of time, BYOC: South America! provides all the details that other families need to create their own sabbatical or mini-retirement. From detailed planning to on-the-road notes from her eight-year-old son, it's a complete and eye-opening roadmap for parents who want to escape the grind and give their children the best education of all: amazing experiences

Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

This is an excellent book for anyone interested in traveling to South America with children. The author, her husband, and 8-year old son spent a year traveling, learning Spanish, and volunteering at various organizations. It's not only a useful reference for where to go, where to stay, what to do (or not do!), but also gives you insight into their actual travel experiences throughout the year and shows you exactly what each place is like for a family. They have personally been to each of the places listed - whether it is a hotel, a hostel, a tourist site, a spanish school, a volunteer organization, or whatever - and recommend each of them, rather than just having a long list of questionable resources. Each chapter ends with travel notes from 8-year old Christopher's perspective. Complete with packing checklist, their actual budget for the year, travelers tips, and lots of pictures, this is an entertaining, well-written, and informative guide book.

What sets this book apart from the majority of other travel-literature is that the writer crossed a continent together with her husband and 8-year-old son. It is truly an eye-opener for anyone who believes the traveling life ends once you are married with children. There are no more excuses! So many people say that they wanted to go traveling in their youth but then came a job, a partner, a kid....Robin proves that there is nothing holding you back of living out your dreams. All it takes is a little bit of planning and off you go.

We purchased this book because our family will be spending 7 weeks in Ecuador this summer. I was hesitant to travel with our children until I read this book. These parents are such inspirations! We are so excited to leave now! I couldn't put this book down because as I read I grew more an more excited for the upcoming trip. The family proves that you can travel with your children but you need to look at the trip from a child's persepctive. The author gives plenty of helpful tips on what to pack, where to stay, and what to visit. Although she gave plenty of tips, I wish she would have given even more. Her anectdotes and experiences were so fun to read, but several of them were a bit to long and detailed. Each chapter has a page written by her son-I found this interested and helpful to hear what he enjoyed and disliked. All in all, I recommend this book if you are planning or considering a trip to South America with your kids.

As a family just beginning the process of planning an extended trip abroad, we were both encouraged and reassured after reading this wonderful book. What sets this book apart from other family travel books is the practical information that is contained in each and every chapter. Checklists, contact information, and honesty in regards to each country visited make this a book we will reference frequently as our travel plans continue to form. On top of the practical information, their adventure is a joy to read! Thank you!!!!

This book is well organized, after every chapter(country) she summarizes all of the details, recommended things to do, see, gives useful tips. However, I found her writing style rather dry and sometimes a bit boring. Overall, it was worth the money.

I really enjoyed reading about Robin, Fran and Christopher's adventures. It gave me ideas about enjoying life with my own family even here at home. But also it reminded me that the world is out there waiting, and that kids deserve to explore it just as much as anyone else. The book is a great insight into how to help them do that.