: Eight-year-old Noe’s eyes light up as he describes the giant whale sharks he touched in the azure waters of the Sea of Cortez, off the coast of Baja California in North America.
He then goes on to list all the animals from an elephant to a bear and the one-horned rhino he has seen on his trip thus far which has covered several countries. His experiences have surpassed anything a school class or a trip to a zoo could offer.
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Noe, his brothers Tao, aged 10 and Zoan, aged 4, and parents Agnes, 39, and Adrien, 40, from France, have been travelling the world on their fully-equipped camper truck, and celebrated the first year anniversary of their trip in Puducherry.
Their trip which began on February 19, 2014 from Los Angeles, U.S., will culminate in France in June 2015, and covers eight months in Central and South America, five months in Thailand, India and Nepal, two months in New Zealand and Australia and three months in Southern Africa.
The inspiration came from a six-month backpacking trip the couple had done from Alaska in North America to Ushuaia considered the southernmost city in the world, in South America around 15 years ago. “The trip was beautiful. We experienced freedom. We wanted to repeat it with the children, once our youngest turned four,” says Agnes.
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The couple, both of whom are engineers, saved up, and took a sabbatical from work. They made plans to travel the world on a camper truck, and planning began in earnest in February 2013. This included research on routes, air tickets, cargo ships for transporting the truck, enrolling the children for the National Centre for Distance Education (CNED) in France, paper work for travel, insurance and customs, international driving licence, vaccinations and health checkups, spare parts for the truck, booking accommodation where required.
While their camper truck emblazoned with the trip’s logo ‘family planet’ has been their constant companion till India, they had to send the truck back to France from Chennai. In New Zealand and Southern Africa, the family has made reservations to rent another truck, while in Australia they will camp and drive around in a car.
Their stops in India have included Kolkata, Varanasi, Agra, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Kashid, Goa, Bengaluru, Mysore, Bandipur National Park, Udhagamandalam, Kochi, Chennai and Mahabalipuram.
Agnes says she found people to be curious in India, with many of them asking about their journey. In Puducherry, the family visited the Promenade Beach, Ashram and spent some time in town. “I found the streetscape in Puducherry to be very similar to France. We also ran into so many French people in India. We would have liked to meet more Indians,” she says. The family is maintaining a blog with updates and photographs. The couple teach the children lessons based on the CNED syllabus for three hours a day five times a week. The tests are scanned and sent to France for regular evaluation.
“The children loved the stay in Mexico. Touching the whale sharks there was a marvellous experience. The trip has been great for the children. They have met different people, experienced new cultures, learning history and geography firsthand. In many situations, they had to speak to strangers and use languages other than French,” says Agnes. “The trip has been wonderful for us as a family. Our bond has strengthened,” say Agnes and Adrien, as they get set to explore new countries.
Their camper truck emblazoned with the trip’s logo ‘family planet’ has been their constant companion