Suzy: Welcome to Wander World School. It's trivia time. What historic Caribbean capital founded in 1521 is the oldest city under US jurisdiction and is famous for both inventing the piña colada and its signature blue-tinted cobblestone streets? Tune in to this month's listener locations to find out.

I'm Suzy, a travel-loving money nerd, mom of two, and our family lives between Spain and Colorado. On this show, we discuss the stories, logistics, and finances of traveling families and the many ways to learn along the way. Today's end-of-the-month episode includes an exciting project I'm working on, listener locations...

and tips for exploring that hopping city from this episode's opening trivia. We also discuss highlights and feedback from this month's episodes and our deep dive is all things summer travel planning. But before we jump in, how has your month been treating you? The sunshine finally returned to Spain after weeks of rain. We celebrated our 10-year anniversary at a beachside getaway near Marbella, the fancy part of Andalusia. It was wonderful to play at the beach again. My kids even swam in the ocean even though I was in a sweater and pants. They are much braver than me. We swam again last weekend after the Grand Cabalgata in Chipiona, a cute beachside town that put on the most colorful carnival celebration.

As for the exciting project I'm working on, I'm putting together an ebook on renting out your home while you travel. I've received a lot of questions on all the things to consider when renting your home out while traveling. And as we have done that off and on for over four years and even subletted our Spanish apartment out, I am bursting with tips and tricks to make it a seamless process for others. This will help families cover their home-based housing costs and free up travel budget to spend more on the aspects of slow and long-term travel that mean the most to you. I hope to finish this by the end of next month.

If you have any questions related to renting out your home while traveling, send me a text in the show notes or email me with those questions.

Are you based out of Indianapolis, Indiana; Tokyo, Japan; or San Juan, Puerto Rico? I love looking at the listener locations from this past month.

Today, we will feature San Juan, Puerto Rico. The answer to this month's opening trivia and most recently in the spotlight because of Bad Bunny's amazing Super Bowl halftime love letter to his homeland of Puerto Rico. The entire 13-minute show was just breathtaking. San Juan was founded in 1521 and is thus older than St. Augustine, Florida, which is the oldest city in the continental US.

The blue cobblestones in San Juan were originally cast from Spanish iron foundries and brought over as weights on the ships. And the world-famous piña colada was first created back in a San Juan hotel in the 1950s. I read that interest in visiting Puerto Rico has spiked since the Super Bowl halftime show, so make sure you plan a trip soon.

Shout out to Maya who sent me an amazing email that I will summarize here: "I recently stumbled upon your podcast and was immediately hooked. I wanted to reach out to share my gratitude for the way you explore this topic from so many thoughtful and interesting angles."

Thanks, Maya. Maya also really liked the episode with Stephanie Thake from Deliberate Detour back in episode 29, which I agree is an excellent listen. And thank you to Shiloh, who sent me a direct message: "I have recently discovered your podcast and thoroughly enjoyed binging on it while working night shifts and planning our escape. So thank you for creating them." This is exactly what the show is about. Inspiring families, practical resources, worldschooling opportunities.

And if you are finding value in these episodes, will you leave a five-star review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your shows? The links are in the show notes.

For the monthly episode recaps, listen back to Monica, Justin, and Chris and Robin if you haven't yet. Follow on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube for reels and shorts that highlight the most important clips.

Back in episode 38, Monica Virga-Albornoz shared tons of information on navigating a global career, nature-based schooling in Norway, and launching family wellness retreats in New York and Florida. I am really wanting to visit Norway in the winter now, not just the summer, so that I can see the bundled-up babies sleeping outside. In episode 39, Justin Farrell joined us from Ecuador midway through his family's 18-month drive along the Pan-American Highway.

I love his ability to share the fears about starting out on this journey because I think it's very common to have fear of the unknown, fear of safety concerns or educational gaps for our kids or family changes or the cost of things. It's why I think that families that travel, especially slow and long-term, are so incredibly brave and I'm glad I can share these stories with you. And it was a joy to chat again with Chris and Robin in episode 40. Who else is considering a part-time job in the airline industry just to get those flight perks?

And I'd love to hear from other families pursuing online public school and how that's worked for you. To blend a flexible online learning and additional learning support with the ability to travel at off-peak times, that sounds delightful. And follow along on social media for the August Crêpe Brunch Picnic for the Denver Worldschoolers. How about you? What episode from this month resonated the most with you? Send me a text in the show notes with your feedback, thoughts, and questions.

It's time for our deep dive, which is all things summer travel planning.

There is a lot going on around the world this summer, so planning will require balancing how these events will impact availability and pricing. But as always, the money nerd in me says let's step back and first analyze your financial situation. What have you saved up already in your travel expense savings fund? How much more could you allocate to travel by this summer? Do you have plans to offset some expenses by renting your house out? Look for my ebook coming soon to help you with that.

And if you need help figuring out the money piece of travel, book a free 30-minute discovery call with me in the show notes. You'll also want to look at how much time you have available to travel, what your family needs and desires are. And this is where I really encourage you to tune in with what would be the most meaningful to you and your family. Not what anyone else is saying to do in the travel world. How can you line up your time available with your budget and your family desires?

While every summer can have a lot going on, if you're listening to this before summer 2026, keep in mind these big upcoming events. The World Cup will be in the United States, Canada, and Mexico from June 11th to July 19th. So check if your plans intersect with any of those host cities, either to go to a game or be part of it or to purposely avoid it if that's your thing too.

And around the world, look for watch parties, which are a fun way to be part of the action if you can join one. My mom was amazingly able to get World Cup tickets back in 2006 in Germany. So we went to a few games and it was truly an impressive global cultural event. Also, the total solar eclipse will occur August 12th and be visible from parts of Spain, Iceland, and Greenland. So make your bookings now to be in these locations for it.

We will sadly miss this event though Sevilla wasn't in the path of totality anyhow. Are you booking flights for summer? Pop your itinerary into seats.aero to see what the best points redemptions are. If you're paying cash, make sure you're using a premium travel card to get extra points on your purchase. I've linked my favorite Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve card in the show notes, which is a great starting point if you don't have it already.

I just booked over $6,000 of flights for only $300 and 151,000 points recently. If you're new to the points world, let me know your questions so I can put together a future episode on the topic. For international flights, you are in the sweet spot to book now. You can track these flights in Google Flights to see the price trends. Domestic flights can be booked two to three months out. If you see a great fare, jump on it.

Traveling after August 20th can see a dip in prices as well as midweek flights. The logistics to consider include checking your passport expiration date—and check this now. You want to make sure that you have at least six months beyond your return date. And remember, kiddos' passports often expire in just five years, at least in the United States. So check now to give time to renew. There are also lots of digital visas and travel authorizations rolling out.

So check what your destination requires ahead of time. ETIAS, the European Travel Information and Authorization System, is planned to launch this year, requiring mandatory online pre-travel authorization from citizens of over 60 visa-exempt countries—this includes the United States, Canada, and Mexico—who are traveling to 30 European countries for up to 90 days. Check ETIAS.com before you travel. To get your travel dream started, let's discuss a few options in each of the travel expense categories.

We'll talk about lower, mid, and upper budget options. Lower budget options can average around $50 a day and are best for slow travelers and those who prioritize local immersion over luxury. Locations like Southeast Asia, Central America, and Eastern Europe have stunning locations, welcoming communities, diverse landscapes, and can all be done quite affordably.

Other options include camping or RVing to state and national parks. Or my favorite, look for trusted house sitters, pet sits, and the location you want to visit. Or arrange for a home exchange. I'll link the article that goes into more information on how to do all that in the show notes.

Middle budget options. This might range from $70 to $180 US a day, and this includes such gems as Portugal and cities like Budapest and Krakow. There are pop-up hubs in Lisbon in late May and Sibiu, Romania and Warsaw, Poland in June, which are great mid-budget location options.

Those with a higher budget, such as $200 USD a day or more, may look into something like a Japanese luxury rail trip via the Seven Stars in Kyushu. Regardless of your budget, if connecting with other traveling and worldschooling families would add depth, community, and fun to your summer adventures, check out all the options that families are putting together in the Facebook groups or on apps like Linky's and worldschoolhubs.com. Many of our past guests, like Deliberate Detour, have options in Oaxaca, Mexico; Cusco, Peru; and Budapest; and Better Together has options in Granada, Spain as well.

For our family, we're planning some amazing spring trips like attending the Naturally Richer Hubs in the Algarve in March and hosting the pop-up in Naples, Italy, April 27th to May 3rd. So if that's in your travel plans, I'd love for you to come join us in Naples. I'll make sure that information is in the show notes as well.

That means that we can actually slow down this summer. We're going to connect with family and friends in Colorado, do some house sits, and prepare for travel to Japan in August. What about you? What are your summer travel plans? Share it with me in the "send us a text" link in the show notes. And a reminder, please use the link in the show notes to support this show. Until next time, stay curious and keep exploring.