Pack your bags and grab your passports because I am taking you on an epic adventure that will include Day of the Dead, bamboo, Mary Poppins, wombats, and bubble-blowing. Yes, in that order.

As you know, having been on the Gams Camp adventure bus for two years already, I get a little carried away. But this year took on a life of its own when I found out grandson Oliver would be joining from Oregon. Oliver is a strapping young man of ten (Wren’s age) who loves basketball and video games.

Mmm. With 12-year-old Lyla in the mix, I was going to have to step up my game.

The theme: The World.

The timeframe: three full days and a half-day show-off brunch for the family (doubling as our yearly family reunion event.)

Erin came down with Oliver, arriving on Tuesday with plans to escape to other friends’ homes for the duration. This gave time for Oliver to be fully immersed in Gams Camp sans parental influence. I don’t think he knew what he was in for.

DAY ONE/MORNING: Oliver and I picked up Lyla and Wren and immediately went to the library. I know! So fun! Remembering that I am a Learning Grandmother, it was important to get reference materials for the five countries the kids had picked for us to visit. Sadly, the library was not prepared for us and had very few books we could use.

Back to the house where we made our passports, travel journals, and prepared our travel bags. We had our last American meal — sandwiches, chips and Oreos (the mint ones), per our planning and the grocery expedition I had been on earlier. I did not have the right kind of Fritos and we would embark on a search and rescue mission for those later.

DAY ONE/AFTERNOON: Then we boarded the plane — set up in my bedroom using the huge banner I had purchased on line for $16. We got about $500 worth of fun out of it, let me tell you. My schtick as Ticket Agent/Flight Attendant/Pilot/Baggage Handler/Customs Agent was stellar and I will just let you watch the video rather than tell you how HILARIOUS I was.

And so we landed in Mexico, and after a photo shoot using crazy fiesta props, we boarded our transport and journeyed to my friend Martha’s home. She graciously showed us her amazing collection of artwork from Mexico, Cuba, and other countries south of the border. The kids were fascinated by sculptures, paintings, and textiles in rainbow colors. I was, too. And we loved hearing stories of where the pieces originated. An added treat? She shared delicious Mexican pastries and sodas with us.

Before we left, she loaned us a stack of the travel books we were missing! Her treasure trove certainly surpassed the library’s.

Dinner at El Fenix and the movie Coco were the perfect ending to our time in Mexico. Ole!

DAY TWO/MORNING: After café au laits and breakfast, we boarded the plane for a one-minute flight to China. It has something to do with the International Dateline. Our transport took us to my friend Kent’s home, where he has turned his wooded acreage into a botanical wonderland, with a gong, some swings, a geodesic dome, and a waterfall, in addition to a bamboo forest. Kent told us about the wonders of bamboo, which are myriad. Call Oliver. He can tell you all about it. Then we went into his house and the kids all pedaled a player piano. The whole place was like a theme park. He even cut lengths of bamboo for the kids to bring home.

From there we journeyed to an Asian market where each traveler could pick out a beverage, a sweet and a savory, but everything had to be from Asia. This was not as easy as it sounds as we had some very reluctant new-food-tryer-outers. Lyla was the rock star here, but everyone got some new things. Lunch consisted of sharing our loot, most of which was difficult to swallow, even for me. We packaged our leftovers to share with reluctant guests on Saturday. After practicing writing Chinese words, we said zaijian (goodbye) to China and boarded the plane. Wren kept wanting a new comedy routine, which really stretched my limited repertoire.

DAY TWO/AFTERNOON: We crisscrossed back to England (my planning had nothing to do with travel times) and landed in London in time for a very truncated tea. We made cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches and cups of tea, pinkies up. After a rousing game of England Bingo, we went swimming in the English Channel (at Molly and Beau’s pool.) Succumbing to my own exhaustion, I drove us through McDonalds for dinner (a huge win for us all.) Our movie was the newly minted Mary Poppins, which is a snoozer. Tata to England.

DAY THREE/MORNING: After a lazy morning where we slept in and enjoyed breakfast with flat white for me and Lyla (invented in Australia,) we boarded the plane. By now the kids were making up their own schtick and the name of the game was turbulence. You can imagine.

But we landed somewhat safely in Australia, played Aussie Animal Bingo, and Lyla regaled us with information about marsupials in general and wombats in specific. Unusual little critters, they protect their burrows with hard plates in their butts and their poop is little cubes. I am not kidding. Look it up. The kids couldn’t quit laughing. We also made boomerangs that sort of worked, but weren’t nearly as funny.

Then we boarded our transport and journeyed to Aussie Grind, an authentic Australian coffee shop where each kid got something delicious to eat and something with a lovely decoration to drink. We met the owners who are from Australia, and Wren practiced her accent as a Very Loud Australian.

We got home in time to board the plane. G’day, mate. (They actually only say that for hello, but–whatever.)

DAY THREE/AFTERNOON: We landed in France in time to participate in the Gams Camp Olympics with competitions such as Biggest Bubble, Hopping on One Foot the Longest, and Holding Your Breath (which Wren argued was very dangerous.) The medal ceremony was held on Saturday morning with additional medals for Best Attitude, Most Energetic, and Most Helpful as well as Eating New Foods. I cried tears of pride.

Dinner was at La Madeleine, followed by watching the opening ceremonies of the actual Olympic games in Paris. Boredom set in and the kids went to bed. Bonsoir!

DAY FOUR SHOW-OFF: Wren and Oliver set the table for 11. Then Wren set up the display of all the activities of the week. Passports were made for all the grown-ups and the kids rehearsed their presentations, including a re-creation of the plane ride craziness. Lyla helped me with food and made crepes to order for our company (their parents, aunts and uncles.)

Each guest was encouraged to sample all the foods: Mexican breakfast tacos, Chinese dumplings, egg rolls and strange candies and desserts, English sausages and scones, Australian avocado toast (which they invented), and French crepes with strawberries and cream. It helped that we also had mimosas and wine.

We traveled by plane, watched the slideshow, handed out medals and smashed a piñata. The kids loved sharing their Gams Camp experience. Everyone packed up and went home. Even Erin and Oliver went off to visit other friends.

I took a nap.