Guilty Pleasures

lovely family portrait <3
so it's bora bora! stunning place indeed. thanks for the tip, i might as well impart 'em to my kids (in the future) ;)

another traveller
Every sentence you write is full of deep concepts to think about. Life is a journey...

The golden age of travel
This one was from the heart and demonstrations the evolution of growth and acceptance for where you are. Thank you for sharing. We wish we could have met you when you were in the states. As you say travel is about the experiences and the people. Your experiences are different when traveling alone vs. with a family, not better, just different. Your life is full of riches and this blog is a testament to that. Continue on the path ....and happy life. Love this photo....the joy. [photo=7015341]

Must read for any Travelblogger...
and now I wish I could read your dissertation! I started traveling like your kids..with parents who traveled the world and circumnavigated the world three times by the time I was 15. But we did not travel as backpackers...there weren't any (or at least many) in the 1950's and early '60s. So reading your blog I instinctively put myself in their position, and wondered what their lives of travel would be like. I then realized I had my own kids ages 22, 24, and 26, who also traveled the world growing up, and can see how your kids might turn out. They all have an insatiable desire to travel. As for culture providing the prism through which you interpret your experiences, you did not grow up as a Third Culture Kid, as your children, me and my children did, so it will be interesting to see how this introspection develops in your kids as they do not come from a single culture to serve as a monolithic baseline. For me, home was always where my suitcase was. I have no strong attachments, but deep friendships with people all over the world. Many of my reactions to things are Thai...for one, I laugh at misfortune which is embarrasing. Your children will grow up with many Chinese characteristics, now that you are living in China, which will provide you with the material for another academic paper! I'm so glad you did not give up blogging, although you are still far behind, which is ok if you do not quit. As Linda and I will be taking a repositioning cruise in September from Honololu to Sydney (but via American Samoa, Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu, and French Caledonia), and then from Sydney to New Zealand, I guess you took your trip in this blog in September 2011...as most bloggers don't put the Entry Date as the date of their trip I like to try to figure this out. So you are about 10 months behind. We are very much looking forward to your next blogs to inspire us for our trip.

A very lucky man with a beautiful family. You had me at "travel broadens the mind." Amen.

What insight!
Funny thing is, I am probably becoming more and more an outcast in the 'backpacker' world as well. I think it just happens with time. The world changes, and often I feel I am lagging behind, still stuck in the past. My backpacking career was formed in the beginning of the nineties and the way I backpack stems from those early years. The new generation backpacks differently, seems more affluent in many ways. But, throughout the years I have also changed. As you become older, ticking the box doesn't really do it anymore, having to go off the beaten paths, as you say, only to say you did it, isn't interesting anymore. I have the same. I might not ride on cruise ships (though I would dearly like to one day) but my style of travelling has become more diverse. I will indulge, though my indulgence is mainly in destinations. Bhutan ain't cheap for instance, neither is a tour of N. Korea or some of the other destinations I go to. I gave up on total shoe-string travel a while ago, I don't feel the need to sleep in bed-bug ridden, filthy hotels anymore, just to prove I can. The one thing I can say, is that I have become damned good at sniffing out bargains. I stay in better places and pay less then today's backpackers, probably because I have less money than most of them. I feel that some of my lack of enthusiasm for the countries I am currently visiting is because it confronts me with how far away from the current backpacker community I have strayed. I do not belong to that culture anymore, and maybe a small part of me feels sad about it. Than again, I don't think I ever completely embraced it in the first place. I suspect I was always somewhat of an outcast, it would explain why I often felt more alone when I was in a backpacker district than if I was on my own somewhere. Ah, now I am just thinking too much... I blame you blog!

Very reflective
Reading the beginning of your section on "contrast travel - philosophy" I began to think of some of the ideas from an author like Jon Kabat Zinn, and then low and behold, his book title. I also at times felt as if I was reading ideas from works I had not heard in quite some time, like Edward Said's Orientalism or Foucault's Discipline and Punish - as when you were talking about filters created by sociocultural norms. It seems to me that you have not only been exposed to some very fascinating ideas, but have been blessed with the opportunity to directly experience them, which is always so much more rich and rare. You articulate these ideas in a profound, clear and gripping way. This is one of the finest pieces travel writing I have seen in quite awhile for sure.