heresa Stevens and her family of four were living a comfortable life just north of San Francisco - they had a nice house, her two daughters were in local schools, and she and her husband Michael had full-time¹ jobs. But something was missing. They craved² travel and adventure and wanted to take their kids, Marina and Lilah, around the world before it was too late. Long before their round-the-world trip and even before they met, Theresa and Michael both had a passion for travel.

特蕾莎·史蒂文斯一家四口生活在旧金山以北，日子过得很舒服--家庭温馨，两个女儿在当地的学校上学，她和她的丈夫迈克尔都有一份全职工作。但他们总觉得缺了些什么。他们想到处旅游、冒险，想趁着自己还年轻的时候，带着他们的孩子玛丽娜和莉拉环游世界。早在环游世界之前（甚至在他们相遇之前），特蕾莎和迈克尔就十分热衷旅游。

In his early 20s, Michael spent a year bicycling around Europe, and Theresa spent two months backpacking around Europe just after college. After they met, the couple traveled regularly and always knew deep down that they'd take their kids on an epic³ trip around the world. They wanted to expose them to new cultures, ways of life, history and sights.

20多岁时，迈克尔骑着单车在欧洲各地旅游了一年，而特蕾莎则在大学毕业后背包环游欧洲两个月。相遇后，这对情侣会定期出去旅游。他们深知：终会带着他们的孩子去世界各地进行一段史诗般的旅行。他们想让孩子接触全新的文化、生活方式、历史和风景。

In 2017, the Stevens family finally bit the bullet. They got rid of most of their stuff, put their house up for rent, found someone to watch their dog, and bought one-way plane tickets. The family of four traveled for exactly one year with their two daughters, ages 11 and 13, visiting 22 countries and over 70 destinations. Theresa calls it the trip of a lifetime and encourages other families to travel if possible. Here's what Theresa learned on her trip around the world.

2017年，史蒂文斯一家终于狠了狠心。他们放弃了生活中的大部分物品，将住宅出租，请人帮他们看狗，并买了单程机票。一家四口（两个女儿分别是11岁和13岁）整整环游世界一年时间，游历了22个国家和70多处景点。特蕾莎称其为终生之旅，并鼓励其他家庭在力所能及的情况下也这么做。特蕾莎在环游世界的过程中学到了这些：

Go when your kids are young

趁着孩子还小，去旅行吧

"We finally started to travel when our kids were preteens, and while family travel can work at any age, it starts to get tricky⁴ as they get older. The 'teenage' time can be difficult, because they're too old to hang with little kids and too young to be comfortable around older teens. It's harder to find other kids who are just the right age for them to interact with. And when a kid hits 13, they most likely don't want to be around their parents all the time - they want to be out asserting their independence - which made the trip a struggle for our oldest, at times. But one great thing about the preteen and teen years is that kids are comfortable being alone!""终于，我们在孩子还未经历青春期之际出去旅行了。虽然任何年龄段都可以进行家庭旅行，但孩子越大，旅行的问题也会越棘手。青春期的小孩最难相处，因为这个年龄段的他们既不适合与小朋友玩也不喜欢在青年人身边晃悠。小孩儿13岁的时候，他们最不想时时刻刻待在父母身边--所以有时候，成年人在这段旅行中会痛苦不堪。但处于青春期前期和青春期的孩子有一点招人喜爱：一个人独处也无妨！"