I wrote this one month after returning from our one-year family sabbatical around the world. In our first weeks home we were asked often, “What is it like to be back home?” It is a difficult question. What do you…

I wrote this one month after returning from our one-year family sabbatical around the world. In our first weeks home we were asked often, “What is it like to be back home?” It is a difficult question. What do you…
I wrote this on a JetBlue flight from Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco, almost three weeks ago. I had less than an hour before touchdown and I felt compelled to pen our feelings about returning home after our year-long sabbatical…
We traveled to the Galapagos in search of paradise. We were not prepared to find death and suffering. Shortly after we set foot on Espanola island, we spotted a baby sea lion. “He will make it another day or two,”…
We were not the only family to choose The Galapagos Islands as the final destination of a world trip. During our year, we met only one other family traveling the world (in Thailand). In Puerto Ayoro, the main town on…
During our family sabbatical, we alternated longer stays abroad with travel. Our first two months were in The Netherlands, using my ancestral home as a base. Then we traveled for four months in Asia and Australia, followed by four months…
Meeting inspiring retirees was a recurring theme during our trip. I traveled extensively as a student, thinking it was my last opportunity before starting a career and a family. I embarked on this family world trip thinking it was a…
When I studied Industrial Design Engineering at Delft University, I learnt how to conduct focus groups. You had to conduct as many interviews as needed to start hearing the same answers, or at least themes, over and over. Typically this…
I paid my way through college as a journalist, writing for “De Delftse Courant”, a local newspaper, and the university paper “Delta”. What I liked most about these jobs was the excuse to interview others about their lives. Similarly, when…