Photo courtesy of Ashley McGuire.
Ashley McGuire enjoys being a roost for a snacking monkey in Bali.
Not many teenagers can say they’ve trotted the globe while still in high school. But Ashley McGuire has stamps from 23 countries in her passport — and counting.
The Hoover teen started traveling with her parents, Paul and Kami McGuire, as a seventh grade student. She left Berry Middle School because homeschooling allowed more flexibility in taking their first trip, to Canada. They’ve since been to countries in five continents —Africa and Antarctica still have to be checked off the list — as a trio, including a 28-day trip to Australia.
Being homeschooled allows the McGuires to fix their own schedule and travel during the off-season.
“Otherwise you’re stuck to the one week at Christmas, for us, and the one week at spring break and summer, and that’s it. For us to travel 28 days, honestly I don’t think we could have afforded it in the summer,” Kami McGuire said.
“We kind of just liked the freedom of it,” Ashley said.
When they made the decision to start this world traveling experience, Ashley’s parents said they wanted it to be more than just a vacation. In airports, shops and streets in each country, Ashley is expected to help them navigate and talk to the locals. They also tend to stay in host homes rather than hotels, which gives them a chance to see each country as more than a tourist.
“That’s how she’s learned a lot of the cultures,” Kami McGuire said.
“People are still just people everywhere,” Paul McGuire said.
From ziplining in Costa Rica and a parade in Argentina to a market in Qatar and a bullet train to Pompeii, the McGuires have experienced a lot so far. They’ve left not only with new friends and photos, but also with changes to their everyday life. Ashley “eats totally different now,” her mother said, incorporating oolong tea, jasmine rice and other new spices and dishesinto her meals.
Some of Ashley’s new favorite foods include rambutan fruit, snake fruit, dulce de leche cake, kangaroo burgers and Khanom Bueang, also known as Thai crepes.
“There’s nothing I really won’t try,” Ashley said.
Some of her favorite trips so far have been Bali, Pompeii, Rome and Peru, which was part of their most recent 16-day trip through South America, Ashley said.
She started a blog, “Girl Going Global,” as a homeschool class project, but she has kept it up with her experiences in each new country. Ashley plans to write and illustrate a series of children’s books about the countries she visits as well.
“I really like telling people about it. And I just think it’s so important for people to know that travel’s not impossible,” she said.
Though she has only been traveling for three years, Ashley already has ambitious goals: she wants to visit all seven continents, every country, all of the manmade Wonders of the World and each Disney theme park around the globe.
“She has some stout goals,” Kami McGuire said. “It’s really fun to go out and see what else is out there.”
Follow Ashley’s travels at girlgoingglobal.com.
