Here We Go Again!
We have had a dream since 2010 that we have worked so hard to make real. Our original target date was 2020 to allow time for our pets to all live their best lives and pass away, rather than abandoning them for a year. In 2015 when we got pregnant, we pushed it back to 2022 so the kids would be old enough to remember the year. In 2021 we pushed it back yet one more time due to the uncertainty in the Covid world. And now, here we are! Our dream is finally becoming a reality.
We have been to Europe many times, and blogged our adventures backpacking Europe in 2009, our wedding and honeymoon in UK in 2011, and our month-long cruise trip to Norway and the Baltic in 2014. We have had other trips big and small in those years and since the girls were born in 2015. Though none made it into a blog. However, we knew we wanted to resurrect our blog for this 14-month adventure so we have something for ourselves and the girls to look back on and remember all of the things we are excited to experience. The girls will similarly be keeping a journal they write and draw pictures in, so they can capture their favourite moments and memories. We look forward to both the adventures and the misadventures in this upcoming year!
Our original vision had been a year in England. That changed when we learned the Visa rules wouldn’t permit that for us. We decided to do 6 months there (max we could stay on a tourist Visa), leave for a bit, and then go back again. Then we realized how insanely expensive and unaffordable staying long-term in the UK was. And we decided to broaden our horizons and adapt accordingly. Now we plan to slow-travel Europe (maximizing our Schengen tourist visa time in Europe), UK, and Balkan countries. We plan to stay minimum 1 month in most places.
While we have had to alter our thinking drastically over the past year, we are excited to see all these countries and experience so many different cultures and lifestyles. We plan to live like the locals, rather than like tourists, in most places we go. Yes, we will do some touristy trips along the way, but we want to really experience each country. This next year away is going to be living a new lifestyle rather than having an elaborate vacation. We hope to learn many things about ourselves and the world around us, create lasting healthy habits that we can incorporate into our lives when we come back to Canada next year.
We all have goals for things we want to learn. Emmeline wants to see all kinds of beautiful old churches in every country. Katia is obsessed with Ancient Greece and Greek Mythology and wants to explore Greece and Greek ruins as much as we can. Both girls also want to write and publish a book while we are away. I want to experience food everywhere we go, taking some kind of family cooking class in each country to learn a new, regional recipe. All three of us girls want to see lots of beautiful bookstores. Jon wants to focus on improving his physical health habits and doing more reflecting and writing. Nature and outdoor time are also going to be playing an important part of our everyday lives!
So, here we go. Feel free to follow along on our adventures and misadventures as we make our way through a lot of new and unknown territory, get outside our comfort zones, and hopefully learn a lot along the way!
PS: the most common question we have gotten: how do you pack/how much do you pack for a whole year away? Well, see the attached photo before we got into the limo to see exactly how much (little?) we plan to bring!