The Big Trip: A Family Gap Year
by Martha McManamy ’75
Lulu Publishing, July 2014
Taking a year off from the “rat race” is an idle dream for many, but the McManamy family — including their three teenagers — decided to make it happen. The Big Trip: A Family Gap Year tells how they put high school, college and work on hold while they learned Spanish in Spain and volunteered in Bolivia, Guatemala and Kenya. Choosing home stays and local transportation over hotels and rental cars, they undertook a deeply immersive journey of“slow travel,” living simply, and experiencing life as the locals do. A vivid account full of adventures and lively observations, the story also offers a template for anyone yearning to undertake an intellectual, emotional and spiritual journey of discovery.
Martha McManamy is a multi-lingual, Quaker activist with a serious travel bug and a desire to make a difference. She lives with her husband and children in Newburyport, Massachusetts.