Our expat adventures across the pond…and just down the lane.
We have officially lived in the U.K. for two years now. Even writing that, it feels unreal. Time has gone so quickly, even in the midst of this unusual time. My last post was the last day of school, and the new school year starts again in just a few days. Continue reading “Riding the Fforest Coaster & Back for the Llandudno Sunset”
We’ve been emerging from lockdown the past month or so, looking out from our cottage cocoon and seeking adventure beyond our garden walls.
If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard…because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with.
If you recognize this line, perhaps you too love The Wizard Oz. Continue reading “Scenes of Spring”
Journey back into time with me…a time when people from all over flew other places, just to see what was there. People lined the streets of cities, and tourists crowded in groups, reused headphones placed upon their ears in an attempt to hear a tour guide . The words lockdown, quarantine and social distancing weren’t in our daily lexicon.
The year was 2019. Specifically, the last two days of it. (Doesn’t it feel so long ago now?) Continue reading “Part III: Ending the Trip, and Our Year, in Prague”
April 5, 2020
I first sat down to write an update three weeks ago. I didn’t post it, because let’s face it, news and information and opinions and viewpoints and memes and rants about Coronavirus/Covid-19 are everywhere. It’s all-encompassing and exhausting. Do I need to add to that? Do I offer anything new? Well, no.
I do, however, feel the need to document this experience and I process my thoughts through writing, so I’m trying again. That’s the point of this blog – a documentation of our experience, a chance to share, a way to connect. I’m also keeping my first update as the second part of this post, because it is interesting to see what has changed already in three weeks.
Continue reading “Staying at Home, So Far From Home: Expat Life During Covid-19 Lockdown”
On Day 3 of our trip, we headed out of Vienna, ready to hit the beautiful slopes of Austria. We had been told that real, proper, Alps skiing was several hours away from Vienna, toward Salzburg. This makes sense when looking at the terrain, but the Alps are the Alps, we figured, and we didn’t want to drive that far. We didn’t need huge mountains. Tim has skied in Colorado, but he and the boys have mostly done their runs on smaller slopes in Wisconsin. We settled on the Semmering area because it was a little more than an hour away from Vienna and offered some simple runs in a beautiful setting. Continue reading “Part II: Skiing in Semmering & Stuhleck (and Why You Should Check for Snow Chains)”
As Christmas neared, we still had visions of gleeful bicycle rides in Copenhagen dancing in our heads and weren’t sure we should plan another trip so soon after our impromptu Danish adventure. But with some gloom about not being able to see family over Christmas, and knowing that Tim and the boys had rare days off work/school at the same time we decided to go for it. When deciding where to go, we were looking for beautiful city that could still have a Christmas-y vibe, and also possibly be able to ski. We sifted through flights and options before landing on Vienna > Semmering > Prague. Here’s a recap from our first stop, exquisite Vienna. Continue reading “Christmas Vacation part I: Skating, Schönbrunn & Schnitzel in Vienna”
(Had to make the TLC reference in the title, for any other 90’s music aficionados.)
It was one of those days where we needed to get out. I mentioned previously we had a quiet week around home during the boys fall break. By the time the Sunday rolled around, a little too much TV/video game/whining about being bored pushed us to check something new off of the list. There’s so much varied landscape to explore, all within a few hours, and Tim’s coworker had recommended doing a hike called the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail. Luckily for us, the boys seemed open to hiking again as enough time must have passed from our last jaunt. Continue reading “Chasing Waterfalls in Ingleton”
We made our way to mainland Europe for the first time since we moved, and had a fabulous long weekend in Copenhagen recently. Tim had a work trip scheduled from Wednesday-Friday and suggested we meet him at the tail end, so we went for it. We cleared it with school, cleared our weekend schedule (which was basically just football), and had the best long weekend exploring the city. Here’s a not-so-quick recap of our time! Continue reading “A Long Weekend in Copenhagen”
I envisioned the beaches of Spain or wandering the streets of some European city for the boys’ recent half-term weeklong break from school, but airline price hikes and Tim’s busy schedule kept us around home. Don’t you hate it when reality gets in the way of an unplanned, undetermined adventure?
Tosa to Tarporley 