Summer has officially arrived and small-town living is everything we hoped it would be. Quiet weekdays; a bustling farmer’s market on Saturdays; live music in the village square on Sundays; and the occasional bonfire in our very own backyard fire pit complete with a marshmallow roast.
More than just the activities, we’re enjoying the novelty of being part of a community and getting to know our neighbours -- something infinitely easier to do when we’re staying in one place instead of moving every month.
During our travels, the most interaction that we could hope for was a quick hello (or buen día or merhaba or buna ziua) at the local grocery store. Here we’ve achieved a level of relationship with our closest neighbour that allows us to pop into his garage and borrow his gas lawn mower whenever we need it (apparently he couldn’t bear to watch us struggling with our old-fashioned push mower 😂)
Adventure of a lifetime goes off the rails
The other benefit of being settled in a home base is that it’s given us time to reflect on everything that we’ve seen and done and learned over the past four years of non-stop travel. The recap of the first year of our adventures -- 8 countries, 12 destinations, countless mistakes -- is now live on our blog.
I’ve included the highlights, of course, but also the difficulties that we had behind the scenes. We were newbie travellers stumbling our way around the world while also juggling real-life issues, the vast majority of which never made it into our vlogs and blogs.
For example, when we walked into an Airbnb in Fethiye on the coast of Turkey -- one that we had booked for a full month -- and almost burst into tears at the thought of staying even a single night, we never even considered turning on the camera to capture the moment. We were far too busy desperately trying to find an alternate place to stay that didn’t mind taking a last-minute booking with two small dogs.
If you’re ready for a fast-paced romp through our early misadventures, here’s a taste of what you can expect:
Somehow never catching a break with our Airbnbs in Turkey (even when we amped up the budget)
How we ended up fleeing into the epicentre of the COVID outbreak in Italy
Our emergency flight to Canada consisting of a dozen passengers on a plane that seated almost 400
Feeling smug about our perfect Airbnb in Athens -- until we noticed all the riot police
Why spectacular Dubrovnik was just okay -- and where we recommend to go instead
That’s a wrap for July. Watch for next month’s newsletter where I’ll be sharing the details of my upcoming trip -- and it’s an unusual one. I’m heading to a First Nations reserve in the far north of Manitoba to lend a hand to a local dog rescue organisation. As usual, you can find all the action as it unfolds on our Instagram.
Stephanie & Gillian
Thank for sharing, you both have helped inspire my wife and I to retire early, albeit not as early as you all, but earlier than we ever expected, and to travel the world. We have been following your adventures from the beginning and are very happy we have.