6 months in…
Hi all! We’ve been flying, sailing, driving, or walking across the planet for six months now and figured it was a good time for a check-in with all of you, our amazingly supportive community!
We’ve explored eleven countries, each of which has broadened our worldview and offered us practice in both grit and letting go. We’ve seen some of the rarest and most elusive sites this planet has to offer and in doing so, we’ve discovered equally unchartered territories within ourselves. We are so humbled by this incredible adventure and so grateful to know you are all cheerleading us along.
The line we are sketching across the globe is neither linear nor monodirectional. And it does not look anything like the path we initially planned from the comforts of our Denver dining room table! When our dear friend hugged us goodbye last August, he left us with this wise advice: “be like water, flow where you need to go”. Indeed, we have, Ryan!
We made a strangely prescient decision to skip Mocorro just days before the devastating earthquake. Sadly, Israel and thus Jordan were removed when the war broke out. We also chose to delay our rapid continuation from Africa to Asia in response to our collective need for a long exhale and consistent access to what we affectionately call “the trifecta”: electricity, running water and wifi.
We hit a deep low around the New Year. We had been traveling on our nerves for over two months as we navigated various discomforts and safety challenges in Africa. We felt as though we were ping-ponging between the extreme edges of life’s pendulum. One day we’d be pushing our limits way past comfort and the next day we’d be awestruck by a once-in-a-lifetime encounter. We were craving the middle ground. We needed equanimity. We needed a pause button. We were homesick but we knew going home wasn’t the answer. We had infinite options of where to go but yet we felt stuck. We flew to London and basked in the support of our extended British family, the Fews, while we recovered from physical sicknesses, exhaustion and uncertainty. We held honest family meetings and breathed through the difficulty as the itinerary made itself clear.
We pivoted. We found a temporary home in San Sebastián, Spain. In addition to the trifecta, we sprinkled in other daily ingredients that help bake stability and joy into our lives: Spanish school, soccer/volleyball practices, a meal schedule, daily walks to the market, consistent exercise and cold ocean plunges. We’ve were blessed with an oceanfront apartment and loved the additional reminder of consistency provided by the omnipresent breaking tide. My dear friend, Maria, and her family lived a block away. Eric’s supportive sister and our ball-of-sunshine niece felt our need for family and booked a last minute flight to Bilbao. They spent 7 glorious days with us! It was exactly what we needed: a dose of family, some solid support, and the energy of fresh travellers!
We left Spain fully refreshed and excited to discover more of the world. We are now overwhelmed by how much we LOVE Sri Lanka and just how happy, safe and curious we all feel! We are soaking in the Indian ocean, the best curry we’ve ever tasted, the kindest and most gentle people, and of course, ample opportunities for the kids to experience their favorite: snakes! The magic dust of this island is still swirling around us and I’m looking forward to witnessing how it all settles. I suspect it will ultimately make it to the top of the list for all of us. We’ll be volunteering at a sea turtle rescue center this coming week, followed by some Asian safaris before we make our way down under to do more volunteer work, hug some koalas, pet sit a blind dog, and have a slumber party with our new Australian friends (whom we met while chimpanzee trekking in Africa!).
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We are gradually filling in travel stories, tips, and worldschooling projects from each of the countries we’ve visited thus far. Check out our new “country” dropdown menu from our home page for country-specific anecdotes/travel tips/pictures (here’s Ireland as an example) and please visit the kid’s pages - they’ve been uploading some of their school projects for you all to enjoy. Leave them a comment or ask a question - they’d love to hear from you! Also, be sure to come back as the pages are far from complete. When we have good wifi, we’ll keep uploading our stories, Eric’s poetry, worldschooling projects, and more photos.
The ultimate itinerary of this crazy adventure? You’re guess is as good as ours. We are making choices as we go, leaning into flow and allowing the trip’s blossoming to occur on it’s own clock. Our eventual passport stamps will reveal the final penned-in path we’ve taken. But we do know that we will spend one year making our way around the globe and will land back in Denver this August. Just like the itinery of our RTW adventure, the timing has also flexed and flowed. We will spend less time settled in Central America than originally planned, more time making our traverse and ultimately, back home in time for the kids to join their classmates at the start, as opposed to the middle, of a new school year.
We cannot wait to hug you all in person again later this year. Until then, we will try to keep uploading the story of our trip’s unfolding. Thank you all for your continual support as we travel, it means the world to us. Literally.
