Rambling around the world

By Scott Nicholson

nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

Darren and Nicky Rousseau love to travel, but the Zionville couple had to put the brakes on for awhile as they were busy raising their two young daughters.

However, the couple decided there was no reason to wait until their golden years to visit some of the places that intrigued them, so they decided to take a year off from work and take their daughters, Dominique, 5, and Annette, 3, with them.

To make their adventure more fun, and to stay in touch with the local community and schools, the trip will be documented on a Web site at www.worldsmartkids.com.

The couple developed the travel bug while growing up. Darren spent five years of his childhood in Germany and enjoyed the convenient travel to other European countries. He worked in information technology but resigned a couple of years ago to be a full-time dad and oversee renovation of the family’s log cabin. Nicky was born in England and spent time in the Cayman Islands.

She works for Quintiles Transnational, based in the Research Park Triangle, and took a year’s leave of absence for the trip.

The couple has spent almost a year planning an itinerary, as well as trying different packing systems in order to meet weight limits. The trip starts on March 8 with a flight to Hong Kong. After a couple of days to get adjusted to the time change, the family will go to Thailand for more than three weeks. From there, it’s off to South Africa for a month, which includes a stay at an ostrich farm and a week-long safari.

After South Africa, it’s over a week in Namibia in a desert lodge, followed by a week on the island of Mauritius.

From there, it’s three months in Australia and three months in New Zealand, followed by stays in Tahiti, Easter Islands, Chile, Argentina, Peru and Ecuador. The family will finish with a week-long trip through the Galapagos Islands before returning to the United States in mid-February 2007.

The couple has bought most of the necessary plane tickets and lined up a variety of types of lodging. However, there will be some room for improvisation. The logistics of such a trip are fairly taxing, including the rounding up of passports and visas.

“Security is a huge concern for us, especially with a three-year-old,” Darren said. “There’s also the security of our stuff. We read about locking doors and using locks on our bags, and keeping important items with us. We’ll try to be as un-American as we can, because in some places Americans are kind of targeted (for crime).”

Darren said there were some food and water concerns in some regions, so they’ll drink bottled water. They also notified the U.S. Department of State in each of the itinerary countries, and got appropriate shots as well as pills to prevent malaria and typhoid.

Darren said the trip would be both educational and recreational, as the couple will “home school” Dominique, who is currently in kindergarten at Mabel Elementary School.

Since the children are young and probably won’t remember much about the trip, the parents will document it with photographs and journal entries.

The Rousseaus contacted Gail Ford, elementary school coordinator for the school system, about sharing their experiences with classrooms.

The Web site will offer chats and photos, with Darren carrying a computer and other digital equipment to keep the web site updated. He hopes to add a Web page for each stop and set up a question-and-answer forum.

“Internet cafes are pretty popular around the world,” he said. “I had to make sure all my equipment is dual-wattage and had to hunt down the adapters I’ll need.”

The couple picked their stops by compiling a long list, then crossing off countries for reasons of politics, climate, cost or safety.

“Europe is pretty expensive right now,” Darren said. “Once we had a listing, we looked at the map and made the flights as short as possible. If we were going from New Zealand to South Africa, why not stop at Easter Island? It’s a place I’ve always wanted to go.”

Darren took up playing the banjo a couple of years ago, and one of the trip’s sponsors is a music store.

He will take the banjo along and expects curiosity-seekers along the way. He also believes the family will gain more perspective on the world.

“Travel really does put things in perspective,” he said. “Growing up in the U.S., you get a tunnel view. There are people out there who don’t like us, and from their viewpoint, you can see why. It’s easy to get complacent, because we live an easy life.”

Ford will meet with local teachers to work out ways the Rousseaus can communicate with classrooms.

Time zone differences may cause some difficulties, though Darren is thinking of adding a message board at the worldsmartkids.com.

The family is limited to between 44 and 55 pounds of luggage each, depending on the airline used, so the Rousseaus have been paying attention to the items and equipment they’ll be taking.

“There are tons of things we can stress and worry about,” Darren said.

“But if we forget something, it’s not like we’re in the middle of the Sahara desert. We’ll be able to get stuff. Each country has a danger rating, and the worst one is similar to New York City’s. We’re going to relatively safe places.”

Nicky’s company has offices in each of the countries on the trip, and though she won’t be working, Darren said it will be comforting to have that connection if needed.

Though some of the lodging will be in tents or hut structures, all of them are modern and have plumbing, Darren said.

Language barriers won’t be too difficult since half of the trip will be spent in English-speaking countries. Nicky and Dominique will take a two-week introductory course in Spanish during the South American portion of the trip.