Well Europe, we are here. You look different, sound different, taste different, smell different than anywhere we have been before. Your temperature is perfect, we actually had to go out immediately and pick up some new clothes to adapt to your fall. Your languages, we can’t understand, pronounce or really read since there are so many letters in each word. Your food is not spicy, but full of flavors and ingredients that are new to us. For breakfast we were given a fruit, cheese and bread spread…it was such a welcoming change. Adam and I are in love with your cars, in one traffic light line up, it is nothing but Audi, Mini, BMW, Mercedes, VW, smart cars and Alfa Romeo’s.
Here we are able to walk on the sidewalks without having to weave in and out of people and restaurants which is so refreshing. There are tons of well manicured parks to walk through, little streets with old buildings and huge skyscrapers that have such clean lines it is like an architectural digest magazine article. Everyone on their bicycles and walking around town seems to be important with a place to get to as they strut their stuff in such a fashionable way.
I think because we have spent so much time in Asia, you are even more of a welcoming shock than if we would have come from America.
Our hotel, the Hotel Topas, has the softest beds we have slept on in over a year, the shower is hot enough for the two of us to both shower and not run out, there is a huge CLEAN bathtub and the best news, we can unpack and not trip over our bags!
Europe we have 53 more days here and at least 9 more countries to travel through, we are so excited as to what you are going to reveal to us!
How do you build a life around adventure and travel?Intentionally and incrementally. Most families who live this way did not leap from conventional to adventurous overnight. They built remote work capacity, paid down debt, tested longer trips, and had increasingly honest conversations about what they actually want from their lives. The leap feels bigger from outside than from inside.
What does an adventurous family lifestyle actually look like?Different for every family. For some it is long-term travel. For others it is weekend adventures close to home. What connects them is intentionality about how time is spent and a preference for experiences over accumulation. The version that fits your family is the right one.
How do you balance adventure with stability for kids?By finding stability within the adventure rather than treating them as opposites. Routines, rituals, and family rhythms travel with you. Familiar foods, bedtime routines, and predictable family dynamics provide stability even when the location changes. Kids need consistency in relationships more than consistency in geography.
What has travel taught your family?That people are fundamentally similar across cultures in what they want for their families. That comfort zone is a smaller circle than it feels from inside. That the things worth having in life require effort and discomfort to get. And that time together doing hard interesting things is the most reliable source of family closeness.
How do you handle the pressure to live conventionally when you have chosen differently?By getting clear on why you made the choices you made and returning to that clarity when the outside noise gets loud. Most families living unconventionally describe an initial period of explaining themselves that gradually gives way to just living the life. The explaining becomes less necessary as the results become visible.
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