New Beginnings
It was midnight when we stepped off the plane. The air was unlike any place we had experienced; warm like a weighted blanket. We were tired, yet bubbling with anticipation.
After standing in line for what seemed like forever, we finally made it through passport control and found a taxi to take us to our hotel for the night.
It was around 1:30 AM when we finally nodded off.
The next morning, as I opened the shutters of the hotel room windows, my jaw dropped in awe.
“Oh. My. Gosh. Jeff, look!”
He slid over next to me by the window, gazing at what was staring us in the face.
The view was so breathtaking that we stood there in silence, taking it all in.
Then I looked to the left.
“Is that the fortress?” I asked.
“I don’t know, maybe. It’s definitely some ancient wall. Oh man, look over there. That must be Sarandé,” he said.
And at that moment, I exclaimed with restrained exuberance.
”We’re here. We’re really here! Can you believe it?”
“It’s remarkable. We did it,” he said, with the biggest grin and a giant hug.
We had officially landed in GREECE!!!
Our Vision
That first view of Corfu, Greece, was only the beginning. We spent the next 10 months living long-term in four different European countries. Along the way, we had week-long excursions in three others.
The life we envisioned was much greater than being tourists. We were creating our “Home Where We Roam.”
We spent the first half of our marriage raising a large family; seven children to be exact. Home meant the place we all came back to after a full day at school or work. Family meals eaten together, pictures of our children on the wall, chores, and homework.
As our kids became adults, they created their own lives in different cities. Then our youngest graduated, and the pandemic came to a close. We began to wonder what home for the second half of our marriage might look like.
We were in our early 50s and had only once traveled outside of the U.S., a five-hour drive North into British Columbia, Canada. We had always talked about visiting Rome and Cairo. But traveling to another country for vacation had been financially out of the question.
We began to see opportunities to not just visit those places on our bucket list, but to maybe make Europe our home.
At first, we thought we would live in Portugal, because it had an attractive visa program. Once we looked into it, the timeline would have taken way too long.
Then one day, Jeff came home and asked, “What if we could live as nomads: staying in each country three months at a time?”
He didn’t think I’d say yes.
Guess what happened?
I said YES!!
Home Where You Roam
Most people think of “home” as the place they reside. But nomads are wanderers! What would “home” even mean for us when we were in constant motion?
We knew that creating a nomadic home would encompass more than duplicating the home we made at the fixed address where our children were raised.
You can’t possibly take every book or picture you own. You also can’t take your kitchen sink
So, before we left the United States, we made elaborate lists to figure out what we would take with us, knowing it all had to fit in just two checked suitcases, two carry-ons, and our backpacks!!
Throughout our travels, we have met hundreds of nomads. Some we met at nomad festivals, and others we met at local meetups or simply walking down the street. We’ve even been part of online communities. Among these groups there seemed to be a common missing thread for a large percentage of them.
How do you pack all that is uniquely ‘you’ in a backpack, carry-on, and a checked bag?
Many ‘aha’ moments have happened when we’ve discussed this concept. And the resounding replies were, “You should write about this!”
Guess what happened?
I said YES…again!
In this book, you will find practical ideas for every room, lists of our favorite things we carry with us, along with links to each one, stories from our travels, and discoveries we’ve made about ourselves and each other. Travel changes you. Things you might have thought were important in the beginning might slowly fade away into the distance, and you will leave them behind. It’s the ebb and flow of life. Stepping into that stream is what’s important.
Come along!
Let me show you how to make your
“Home Where You Roam.”
