We met the most fascinating cruiser recently. Erik and his family cruised through less traveled corners of the eastern Mediterranean and north Africa. They left the US numbering seven, and returned numbering eight. The Hemingways had amazing experiences and visited unusual places that I'm so interested to share with our family- Senegal! Morocco! Israel! In the way of the cruising world, although our tracks have never intersected we know a number of boats in common, and before long it was like talking to an old friend.
To be honest, it was such a pleasure talking to Erik, I really almost forgot that the purpose of our call was not for us to learn from him, but so that he could interview Jamie and I for his very cool Family Adventure Podcast! We did get on track and had the rare gift a crystal-clear Skype connection. Erik has produced a really nice program that hits on all the big FAQs about cruising: how do we deal with homeschooling? how do we fund cruising? what about putting the kids in school in another country? Although he's a former (and future) cruiser, the podcast isn't just about cruising families. Erik talks to families who chose to opt out of the expected path in many different ways: some choose cruising. Others have biked across continents. There's a family who is driving their massive truck literally all over the world. Like us, the experience of choosing to live differently has had such a positive impact on his family and he's looking for ways to help inspire others to take the leap, however it makes sense for them. Erik puts it best on his website:
We aren’t weird, (well, depends on who or when you ask) we just knew we wanted something different for our family. We knew how life sometimes went in the ratrace, predictable, and sometimes…..easy. Do you know what we mean? It is sometimes lived on autopilot and before you know it, the kids are grown and you’re planning retirement. We wanted to take a break, and we knew the nomad lifestyle couldn’t last forever, but we chose to spend some time, focus on our kids, and maybe show them you can dream big, and with some planning, and goal setting, you can do what most people think impossible.
Oh yeah- we know what you mean! Thank you Erik, for letting us share our story.
The podcast is available through iTunes and Stitcher, or you can just download/stream the .mp3 directly from his show notes page for our interview.
