What is the best thing in history to send your daughter to college?

Thousands of miles away, my mother is worried that the registration of new students will affect her parents' hearts. Many new students enter school and the whole family will go into battle.

However, it is very rare for this father to send his daughter to school: he drove 108 days, crossed 26 countries and traveled 30,000 kilometers. Huang Haitao, a Jiangsu native, drove her daughter from Nanjing to seattle university, USA, and completed this "crazy trip". This trip allowed my daughter to measure the world with her footsteps and communicate face to face with people of different skin colors. These special experiences make the world no longer boring words for her daughter, but vivid stories that flash in her mind. ...

From Nanjing to Seattle

A promise to be kept.

I made an agreement with my daughter four years ago.

If you are admitted to an American university, you can report by car.

Six years ago, Huang Haitao resigned as an art teacher in a primary school. After that, I traveled many times by car, taking my wife, daughter and niece, and drove around China, Eurasia and the Arctic for 300 days. This trip from Nanjing to Seattle can be said to be the most important road trip in Huang Haitao and her daughter's life.

Speaking of this "crazy trip", Huang Haitao told reporters: "This idea actually existed on 20 13, and it is very mature. My daughter took a year off from school in the third grade and drove with me to the Arctic Blue in Eurasia. After coming back, there is an agreement that if she can be admitted to an American university by herself, her father will drive her to the United States. "

The scenery along the way

Happily, Huang Haitao's daughter, Huang Xinyi, really received the admission notice of sociology major in seattle university this year. Excited, Huang Haitao decided to keep his promise, drive across Eurasia, and personally send his daughter to Seattle.

Speaking of his daughter, Huang Haitao was a little excited: "Mao Mao (Huang Xinyi's nickname) is going to college, and he won't be with his father for that long. From my father's point of view, I am very sad, but she has her own life. I can only try my best to give her a different experience and send her on her own life path. "

Preparatory work/about to start work

Prepare for a long time in advance,

Driver's license, visa, articles and strategies have all been taken into account.

From the beginning of 20 17, Huang Haitao began to prepare various procedures, but because it was a long-distance drive, many trivial things were not completed until two days before departure.

All kinds of documents needed to go abroad.

"We will make preparations for cross-border self-driving a long time in advance, including visa, strategy and other issues, and plan which countries to go to and which routes to take," Huang Haitao said. "In order to ensure safety, we did a lot of homework before we set off. I have contacted the local overseas Chinese and the consulates of all the countries we passed. If there is anything, I can contact them in time. "

More and more people travel abroad, and many people are more concerned about how to drive abroad. China driver's license can be used directly in some countries, and notarization is required in some countries. Huang Haitao said that he had a China driver's license, but for safety reasons, he was notarized and certified as an interpreter. "There are still many legends of' international driver's licenses' circulating in the society, which are actually false. There is no such thing as an' international driver's license', only a driver's license and translation. " They passed through many countries this time, so visas are very important, and they have all been done in China in advance.

Vehicle maintenance is also a problem. If it breaks down in a sparsely populated place, it will be in big trouble, but Huang Haitao has more experience in this field. "The maintenance of vehicles along the road is mainly done by myself, because foreign maintenance is too expensive." Huang Haitao said, "Later, after the car was shipped to the United States, I asked someone to do a maintenance and spent 1200 dollars."

Huang Haitao's toolbox

Visit Beslan in person

The daughter shed tears for the innocent child who died.

Huang Haitao and his daughter set off from Nanking and went north. On June 6th, 438+0, they first entered Russia. Russia deserves to be the largest country in the world. It took Huang Haitao more than 20 days to drive across the entire Russian border. It was close to July when I really entered the European continent.

Huang Haitao went to Russia once by car five years ago. When he came back this year, he found that the road conditions in Russia were much better than before. However, driving on the wide expressway, people are sparse and feel more empty and lonely. Huang Haitao sincerely felt, "I didn't know how big China is until Xinjiang, and I didn't know how big the world is until Russia."

Chechnya is an important destination in Huang Haitao's plan. The Russian Federation, which ended the war in 2009 and is in a state of extreme emergency, is full of mystery and charm. However, when it comes to Chechnya, most people in China associate it with terrorist attacks and wars, and they felt uneasy before going there.

"When we arrived in Chechnya, we thought a lot. Later, when we were 500 kilometers away from Chechnya, we seriously considered whether to go or not, "Huang Haitao said. "We contacted some overseas Chinese and locals, and they said that Chechnya is very good and safe now. After consideration, we were convinced that there was no problem with safety and went. After arriving in Chechnya, I really felt that it was very, very beautiful and very safe. "

Father and daughter with yellow skin and black hair, walking in the streets of Grozny, are often seen as stars. Enthusiastic Chechens always take photos with them. I was very excited when I learned that they were from China.

Father and daughter traveled all over Grozny and saw brand-new buildings. It is difficult to find the wounds left by the war.

The last stop in Russia is Beslan, a small city in the Republic of North Ossetia. On September 1 2004, Chechen terrorists took students, teachers and parents hostage in Beslan No.1 Middle School, killing more than 360 innocent people, most of them children.

According to the photos they collected, they walked around the town several times, but they didn't find the abandoned school. They asked the local people and found the school on a potholed roadside. There is a wreath outside the abandoned classroom, which is somewhat bleak. They were stunned when they walked into the school gymnasium. The wall was plastered with photos of the victims. The youngest child is only 9 years old. A pair of innocent eyes can't look straight, and sorrow immediately covers the whole body.

When my daughter saw the picture on the wall, she couldn't help crying.

In the past, their father and daughter only knew about the Beslan tragedy from the news, but they found it so shocking when they went to the scene. "At that time, my daughter couldn't help crying when she saw photos of children her age or even younger than her being killed. If you go to the scene, it is very, very terrible. "

Make a lot of jokes.

Father and daughter are often regarded as husband and wife.

After leaving Beslan, Huang Haitao and her daughter entered Stalin's hometown-Georgia, and then passed through Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland and other countries.

The scenery along the way

After resting in Switzerland for two days, the father and daughter went to France, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium and other countries, and then took the English Channel Tunnel train from Calais to Britain.

On August 2nd, the father and the daughter arrived in Southampton, the British harbour city, where they checked the vehicles for the United States and then flew to the United States.

When he approached Turkey, Huang Haitao received a short message from the Consulate of China, saying that he should be alert to the recent terrorist attacks in Turkey. However, after arriving in Turkey, there was no security problem. The Turkish people are particularly enthusiastic. They saw two Asians delivering meat and fruit, and they were dragged home for dinner by the locals.

Father and daughter dry food

There are also many funny things along the way. Many people misunderstand that their father and daughter are husband and wife, especially when they check into a hotel. "When I told them that we were father and daughter, they were shocked. Oh, my God, is this your daughter? Is this your father? I think this thing is particularly interesting. "

Reject the school's welcome

It is the most important thing to calm down and study.

After they arrived in the United States, the vehicle never arrived, and it was not until early September that they received an email from the American shipping company informing them to pick up the car at Newark Port in the United States. Due to the delay of vehicle problems, they can only have a cursory look at new york, Boston, Washington and other cities. Of course, they did not forget the purpose of this trip, and visited universities in various countries as much as possible. Before arriving at the terminal, they visited famous American universities such as Harvard, Yale and Columbia University.

After getting the car, they set off from Chicago, walked across the United States from route 66 to Los Angeles, and then took the 1 highway from journey to the south to Seattle, with a total distance of about 5,000 kilometers. They still reached the finish line on time.

On September 1 1, they arrived in seattle university. At that time, the school was holding an activity to welcome international students to the school. Because American newspapers and radio stations reported their "crazy trip", seattle university already knew about it and wanted to hold a special welcoming ceremony for them, but Huang Haitao declined. "After the school knew it, it was ready to engage in some welcome activities, but we refused, because the children came to study, and it was the most important thing to calm down and study."

Speaking of this decision, there is a sense of loss in his speech: "Over the past 100 days, along the way, my daughter often said that the more roads I take, the more I feel that my knowledge is shallow and learning is important." Huang Haitao believes that this trip is her daughter's first class in college. When her daughter measures the world with her footsteps, when she communicates face to face with people of different colors, the world will no longer be boring words in front of her, and these experiences will benefit her for life.

"In fact, you have to see the outside world to know. You really don't know what the world is like if you haven't been there, "Huang Haitao said. "During this trip, my daughter and I clearly felt the improvement of China's international status, both in terms of the speed of visa application by countries and the attitude of China people around the world."

This is also a kind of growth, and I believe my daughter will cherish the opportunity of learning more.