Don't Try This at Home
Rob Krause and Daria Salamon sold their car, rented out their Winnipeg home, and packed up their two young children to embark on a 12-month journey around the world. In this dual retelling of their ambitious year away from home, Don't Try This at Home chronicles the hilarious and sensational misadventures of a Canadian family as they travel across 15 different countries in the southern hemisphere. In an honest reflection on parenting, marriage, and living for a year on a tight budget, Krause and Salamon take readers through some of the world’s most stunning vistas while meeting the challenges of foreign customs, broken-down buses, stomach bugs, personal loss, and their often less-than-enthusiastic children.
[Rob and Daria's] down-to-earth writing style — individually and collectively — makes the couple inherently likable, as they provide a goofy warts-and-all account of their trip...Don’t Try This at Home is an entertaining romp. Salamon and Krause share realities, triumphs, heartbreak and lessons with an openness that would invite even the staunchest homebody to join their adventure.
--Deborah Bowers, Winnipeg Free Press
Suggested Book Club discussion questions for Don’t Try This at Home: One Family’s (mis)Adventures Around the World by Daria Salamon and Rob Krause
- What is the most ambitious vacation you have taken, either by yourself or with your family?
- What would your dream trip abroad with your family look like? Where would you go? For how long?
- Do you prefer to travel with or without a set itinerary? Please explain your answer.
- What are some of Rob and Daria’s unexpected detours in the book? Have your travels ever included any detours? Was the outcome positive or negative?
- Do you have a preference for urban vs. nature-centric travel? Please explain.
- What is the longest time you have camped/tented on vacation? What are some of your most memorable moments from this experience (good or bad)?
- Rob and Daria encounter some pretty hair-raising moments with their kids during their year of travel (lice, “losing” Isla Blue, a 52-hour bus ride with a sick child). What are some of your diciest travel moments?
- “Better a broken bone than a broken spirit.” Daria cites this quote as one that has had a big impact on her parenting style. What phrases have informed your own parenting and where did you hear them?
- Similarly, Rob and Daria have built their marriage upon the idea that one of the best ways to keep your marriage fresh and make it last is to experience new things and go on adventures together. What do you think helps a marriage last?
- What “Western standards” do you value when travelling abroad? Have there been moments when you’ve pushed yourself out of your comfort zone? What was the outcome?
- On page 73, Rob lists and rebuts a number of tips for travelling with kids. Based on your own experience, would you add/remove/modify anything on this list?
- What are some of the barriers that might prevent you from taking on a trip of this magnitude? How do you think you might overcome them to make it happen?
