1. There’s no place like home.
2. …and any place can be home all at the same time.
3. We don’t need a lot of stuff. Seven to ten outfits per family member works wonders.
4. Our kids will master Spanish in the next year because being bilingual opens us up to so many relationships, experiences, and cultures.
5. Packing and unpacking gets easier and easier. We will not live out of a suitcase no matter how short our living stint. Making ourselves at home settles our gypsy spirits.
6. Extended travel tests and hopefully improves our patience since there’s plenty to wait on: cabs, planes, buses, and each other.
7. It’s important to meet new people abroad and find a way to make friends. It can get very lonely otherwise.
8. It’s been essential to keep in touch with loved ones. I call my mother more now than I did when I lived 15 mins. away.
9. There’s something so sexy about a husband and wife team working together everyday to move their family along.
10. The best McDonald’s apple pies are found outside of the US where they are fried instead of baked.
11. Limited choices are a-ok! We’ve encountered a lot of “supermarkets” that were more like American liquor stores with limited food choices and we’ve made it work just fine.
12. Photographs are our memories frozen in time, so our photography skills will require intention and practice.
13. As the great Paulo Coehlo once stated: “Travel is never a matter of money, but of courage.” Sometimes we eat for less than $15 bucks and we’ve found great Airbnb accommodates for $32 a night.
14. As much as I love traveling with my family spending everyday time alone is critical.
15. Our kids are more at ease when we’ve made time to be with them and them alone.
16. Going with your gut works! We’ll skip a cab ride or bail on an excursion as soon as our instincts spark doubt.
17. Travel helps us flourish and nourish love of art, museums, and history.
18. Faith first! We haven’t missed church a Sunday abroad and plan not to. Church is a time for reflection and gratitude. It is one way of many that we stay grounded in our faith.
19. Our blog will work itself out how it’s meant to. It’s not this big undertaking we need to stress over.
20. Homeschooling is already proving to be more complex than we first imagined, but we are fully up to the challenge of schooling three children next school year.
21. We aren’t backpackers and we don’t intend to be. We are a traveling family of five. This means we carry four checked-bags and about 6 carry-ons during travel days.
22. Health and safety is the most important concern we “worry”‘ and safeguard against on a daily and intentional basis.
23. For sanity’s sake, everyone needs an outlet: a good book, journal, pen pal, and/or playlist. Kids seem most thrilled to have their very own music playlists and pen pals.
24. Once an over-sharer, always an over-sharer. Our social media accounts are active everyday… all 6 of them!
25. There’s no better food on earth than Mexican food. I am biased on that one, however, I still feel this way after 4 weeks in Mexico.
26. Traveling brings out the best in us (and even the worst in us from time to time). A new destination doesn’t change who we are fundamentally. With that in mind, we simply do our best to minimize the “bad.”
27. Netflix in Mexico is WAY BETTER than in the states. Something about the availability of titles is much improved and we are milking it.
28. Children adapt to change but also need major validation when out of their comfort zone and missing home. We’ve all missed home from time to time.
29. Hotels were good for a little while, but Airbnb is king!
30. Truly, there’s no rush, no schedule, and no where we really need to be. That realization has given us the freedom to feel more present and break away from our previous life’s constant commitments and slam-packed schedules.
What has travel taught you?
