Family Travel: What is a Learning Journey and Why is it Important?
When children are in their most formative years—before the hustle and bustle of school, sports, and college applications take over—a learning journey can inspire long-lasting, transformative moments for families to learn more about the world and its cultures while spending quality time together as a unit. More than a vacation, learning journeys provide customized educational experiences that combine cultural immersion with hands-on education to ignite passions, curiosities, conversations.
Cristina did just that when she worked with Gyde & Seek to plan her own family’s learning journey across Latin America, a trip sparking learnings that lasted far beyond the journey itself. We sat down with Cristina to learn more about the motivation behind her trip and how every family can implement the same type of journey with Gyde & Seek.
What inspired your Latin America learning journey with your family?
As a parent of four children who are now in the 8 to 14 age range, my husband and I really wanted to take a year to connect with them and spend quality time as a family unit. Life moves fast with growing children—running from one school function or sporting event to the next. We went from having three meals a week together to having three meals a day together. We got back to the basics. We operated as a family unit, and the time we spent together was invaluable.
What did it mean to you on a personal level?
After spending 18 years in Sweden as an American with an adventurous spirit, I felt like this: if not now, when? My kids were growing up and I know life is too short—why wouldn’t I take a year to focus on my kids and give them this opportunity?
That’s what sparked our learning journey. I had heard about families doing these types of immersive trips, and I knew it wasn’t going to be a vacation. It was going to be work and an opportunity to dive deep into a place and its people. That’s why we tapped Gyde & Seek to plan our trip to Latin America because we believed we would learn the most as a family in this region of the world.
How did you pull it off?
As experts in Latin America, Gyde & Seek was well-positioned to support our Latin America trip. But to be honest, taking a year-long learning journey to Latin America with your four young kids felt like a risk. It was a big unknown for us. The uncertainty was high. But Gyde & Seek supported us from the get-go by providing safety assessments in each destination we hoped to visit. This gave us a certain level of comfort to move forward with planning our trip.
How did you select where to go and what to learn?
Gyde & Seek helped us narrow down our three main cities of interest: Mexico City, Bogota, and Buenos Aires. I consider Gyde & Seek the absolute backbone to this journey. They helped us think creatively about the journey beforehand and select the right locations for us to visit. They also were our strategic partners in discussing learning themes for our journey and what we would focus on throughout the year. This is the breakdown we landed on:
Languages to Learn: Spanish
New Skills to Gain: Horseback Riding
Themes to Discover: Food, Art, Culture, History.
How did you get learn the ropes of local life in each destination?
Gyde & Seek booked experiences for us in our three selected cities, and they provided my family and I with upfront coaching on where to stay, what neighborhoods to visit, and more. They gave me a pre-departure safety and travel coaching, plus coaching on where a family would want to go and not go. When we first arrived in each destination, we would have a two-day deep dive and orientation training of the city with a private gyde, a generalist who would drive us around and explain all we needed to know to live in each city: secret spots in our neighborhood, how to use public transit, and more.
Were you able to tap into the culture and soul of each place?
Gyde & Seek connected us with specialist gydes, who are experts in a specific field like art or culture. I must say, everyone we met was incredible. Gyde & Seek opened doors for us I didn’t think possible, from entering a chef’s home and dining at their kitchen table during a shared wine and food tasting to learning to paint street art with a popular muralist in Mexico City. Because we had limited time in each destination, Gyde & Seek really helped us get the highest quality experiences—it wasn’t like Airbnb Experiences which can be a mixed bag. Our Gyde & Seek outings were unique and wonderful every time. They also helped us vet and hire our Spanish tutors; one for my husband and I and one for our children. Every Spanish tutor was exactly what we needed—it takes special skills and the right company to deliver that.
As a seasoned traveler, did the trip surprise you in any way?
There were so many incredible moments, from feeling the rush of the powerful rapids at Iguazu Falls in Argentina to discovering new foods in Mexico City. But by far my biggest takeaway was around the narrative of Latin America. So many people told us why we shouldn’t take our family there—touting why it’s dangerous and irresponsible. I’m so glad we didn’t listen to them, because our experience was nothing but lovely and it totally flipped our family’s narrative on the region. Now, and we are huge advocates of Latin America and we love sharing what our journey was like with others so we can continue to see this perception change.
How did the journey change your bond with your children?
We reclaimed our magic moments. We savored time together—like long mornings spent making breakfast with no need to stress to beat the clock and arrive to work or school on time. Our time together, once again, became relaxing and magical. It took the rush out our lives. Our weekly routine was no longer splintered with commitments and sports. It gave us a chance to slow down and enjoy being together again.
What was the highlight of the journey for your kids?
Mexico City was magical for our children. They loved taking a hot air balloon ride over the pyramids of Teotihuacan, painting with street artists, learning about Mexican chocolate with a maestro chocolatero, and going to see the heart-pounding action of a lucha libre match. Plus, they loved being out of school for a year and having more flexibility in their day.
Would you do it again?
Yes! We would love to take our kids on another year-long learning journey. Perhaps Asia is in our future.
