Summary:
In her late thirties and as a mom to three
kids under age ten, Tsh Oxenreider and her husband decided to spend a rather
ordinary nine months in an extraordinary way: traveling the corners of the
earth to see, together, the places they’ve always wanted to explore. This book
chronicles their global journey from China to Thailand to Australia, Sri Lanka,
Uganda, France, Croatia, and beyond, as they fill their days with train
schedules, world-schooling the kids, and working from anywhere. Told with wit
and candor, Oxenreider invites us on a worldwide adventure without the
cost of a ticket; to discover people, places, and stories worth knowing about;
to find peace in the places we call home; and to learn that, as the Thai say,
in the end, we are all “same same but different.”
My Thoughts:
Earlier in
the summer I took Modern Mrs. Darcy’s “What’s your reading personality?” quiz (http://modernmrsdarcy.com/quiz).
Turns out I am an Explorer-whodathunkit? I thought for sure I would be an
Escapist so I was pleasantly surprised. Early
this year read All Over the Place by Geraldine DeRuiter (link) and loved it so it
looks like Anne Bogel was right again! From the list of recommendations for
Explorers, I had read two of the five books. Of the three I hadn’t read, At
Home was the one that intrigued me the most.
I
am a totally homebody but have always wanted to travel. I have a list of places
I want to go and things I want to see, mostly in the UK because I am an
Anglophile. Unfortunately, I have never left the United States, I have no
passport, and I have only been on airplane once. There is nothing wrong with
this but I do hope to one day remedy all of those things! Tsh takes her family
of five on a nine month trip around the world and many people thought she was
crazy to do this with small children. It
is a daunting and scary thought but I cannot imagine how amazing the education
it would be for kids and adults alike.
At Home gives me Eat, Pray, Love vibes (another
loved book-how did I not realize?) in that it is a See the World journey but
also a bit of a find yourself/Spiritual journey for Tsh and I think we all need
this. Finding home and finding our place in the world are, to me, the same
thing and I love how Tsh found that balance between experiencing everything the
world has to offer but still knowing she must have a place to lay her
head. There are many funny moments that
made me chuckle but there were also a lot of thoughtful and even teary-eyed
moments that I completely related to as a wife, mother, and woman. I highly recommend you take the MMD reading
personality quiz and if you’re an Explorer like me start with At Home in the
World and if you are not and Explorer? I say read it anyway, it is that good!
4/5 stars
Favorite Quotes:
"I wasn't looking for him, but when you find that special someone swimming with Albanian teenage boys in a lake potentially swirling with all strains of hepatitis and you're still attracted to him, you don't walk away."
"Hard doesn't mean wrong. You're on the right path."
"Never put things down your gullet that could slash it in final vengeance on the way down..."
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