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Malawi window view

Africa TravelMay 30, 2026

Freewheeling in Malawi: a bike, my daughter and me

Bicycles, backpacks, a back-up van and a 14-year-old. What to do when you’re the mom and you’ve never ridden a bicycle except into a bush? You bite the bullet. Knowing that for kids, an adventure in an unfamiliar place is an education. It gives a vision of different traditions, cultures and lifestyle. It also teaches obvious lessons in history and geography. Not to mention resilience. Yours as well and theirs.

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Award-winning story Bay Area Travel Writers.

Lifestyle FeaturesJuly 11, 2015

My backpack, my daughter and me: Part 2

Our first night in Athens after arriving late in the evening and desperate for a place to drop our bodies and our backpacks, we found ourselves in the sleaziest hotel I have ever seen. But on the whole, Greece was great. So great, we spent almost a month there instead of the planned two weeks. This story recently won ‘Gold’ in the Bay Area Travel Writers internet travel article award category.

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