Gloria Lee

I’m stuck in a black hole of travel planning

The last few weeks have been a carpal-tunnel-inducing blur of Momodo, Airbnb, Kiwi, SmartFares, Booking, TripAdvisor, random travel blogs, Sherpa, Google translate, email, various countries’ U.S. embassy websites and departments of foreign affairs. Getting denied from entry to Chile meant needing to rework our entire itinerary for the next month. So while the kids relaxedContinue reading “I’m stuck in a black hole of travel planning”

Fresh corn tortillas by Giselle (Samara, Costa Rica)

Just-cooked corn tortillas hot from the pan are exponentially more delicious than store-bought ones. Giselle is the cook at the local public high school, where she cooks a lunch from scratch for 80-100 students every day. Corbin says that the lunch is always delicious. If he has a free period, he sometimes goes to theContinue reading “Fresh corn tortillas by Giselle (Samara, Costa Rica)”

Aprendiendo español

For me, one of the luxuries of this time is the opportunity to learn Spanish. I’ve now taken 6 weeks of intensive Spanish (4 hours per day), supplemented with apps, videos and podcasts. And I’ve tried to use my limited but slowly growing vocabulary with any ticos (local Costa Ricans) I meet. (This is actuallyContinue reading “Aprendiendo español”

“And how did you convince your kids to go along with this plan?”

I get this question a lot from other parents of teens. To be honest, we didn’t really give them much of a choice. We are also lucky. Asher had just wrapped up 8th grade at Yu Ming Charter School, and his classmates were going to a dozen different high schools anyway, so he was atContinue reading ““And how did you convince your kids to go along with this plan?””

Why a family gap year?

Over the past 20 years, during our dreamy “what-if?” conversations, James and I have often talked about living outside the U.S. and travelling internationally. We wanted our kids to develop a broader perspective by experiencing life outside our privileged Bay Area bubble, and we wanted to show them some of the amazing things in theContinue reading “Why a family gap year?”

¡Bienvenidos! Welcome to our blog!

When I suggested that we start a family blog about our family “gap year,” the kids mocked me: “A blog?! Who even reads blogs anymore?” Apparently, people who are not teenagers…since it’s been my friends and acquaintances who have asked about one. Besides keeping our friends and family up-to-date on our escapades, I hope itContinue reading “¡Bienvenidos! Welcome to our blog!”