Newtown Family Travels The World, Together

By Eliza Hallabeck

With her two sons, twins Canaan and Colby Brown, now attending college, resident Carole Brown recently reflected on her family’s last year, which was spent traveling the world.

After Canaan and Colby graduated from Newtown High School in 2010, Ms Brown, her husband Jim, and their sons left to explore the world.

The family returned in time for Canaan and Colby to begin college. For Canaan that meant packing up to attend Emerson College in Boston to study writing and journalism, while Colby headed for the University of Maryland as a College Park Scholar studying engineering. Reflecting on everything her family has learned in the past year, Ms Brown said she would do it again, and would encourage everyone who wants to learn to get up and start a traveling adventure of their own.

“For ten months we traveled over 30,000 miles which took us to England, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Spain, Turkey, Jordan, India, China, New Zealand, Australia; from there, we stopped off in Hawaii, and then came home,” said Ms Brown.

The family trip was made to reconnect with their son’s nannies and friends from throughout the years, “meet fellow Unitarians wherever we could, reach out to international Rotarians wherever possible, meet new people everywhere we went, and have unexpected adventures along the way. And so we did.”

During the journey they also met other people, including students, who invited the family into their lives.

“We ended up traveling from Istanbul into the Middle East — Amman, Jordan — the day after Osama bin Laden was killed,” said Ms Brown. “The news was everywhere, and everyone we met was abuzz with the news. And much to my surprise, they were happy, enthusiastically happy, that bin Laden was dead.”

People shook their hands, and Ms Brown said she was proud to be an American at the moment in her life, because America had done something for mankind.

“In their words, ‘he was an evil man and should not be on this planet.’ They were congratulating us, being the only Americans present, on the good news,” Ms Brown said. “Nevertheless, before we got on that plane, we had a moment’s pause about going into the Middle East just at that time. Oh well, I figured, if someone wanted to kill Americans, it would probably be more likely in New York City than where we were headed. So, we took a leap of faith and flew into Amman, Jordan. Turned out, those 36 hours were among the most memorable of our whole trip. We saw beautiful Amman; journeyed to the biblical sites of the Jordan Valley and Mount Nebo, where Moses spoke to God; put our hands in the Jordan River; saw the humble shrine where Jesus Christ was baptized; and swam in the Dead Sea. This was especially moving to me since my son Colby Jordan is named after the Jordan River and we were so near Israel and the land of the Canaanites, after which my son Canaan was named.”

Learning Together

The trip started as an education for her sons. Before the trip, Ms Brown explained to The Bee the idea had been “bubbling” since the boys were born, to travel and learn together. Now, Ms Brown said it was an education experience for each of the family members. Traveling the world opened their eyes, Ms Brown said, to the fact that everyone wants the same things in general.

She also learned, through watching television and media in other countries, that in parts of the world people seem to have more knowledge about the United States than Americans themselves.

“Because over our history, our democratic ideals have inspired Americans to greatness and inspired people all over the world, and they still do. Indeed, in spite of our politics or theirs, people we met still admired Americans greatly and were inspired by our historical American ideals, our stance for freedom and equality among peoples. And, of course, everyone, everyone was thrilled that we killed Osama bin Laden,” said Ms Brown.

Coming home, Ms Brown noticed that Americans need to do better.

“In whatever way each of us can, for greater understanding among peoples and for peace in our world,” Ms Brown said. “I won’t give up that hope, and I am especially hopeful for our young people everywhere to get what they need to succeed and to bring lasting peace to our world.”

For her sons, Ms Brown knows they are ready for their college careers.

“I think they were very ready to be on their own,” Ms Brown said.

After the journey, and the life experiences that were gained, Ms Brown said she is confident her sons are capable of finding their way throughout the world.

“We rode elephants in India, were dazzled by the Chinese in Beijing and Hong Kong, and marveled at the landscapes and seascapes in New Zealand and Australia.  Of course, we had our ups and downs along the way, which is another story,” said Ms Brown. “We created a website for our trip: www.brownsaroundtheworldtmtk.com and posted more than 12,000 pictures on www.gallery.me.com/carolebrownesq.”