This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Christopher Mannino , 45, an author who moved from Middletown, Delaware, to Swieqi, Malta, a Mediterranean island just 122 square miles in size, with his wife and two young children in June 2025. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity. During the pandemic, I was freelancing at the time, and I was writing an article about "worldschooling." I had never heard of it, and I started interviewing these people around the world, and