We are the Wonderlusters

Who are they?

Wonderlust is blend of Wonder and Wanderlust, a German word which is defined by a « strong desire to wander or travel and explore the world ». The Wonderlusters are a family of 4. They are in an endless quest to marvel and travel the world.

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Daddyluster is Poly, and he has quite an atypical profile, to say the least. Born in France, of Chinese descent, his parents were refugees from Cambodia. He’s been privileged to study in England, then in Canada, where he currently lives with his Mexican wife Jessica. And they lived happily ever after. Oops! Rewind… They have 2 Canadian kids, Mateo and Luka. By necessity, Poly was led to learn several languages (Teochew Chinese, French, English, German and Spanish), to live and discover different cultures and customs, and to travel the world. In such circumstances, he has logically nourished the ambition to explore the beauty of the world that surrounds him. His sophisticated palate brought him to eat grasshoppers, ant eggs, turtle soup, caterpillars, lizards and scorpions.

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Jessica is the MommyLuster. Mexican at heart and in the blood, she is very committed to the well-being of her family. Like most of her fellow Mexicans, she had always dreamt of leaving her country. As she also loves snow, she successfully managed to establish herself in a country called “Winter”. Artist in her spare time, she enjoys losing herself in museums, admiring masterpieces of Botticelli, Raphael, Monet, Da Vinci or Van Gogh. She appreciates having gelatos in Italy, touring the winding roads and tunnels of the Swiss Alps, contemplating architectural wonders like the Sistine Chapel and the Chateaux of the Loire Valley, et lounging on the pearly white Mexican beaches.

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Mateo de Saint-Exupery is the one who strengthened her parents’ passion for travelling. Believing they would be condemned to inactivity after Mateo’s birth, they planed a “last” great trip to Asia. That was until they realized Mateo was the world’s easiest baby. Hence, while he still was in her mother’s womb, Mateo had already climbed the Great Wall of China. Before his first birthday, he had seen the Eiffel Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Empire State Building, the CN Tower and the Pyramids of Teotihuacan. He loves hiking and building sand castles. But what is loves most is to contemplate hummingbirds. Above all, he holds the family record in the “longest-time-spent-without-blinking” game. That’s definitely an important skill for a Wonderluster!

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Luka Skywalker adores having his head in the clouds. His favorite country to visit is Mexico because he loves eating tacos. He spent lots of time of his short life there. But like his mom, he’d rather live in Canada. He saw the Grand Canyon, the Colosseum, the Sagrada Familia, Chichen Itza and the Château Frontenac. His favorite sport is barefoot running on the beach. His best memory on a trip is in New York when he took a really cool helicopter ride. Although he has slanted eyes like his dad, he has the amazing capacity to open them wider than his older brother. He certainly was born in the perfect family.

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Together, the Wonderlusters marvel at extraordinary landscapes, at countries with historically rich cultures and traditions, and at people having incredible human qualities, as well as artistic and culinary skills.

What is this website about?

In November 2017, Poly and Jessica came up with the crazy idea of going on a family trip around the world. Six months later, the family embarked on an adventure of a lifetime, which would last 444 days across 50 countries, with 56 flights, 33 car rentals and 181 dwellings on the clock.

Poly created this blog to document the travel adventures of the Wonderlusters around the world. He records the places they’ve visited, their itineraries, travel expenses broken down by category, enhanced with crisp stories and amazing photos!

As an expert planner, Poly continues to deliver travel tips and tricks in fulfilling the mission he set for himself: “To inspire and help travelers in optimizing the planning and budgeting of their future adventures, by providing them with all the tools and information needed to do so autonomously“.

What’s behind all this?

To conclude, Poly shares some personal thoughts.

From my point of view, most people work and endure a routine in order to acquire and maintain an appreciable standard of living. Eventually, we end up clinging to transient joys by acquiring a 4K television, a new car or a house financed up to the maximum credit limit granted by the bank. We take pride in being able to enjoy the material fruits of our labour, while at the same time envying the neighbor who has a greener lawn. We take for granted what others in the world will never have the chance to have.

 

I have spent years proving to myself that fulfilling myself professionally and personally in appearance, attaching myself to material possessions, or seeking recognition and admiration would bring me happiness… in vain. I have managed to a certain extent to consider myself happy in these circumstances, knowing that all this is only an illusion.

 

At the age of 25, my reckless goal was to retire at 40. I have put this modest wish aside, seeing my goals evolve as I grew older. Priorities change as circumstances change. I now realize that life is hanging by a thread and I want to pursue my dreams while there is still time, so that I don’t regret when it’s too late.

With this in mind, Jessica and I made one of the easiest decisions we ever made in our lives: to take a trip around the world as a family for a full year.

 

The goals behind this decision were multiple. We wanted to escape our comfort zone and our daily routine, to detach ourselves from our material possessions, to forge strong family bonds, to take advantage of our children’s young age as much as possible, and above all, to come closer to God. We had hopes that we would collectively emerge from this process more human, intellectually grown, emotionally transformed and spiritually better equipped.

 

The mission is accomplished.

Where? When? How?

The 444-day family trip through 50 countries has come to an end. Here is the report of this extraordinary world tour in 3 parts:

Part 1: Key highlights of a wonderful family trip around the world
Part 2: Organizational summary of our round-the-world trip
Part 3: Financial report on our family trip around the world

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