Unicorn Academy

Tres Carabelas was our "home" in Baiona, Spain for the past two nights as we prepared to walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.  Traveling for the past five months, we have not exactly had a home, but we have had Unicorn Academy.  Early in the trip we needed a way to refer to the places where we do all the usual homey things like sleep, study, shower, cook, etc. Quillian dubbed our home on the road "Unicorn Academy," and it stuck.  Unicorn Academy has been in some pretty cool spots in the past five months. Here are the ones we captured in photos starting way back in French Polynesia. 

Rangiroa, French Polynesia
Where it all started, ringing in the new year in a one room cabana on a tiny strip of land in the middle of the Pacific

Fakarava, French Polynesia
A hot and buggy one-room cabana with amazing sunset views 

Banks Peninsula, New Zealand
Quillian is pointing out the location of our first lodging in Onuku. 

Flea Bay, Bank Peninsula, New Zealand
We shared this little house with four other hikers. Many little blue penguins nested nearby, including under the outhouse. 

Stony Bay, Banks Peninsula, New Zealand
This little homestead had a ton of character, including an honor system store, a wood fired tub, and a homemade ping-pong table. 

Hamner Springs, New Zealand
Quillian made fast friends with a pack of girls at the Top 10 Holiday Park.

Kaikura, New Zealand
The Pink Palace had fast wifi and a nearby playground, perfect for homeschool. 

Able Tasman, New Zealand
This rental was a last minute accident that turned out to be amazing, as close to the National Park as you can get with a bathtub on the porch.

Picton, New Zealand
I booked this place called the Cowshed, but I had no idea I was signing up for a one room cow nightmare.  

Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand

Quillian is pointing to our lodging for the night after a day of hiking the Queen Charlotte Track. 

Lake Taupo, New Zealand
Reading their e-readers on a tiny couch


Wellington, Tasmania.
We celebrated Quillian's birthday in a downtown hotel. 

Hobart, Tasmania

Half of a house a few blocks from the marina 

Bay of Fires, Tasmania. 

We rented this cabana in the holiday park, but the park was full of retired people instead of little girls.

Launceston, Tasmania

The Windarra on High is an old mansion at the top of a big hill converted into a Bed and Breakfast.

Cradle Mountain, Tasmania
A great spot for wallaby spotting

Sydney, Australia
An apartment in Chinatown, one block from the most amazing playground 

Raja Ampat, Indonesia 
The Jakare was our magical home on the water for 9 days. 

The studying area on the Jakare 

Sekonyer River, Kalimantan, Indonesia. 

We ate, slept, and watched for wildlife on the second floor of this river boat (called a Klotok) in Borneo.

Hanoi, Vietnam.
You can just make out Quillian and Tre's heads in the window on the third floor. Our apartment was in this narrow alley where a food market selling fruit, vegetables, live eels, and dead chickens took place from dawn to dusk every day. 

Pu Long, Vietnam
We slept in these thatched huts after a day of walking in the rice fields. 

Pu Long, Vietnam 
This particular hut didn't have any chairs or tables, but the kids still managed some homeschool work. 

Long Coc, Vietnam
The family who owned this homestay treated us to a feast which included fresh greens we all picked together, a "walking chicken" killed that day, a seemingly endless supply of rice wine, and their special super sharp and bitter tasting green tea. 

Nihn Bihn, Vietnam
The Wooden Gate Inn, a lovely little place in a muddy alley 

Nihn Bihn to Hue, Vietnam.
We spent the midway point of our trip on the night train. 

The Lotus Train car on the Vietnam Railways night train 

Hue, Vietnam

You can see Philip and Quillian on the balcony of our third floor hotel room.

Mrissa, Sri Lanka 

This was our longest stay since leaving Alaska, six nights in this hacienda style inn where monkeys came to steal from the mango trees. 

Kandy, Sri Lanka
The host at this homestay had a collection of medieval weapons and armor and had turned their home into a castle.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

This was the approximate location of our apartment in the walled city, complete with orange trees fruiting in the courtyard and music lessons ringing through the alleys in the afternoons.

Dobrota, Montenegro
This ten day Unicorn Academy was a scheduled final push for homeschool where Quillian finished her math program and we started "finals week".

Mostar, Bosnia

Apparently our hotel was on the biker route through Bosnia. Buildings all around us showed damage from the 1990s war. 

Dubrovnik, Croatia.
The Wilma af Sweden hosted Unicorn Academy for a week in the Adriatic Sea. 


Athens, Greece
This hotel was unexpectedly painted as a Smurf village.

Pollonia, Milos, Greece

Both kids finished their Anchorage School District homeschool requirements in this apartment in the Cyclades, which came with four cats that lived on the front step.

Apollonia, Sifnos, Greece

Unicorn Academy was a half block from a gelateria, a bakery, a bar, restaurants, and on a trail that led all over the island. Everybody was pretty content here. 

Tonight we are in Nigran, Spain. An inn called 7 Uvas is hosting Unicorn Academy (I haven't gotten a picture yet). We just finished our first day on the Portuguese Camino de Santiago and if all goes well we will arrive in Santiago de Compostela in ten days. We will keep documenting Unicorn Academy and part two will be coming your way this summer.