For most of the Josef's chapters the setting is the m.s St.Louis in 1939, the m.s. St.Louis is supposed to be this large grand boat only for Jews and Josef and his family are on the boat from Germany to Cuba. What they see is Germany is a big dark place right now because of the war and they think Cuba is some luxurious little place to go to.
For most of Isabel's chapters the setting is on a medium sized boat in 1994 that can fit Isabel's family and some friends of her parents. The motor keeps overheating on the boat which sometimes leaves them stranded. They are on this boat to get from Cuba to Florida because Cuba isn't a good place to live for young kids because there are a lot of riots and gunshots from police on people trying to leave.
For most of Muhmoud's chapters they are in a car and on a boat in 2015. they are taking a car to Turkey to get away from the civil war going on in Syria at the time. They are getting on the boat from Turkey to Greece, they expect this boat to at least be a medium sized boat but it turns out it is a tiny inflatable boat.