One Year Off: Leaving It All Behind for a Round-the-World Journey with Our Children [Paperback]

David Elliot Cohen (Author)

Book Description

Series: Travelers' Tales Footsteps | Publication Date: June 9, 2001

A year off from work. A meandering, serendipitous journey around the globe with the people you love most. No mortgage, no car payments, no pressure. Though it sounds like an impossible dream for most people, one day David Cohen and his family decide to make it a reality. With his wife and three children, Cohen sets off on a rollicking journey, full of laugh-out-loud mishaps, heart-pounding adventures, and unforeseen epiphanies. Readers join the Cohen family and trek up a Costa Rican volcano, roam the Burgundy canals by houseboat, traverse the vast Australian desert, and discover Istanbul by night. Through it all, the family gets the rare opportunity to get to know each other without the mundane distractions of television and video games, discovering the world through new eyes and gaining fresh perspective on life and priorities.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

On the one hand, you've got to like this book. When David Elliott Cohen turned 40, he freaked out, sold everything, swooped up his wife and three kids, and took a year off to travel around the world--from Costa Rica and Burgundy to Zimbabwe, Laos, and Sydney--with clan in tow. This gutsy dive into the non-antiseptic, non-Americanized world (a dream for some), offers an entertaining peek into family life on the road. Written in a personal, personable e-mail style, it's often hilarious.

On the other hand, you may think Cohen is nuts. His kids cause scenes, break bones, and are often bored with the international scenery. Their family travel budget is measly--$60 a day to cover food for parents, children, and babysitter in places like Paris and Zurich. You can't help wondering why Cohen didn't just go the luxe route with the wife and leave the kiddies (including the 2-year-old) at home. While Cohen seems quite likable, as does his wife, Devi, there are moments when you want to report them to a child protective agency. Why are they endangering the lives of their kids--disregarding warnings not to take children into the African game reserve where they are likely prey for hyenas, and trekking deep into nature to see waterfalls and volcanoes with a toddler--just because they're suffering from midlife crises? After reading a year's worth of mishaps and adventures--amusing though many are--you may feel like a grandparent, wishing Mr. Cohen and wife would just take their kids home. More a travelogue than a guide, this unusual book nonetheless is filled with many examples of what not to do if you feel inclined to drag your children abroad for a year. After reading this, however, you may not feel like going at all. --Melissa Rossi --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Nostalgic for his adventurous youth, Cohen quit his job at age 40 and embarked on a year-long voyage with his wife, Devi, their eight-year-old daughter and two sons, aged seven and two. This account of their adventures consists of 23 humorous and gripping e-mails that Cohen (an editor of the coffee-table book series that includes A Day in the Life of America) sent to friends and relatives during their 1996 journey to 14 countries, including Costa Rica, Italy, Greece, France, India and Australia. Having the children along sometimes made the Cohens anxious for their safety, but watching them thrill at the sight of wild giraffes, elephants and hippos on an African safari, for example, offset their parental fears. Although the children did not share their parents' fondness for visiting museums and churches, they were delighted to live on a houseboat and see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. A trip to a Jain temple near Delhi (Devi's father is Indian) so enthralled the family that they got locked in after closing hours. Although this year-long vacation included some harrowing moments, such as when daughter Kara nearly drowned off the coast of Queensland, the author considers the rewards of this unconventional trip for himself and his family well worth any risks or inconveniences they encountered. Photos not seen by PW. Agent, Carol Mann. Author tour. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Travelers' Tales (June 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885211651
• ISBN-13: 978-1885211651
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #378,788 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Traveling with kids is different!, July 23, 2001

By 

Bill Staley (Santa Monica, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Year Off: Leaving It All Behind for a Round-the-World Journey with Our Children (Paperback)

I ate it up in 2 nights. It was great to read about traveling with kids, who have their own perspectives and don't care what the guidebook says. The "we took a year off" part was interesting, but the fun part was finding out what the kids liked and why. The humor is welcome. This will make a great gift to parents.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What did you expect??, November 23, 2001

By 

dragonsphoenix (Cupertino, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Year Off: Leaving It All Behind for a Round-the-World Journey with Our Children (Paperback)

(...) the children were the BEST part. Isn't it obvious by the book jacket that this is a story about a FAMILY's adventures? Written first person by the Dad, it can only have his perspectives and thoughts, with Devi's and the kids' interjecting every so often. I am amused by their antics and the sibling rivalry is definitely true to life. (Don't) forget that David's purpose to take this trip was NOT to research a book, but to spend time on an adventure with his family, which he does to (most of) our delight. If he had spent more time polishing this book on the journey, I'm certain his joy with the family would have suffered, and I am happy to read the entertainment that he spins for us.

Definitely read the book. It's fun, a good read, filled with a couple of practical tidbits (tricks and bribes =)) here and there about travelling with your family. When I have kids I'll definitely do the same, even if they don't appreciate it yet!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining but not enough meat to base a year off decision on, July 29, 2008

By 

Kathleen Wiersch - See all my reviews
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This review is from: One Year Off: Leaving It All Behind for a Round-the-World Journey with Our Children (Paperback)

I really enjoyed reading this book and it was easy to finish. It tries to sound like it is written as it is happening but it seems pretty clear that it has been filtered by hindsight. Although he touches on some of the challenges like getting his kids to stop fighting, again, I think the hindsight filter has mitigated how challenging this might have been at the time. Also, it seems like it focuses on the highlights, much like travel guides do when I was more interested in some of the nitty gritty of the daily life of trying to do something like this with children. What you have is a pleasant travelogue with some nicely written vignettes. My personal take-away is I would rather have my children and I spend more time in fewer places - more likely picking a base and exploring from there instead of living out of a suitcase. I also imagine that this trip cost the Cohen's a lot more than we would consider spending. They did, for example, bring along a nanny. One very useful aspect of this tale is they had a toddler along with two school age children and we get to see how the different ages affects how they reacted to the trip.