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Following the Sun: Tales (and Fails) From a Year Around the World With Our Kids
A must-read for any parent pondering extended family travel,
Following the Sun
offers a refreshingly honest account of one American family’s decision to uproot their conventional life and embark on a year-long adventure around the world with two small children.
After having an epiphany (the world is big and our time is short), working parents Margaret and Teddy Sullivan make the drastic decision to quit their jobs, give up their New York City apartment, pull their two kids (four and six) out of school, and leave the U.S. with nothing more than carry-on bags to travel for a year to twenty-nine countries spanning six continents.
Following the Sun transports readers along their ambitious itinerary through vivid descriptions—cloud forests in Peru, horse races in Mongolia, sunsets in Zimbabwe—and in the process, answers commonly asked What did they pack? Where did they go? How did they stay sane with their kids around all the time? It also answers plenty of questions no one asks, ever. Like what to do when your five-year-old projectile vomits on a crowded Saigon bus, or what not to do, under any circumstances, when piranha fishing in the Amazon.
More than a travelogue, Following the Sun reveals practical hacks and hard-won wisdom—about travel, about the world, about being parents—and offers a glimpse into what can happen when a family steps off the treadmill of daily life to experience adventure together while they still have the chance.
After having an epiphany (the world is big and our time is short), working parents Margaret and Teddy Sullivan make the drastic decision to quit their jobs, give up their New York City apartment, pull their two kids (four and six) out of school, and leave the U.S. with nothing more than carry-on bags to travel for a year to twenty-nine countries spanning six continents.
Following the Sun transports readers along their ambitious itinerary through vivid descriptions—cloud forests in Peru, horse races in Mongolia, sunsets in Zimbabwe—and in the process, answers commonly asked What did they pack? Where did they go? How did they stay sane with their kids around all the time? It also answers plenty of questions no one asks, ever. Like what to do when your five-year-old projectile vomits on a crowded Saigon bus, or what not to do, under any circumstances, when piranha fishing in the Amazon.
More than a travelogue, Following the Sun reveals practical hacks and hard-won wisdom—about travel, about the world, about being parents—and offers a glimpse into what can happen when a family steps off the treadmill of daily life to experience adventure together while they still have the chance.
391 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 6, 2023
11 people are currently reading
50 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Bensfield Sullivan
1 book3 followersMargaret is a writer and illustrator living in Manhattan. Her work combines a personal passion for archiving with the visual storytelling skills she honed over nearly two decades in brand marketing.
An avid traveler, Margaret and her family spent 2019 criss-crossing the globe on a family sabbatical, visiting 29 countries and six continents. She wrote all about it in her travel memoir "Following The Sun: Tales (and Fails) From a Year Around the World With Our Kids."
An avid traveler, Margaret and her family spent 2019 criss-crossing the globe on a family sabbatical, visiting 29 countries and six continents. She wrote all about it in her travel memoir "Following The Sun: Tales (and Fails) From a Year Around the World With Our Kids."
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 29, 2024
My Wife read this first and insisted I then drop everything and give it a read so we could have our own mini book club discussion. I read it within the next 2-3 days, and was happy she'd made me do so ... sort of like asking your family to drop everything and take a year long trip around the globe ... but maybe not so dramatic. I must say that the reason we were even aware of this book / author was because we had the privilege of meeting Margaret's Mother Llewellyn at a health retreat in Hilton Head, and she spoke so glowingly about it, we had to give it a read.
We're glad we did!
Margaret is a lovely writer who exposes all the good, bad and wonderful things that can happen when you break free of your comfort zone and open yourself to new adventures (even with young children). I also appreciated watching the families transitions as times and experiences molded them in ways they likely would never have seen had they not taken this endeavor.
We're glad we did!
Margaret is a lovely writer who exposes all the good, bad and wonderful things that can happen when you break free of your comfort zone and open yourself to new adventures (even with young children). I also appreciated watching the families transitions as times and experiences molded them in ways they likely would never have seen had they not taken this endeavor.
March 20, 2024
Travel stories and memoirs have always fascinated as I am a regular traveler in my country, exploring the not-so-known quite places. This book hit me hard to realize that the world is a big place and I have less time to explore it. I know well, I cannot be Margaret and her family. They have done an incredible feat and showed us the power of living life impromptu. Look at their life’s portfolio: good jobs, two children, great life in New York City. Leaving jobs and home, taking young kids on a world tour – I believe it is an accomplishment in itself than enjoying sightseeing and observing customs and cultures of others.
I carefully read the initial part of the book. I got what I was looking for. What actuated them to take up travel and most important I found really relevant insights as how and what to prepare for an open-end travel itinerary. As the title suggests one of their topmost travel secrets – following the sun – I really sighed in appreciation. In fact this is one of the best tips for anyone planning to travel the entire world. Travelling in warm and sunny weather is not only pleasant but also saves one from unwanted clumsiness that comes with chilling conditions of winter, especially where it snows a lot.
Every travel tells a story of its unique experience…and with Margaret and her family we got to know many from 29 countries. Lucky was the family as they landed home well before the Covid pandemic. Once I got in the book with them, feeling like their co-traveler, I grew enchanted about all countries they touched, as I am yet to make up my first international travel. I loved her writing flair and the ability to narrate a web of stories in the form of vignettes from each place. Her detailing of the place, people and their first experience with them is vivid and portrays a pragmatic realism. She provides a window to the world that many of us yet crave to visit like a full-time traveler.
The book equips readers on how to travel for a longer duration with family. The scaffold of the information the book portrays is well-written, insightful, and of course laced with experience.
I carefully read the initial part of the book. I got what I was looking for. What actuated them to take up travel and most important I found really relevant insights as how and what to prepare for an open-end travel itinerary. As the title suggests one of their topmost travel secrets – following the sun – I really sighed in appreciation. In fact this is one of the best tips for anyone planning to travel the entire world. Travelling in warm and sunny weather is not only pleasant but also saves one from unwanted clumsiness that comes with chilling conditions of winter, especially where it snows a lot.
Every travel tells a story of its unique experience…and with Margaret and her family we got to know many from 29 countries. Lucky was the family as they landed home well before the Covid pandemic. Once I got in the book with them, feeling like their co-traveler, I grew enchanted about all countries they touched, as I am yet to make up my first international travel. I loved her writing flair and the ability to narrate a web of stories in the form of vignettes from each place. Her detailing of the place, people and their first experience with them is vivid and portrays a pragmatic realism. She provides a window to the world that many of us yet crave to visit like a full-time traveler.
The book equips readers on how to travel for a longer duration with family. The scaffold of the information the book portrays is well-written, insightful, and of course laced with experience.
January 14, 2025
2.5 ⭐️ the book was totally fine. I just wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re thinking of taking a year long sabbatical around the world (3 stars means I’d recommend 😂). It’s kind of a play by play diary as a family upends everything to travel the world. An incredible idea, and it would take a unique family to do it, but it was also a little mundane. I did appreciate the overall message of slowing down and making life your own. I especially liked this “…an auto pilot routine can make life feel short, whereas memories, when accumulated, stack up to make life fuller.” A great reminder for me, someone who will not travel the world for a year, memories we make with our kids and each other make life feel full and less transactional.
December 31, 2023
Margaret and Teddy and Willa and James around the world in a year. Absolutely excellent. Fantastically written and great mix between logistics and local color. I try to read every single book in this genre (family gap year) and this is my favorite one. I particularly liked that there was no (made up) magic moment of realizing that traditional life sucks before leaving; just the call of something new.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews