We Came, We Saw, We Left: A Family Gap Year (B&N Exclusive Edition)

by Charles Wheelan

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Charles Wheelan, an economist, and Leah Wheelen, a math teacher, took a trip together around the world in their youth. Clearly this was an extraordinary experience, because they decided to re-create it, only this time with their three children. We Came, We Saw, We Left: A Family Gap Year is the result — a breezy, feel-good memoir of this nine-month adventure. The children are all distinctly colorful characters in their own right, and they endure, sometimes just barely, the trials of a life in motion. This is a delightfully entertaining homage to the classic road trip.

Charlie Wheelan and his family do what others dream of: They take a year off to travel the world. This is their story.

What would happen if you quit your life for a year? In a pre–COVID-19 world, the Wheelan family decided to find out; leaving behind work, school, and even the family dogs to travel the world on a modest budget. Equal parts "how-to" and "how-not-to"—and with an eye toward a world emerging from a pandemic—We Came, We Saw, We Left is the insightful and often hilarious account of one family’s gap-year experiment.

Wheelan paints a picture of adventure and connectivity, juggling themes of local politics, global economics, and family dynamics while exploring answers to questions like: How do you sneak out of a Peruvian town that has been barricaded by the local army? And where can you get treatment for a flesh-eating bacteria your daughter picked up two continents ago? From Colombia to Cambodia, We Came, We Saw, We Left chronicles nine months across six continents with three teenagers. What could go wrong?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781324036906
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	04/26/2022
Edition description:	B&N Exclusive Edition
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	4,505
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Charles Wheelan is the author of the best-selling Naked Statistics and Naked Economics and is a former correspondent for the Economist. He teaches public policy and economics at Dartmouth College and lives in Hanover, New Hampshire, with his family.

Table of Contents

Trip Map xii

Chapter 1 Lost in Medellín 1

Chapter 2 What Were We Thinking? 19

Chapter 3 The Long Farewell 33

Chapter 4 If You Want Peace, You Won't Get Justice 47

Chapter 5 Into the Amazon 63

Chapter 6 Things Go South in South America 79

Chapter 7 Inspired by Real Events 92

Chapter 8 To the End of the Earth (Almost) 104

Chapter 9 Charlie's Choice 120

Chapter 10 The Left Side of the Road 137

Chapter 11 The Exploding Penis 154

Chapter 12 Do You Have What It Takes to Cross Four Lanes of Saigon Traffic? 167

Chapter 13 Indian Bureaucracy 2, Wheelan Family 1 183

Chapter 14 A Punjabi Shortcut 192

Chapter 15 One Afternoon in Tanzania 205

Chapter 16 Home Is Where Your Friends Are 224

Chapter 17 Heading to Hanover 237

Chapter 18 The Things We Learned 258

Epilogue: Where Are They Now? 267

Acknowledgments 271

Editorial Reviews

10/26/2020

Wheelan (The Rationing), a professor of economics at Dartmouth College, delivers a humorous account of the year he spent traveling the world with his family. In 2016, Wheelan and his wife, Leah, embarked on a nine-month trip with their three children: Katrina, 18; Sophie, 16; and eighth-grader CJ. Starting in Colombia, where the kids momentarily go missing on a train platform, high-strung Charles and budget-conscious Leah haul their moody children across six continents, balancing moments of self-discovery with family meltdowns. They encounter “avocado-sized spiders” in the Amazon, notoriously horrendous Saigon traffic, visa problems in India, and an orphanage for albino children in Tanzania, and go “kiwi spotting” in New Zealand. Frequently anxious yet determined to enjoy himself, Wheelan offers plenty of self-effacing humor, amusing digressions (“Our experience was the opposite of what happened to George Bailey,” referring to Jimmy Stewart’s character in It’s a Wonderful Life), and heartfelt observations (writing about friends they made along the way, “They are a kind, charming people with a deep respect for this unique part of the world. I felt sad to be leaving”). This rip-roaring adventure will especially appeal to those whose passports are collecting dust thanks to the pandemic. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"Wheelan is a lucid and likable storyteller, and his antic family dialogues are spot-on…[A]n upbeat story."

Amity Gaige

"A swift and refreshing escape during these isolated, isolating times…[I]t's often the utter normalcy of the Wheelan family that makes this travelogue so endearing."

Carson Vaughan

"Engaging, insightful, and downright pleasant."

Nathan Deuel

"A complete and utter delight of a book, from start to finish. Charlie Wheelan and his remarkable family deliver not only a page-turning travelogue, but also a blueprint for restoring a long-lost sense of adventure into our lives."

Dan Coyle

"Makes a strong case for extended travel as a means of establishing a tighter bond as a family."

Michael Patrick Brady

"A sprightly account of an unusual family vacation."

Curt Schleier

"The family’s offbeat experiment in global immersion is a triumph of cultural connection, a celebration of humanity’s similarities and differences, presented with a winning blend of humor and humility. For those suffering from pandemic cabin fever, Wheelan’s exuberant travelogue will provide a welcome vicarious getaway."

Booklist - Carol Haggas

"Engaging stories of a family bonding over the unusual challenges and opportunities presented by budget-minded globetrotting."

John Young

2020-11-10
A vivid chronicle of a family's intrepid sojourn.

In the fall of 2016, Wheelan, a professor of public policy at Dartmouth, and his wife, Leah, who taught high school math, both just turned 50, decided to embark on a daring midlife adventure: traveling the world for nine months, accompanied by their three teenage children. Having traveled with Leah when the two were much younger, the author was convinced that they would again find that “the world is an interesting place,” the time away would give them a much-needed period to recharge and reflect, and—because they rented their house and put budget-conscious Leah in charge of expenses—the trip would be affordable. Most important, the “gap year” would give the family a chance to “push back” against conformity and break out of the “bubble” of American life. Wheelan offers an entertaining, upbeat account of the trip, often astonishingly beautiful and sometimes harrowing. They encountered snakes, huge spiders, inch-long bullet ants, mosquitoes, quicksand, and a flesh-eating parasite; missed buses, trains, and planes; wilted in enervating heat and humidity; and dealt with profuse vomiting, since all of the children succumbed at various times to motion sickness. Still, Wheelan writes, “during the stretches when I was not worried about dying, I felt deeply relaxed.” Traveling with teenagers—and home-schooling two of them—posed its own challenges: Their 18-year daughter insisted on being independent and occasionally left to travel with friends; their garrulous 13-year-old son became a judgmental environmentalist; and their 16-year-old refused to meet her school deadlines. Wheelan records five full-blown family meltdowns and many conflicts, requiring Leah to sometimes function “like the conductor of a needy symphony orchestra.” Nevertheless, Wheelan deems the trip a success: The “quirky experiences” taught the family about the world’s immense diversity and their own capabilities.

A charming celebration of discovery.

Kirkus Reviews