What is the ROCO Project?
These travel plans have been in place for around 18 years. Over the span of 3.5 months (104 days), we’ve taken 18 flights, 6 car rentals, 14 trains, endless buses/taxis/taxis/subways/Ubers, and 9 boats across 9 European countries.
See our most recent travel posts and videos:
This was our first real trip to Japan (though we’ve had intentionally long layovers in Japan, where we explored a bit.) We only had 6 full days, so we’ve broken everything we want to see into regional sites per day. It worked out rather well.
Tucked beside the glassy waters of Lake Annecy, our good friends’ family welcomed us to their village. We spent our time swimming, fishing, hiking, and relaxing, all against a backdrop of Dr. Seuss-style alpine peaks and lush green flower-dotted hillsides.
Having had just looked through past photos for Grandpa’s memorial, I stumbled on an amazing trip 6 years ago. Our family trip to Sierra-at-Tahoe was a wonderful way to experience Lake Tahoe in winter.
Join us for family-friendly activities in the Ardèche in the south of France. From cliff diving to prehistoric caves, here’s how to enjoy this beautiful region with kids.
It was my first time visiting Tahiti. I share some highlights, my impressions, and ultimately the impact the Tahitian people had on my family.
Our trip to Universal Studios Hollywood was our first in 30+ years! Here we share what we did right and what we did WRONG!
Scams that are hard to avoid, and Scams you’ll likely naturally avoid with common sense are listed from our experiences in Europe.
We share our impressions of each wave, our favorite things, and what we would do differently next time we take a Nicaragua Surf Trip.
Join us in Amsterdam with kids for 4 days as we bike, stay in a house boat, explore museums, parks and avoiding the red light district.
We enjoyed 4 days in Hamburg, Germany with our kids in order to meet our long-lost family and to explore.
Hippies come in all forms, fashions, and families, and since Paia Town has been a beloved, salty melting pot of hippie happenings since the 70s, I’m here to classify some of the most recognizable types for your knowledge and entertainment.
Exploring a country isn’t just about visiting tourist hotspots. I was eager to see the real Poland, so we went to his hometown in Poznań to experience everyday life there. I’m truly grateful we did—it was a remarkable experience!
Uluwatu in Bali is famed for its epic cliffside views, world-class surf spots, and the iconic Uluwatu Temple perched atop limestone cliffs.
Nusa Lembongan is a small island near Bali in Indonesia. A quiet, peaceful atmosphere with amazing surf, scuba diving, and epic adventures.
Bali is home to some of the most saught after temples for travelers around the world. Herre are 10 Bali temples you should see when you go.
Looking for a way to give back on Bali? We visited Bali Yayasan Permata Orphanage, where we spent the day surfing with some awesome kids.
3 Days is an insanely short trip for any city in Europe, but we had to sneak in a Coldplay concert. Copenhagen has captured our hearts, and its now on our revisit-list!
We managed to visit the aquarium, surf man-made waves, watch the Lion King musical, participate in a wild street festival, and explore old Tyntesfield.
We’d just come off a week through the Greek Islands on a catamaran, and staying at a beach club didn’t sound half bad. With building expectations, we were excited to spend time on land enjoying the beauty, food, and people of Greece.
When friends ask us what our favorite part was on our Europe trip with kids across 9 countries, sailing in a catamaran through the Saronic Islands is first to mind.
Here we share the limited experiences we had in the short time before and after going on our week-long boat trip through Greece. We had a day before and after, and we took full advantage of the little time in Athens we were afforded.
My first trips to Italy 20+ years ago left me underwhelmed. Heat & Crowds turned me off. This trip, however, changed my opinion of what I now see as one of my favorite countries on Earth: ITALY!
We’ve stayed at his flats in the past, but it was always just 3-5 days in Paris (and never with kids.) Traveling back to France after an 18-year break from Europe, we were itching to explore one of our favorite cities again.
Our only exposure to Richelieu was a lunch 20+ years ago, so we were excited to spend some quality time in this old city after our stay in Geneva with kids.
I’ve shared some of our favorite things to do in Geneva with kids, within surrounding areas, and tips and tricks we’ve learned over the years and during this recent 2-week trip.
7 nights is never enough in Virginia with our favorite people, but here are some fun things to do with kids in and around Aldie.
I’ll be documenting each part of our crazy trip coming up, and I thought sharing packing and prepping would be fun.
We did the 3-day 4-night trek in north Vietnam’s Sapa region. The following is our account of what happened along with some photos.
We went to Vietnam on a whim knowing we’d spend over 60 total hours traveling on our 7 day trip. Crazy? A little bit. Worth it? Absolutely.
When we formulated this massive trip, we were just 2 married couples without children. We’re all somewhat experts in our respective professions. I am the web designer and internet marketing expert. My wife is a professional photographer. Our friends are: a school teacher/author that has a doctorate in education and her husband is a business wizard. Between us, we have skills perfectly matched for what we plan to undertake.
Our goal for each couple was to have 2 kids each, and when they hit the ages between 8-11, we would travel around the world for a year. It was too lofty, with school and work, so we’ve decided to do 3.5 months instead.
We want to present our ever-changing world to our children first-hand in the most honest light. We will be sharing our experiences here through stories, photos, and videos with friends and family.
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Our ROCO world is NOT about empty promises, unfulfilled goals, and what could have been. WE live for today, growing and building for the future, in order to have outstanding lives, extraordinary experiences, and lasting memories.
We are ROCO.
ROCO stands for Rocking Our Children’s Outlook, and we plan on doing just that. Our goal is to provide a unique and early perspective for our children that offers diverse insight into our changing world.
Why?
If you have to ask this, you don’t have children. All 4 of us had been given at least a small glimpse of the world at a young age that changed us forever. We plan on giving an even larger glimpse to ours. Our expectation is that our children will begin life with a better understanding of our planet and its cultures than most are fortunate enough to enjoy. We then hope that they can illustrate this understanding by living with an additional zeal for life and by sharing their experiences with others. Perhaps we can begin a domino affect to change our world for the better… Even if in the smallest, yet still meaningful way. Time will tell; this is why we began our project before our children were even born.
Our project loosely began in 2008 over cocktails, dancing, and bright excited chatter. We spoke of children that were still twinkles and adventures that hadn’t been conceived. It was everything you’d expect from 20-something couples… Only we were entering our 30’s. Our age was not a disadvantage because NOW we’re able to act upon our urges with effectiveness.
We are 4 individuals built for such an experiment. Between us, we possess every attribute needed to create a successful and deeply impactful world experience for our children. An experience that we will then share with family and friends.
The ROCO children will live bigger and stronger than we ever did. With our help, your children will take their lead when joining us by following each discovery we make.
Almost everything we do will be shared with videos, photos, and regular blogging. We intend to share the triumphs of every winning experience as well as the trials of each failure.
Adults often don’t give their children enough credit. Remember when you were a child? When adults would speak around you as though you didn’t understand them? Remember how much insight you gained into situations you weren’t meant to be privy to?
We do.
Of course, we’ll never put our children into excessively dangerous situations, but we trust them enough to make their own decisions on whether they want to approach a task. Our children’s safety will never be put in jeopardy, though were more willing to take risks in experimenting with their education. In the few years I enjoyed living abroad as a young child, I learned a lifetime of truths about myself and about human nature. We hope the same insights will be available for our children through this process. In every circumstance, we intend to challenge our kids, but we’ll never push them too hard. Nothing good comes from under-estimating a child. We plan on offering opportunities to them, and God willing, they’ll take them.
Here are some of the Countries I’ve visited:
( I really ought to put them together by Continent and share a little about each one. Ex. I’ve been to Mexico more than I can count.)
USA – Live here now
United Kingdom – lived for 2.5 years
Switzerland
France
Netherlands
Italy
Greece
Germany
Denmark
Poland
China
Vietnam
Indonesia
Japan
South Korea
French Polynesia
Mexico
Canada
Nicaragua
Costa Rica
El Salvador