Trip FAQ

Here are some Frequently Asked Questions about our trip and our frequent answers.

• Where are you going?

We have one-way tickets to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We couldn't get round trip tickets because we're going longer than a year. The plan is to spend 3-6 months in Addis and then go somewhere else. We'll stick to politically stable countries, mostly in East Africa. Or we may stay in Addis the whole time. Or we may find that we cannot make a life on this particular continent and we'll finish out our time elsewhere, like Mexico.


• When will you be back?

15 months, returning August 2006. Just in time for me (Frank) to celebrate my 40th birthday (Sep 17) back in Brooklyn.


• Why are you going?

We're going because we want to have the experience of living abroad, and for the kids to know it too, especially in a third world country. "This is the experience" will be our mantra. On the long bus ride, while we wait in line, as we endure incomprehensible difficulties. What is easy to do? What is difficult? Who knows? We have been places for a month. You experience it differently from how you would being there for weeks or days. We'd like to know the experience of settling in for 3 months or 6 or even 15 in one place.

Another reason to go now as opposed to later is that we want the practice so that we can do it better later. And we'd like to do it again, at least once, before the kids are out of the house. Maddie is 10, so we have 8 more years with her. We'll be able to squeeze another trip in before she leaves for college, assuming we want a repeat.

And lastly, but not least, we're going to Ethiopia because we like the food. We could eat Ethiopian food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and may end up doing just that.


• How can you afford to go?

There's a difference between having a reason why we would want to do it and actually being able to do it.

We've been able to rent out our houses so that we break even with expenses in Brooklyn. The cost of living is low where we're going. That makes a huge difference. We couldn't do the same trip to a European country for that reason.


• How can you leave Family/Friends/School/Community?

Firstly, we're bringing plenty of family along with us. Secondly, ties to my family/friends/school/community should not be so tight that they prevent me from having experience and adventure. Ultimately, stretching those bonds will make them stronger. And it's only a year. And we have email and blogs to keep in touch.


• What about your jobs?

We're taking a sabbatical in professions that do not offer sabbaticals. The short answer is that it's a big disruption to our current jobs. But some things have to take priority over work. And the fact is that our careers are such that we will be able to resume making a living when we return - Miriam and Kristen in midwifery and me (Frank) to in software.


• What are you going to do?

We will eat and shop, explore the city, do what’s necessary to set up a household. The adults may offer some time to volunteer organizations. We plan to read a lot. Frank will be working part time. We will work on home school curriculum and activities for all three kids.


• What will the kids do?

The kids will do what they do here: Play, draw, bicker, eat, explore, learn, read, swim, etc.


• How much of the 15 months is planned out?

We have one-way tickets to Addis Ababa and two nights reserved at the National Hotel. From there we’re going to play it by ear.

About a year ago we had a house in Arusha arranged. But then it fell through and we realized not only that we wanted to start in Addis but that everything will be much easier to do on the ground there. And that’s the plan.


• Will you have Internet connectivity?

If not, this is the last entry you’ll read in this blog.

We expect to have connectivity. There are Internet café’s in Addis Ababa at the very least. Not many of them, like elsewhere in the Africa, but some. Will we have Google in the home as is right and proper for all living beings? We’ll see.