Thanks for visiting to learn more about Trekking the Planet and how to subscribe to stay up-to-date on our activities.
The Trekking the Planet RTW expedition visited 50 countries on six continents, during a 424-day journey, as a way to help students from ages 6 to 17 years old learn more about world geography. Our mission is to instill greater awareness and curiosity about the world – its people, culture, and our fragile planet – to as many kids as possible. Studies have shown that American knowledge of geography is among the worst in the world. By following the progress of this expedition, kids gained a greater knowledge of where Kyrgyzstan or Ethiopia is, for example, and learned more about the world’s people, culture, and nature.
This is a fantastic idea. I’m looking forward to following you along with my students. Thank you! – Pam B.
During the time we were away, we took a series of hikes or “treks” to some of the most remote and unspoiled places in the world. We are traveled by ground (boat, train, bus) where possible, to experience the world more closely and minimize our carbon footprint. We left on our expedition in January 2012 and completed our travels in March 2013. Our next adventure, in 2016, was to hike 1,828 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail. We hiked over 400 miles in 27 U.S. National Parks in 2017 and trekked 500 miles in Europe in 2018.
Subscribers receive a periodic newsletter with updates on our activities, as well as access to our education materials, stories, pictures, and video updates from our travels.
“Your articles are well written and very informative. My students and I are fully enjoying reading about your travels and preparations! Stay safe and have fun!” – Lisa S
Also be sure to check out our Geography Navigator page, which visually shows the location of our education materials, stories and videos on a world map. Looking for information about a given country? Country Capsules has our materials categorized by nation. And if you like information “by the numbers,” check out our Trekking the Planet by the Numbers series of information by continent, including:
- Population (and world rank)
- Area (and world rank)
- Life Expectancy at Birth in Years (and world rank)
- GDP Per Capita – PPP (and world rank)
- Median Age in Years
- Literacy Rate percentage
- Big Mac Index (to learn more about this measure, click here)
Looking for some other ideas on how to use our materials with your students? After conversations with elementary, junior high, and high school educators, we developed the following 10 Fun Geography Activities list. We hope that these ideas can help in your classroom! If you have other ideas to share, feel free to contact us or send us an email at Info@TrekkingthePlanet.com.
Thank you for dedicating a part of your adventure to students! We Americans don’t know enough of the world, so I’m looking forward to sharing your exploits with my 4th and 5th graders. I’ll be checking back to see you are doing. – Tim T.