Rainer Jenss of National Geographic Traveler magazine is in the seventh month of his year-long journey around the world with his family, and the MWW team loves to periodically read about their adventures on the Intelligent Travel blog (and wish we were trekking along with them)!

When we last checked in, the family had just reached China, and has since been to Japan, Bhutan, Thailand, and New Zealand.  They are currently “down under” exploring Australia’s wildlife and visiting Sydney’s famous opera house.

While deepening his perspective through world travel, Rainer takes time to impart some important travel tips to his blog readers.  My favorite?  “One of the benefits of traveling with children is that you can use them as decoys for conversation starters with the locals.”  His words of wisdom put a new perspective of my family vacations as a kid.  

 
The Jenss children don’t seem to mind their role as cultural ambassadors, however.  Tyler and Stefan host their own blog for National Geographic Kids called Global Bros, and recently the boys wrote about their appreciation for the “western” food in Australia and their amazement of the New Years Eve fireworks in Sydney.  You can follow their trip with an interactive world map which shows the stops on their journey.

 
Stay tuned for more updates from the Jenss family as they round out their world tour!

~Bethany for My Wonderful World

Images courtesy of Intelligent Travel and Global Bros blogs