Introducing: The Jenss Family Travels

Rainer, Carol, Tyler (in the blue shirt) and Stefan (in the green shirt).

In one month, National Geographic Kids Vice President and Publisher Rainer Jenss will embark on the trip of a lifetime. He's selling his house and setting off for a year-long, round-the-world journey with his wife and two sons, and he'll be blogging about his trip for Traveler the entire time. We asked him to offer up a bit in the way of an introduction, and to explain his reasons for leaving his current life in New York to travel the world.

It’s four weeks away from the day my wife Carol and I have been planning and fantasizing about for the last four years. The day we officially act on the most wonderful, life-changing, crazy, outrageous, and most of all, natural idea we’ve ever had: to travel around the world with our two boys, Tyler (11), and Stefan (8).

Over the next year and 50,000+ mile journey, we will all be contributing bi-weekly postings to Intelligent Travel. As such, I set out to address two of the more common questions that people like Keith Bellows, Traveler's editor-in-chief, ask us all the time: Why we are doing this and what do we hope to gain from it? I was immediately struck by a word I came across in Global Traveler magazine just the other day, a term which they've trademarked:

Globility /glo bility/ n: The quality of being open to a world of cultures and experiences.

I wonder if this is even a real word?  It doesn’t matter. Its definition alone makes it something I wanted to adopt for this trip, and in a word, provides the core of an answer that is this complex and multi-dimensional. To understand this further, we need to go back a few years.

For most of my professional life, I was anxious to know where my career path would take me. I was an idealist consumed with trying to find my ‘true calling’, determined to align my personal interests with a job I could succeed in. During this time, Carol and I would talk only half-jokingly about just packing it up, leaving New York, and traveling around the world. That was before Tyler and Stefan were born.

Then September 11th happened, and I, along with so many others, changed my perspective about what’s really important. It wasn’t so much that 9/11 changed my outlook on wanting to travel, it was the catalyst that motivated us to finally do it. But this time it wasn’t to escape New York, a job I didn’t like, or to find my true calling. What seemed to clearly come into focus were the words of National Geographic’s Explorer-in-Residence and anthropologist Wade Davis:

“Our way of life...with its stunning technological wizardry, its cities dense with intrigue, is but one alternative rooted in a particular intellectual lineage . . . . [There are] other options, means of interpreting existence, ways of being.”

What are those other ways of being that Wade was referring to? Is how we live our lives the best way?  What can we learn from other cultures? What can we learn about our own? I realized I not only wanted to know, but needed to know, and I wanted the kids to know too. After all, the America we call home is not the center of the universe. Being exposed to cultures and ways of life different from their own will hopefully make our sons more compassionate global citizens, understanding life from not just one point of view. We further hope this experience will lay a solid foundation for them to pursue whatever it is that really drives them.

I come by my wanderlust honestly. Born in Germany, by my sixth birthday I was living in my third country, with Brazil being home from ages 2-5. I came to the United States on a cruise ship—the Italian Line’s S.S. Michelangelo. Traveling is practically a birthright for Germans; my parents took my sister and me along with them on almost every trip they went on: through the Caribbean, South America, and road-tripping around Europe. This continued up until college, where for the first time, I started to head out on my own. Whether it was following the Grateful Dead on tour or visiting friends in college towns, traveling took on a whole new scope of opportunity. I found myself in my element and I’ve been in pursuit of more of those experiences ever since.

So how about the end game? What are we going to get out of doing this, and what will we learn from this experience? Simply put, I’m not sure, and truth be told, I don’t want there to be any kind of scripted ending. As a dear friend once advised me, “Set your intention and the universe will conspire to show you the way.”

In many ways, the journey has already begun. To steal a line from Elizabeth Gilbert’s best-seller, Eat, Pray, Love, "I’m making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises." From the moment we dedicated ourselves to taking this trip four years ago, the transformation began. I became liberated from the grip of having to know exactly where I was going in life, and for the first time, accepted the notion that I could chart my own course on faith. I also began to explore professional opportunities around this notion of family travel. During that time, we developed a program that would send dozens of kids from around the country on assignment with National Geographic to places like the Galapagos, South Africa, and Australia. For the first time in my career, I felt really enthused and involved in something that was more than a professional interest: It felt like a real calling to me.

The fact that this trip has already opened up the mere possibility for me to do something different, to go places both personally and professionally that I may never have realized or dreamed of is precisely what I want to get out of this trip . . . and we have not even left yet!  I look forward to sharing what we discover once we do!

Rainer Jenss and his family will be sending dispatches from their journey as they wander the globe. Stay tuned for more from them soon!

Photo: Rainer Jenss

Subscribe to this blog's feed

Comments

[Christine]

This is great! I can't wait to hear more.

It's amazing what a simple thing, like making the decision can open up in your life.

[Lola]

The ultimate dream. Will be looking forward to their dispatches.

Wishing the Jenss family safe travels.

[Ken]

I look forward to following the Jenss family on their journey and even think that our paths will somehow cross...maybe more than once...

[John]

That's great! Keep us posted on your travels! This is going to be fun!

[Trish]

Dear Carol, Rainer, Tyler and Stefan,
We'll miss you guys but wish you safe travels. Stay in touch as much as you can, and i hope to meet up with you in South America.
xoxo
Trish

[Amy @ The Q Family]

I can't wait to hear more from them. It's also nice to know that this process doesn't come easy. 4 years in a making! I would love to hear what they did to prepare in the past 4 years as well. I love to travel and put it on the back burner once we have children. But I see more and more families travel around the world with their children. It's a great inspiration for me. Now I just have to convince my husband. :)

[Janelle]

Hi all,
We're just as excited as the rest of you to see how their trip turns out. Amy - Rainer will be blogging a bit before they set off about how the plans came together, so you can get some ideas from there. Hopefully your husband will be open the idea!

Janelle

[Barco]

I hope you have a safe trip - I was wondering if you can take my kids for a few weeks?

Have a great time! We'll be checking your blog!

The Collins

[Craig]

We'll see you on the road. My wife, two kids and I are heading out on a round the world journey ourselves, leaving July 24.

Interestingly, I've been in contact with dozens of other families who have done - or are doing - the same.

More and more families seem to be open to this kind of adventure.

Best of luck to you on your travels; perhaps our paths will cross.

Craig
www.thewidewideworld.com

[Dan Riley]

Family Jenss-
We are incredibly thrilled that you are following thru on this incredibly journey. The boys will no doubt will have memories lasting a lifetime.

Having spent 10 days with "Mr.YENZZ" in Egypt & Jordan, I can attest that no stone will remain unturned and no opportunity to gain access and insight will be missed!

Just no 5:30am trips on horseback to listen to the Dead's Blues for Allah while the sun rises over the great Pyramids! that should only be done once.

Peace,
Dan

[Warren green]

Now you know where your career path has taken you.........
It will be interesting to see where this passage around the world leads you next.

Safe travels: Take nothing but memories, leave nothing but footprints.......

[Katherine Ohlhausen]

Two thumbs up on your world adventure. Our family of 4,(Katherine, Eric, Marshall 12 and Wallis 10, just returned from an 11 month, 35 countries trip around the world on June 8th. Hard to believe we are back, the year literally flew by! This is the best thing you can do with your family, so embrace every moment, and remember, never lose your sense of humor! Live and love life with your family, thats what it is all about. Enjoy!!

[Carol Jenss]

My husband and I were thrilled to read the post about the Ohlhausen Family having just returned from their own RTW adventure. Our countdown is in the single digits now and we can't wait to begin this wonderful journey with our children and were very happy to learn about what a positive experience others have had doing something similar. We have no doubt that this will be an absolutely incredible experience for us and we look forward to sharing it with all of you via this blog.

Thanks to everyone who has posted comments wishing us well in our travels! -- Carol Jenss

[Wisner Family]

Hello Jenss family,

Have a very safe, fun-filled trip! We can't believe this day is already here. Seems like just yesterday that it all started. Hayden asks where you are almost everyday. We are so excited for you and feel like we're tagging along by reading your blog entries.
Hope to see you in Europe next year! Be safe. Keep in touch!

Tanja & Rob Wisner & family

[Erin]

Wow, this is so exciting. I hope to someday do this too. Remember to take advantage of libraries and their free resources while you are on your on global adventure.

Best Wishes,
Erin, Librarian

[Jeannie]

Trip sounds very festive. I'm going to try and get to Sydney for the fireworks. Cannot wait to see you both in San Francisco next month.