Couple Travel the World for 11 Years

[Gargamel]

http://damncoolpics.blogspot.com/2011/03/couple-travel-world-for-11-years.html

Herman and Candelaria Zapp started a 12,000 mile journey in an 83 year old Graham-Paige vehicle given to them by Herman's grandfather. At first their goal was 'just' to travel from Argentina to Alaska, but that journey has stretched into 142,000 miles, and 4 children in the 11 year journey, that isn't over yet. They are home schooling their children, each born with a different nationality. The kindness of strangers and sales of their two books cover their expenses as they've driven the antique vehicle (at a maximum 40 MPH) on 4 continents. They have no plans to stop any time soon as they travel the world.

I usually an opponent of home schooling (in most situations, but there are a few I can get behind), but this is actually quite cool. Imagine the stories these kids will have when they get older. Of course you cold argue they are missing a lot from a 'normal' chidlhood, but I would have loved to tour the world at that age.

[Spoon 11th]

Trippin'
"each born with a different nationality." This is effed up. Why are these countries giving citizenship to some random tourists who just happen to be driving by?

[Hottentot]

^^
That caught my eye too and I'm guessing they don't. It's likely to be a mistake or misunderstanding. Or then it's one of the weirdest things I've ever heard.

[DarkFish]

I usually an opponent of home schooling (in most situations, but there are a few I can get behind), but this is actually quite cool. Imagine the stories these kids will have when they get older. Of course you cold argue they are missing a lot from a 'normal' chidlhood, but I would have loved to tour the world at that age.They'll have cool stories, yeah. Too bad that they won't have friends. And I somehow can't imagine home schooling is as good as normal schooling by professional teachers (there are bad teachers, sure, but even the worst are schooled).

And everyone would have wanted something like this in his childhood. That doesn't make it a good thing though. A child would love to have candy 10 times an hour, yet we adults don't let them because it's bad for their teeth and makes them fat.

[Platapus]

Anchor babies.

:D

[Weiss Pinguin]

They'll have cool stories, yeah. Too bad that they won't have friends.
Hey, I was homeschooled all the way through high school (I'll be graduating this may) :stare: Then again, I ended up on this site, so maybe you have a point :hmmm: But seriously, if you go outside even once a week to a place with other people, it's not hard to make friends.

Of course you cold argue they are missing a lot from a 'normal' chidlhood, but I would have loved to tour the world at that age.
Also, I have to ask what part of a normal childhood they're missing out on? Actually, maybe first I should ask is meant by 'normal childhood'... if it means what I think it means, then I think being raised like this would be much preferable to a 'normal' upbringing; they're out seeing the world from an early age, being exposed to many vastly different cultures, and they will have insane stories to tell, not to mention life experiences that someone raised in one place might not have. My dad was Navy, so I got to see Japan, Hawaii, the middle east, the UK, and Texas (:O:), not to mention all the stops and visits we made moving from place to place. I think when these kids grow up, they'll have an edge over someone who had a 'normal childhood', because of the experiences they've had around the world.
And maybe their education won't be up to the standards of someone raised in a school system, or maybe it will; homeschoolers consistently score high on tests like the SAT/ACT, and consistently place in academic competitions.

Just my 2 cents :hmmm:

[Platapus]

One has to remember that these children probably do not remember all the places they went (how much to you really remember about your home when you were 5 if you moved away?

I would also imagine that the memory of the children is jumbled because they moved so often they probably would get stuff mixed up.

I hope none of the children ever want security clearances. :har:

[Tribesman]

This is effed up. Why are these countries giving citizenship to some random tourists who just happen to be driving by?
Because that is what some countries do.
Some people take citizenship way too seriously.

[Rilder]

Because that is what some countries do.
Some people take citizenship way too seriously.

Yep, not all countries are like Amerika where if you grant citizenship to anybody a bunch of protesters will pop up screaming "DEY TURK ER JERBS"

[Growler]

Wait... you mean to tell me you guys are still friends with dudes you knew when you were young?

Really?

Dayum.

[Weiss Pinguin]

One has to remember that these children probably do not remember all the places they went (how much to you really remember about your home when you were 5 if you moved away?

I would also imagine that the memory of the children is jumbled because they moved so often they probably would get stuff mixed up.
Yeah well how much do you remember about your hometown from when you were five? ;) There's a lot of fuzzy spots from when I was 3-6, but the different places are distinct in my memory. There are some places/things that you just can't confuse with each other :haha: True, the younger ones aren't going to remember much, but the older two might.

[Hottentot]

Because that is what some countries do.

Could you give some examples of such countries? Reading this thread made me go check what the Finnish law says about our regulations and I found out this:

A child gets citizenship if his/her mother is a Finn, or the father is a Finn and either married to the child's mother or the child is born in Finland and his father can be verified.

A child can also get citizenship if he/she is born in here and has no right to any other country's citizenship. Or also if the parents have seeked and been granted asylum in here.

So at least in here they are not just giving it away because the child happened to be born in here. I'd imagine most countries have regulations such as these, but I'm not an expert. Hence the question.

[Weiss Pinguin]

If they did just mean citizenship, IMO they should've just used 'citizenship'... when I read 'nationality' the first thing I thought of was ethnicity, which doesn't make much sense lol :hmmm:

[Jimbuna]

I'd love to travel like that in my early retirement...not interested in the kids bit though :DL

[Tribesman]

Could you give some examples of such countries?
pick any of the dozens of countries which uses jus soli in any form.

[Gargamel]

pick any of the dozens of countries which uses jus soli in any form.

Interesting. Had to look that one up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli

The map is very interesting.

Jus soli is observed by less than 20% of the world's countries[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli#cite_note-3), the United States being the largest practitioner.

[Hottentot]

Thanks for the link, Gargamel, saved me from looking it up as well. Totally unfamiliar concept to me before this, but interesting indeed. I learn something new every day :up:.