Kellie McIntyre is the author of The Passport Project: Two Sisters Ditch Middle School for a Life-Changing Journey Around the World. This Southern girl’s quest for culture and adventure has taken her to 50 countries across six continents. In 2013, Kellie, her husband, and two daughters packed one suitcase each and embarked on a five-month journey around the world. Now she’s on a mission to help other families travel boldly.
As a family travel advocate, Kellie believes three things:
1) A a global worldview is the greatest gift parents can give their children.
2) Extraordinary adventures can be created on an ordinary budget.
3) Most of the world can be explored independently.
Their motto is: No tour groups. No trust fund. No problem! Her family’s adventures include:
- Dancing with the long-neck women of Myanmar and dining with acid-attack survivors in India
- Paragliding over the Swiss Alps and bungee jumping in New Zealand
- Hiking Peru’s Inca Trail and Namibia’s epic dunes
- Scuba diving with giant mantas in the Maldives and snorkeling with giant seahorses in the Galapagos
- Meditating with a monk in Vietnam and observing cremations on the holy Ganges in India
- Being kicked out of a souvenir shop in Italy and kicked out of China
When their daughters were young, Kellie and her husband, Dale, set a goal to explore six continents together before the girls finished high school. This mission—to give their daughters a global education using the world as their classroom—led to two family sabbaticals.
Kellie’s story, The Passport Project: Two Sisters Ditch Middle School for a Life-Changing Journey Around the World, is based on their first multi-month adventure. Uniquely written from her daughters’ perspectives, this family travelogue shares what happens when two middle schoolers and two middle-agers trade their suburban bubble for the world—awkward moments, (pre)teenage anxiety, and all.
Kellie holds a BA from Western Kentucky University and a Master of Public Health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, but her worn passport has provided her most valuable education. Kellie shares her tips for planning and surviving global family (mis)adventures at 4WornPassports.com. Her articles have been featured on news and travel websites, and she has been a speaker and podcast guest.
To learn more about their travel philosophy and why they made family travel a priority, be sure to visit the About Us page.
