The year we ruined our lives : a family road trip through Mexico and Central America / Paul Carlino

Paul and his wife Rebecca had it all. Good jobs, healthy kids, their dream house, and the nagging feeling that the American Dream wasn't all it was cracked up to be. But they were still more than 20 years from retirement so there didn't seem like there was that much they could do about it. Then one day while drinking rum on the beach, they met a woman who was traveling the world for a year with her two teenage children. That chance encounter planted the seed that maybe Paul and Rebecca could shake things up a bit. After years of saving and planning, they bought a classic Volkswagen van, took their 12-year old daughter and 9-year old son out of school, packed up their house, and spent a year driving through Mexico and Central America. In The Year We Ruined Our Lives, Paul takes you along for the ride in their 30-year old van as he and his family climb and descend tall mountains to get to some of the hottest places on earth, are relentlessly pounded by the Pacific surf while they practice falling off their surfboards, come face-to-face with a 400-year old mummy, search for waterfalls and other mostly safe places to jump from, make chocolate and sell it to naked people, and begin their never-ending hunt for the best grilled meat. Yet, despite all their preparation for the family road trip of a lifetime, Paul and Rebecca failed to take into account one important thing. That after having exchanged the daily eat-sleep-work lifestyle for complete freedom with their time and energy, they might not want to go back home.

English