THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
Kirsten Bradley is on vacation, but it's not exactly a quick visit to Disney World.

As part of a round-the-world trip, a Fort Smith family – Kirsten Bradley and Kris Johnson, and their children Finn Johnson, left, and Olie Johnson – hiked on the German Alps over the Easter weekend. - photo courtesy of Kirsten Bradley

Bradley, her husband and their two children are in the middle of a once-in-lifetime trek around the globe - a year-long journey that began last summer and will end just before the youngsters go back to school in September.

It has been an adventure - with some misadventures - of fascinating people, amazing sights and even a nasty case of tropical fever for one family member.

"It's absolutely the trip of a lifetime," Bradley said in an e-mail interview during the family's recent stop in Germany. "It's been a wonderful thing to do with our kids. It's really opened their eyes to what else is out there in the world. We have been extremely fortunate to be able to do this, and to do it while our kids are still young."

By the end of their travels, the family will probably have visited between 20 and 25 countries, as well as driving across Canada this coming summer.

As of mid-April, they had visited 17 countries - the U.S.A., Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador, China, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, Greece, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany.

Each family member named different highlights.

"We did a last-minute cruise on the Galapagos Islands, which was awesome," said Bradley. "We got to play with baby sloths at our guest house in Panama."

She also enjoyed playing in the snow in the German Alps, taking surfing lessons with her children in Costa Rica, and visiting friends in Australia, Germany and France.

Bradley also mentioned signing up her children - 10-year-old Finn Johnson and eight-year-old Olie Johnson - for five weeks of school in New Zealand.

"It was a great way for the kids to meet new friends," she said.

Olie said he enjoyed being off school during the journey.

"I also liked the Galapagos Islands because of its nature," he added. "I liked learning to play cricket in New Zealand."

Finn mentioned snorkeling with sharks in the Galapagos Islands.

"I also got to go on a school camp in New Zealand," he said. "We did hiking, camping, kayaking, rappelling and paddle-boarding. I also like playing soccer with kids in other countries."

As for the children's father, Kris Johnson, his highlight is spending time with his family.

"Not every father gets to spend this type of quality time with his kids," he noted.

Johnson said one of his absolute highlights was hiking in the Alps with a German family.

"We stayed in a hut in the evenings, and did day hikes," he noted. "It was the first time we'd seen snow this year, and the kids had such a great time throwing snowballs and sliding down the hills."

The trip hasn't been all good times, Johnson came down with hemorrhagic dengue fever in Indonesia, and ended up in hospital for eight days.

Bradley described that as a "really scary" experience.

"He was really sick," she said. "I couldn't stay with him in the hospital, because it was too scary for the kids to be there all day. Luckily, my mom flew out to help with the kids so I could be with him in the hospital."

Bradley explained the tropical disease is spread by mosquitoes, and is more dangerous every time you get it.

"So after that, we decided to leave the tropics," she said. "We headed to New Zealand for two months while Kris recovered his strength."

That illness was not the only health concern. When the family was in the German Alps this month, Finn slipped in a creek and fractured his wrist.

They also encountered a poisonous snake while hiking in Australia, noted Bradley. "But luckily it just slithered away."

The family planned for the trip for at least four years. That was when Johnson, who is manager of fire science with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, signed up for the GNWT's deferred salary leave plan.

"Not only does this mean that he's still getting paid 80 per cent of his wage while we travel, it means that he will still have the same job when we get home, which is huge," said Bradley. "Without that assurance, I don't think we would have been brave enough to go away for a year."

Bradley herself quit a job at Mary Kaeser Library to go on the trip, and plans to go back to school upon returning to Fort Smith.

The family decided to embark on the journey after hearing that another Fort Smith family, also with two children, had done a similar trip several years ago.

"I know more families in Fort Smith who have done this type of trip than anywhere else I've lived," Bradley said. "The GNWT deferred salary plan is a part of it, but also I think that it's easier to imagine a trip like this if you know of someone else who's already done it."

In fact, she noted at least one other Fort Smith family is currently on a around-the-world trip.

Bradley said her family mostly travelled independently by making their own arrangements, and occasionally took an organized tour, such as to the Galapagos Islands.

She admitted she didn't know what to expect when starting the trip.

"It's been wonderful just spending this much time with the family," she said. "To be honest, the trip has been more tiring than I expected, though. We've been planning our next stop as we go, which is a lot of work, as well as all the regular-life stuff, like buying food, cooking, laundry, home school, and entertaining the kids. It's not a relaxing vacation for a year."

Parts of the journey are "super fun" and other parts are really difficult, Bradley noted. "But all around, we've all enjoyed it."

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