Taking off Travel blog

Today I’m interviewing Jenn Miller, one of the co-authors (the other is Keri Wellman) of ‘Bottles to Backpacks:  The Gypsy Mama’s Guide to Real Travel with Kids’.

Jenn, give us a snapshot of your background in writing and travel?

I was born into a nomadic family and have traveled my whole life. I’ve had the great benefit of being a child on the road as well as a parent on the road which has given me the confidence to know that this path will be great for my kids in the long run, because it was great for my brother and I. Four years ago we sold our house and most of our stuff and hit the road on bicycles, cycling from London, England to Tunisia and back over a year. That was the beginning of what’s become an open ended world tour with our kids.

I have to write to breathe, that I get paid for it is just a bonus! For the past ten years I’ve been writing for the home education market and when we started traveling it was natural to branch out into some travel writing as well. I write a lot for the online travel market, and a couple of paper magazines for the home education crowd. I was privileged to contribute the “Family Travel” chapter to an Indie Guidebook on traveling Europe, and have participated in a couple of print compilations over the years. Bottles to Backpacks: The Gypsy Mama’s Guide To REAL Travel With Kids is my first attempt at an e-book and it’s been great fun to collaborate with my writing partner and gypsy friend Keri Wellman on the project.

I get a lot of joy out of encouraging people to dream big dreams and make them happen. I consider myself very lucky to have lived the life I’ve lived and showing other families that it’s possible to combine big time travel with outside the box education and create an epic adventure for a childhood is the best possible use of my writing that I can think of.

What’s your elevator pitch?

This book answers the big question that we’re daily asked as we travel the world with our kids: “HOW do you do it?!”  From new babies through a teenager’s first solo trip, we’ll give you the tools and the confidence to take the plunge and explore the great big world, with your kids!

Now, in more detail, what’s the book about and why did you write it? Read more »

I was looking around Amazon one day, when just for kicks I thought I’d check and see if there were any books on parking. After all, we are Park Ride Fly USA, so it would be interesting to know. Instead of the big, fat zero hits I expected on my search, there were dozens. Here are the ones that looked most  interesting.

Parking Mad:

Amazon’s description:  “A funny, fascinating voyage of discovery into the car parks of Great Britain. Sixty car parks in Britain have been inspected, as far north as John o’Groats to the Land’s End car park in Cornwall. Many varied car parks are included from the dark and dangerous to multi-storeys of breathtaking beauty and sophistication, the best view and the most friendly attendants. ”

Then there’s Finding the Sweet Spot: Read more »