Our Year Abroad Trip Reflections: highlights, bests and worsts interview

Our family of 4 spent 11 months away from home traveling together through Europe and some of the countries around the Mediterranean. We have just returned home and are transitioning back into the 'real world'. Here are some of the questions we've been getting asked about the trip, interview style.

Q: What was your favorite place?

A: Jason - Petra, Jordan. 

Meggan - Seeing all the colourful hieroglyphs and tombs in Egypt

Rachel - Greece. It had a great combination of ancient ruins, friendly people, and beautiful nature.

Ava - I don't know / Portugal, because one of my best friends came to visit and that was really fun

Q: What was the hottest (temperature) on the whole trip?

Meggan - Riding on a packed metro in Rome, wearing lots of clothes, carrying our backpacks and being squished in with lots of people around after a long travel day, trying to get to our accommodation

Also, the Turkish Bath in Istanbul had a part that was hot stone and then a hot sauna, and it was really hot (and I loved it!)

Rachel, Jason - Inside of the Great Pyramid of Giza = hot and stuffy

Ava - Morocco, Egypt, Jordan!

Q: What was the coldest temperature you were on the whole trip?

A: all - skiing in Jahorina (home to the 1984 Olympics), near Sarajevo, Bosnia

Q: What was the best accommodation you had and why?

A: We had some beautiful places! 

- Santorini, Greece we had a memorable stay with gorgeous sunsets and an amazing view outside our terracotta cycladic place. Oh, and Ava liked it because of all of the cats.

- Naxos, Greece we had a beautiful clean and bright apartment with the most friendly hosts, lemon liqueur welcoming us, and the beach across the street.

- Not the best, but a memorable / unique accommodation was staying in a hostel in Copenhagen where we each had a little personal cubby of a bunk bed 

- We rented a big beautiful house in Portugal with friends and it had a pool and gorgeous views of the ocean and sunsets - that was fantastic.

Q: What was the worst accommodation you had and why?

A: We had some pretty bad accommodations at times. Certainly places that were cold or damp, terrible internet for working, yucky smells, no hot water, door handles that fell off in your hand, beds that didn't feel clean to comfortably sleep in, a night when we didn't have any linens for the beds or any towels, many showers that flooded the whole bathroom with water, places that easily over-taxed the electric so the fuse kept blowing, and kitchens that were not clean or had very little in the way of equipment.

Ha ha ha!

But the worst was our second stay in Istanbul. Certainly a time when picking a cheaper accommodation was a bad idea and wish I'd paid a bit more for better. It was safe enough and the location was a good base for sightseeing. But it was crowded, not very clean, everything was old and falling apart, everything felt musty/dank. The mini kitchen had an electric hot pot for a stove but the electric cords didn't feel very safe. The worst was the bathroom. It smelled terrible. It was so small and crowded. The shower just came out of the wall with no curtain or anything, so the water from the shower just went all over the toilet and the floor and the sink and then everything was soaked for a while. We stayed there for 4 nights, and we were happy to leave!

Q: What are some of the things you are really happy to have now that you're home?

A: Well, we aren't actually back in our own house yet and still living out of our backpacks for a few more days. We are looking forward to getting our cat back! We miss our own beds/rooms. We are excited to do a huge grocery shop and be able to cook and bake with things like spices, flour, familiar foods and variety at the store. We have had very basic cooking options for the whole trip because we rarely stayed anywhere long enough to have a stocked-up kitchen. 

The best is seeing family and friends again. It's so fun to hug people we love and also fun to have people welcome us back enthusiastically.

Meggan - It's delightful to hear English and read English and speak English again. We were in a foreign language (many different languages) from mid-October until late May and that was fun but also tiring.

I also miss my clothes! I'm surprised by this (I'm not a fashionista!) but I've been wearing the same pants and same shirts again and again on this trip. I am very excited to wear something a little nicer for work soon and put on a pair of jeans that fit just right.

We miss our bikes.

Jason - I am excited to be in our yard and garden with beautiful plants and trying to grow food. 

Rachel - Familiarity and knowing where things are in our community. Baking in Nana's kitchen.

Ava - "School!" 

Ava - Driving in our own car again. 

Ava - Large houses / places to spread out and have space to myself to help calm down or relax without having to share.

 

Q: What were some of your favorite foods or meals? Memorable foods?

A: We aren't foodies and, compared to many folks, we don't go out for food very often just for fun. We usually think of food more as a functional fuel to keep us going. We cooked the majority of our meals at our accommodation and did a LOT of grocery shopping for 1-2 days at a time. But we did enjoy trying new things and some meals out at restaurants as a treat occasionally.

• We ate a lot of croissants, pain du chocolat, and pastries. So many bakeries! In the Balkans, we ate a lot of bureks (filo pastry filled with meat or cheese or sometimes spinach). 
• We loved all the crepes. 
• In Norway, we had an excellent reindeer soup.
• In Sweden, we had 'fika' while we kayaked, which wasn't a specific food but a 'coffee break' with cookies and hot drinks and snacks and that was awesome.  
• In Sweden we also had a lot of hog dogs with interesting toppings. Like hot dogs with mashed potatoes on top, which turns out to be delicious!
• In Portugal, we enjoyed desserts called pastels that are a custard tart. Ava really loved them!
• In Sarajevo, we visited a fantastic family restaurant and loved their soup and cevapi (grilled sausages served in a pita).
• In Spain, we ate a lot of mild/sweet chorizo sausages.

Q: What was something that was really challenging?

A: Jason - working while traveling. It was difficult to feel present or really enjoy myself when I always felt I had work tasks to do or figure out when and where I could next work.

Meggan - Many things. Financial stress. Very limited social interactions and almost nil support network outside of the 3 people in my family with me. Being in close quarters with each other without space (literal or emotional) to reset for such a prolonged period of time. There were times that were really challenging as a couple but not a lot of space or opportunity to discuss or process things well.

One of my biggest concerns before we left was how the kids' current friendships might be affected by being away for a while. Thank goodness they had each other the whole time and that they are siblings that really get along. To see them connect with friends now that we are home and be so excited to jump right back in feels really relieving - I think it's going to be just fine!

Rachel - Travelling with people who have different travel styles than us. Some people would rather go out for food at expensive restaurants when we'd rather take a hike, which was tricky to balance. The people who came to visit also had a larger budget than us because they were only there for two weeks or so, as opposed to a year.

Ava - Homesickness. Ava spent a lot of the trip missing her school, house, cat, friends, family, etc. But she did also have fun on the trip.

Q: Did you meet up with other people or stay with others?

We were hosted by people twice on the trip. Once for a few days with family in England and once for a few days we stayed with a former work colleague of Jason's in Montpellier, France. Both of those experiences were lovely because we learned more about the local area and had other people to interact with, as well as the comforts of being in a real home stocked with things to actually live there.

I think being able to be hosted more in any way would have made the trip so much more comfortable. In the future I think I would seek out relatives, acquaintences, couchsurfing hosts, etc. to connect more with people who can support and give local recommendations. When we stayed with people that lived in England or France, it was like a break from being in charge or having to decide so much or plan, which was huge.

Then we had people come and visit here and there, and then we would travel and sightsee with them:

• Iceland - our niece came for 2 weeks
• Greece - Jason's mom came for 2 weeks
• Egypt and Jordan - Meggan's mom came for 2 weeks for the guided tour of these 2 countries
• Italy - Jason's sister and family came for 2 weeks
• Portugal - great friends from Victoria stayed with us during their travels abroad
• Morocco - Jason's aunt joined us for these 2 weeks
• Catalan Spain/Andorra - our other niece came for 2+ weeks

We were so grateful for these visits because they provided support, excitement, fun, different energy, and different interests/experiences/activities. We were able to use some of these opportunities to send items home or have things brought to us from home. It was so awesome to see the people we loved and to have conversations with other people in English. 

Having lots of visitors also sometimes guided our itinerary to be in a certain place at a certain time and plan around that. Instead of staying put, we moved around more and sometimes became the 'tour guides' in places we didn't know ourselves. Haha. Totally worth it to see awesome people we loved...but an interesting perspective on long-term travel we hadn't expected.

Q: What chores were involved, and now that you're home how will that change?

A (Meggan): I didn't vacuum or clean a bathroom properly for almost a whole year! That is pretty amazing and unique. Because we had such short stays, I really didn't have to do much cleaning in that way. Pretty lucky there!

But we had way more work to do with laundry, grocery shopping, and cooking. 

Laundry was constant and important because we only had so many clothes. We stayed at places that had washing machines most of the time (at least after Scandinavia, where we had less laundry and more hostels), but we needed to time things so we had time to hang our clothes and have them dry before it was time to move on. Very few places had dryers. So we became really aware of when we had opportunities to do laundry and that became a priority. We carried around soap and did a decent amount of hand-washing in the bathroom sink. 

Grocery shopping was almost a daily thing and many grocery stores were very small or limited. This was largely true because we mostly used public transit and then stayed in a central old town lodging option with just very small markets within walking distance. We would get what we needed for 1-2 days at a time, what we could carry while we walked back with our backpacks and cloth bags, and then repeat. We had a very basic meal rotation for a lot of the trip. Whenever we rented a car, this really shifted because we could drive to a bigger store, carry more in the car, and go to another place if we wanted something in particular. 

Cooking was an adventure. I don't know how many kitchens we have had in the last year but perhaps we've used 40 different stove tops, and each one operates a bit differently. Some places had toasters and microwaves or ovens but some didn't. Some places had sharp knives and cutting boards but some didn't. Some places had only one huge pot and no little pot, so then we'd have to creatively make rice in a new way. Once we bought a frozen entree that needed to be cooked using an oven, only to come home and realize we didn't have an oven, so we cooked it in a frying pan instead...it wasn't very good! ha ha ha

Q: Did you lose anything?

We lost many things along the way! Before we even left Iceland, I think we were down a water bottle and a hairbrush. Several times we'd get to a new place and start unpacking and realize a tshirt was missing without any idea where it went... I personally lost one great running tech shirt and a favorite comfy t-shirt but have no idea if they blew off a laundry clothesline or what. Jason lost his running hat in the dunes in Jordan. Our biggest loss was a kindle e-reader, which we left somewhere in Jordan. After that, there was always high demand and sharing and negotiations needed for who got to use the kindle to read. (We didn't carry any physical paper books on the trip, so we either read on the kindle or on our phones and our kids read A LOT!) I also left an awesome fleece behind in Venice Italy in the closet and I'm very frustrated with myself for losing it because it was fantastic and it was a gift.

Q: What electronic devices did you take and how did that work out?

We had two laptops, 1-2 kindles, and 3 phones. We had a lot of cords and chargers and plug adapters and had to figure out where to charge devices at each place and make sure we had full charges for everything before a day of travel to the next place.

The devices were used constantly. Both adults needed laptops to work, and to plan train tickets and book the next accommodations or look at maps almost constantly when we had 'downtime'. But the kids also had school tasks to do and wanted to have options to watch a movie, play a game, or communicate with friends at home on the computers or phones.

Often we had to come up with a school project that didn't require a device or I had to wait on planning or work tasks until Jason was done a meeting until I could be productive again.

But I wouldn't have wanted to carry around any more. The 'orange backpack' Jason carried around with two computers and all the chargers and cords was already annoyingly heavy.

Q: What did you do for home schooling and how did that go?

Originally, we had planned to register the kids in an official online curriculum with online teachers and online classmates from our hometown. But we were discouraged by several people (teachers, other people that had done this type of experience) from doing so and in the end decided not to do this. I thought I would really want that structure and check-in and reassurance that we were on track. But I am VERY GLAD we did not do this. It would have been really challenging and stressful. Time zone communication was already a challenge with our work. Our trip plans changed very frequently and we ended up moving around way more than I expected, with less specific down time to work on big creative projects. 

We prioritized math. We were lucky enough to have a kind teacher give us the paper worksheets and marking guide for all of grade 4 and grade 7 math. So we carried around a lot of math papers at the beginning and got family to mail us the next batch when we finished a section. The kids did this pretty fast, so after we finished the paper curriculum for the year (or at times when we didn't have access to the paper), they did an online math curriculum called IXL. IXL was much more challenging that then paper curriculum, and they probably won't get through it all. But that worked out really well and I feel quite confident that they are both just fine as far as staying on top of math.

Other subjects were really random, and I am not a good teacher. We did have some projects that worked out well but we also had loads of projects that seemed like great ideas but didn't come together or didn't capture interest to see it through. 

I'll be curious to see how the re-integration goes at the beginning of the year, particularly for Rachel as she enters grade 8. We had trouble figuring out how to make band work (we tried to travel with a 'pocket trumpet', but that didn't work out), and I think there will be some holes to catch up on. But on the other hand, I think both kids had unforgettable experiences and learnings that could never be paralleled. Seeing so many cultures and places in succession allowed the kids (and us) to make historical connections and understand events on a deeper level. I really am confident that this experience has provided them with a deeper and richer education and perspective that I can't even articulate. For me as a parent, I'm thrilled with the experiences and learning that this trip provided for the kids.

Q: How was working remotely and how much did the adults work? How did that go?

We could probably talk a lot more about the logistics of working during this trip... Jason was able to work about half-time remotely for his job at his University and also has a career and ADHD coaching business that he was able to grow while we were away. We are so grateful that Jason was able to have this opportunity, but it was challenging. It really changed the trip from feeling like a vacation to feeling like a juggling act. Always trying to work around meetings and finding opportunities to work. It affected everything, and we made this way harder on ourselves. It would have been much easier to stay put more often in a place with more space, great wifi, and one time zone. 

I (Meggan) did some telemedicine as a physiotherapist, some teaching and mentorship, and some online exercise classes while we traveled. But for me this was really hit and miss. I was so grateful to stay engaged in the profession I love so much and to continue to feed this part of my soul. I took birth doula training and was able to participate in a few online courses and conferences, as well as have the time to listen to many learning podcasts or reading I don't often have time for at home. However, I really didn't work as many profitable hours as I had expected.   

Every place we booked had to have great wifi for video meetings, private space to have confidential conversations, a place to put a laptop and work without hurting ourselves too badly. When I taught exercise classes, I often moved all the furniture around to create enough space to move around myself. I almost wish I had brought a yoga mat - I certainly laid on a lot of uncomfortable floors!!

We were often working in the evenings in Europe to connect with someone in the morning in North America. We sometimes woke in the middle of the night to work and then go back to sleep. We were often working in one time zone but booking meetings in another upcoming time zone for us, so keeping our calendars straight was tricky. Often we didn't have the wifi or space for both of us to have meetings at the same time, so we had to be really on top of sharing our calendars and trying not to book video meetings at the same time as the other person. This was hard.

Jason did a great job with all of this, and I'm really grateful. He worked much more than I did. He worked while throwing up on a rocky boat ride in Norway. He worked in a quiet corner of an amusement park in Sweden. He worked in small bathroom spaces, sometimes placing his laptop on the toilet lid. He listened to meetings while we were on a bus or a train in transit. He showed up for his clients even when the bathroom was smelly or we were tired or the kids were crabby and fighting in the next room.

We are both very much looking forward to regular work again!

Q: Packing... how did you pack for a whole year for your family and what would you do differently for packing?

I spent a lot of time last spring being concerned about what and how to pack. We would have to carry all of our stuff. For a year. We planned to camp and ski, but also ride camels in the hot desert. We needed to work and do school. 

Camping at the beginning was tricky. It just became way more logistics and gear than was really worth it, even though we do love camping. If I were to repeat the whole thing, I wouldn't have bothered with the tent or stove/pots/fuel or maybe I would have rented a car in Sweden and then camped instead of staying in hostels. We could have taken only sleeping bags for the huts and campervan. It's really hard to find camping while using public transit, as campgrounds or wilderness don't tend to be near bus or train stations. It's much more typical to camp with a car, to drive to rural places or trailheads and camp from there. But we did camp in Iceland and Sweden and Denmark, and we used our campstove in some hostel rooms to make noodles instead of paying to eat out. Jason also needed quite a bit of camping gear for his stage race in Wales.

After Wales, we mailed home a lot of our gear, which was quite expensive to do but lightened our loads a lot and made catching transit or walking around a city to find our lodging much more comfortable.

Before we left, someone who had done similar travel said you only needed 2 pairs of pants and 3 t-shirts each. And if we were going to a consistent climate, especially a warm climate, that would have for sure been true. I did wear the same pair of warmer pants almost every day for all of the cooler months, and then rotated between two pairs of lighter travel pants for the warmer months. I needed less clothes than I expected, even with marathon training and work.

The kids grew. A lot. We went through shoes and ordered new shoes online and had them shipped to us once or twice, but getting stuff shipped to us was often really challenging. We weren't staying in many places that accepted packages, and communication in other languages about this was hard. We also didn't stay put long enough many places to reliably receive mail. 

We couldn't find clothes to buy for the kids very easily. We stayed in a lot of small towns and didn't have a car or speak the language or have any local support. Finding clothing for a kid when they had no more pants or underwear that fit was really hard, especially in Greece/Turkey/Egypt/ Jordan/Balkans/Morocco. Obviously there are kids everywhere, so there must have been options that we didn't see. But I was glad that I had packed some clothes that were a bit too big for Rachel and that anything she grew out of could then get passed on to Ava.

We bought some clothes on the trip. Jason bought a thrift store sweatshirt for hanging out at the house. We bought Rachel a tech t-shirt. I bought a fleece recently (after losing another) and some underwear.

Aunt Cynthia bought lots of clothes when she arrived because her luggage didn't. When she left, I was excited to take over an outfit she had bought just so I could wear something different!

Skiing was the hardest logistical challenge for packing. We did see some ski clothing for sale, but not when we needed it, and the stuff was either crazy expensive or really crap and barely ever in kids sizes. I was glad I had my mom bring us ski gloves and ski socks. I had packed a whole box of 'maybe' items and stored them at my mom's while we traveled so that she could mail or bring stuff. But we played in the snow without snowboots and we dressed in really creative ways to make skiing work. And it was fun, but cold!

A couple things I'm really glad we did pack: 

• our camping bowls, because so many places we stayed didn't have bowls so we used them again and again even beyond camping. 
• LEGO for the kids - even 40 pieces in a ziplock bag was awesome and used over and over again in different ways
• notebooks for the kids - we ended up buying 2-3 more notebooks each, but sometimes it took a while before we could find a place that sold a notebook
• the e-reader instead of carrying around any books
• our camping spoons
• laundry soap powder to hand-wash clothes
• cloth bags for groceries and carrying random leftover things
• hand sanitizer and single-use wipes
• portable chargers for each phone that had good capacity

Q: How did it go renting your house?

We think it went quite well, but I guess we will know for sure when we get it back this week! We certainly made a good sum of money renting it for the year, and we were grateful to have a property management company do everything for us while we were gone. There were some months where we didn't make as much as we had hoped, and that was very stressful because we depended on that to help fund the trip. But overall I think it worked out very well, and I'm so grateful.

Q: Can you come up with a highlight for each country / region you were in?

A: Just one?!? ...

• Iceland - waterfalls and hot springs, being with our cousin Ella
• Norway - northern lights museum, Jason's Tromso Skyrace, the market and hiking in Bergen. We loved Bergen!
• Sweden - Liseberg amusement park, our guide on the kayaking trip
• Denmark - cycling, LegoHouse, and rowing a Viking ship
• England - being hosted by family, Harry Potter world
• Wales - having Jason be safe after he was done with the Dragon's Back Ultra Stage Race
• Ireland - running/hiking/cycling/boating in Killarney National Park and the Gap of Dunloe
• quote: Jason saying to Meggan "I didn't want you to feel dumb" after he confused our rental bikes while locking them up ☺
• France - Saint Malo, Mont St Michel, the Eiffel tower, Carcassonne, running on the Mediterranean waterfront in the sun, eating a nice French dinner with friends
• Greece - Meggan running the Athens marathon, seeing the Parthenon and ancient ruins, geeking out on Greek Gods and myths, Santorini sunsets, Mykonos windmills and white/blue streets
• "Toh mini-market": Rachel's accent as she learned Greek and helped us find the little grocery stores
• Turkey - Ephesus, the colours in Pamukkale, the lovely woman on the bus who gave the kids chocolate, being inside the Hagia Sophia mosque
• Egypt - almost all of Egypt was awesome. Pyramids, temples, tombs, hierglyphics, our guide in the Nile/Luxor area.
• "Mercy Me!" - Nana on a horse carriage ride, scared by the chaotic oncoming traffic.
• Jordan - Petra was amazing, particularly hiking around and above it and visiting it at night. Nana and Ava riding donkeys. Floating in the Dead Sea. Riding a 4x4 in the desert dunes of Wadi Rum and staying in a fancy camp.
• Albania - bumper cars over Christmas
• Montenegro - oranges and oak branches decorating for orthodox Christmas, and the old city of Kotor
• Bosnia - the "Old Bridge" of Mostar, skiing in the cold at Jahorina, beautiful waterfalls
• Croatia - POURING rain in Dubrovnik, enjoying Split's waterfront and warmth again, Krka National Park, amazing Plitvice Lakes NP, eating random snacks for dinner one night when nothing was open
• Italy - Venice's canals and bridges, glass workshop in Murano, hiking in the sun in Cinque Terre, riding the electric scooters in traffic in Rome to get our Colosseum tickets.
• Portugal - the gorgeous coastline, paddling under arches, Benagil cave, minigolf, surfing
• Seville area of Spain - Seeing the palace of Naboo from Star Wars, the water organ at the Alcazar palace
• Gibraltar - monkey butts and the colours of the St Michael's cave show
• Morocco - the blue city of Chefchouen, the tanneries of Fez, riding camels in the Sahara
• Catalan region of Spain/Andorra/Toulouse - Enjoying hikes and beach of Roses, fun modern art in Figures, Barcelona Sagrada Familia stained glass, beautiful alpine hike, snowstorm in the mountains, riding our bikes on the Canal du Midi with the locks, and the Port Aventura amusement park
• "coco fresh" - heard 1000 times as people tried to sell us drinks on the beach in Barcelona

Any other questions?!?

Thanks for following along. We hope you can join us on a future adventure!