How it all began

How did it all begin?

Hitting the road - for the second time...

What was the catalyst to us quitting our jobs, taking the kids out of school and traveling? No apartment, no 9 to 5, no school... not even an official address?

I'm not exactly sure, honestly. It was more of a development. A snowball affect of multiple things. For example being told that we should find a new apartment, because our landlords wanted to use our apartment for themselves (here in Germany they can evict you due to "Eigentum"; to re-assume ownership of the property). Or maybe it was me finally catching up with my husbands disappointment in the school system we were raised in and our children were forced to attend. At the same time us both not living our purpose, and going to jobs every day that were OK, but not at all fulfilling. Those seem like pretty good reasons, just to name a few.

I could go into much more depth on each of those reasons, but would need to write a book, not a blog.

Trailer's full! Getting rid of furniture.

So we made the radical (to some) decision to get rid of a home address, pack up, and travel with our kids. And we are. Despite not being able to fly over to the states like we originally wanted to right away (waiting on a Green Card) we're making the most of it and sticking to Europe. Heading south, starting with Austria and then for the winter maybe Montenegro, Croatia or Greece.

Had to paint the old apartment before we were officially out of there.

After the school year ended in June of '23, we had approximately two weeks to get rid of/donate/sell/store/pack up or just throw away most of our earthly possessions. Two weeks! Can you imagine? Which we somehow did. I'm still not sure how. But thanks to the support of my amazing husband and our rock star kids who were awesome through it all, we did it. Not to mention the help of friends and family who let us borrow a huge trailer to transport furniture, store things at their place, help organize donations and in countless other ways helped out (thank you all by the way!). It wasn't easy- but when you're dedicated to something with all your heart and soul, it just works out somehow.

And then we were off.

Playing on the beach in Belgium

First to visit friends in Hanover, then over to Belgium to camp out on the farm of a dear friend. Then actually back to our home town again (squatting in my sister-in-laws house, with her permission of course) because we had to tie up a few loose ends.

Car troubles on our original departure day

There were definitely some ups and downs at the beginning. For example: we were all ready to head south - do some WWOOFing in Austria - like, really begin this new chapter and take off.... and after being on the road for less than an hour, our car overheats! Not good. After a lot of back and fourth, and trying different things we actually went back to my sister-in-laws house to re-group (with the heater blaring and highly disappointed kids). Fixed the car, with the support of my in-laws, and then we were really off. Like, for real this time.

And now: Austria. OK, I know, we didn't make it that far, and we almost didn't make it at all due to our car breaking down on travel day, but it's a start.

So here we are. Finding new rhythms. Visiting amazing organic farms (WWOOFing) with even more amazing people. Exploring Unschooling together with our kids. And basically trying to set the best example that we can: if you're not happy with your life, change it!