The Remote-Work Lifestyle: 4 Years and 6 Continents Later
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Our Travel Story > The Remote-Work Lifestyle: 4 Years and 6 Continents Later
The Remote-Work Lifestyle: 4 Full Years
Today (March 28th, 2022) marks the day that we have officially been traveling the world for FOUR FULL YEARS, something we’ve been able to afford mostly by using one investment strategy and a remote coding job. Last year, we wrote about our third year traveling the world, and we did the same for year two and year one - and now we are back to let you know how the fourth year went - traveling with a 3-year old and a 1-year old, navigating travel with many Covid restrictions, and increasing our budget to about $2,750/month! This is what life is like while traveling the world with your family in the remote-work lifestyle.
We left off in the last article saying how chaotic traveling during coronavirus times was and how difficult it was for us to know where we were going to end up next. Malaysia did not end up extending our visas after March 31st, 2021 and we were therefore required to leave by April 21st. Thus, we start off with our chaotic departure of Malaysia in this article.
Below is our emotional - and exciting - journey over our fourth year - but you can skip to our highlights and lessons learned near the bottom if you’d prefer a shorter read.
Suria KLCC mall - Ramadan display
Last days in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Without much warning, Malaysia decided to stop automatically extending the visas of visitors like us at the beginning of April. They had been late to extend us the last couple of times, so we were still expecting that this time - although it became clear that this time was going to be different. We had to make some very quick decisions. As our daughter was born in Malaysia, she didn’t get an entry stamp in her passport when she arrived in Malaysia. Thus, we needed to make an appointment at immigration to get her a special pass so that we could leave the country with her.
Additionally, we scrambled to find a country that was still open to tourists (many were closed), that was still relatively safe from covid on a per-capita basis, and was not super expensive for flights or accommodation. Although we were trying to fly all the way around the world, we ended up on an affordable flight out to Trabzon, Turkey, turning us back around and heading west instead of continuing east.
The flight itself was a full 24 hours long, including layovers, and was an epic disaster scenario with the littles that almost made us quit traveling right there and then. It required much reflection.
Trabzon Secret Paradise - Relaxing on our porch in Trabzon looking over the Black Sea
Relaxing in Trabzon, Turkey
Trabzon turned out to be the escape and relaxation that we were looking for - away from everything.
It was so far away from things that our place - right on the Black Sea - required us to visit farmers markets and tiny local stores to acquire food - there were no delivery services. However, it was a wonderful experience learning about the customs and culture during Ramadan season.
The relaxation by the sea and the hospitality of our hosts was incredible. Our hosts cooked us meals on multiple occasions, and delivered them to us personally. Once, while visiting a fish market, a vendor showed us how to filet the local black sea sardines and instructed us how to cook them, then he decided to filet them all for us instead, and then simply let us have them for free!
Thank you, Trabzon, for having such amazing people!
Maral Selalesi - a.k.a. Maral Waterfall
Exploring the Karadienz Region
After relaxing for a month on the shorelines of the Black Sea, we decided to explore the Trabzon and Karadeniz region in Turkey a bit more - as it appeared that there wasn't much information in English about the area yet - and, oh boy, did we ever discover a hidden gem!
Those adventures led us to see a Monastery high on the side of a cliff, wander through a cave high up in the mountains, try tea at an actual tea factory, enjoy a Turkish breakfast in a magical valley, check out a very colorful wooden mosque, learn what comes along with the remote area of a UNESCO protected biosphere, relax on a lovely walk around the Black Lake, explore waterfalls in the Ayder Highlands, and visit a couple of castles far out in the middle of valleys with raging rivers.
It was one of the biggest highlights of our entire trip so far, and the most incredible tour that we had in 2021. We would recommend it to anyone who loves nature and culture.
Lower Düden Waterfalls - Karpuzkaldiran
Sweltering, sleepless nights in Antalya
After a short flight down to Antalya - also in Turkey - we casually wandered around the city to see what we'd find.
It reminded us quite a bit of the coasts of Italy and Greece, with the flowers along the streets, the Tuscan looking houses, and Roman ruins surprising us at every turn.
The views were gorgeous, but the record heat wave that poured over this area while we were there made for a number of sleepless nights (it was simply too hot to sleep at night!). We enjoyed the coastal walks, the waterfalls, and the old town marina most, apart from just about any shaded area.
We did find some delicious vegan food at the Pumpkin Cafe, enjoyed a number of very affordable doner kebabs, had some amazing watermelon ice cream at Dondurma Dukkani, and found some great places - with amazing views - to sit down and enjoy some nicer meals.
Kekova - Sunken City boat trip
Exploring Kas, Fethiye, and Pamukkale
We kicked off July with a couple of road trips. The first left Antalya and stopped in Kas for a boat trip to a few lagoons, a sunken city, and a castle in Kekova. Waltoshi got in plenty of swimming and even learned to move about on his own in the water.
On our way up to Fethiye, we stopped at the gorgeous Saklıkent Kanon - a great place to relax and camp - where our son begged us to go river tubing. The tubing wasn't as crazy as we were expecting - actually quite calm and shallow waters. Gorgeous area!
In Fethiye, we saw a massive abandoned ancient city... and some pirate ships down on the shores. We could tell that our son was controlling this adventure when we ended up in another boat day (although we managed to avoid the pirate party boats).
Next we drove though the mountains of Central Turkey to arrive at Hierapolis and the Travertines of Pamukkale (thermal pools) - including Cleopatra's Antique Pools - to explore the beauty. It was an amazing location, but the pools were not all turned on due to the extreme heat.
Lastly, we stopped back in Antalya to check out another hidden waterfall.
Cappadocia sunrise balloon flights
Konya and Cappadocia
Our second road trip in July brought us to Cappadocia after a stop at the Kyoto Japan Garden in Konya. Cappadocia lives up to the photos and the hype. It's a completely different place, with seriously unique natural formations and cities literally built into the sides of mountains and deep underground.
Our favorite stop was at the Ihlara Valley, where we walked along the water flowing through the vibrant green valley floor with towering red cliffside views.
Yes, we tried a traditional hammam, saw some Sufi whirling dervishes, experienced an amazing "Turkish Night", and explored the valleys and rock formations of Göreme.
Sunrise with the rising of around a hundred hot air balloons was simply breathtaking on the morning of our departure. On our return to Antalya we stopped at a very ancient Neolithic site in Konya and we even found some dinosaurs for the kids to enjoy.
Unmasked Tirana, Albania and finally getting our vaccines
After arriving in Tirana, Albania, we noticed that almost nobody wore masks - so we stayed indoors most of the time - and continued to brave on through the incredibly warm summer in this region. Honestly, we had to move the mattress to the living room - as that was the only room with an air conditioner - and all sleep there together. It was INCREDIBLY HOT in late July and early August!
As luck would have it, Albania offered us the Pfizer vaccine mid-August and we grabbed it. While we were waiting for our second dose we attempted to catch up on writing blogs and also created a course to teach people about an investment strategy that helps us pay for our travels.
A few weeks after the second shot we began to explore the city area of Tirana and noticed quite a lot of history revolving around their fascist & communist past.
Near the end of September we finally made our way over to the Grand Park of Tirana, which made us realize that Tirana wasn't just a concrete jungle - the park was a huge highlight that we really enjoyed.
Old man playing music with our son at Kruja Castle
Exploring Tirana and Kruja
Exploring Tirana, Albania, a bit more, we headed up to the top of Dajti Mountain to explore a bit of the National Park - but ended up mostly just taking a stroll, playing at a playground up there, and eating the best Albanian food that we've had in this country.
However, we did spend a few days per week walking around Grand Park, and letting the kids play there, as the weather was much better in October, it was simply beautiful and full of nature, plus we ended up moving only a few blocks away from it.
A day trip out to Kruja's Bazaar, Castle, and Ethnographic Museum brought a ton of historical Albanian culture into our life, including a fun session where our son played the drum while a kind local man played a guitar-like instrument.
Jenny loved the farm-to-table Fustanella Farm restaurant that we tried just south of the city, and Waltoshi had a blast being a skeleton for Halloween!
One of the Christmas Markets in Koln (Cologne)
Christmas Markets of Germany
On November 11th, we headed off to Duisburg, Germany in time for the Christmas Market season.
There were a few highlights to the amazing small city of Duisburg that we weren’t expecting! For example, our place was just a few blocks away from the city forest and the zoo - so, we had to check them out while the trees were that perfect autumn color.
Yes, there is a Christmas Market in Duisburg as well, but we also found a day to explore 3 other markets nearby: Dortmund, Herne, and Essen. As it turns out, the markets in this region were not extremely busy during our hours of the afternoon and early evening (more people come later in the night).
We also got to celebrate Ellie's 1st birthday! It's just crazy to think that she's already 1 year old - and that she even speaks a bit of German (we believe she picked it up by listening to us speak to the people at the checkout counters - "Bitte")!
Into December, we managed to visit the Christmas markets in Düsseldorf, Aachen, Köln (Cologne), and Frankfurt as well. Our favorites were Köln, Aachen, Essen, and Frankfurt, and we highly recommend reading more about them if you ever plan to go out there! A tour is probably necessary for some of them as cities like Cologne have multiple markets that you’ll have to navigate around to find.
The Christmas Market in Colmar, Alsace, France
Christmas Markets of Belgium, Luxemburg, and France
December was a whirlwind of Christmas Markets - Seriously, we went to 14 different ones in this month alone!
Our road trip to to Alsace, France, was long - especially with a stop in Luxembourg. I have to admit it was extremely difficult to keep our distance at all times, but we were all-stars and made it happen. Plus we technically hit our goal of reaching 4 new countries in 2021 (we went through the Netherlands on our way to the market in Liege - but we ended up checking it out a little more in early January)!
The difference between the Christmas Markets in France and Germany is that the ones in France were all much closer to each other, and a lot more colorful. They certainly didn’t shy away from using lights in France! However, as they are all very popular, there is also a decent amount of traffic which made it difficult to find parking at times. The easiest way to see the most crowded markets in this area, and hit the highlights without having to fight the crowds, is just to get the 10.5 hour tour. If it wasn’t for covid at the time, we would have done that!
Despite the driving and difficulty staying safe, we had a remarkable time finally crossing off "European Christmas Markets" from our bucket lists.
When we got back to Germany we were exhausted! So, apart from virtually meeting up with our families for Christmas Day, we basically just spent the end of the month recovering and planning for the next few months of travel.
The windmills of Zaanse Schans
Enjoying some time in the Netherlands
On our trip from Duisburg to Amsterdam we stopped at a number of spots in central Netherlands. Although we didn’t get to explore much of National Park Veluwezoom because both of the kids were sleeping at the time we arrived, we thought it looked like an amazing place for hikes and strolls with the kids. As we were on a schedule, we headed onward to Park Berg en Bos where the kids did get out and run around. What a lovely park with ducks, fountains, and a large playground - it is wonderful for anyone looking for some relaxation! Another highlight was Castle De Haar - seeing the type of luxury that a Rothschild heiress can bring to a castle is quite extraordinary!
Upon arriving into Amsterdam, we spent a day just wandering around Amstelpark and some of the waterways, smaller parks, and shops near there as we stayed at the nearby Hotel Novotel Amsterdam City because the prices for bed and breakfasts were even more expensive than the hotels in Amsterdam. It turned out to be a blessing though, because Booking ordered us two rooms as we are four people, even though we only paid for one!
We did stop along some of the canals in the city to take a few photos - and loved the charm of such a walkable place made for bicycles and pedestrians more-so than cars. However, we were only able to make quick stops at some of the other highlights of Amsterdam: the Venustempel Sexmuseum, the Heineken Experience, the Bloemenmarkt, and the Anne Frank Huis because they were all closed due to a covid omicron outbreak at the time.
The biggest highlight for our short trip in the Netherlands was Zaanse Schans - a recommendation by our friend Judi of ETS International - that we may have missed without her advice. It is a historic Holland village complete with windmills, clogs, historic houses, museums, and culture. There’s a cheese factory, restaurant, and brewery located on site - plus, despite us thinking the best waffles in the world could only be found in Liege, Belgium, we were able to find waffles just as good - if not better - at the bakery there as well. Incredible place!
Grandpa picks us up at Orlando International Airport - Florida, USA
Returning to the United States of America
Our trip on Icelandair had us take a short layover in Iceland - a country that we still haven’t explored if you can believe it - before finally arriving back in the United States. We hadn’t been to our own country in nearly 4 years - and our kids, although Americans by birthright, had never been there!
Actually, we had intended to stop in the States just long enough to get the kids their covid vaccines. Unfortunately, the under 5 vaccines ended up getting delayed so we weren’t able to get them. Thus, this trip ended up becoming more for the kids to play with their grandparents, and cousins, more-so than to get vaccines for them. I’m not even certain that we ended up getting much time to talk with our parents ourselves. It worked out though because we were so overwhelmed over the last few years as new parents without any help, traveling the world during coronavirus times, that we just needed downtime to recover our sanity anyway.
With the kids being watched by their grandparents, we finally managed to go on our first real dates together since becoming parents. We stopped at Disney Springs a couple of times for pizza at Blaze and sandwiches at Earl of Sandwich. We also ate tacos at Tijuana Flats and shopped at Target. Our “special” date night was at Landry’s Seafood House. Believe it or not, these are things that we can’t find anywhere else around the world! For this time, we are thankful. Although we didn’t get to visit many of our favorite places in central Florida due to the spread of omicron at the time.
The day before our son’s birthday, we did visit Brevard Zoo as a family with Bradley’s mother and a couple of her friends, but our son ended up having his first ever stomach bug that day, and it lasted the entire time so he didn’t get to enjoy it as much as we had hoped. We celebrated his birthday at Jenny’s parents house the next day, and there was plenty of excitement.
The Nature Conservancy’s Disney Wilderness Preserve, Poinciana, Florida, USA
Experiencing Reverse Culture Shock
When we left Florida four years ago, the apartment we were renting was going for $1,050 per month, before utilities. However, when we returned, the same apartment was going for over $1,600 - a shocking increase. Due to our budget, we decided to stay with Jenny's parents as they offered not to charge us. However, it had been quite awhile since we’d lived with anyone else, and so it occasionally felt like we were children again after having been so completely free over the last four years.
Additionally, our nomadic lifestyle had accustomed us to only buying enough groceries and food to last us a few weeks at a time, so that we used it all before moving onward to a new location. What a change it was for us to see so much food in the pantries, fridge, freezer, and on the counters. Plus, there were far more appliances and kitchen tools than we had seen in any of the Airbnbs that we were in over the last 4 years - we had learned how to make do on the simple things and had forgotten about the excess that many Americans - including us - have (or have had) in their homes on a regular basis.
Something else that we hadn’t experienced in many years while staying there: not being able to go anywhere without a car. For example, we've ALMOST NEVER needed a vehicle in even the small neighborhoods that we've lived in around the world. There's always groceries, farmers markets, restaurants, stores, etc. within walking (or tram) distance. In the USA, zoning laws often make it illegal to have stores, food, or really anything else near a residential area. Without a car, we’d have had to walk 5-15 miles along busy highways, with uncovered pathways, to get necessities. We felt fully dependent on having a vehicle.
We even felt out of place while driving around the city. We’d forgotten just how aggressive Florida drivers can be, especially during rush hour. And we’ve seen some seriously crazy driving in Egypt and Southeast Asia. But somehow, those felt more organized - like everyone expected what was happening and nothing was going to go wrong because of that. In Florida, we felt like there were a good number of people simply doing whatever they wanted, whenever they felt like it, and nobody else was really expecting it. It’s stressful when someone cuts you off while switching 3 lanes to pass on the right and simply move back afterwards and speed off at 40 miles per hour over the speed limit - every time we went out. It’s common in Florida, but we must have forgotten that.
On another note, having come straight from the Netherlands, which was on a quasi-lockdown for the omicron variant of the coronavirus, and the Christmas Markets of Germany and France before that, we expected that everyone would be wearing masks in the USA as well -because it was a requirement everywhere we had been in the last 2+ months, especially for indoor locations. Nothing was mandatory in Florida, it was all just “recommended” and optional.
Buying things was unfamiliar for us as well. Prices of products were always listed before tax, whereas in most other countries it was after tax. This made it more difficult for us to estimate the cost of purchases with many items, like groceries. Tipping: in many countries no tip is required and even considered rude. In others, simply rounding up your bill is sufficient. Where tipping is standard, a 5-10 percent tip is the norm. In the USA, it’s now 20 or more percent of the total bill. We used to be told from people in other countries “We pay our workers a fair wage here, so we don’t accept tips as we don’t want to promote that type of culture here.” Having forgotten about that requirement, we forgot how much it was going to add to the check the first time we went out for a date. Our meal was just under $120, after tax and tip we paid over $150. That's not our typical meal, but it was still startling. That being said, meal sizes are also so gigantic that we can normally just share a single meal between the two of us.
One more thing, Bradley got a basic haircut at a barbershop across the main highway, it ended up being $30 before the tip, without a hair wash. Things like this are far more expensive than we are used to paying.
Oddly, even the cellular service (and mobile data) were worse than we’ve had in just about any other country. That part was very surprising.
Life felt more stressful and more difficult in the USA than in the rest of the world. We also felt ostracized in the USA, our own home country. Despite being citizens of the United States, we don’t feel at home there anymore. Identifying as “Americans” doesn’t feel quite right anymore.
San Antonio de Prado, Medellin, Colombia
Relaxing in Medellín, Colombia
Feeling out of place in the United States, we decided not to stay any longer than we had to. Thus, we looked for an affordable flight out to a new destination, a place that also was affordable to live in and had decent weather at the moment. That ended up being Colombia, and the first country on our 6th continent. The only one left being Antarctica.
We flew out to Medellín expecting only to relax while we were here, and for the most part that is all that we have been doing. While the language is almost entirely Spanish - very few people speak English here - the grocery stores are within walking distance again. The taxis are very affordable. There are many window-shops, selling necessities on almost every block. A man walks down the street almost daily with a wagon full of various fruits and vegetables. The man across the street sells homemade ice creams from his front door. The youth will come around to collect your trash for the equivalent of about 50 cents twice per week. They have delivery services for groceries and foods here as well.
Bradley's haircut came with a hair wash, and a face spa, and a shoulder massage - for a total of $12.50.
The weather and tropical plants are reminiscent of Hawaii, and the mountains are like smaller versions of the ones in Switzerland. So many people have dogs here. There are a variety of birds filling the trees, flying around, and singing outside all of the time. When it rains, you can really hear it hitting the rooftops. While walking down the shaded streets, reminiscent of rare places like Savannah, Georgia in the USA, you see so much nature with the trees overhead and tropical plants along the sidewalks. It really is a relaxing place.
We did manage to go out to a few amazing places in Medellín with the kids, even though we’ve mostly been relaxing. The Parque Explora and the Planetario de Medellín, the main park and mall of Envigado, and the main park of San Antonio De Prado. Mostly, though, we’ve been happy to catch up on work and relax a bit from exploring after such a crazy end to last year and beginning of this year.
Planetario de Medellin Jesus Emilio Ramirez, Colombia
Heading Onward - The Uncertain Future
Honestly, we still aren’t really sure where we’ll end up in the long run. We intend to explore the main area of Medellín in a few weeks, and take a trip out to El Penol and Guatape while we’re here. After that we’ll be staying at a coffee farm in Costa Rica for at least a month. Where we go from there we don’t know.
We have talked about potentially taking a break and starting a career in Hawaii, or even New Zealand. Possibly even teaching English in Japan, South Korea, or China. Alternatively, we might just try to explore more of Latin America.
We still talk about exploring the USA and Canada; However, until this blog and the Signal Service end up pulling in more funds, you won’t find us in the USA again. Once those two sources start pulling in about $5,000 per month combined, then we’ll come back to visit friends and family - and explore many of the places we’ve wanted to write about for years. We expect to spend at least a full year in the United States when that happens - but not until then. If you guys help us get to that point, we can get there soon. If not, we’ve only made about $2,500 in the last 6 months combined, so we need a bit more growth before that will happen.
Profits from using the Oil-Gasoline Crack Spread Strategy.
The Growth of Our Blog
1. Our Challenges
The coronavirus pandemic has continued to be a challenge for us this year. Even if many of the restrictions are being relaxed or lifted, we still concern ourselves with our children’s safety - something it seems that only pediatricians these days still care about. We’ve ended up catching the coronavirus, and now Bradley has been diagnosed with sinus arrhythmia, a type of irregular heart beat, some unusual brain pressure, and other symptoms of long-covid. So, we continue to try to be as careful as possible while the world relaxes, making it more difficult for us.
2. Our Goals & Achievements
Our goals this past year were to complete unfinished travel blogs, work on a “Retiring Overseas” service, and expand the investment income articles into a service.
We did complete many of our unfinished travel blogs and are on track to completely catch up on them this upcoming year. However, we never started the “Retiring Overseas” service that we wanted to do. Instead, we focused on starting and expanding the investment income service - which became the Oil-Gasoline Crack Spread (OGCS) Signal Service. That is doing fairly well and growing.
This upcoming year we are planning on making that OGCS service even better, as well as finishing up on our travel blogs, working on traffic generation - through SEO and videos, and improving affiliate income for Eat Wander Explore. We also want to publish more budget articles, food articles, and articles relating to the traveling family lifestyle. Additionally, you may see more Disney related articles and a few updates for the ones we already have.
3. Website Traffic
Over the last year we’ve accumulated 25,703 more page views (-42% yr/yr) and 20,853 more visits (-41% yr/yr). So, our totals are now 134,593 total page views and 99,101 total visits. We are currently receiving about 2,521 page views per month, which is up about 26% from last year. We are clearly still feeling the affects of the travel industry being hit by the coronavirus, but unlike many travel blogs we’ve actually held on and kept going. We estimate that we lost about 70-80% of our traffic and revenue over the last 12 months due to this.
4. Marketing Strategies
Our current marketing strategies consist of sharing posts in Facebook groups, standard SEO, and adding share buttons inside our articles. We’ve also been more focused on a select number of affiliates lately, and haven’t taken on any sponsorships this year. We no longer use Facebook advertising and have stopped doing our Pinterest campaigns. Our plan is to work more on SEO, proper image SEO tags, and adding videos to our articles this upcoming year.
5. Revenue
Revenue jumped from $250.91 last year to $2,518.93 this year, an increase of more than 900%. We are hoping to reach at least $12,000 in year 5.
If you have any advice for us, please feel free to share it!
Learn more about our third year of traveling as parents, the highlights of year 4 of traveling the world, and some of our mishaps below!
Ellie’s 1st Birthday in Duisburg, Germany
The Third Year of Parenthood while Traveling the World
Yes, the first year that we traveled we didn’t have kids, but Jenny was pregnant nearly the entire year. Now, as we are full time at-home traveling parents, we've learned that we must take turns working and parenting. Our schedule now consists of 3 dedicated work days, 2 for Bradley and 1 for Jenny. Then we each get 1 personal day to do whatever we need or want to do on our own (which can include work). One day is dedicated to the kids, and another for relaxation and errands. It’s what we need to do to exist.
Our son has enjoyed exploring water, playing in streams in northeastern Turkey, river tubing, and swimming in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. He likes being in the rain and once you get him in the shower he doesn’t want to come out. He loves to explore the outdoors, but occasionally it can be a bit challenging to convince him to go out at first. He still runs everywhere he goes, continues to love slides at playgrounds, and is even good on a trampoline!
He is less interested in vehicles than he used to be and more interested in the YouTube Kids app and playing with his toys. He prefers to be called “Oshi” now. He started opening doors at about 2 1/2 years old and closes his bedroom door to enjoy some alone time on occasion. He is saying complete sentences, and communicating very well for such a young guy.
He loves to eat the cinnamon flavored Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal and usually still eats peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. He still loves watermelon and strawberries, French toast, “red” noodles, sushi rice, chips, oatmeal, and eggs. Recently he really started enjoying soft breads and cheese pizza.
Now Ellie will try just about any food, always desiring whatever it is that we are eating or drinking. She has transitioned into a full-blown explorer and she’s more adventurous than we are! She climbs up on anything that she can, learning - on her own - to climb a ladder while in Germany (eek)! She’s been learning a number of words and can communicate her wants most of the time quite well. She still loves to be held almost all of the time. Her quiet sweet self has disappeared and transformed into a very vocal and demanding little thing.
She is always grabbing our shoes and trying to get us to go outside. Starting at about 9 months old, she was already beginning to walk on her own. Now she likes to walk everywhere on her own. She demands to take a shower whenever she notices us going towards one.
Ellie loves to try to play with Waltoshi and his toys. She likes to quickly snatch away some of his favorites and then run away and get chased. Waltoshi doesn’t find that funny. While Waltoshi is eating, Ellie likes to climb up on his chair and pretty much take over that seat. Waltoshi doesn’t find that funny. Ellie also likes to eat Waltoshi’s food and drink from his water cup. Waltoshi doesn’t find that funny either. However, there are times that they play together quite well. Most of the time, though, they’d each rather just play with the adults solo - although we are trying to change that.
The pandemic continues to take a toll on us - keeping them away from other unmasked people - and kids. It was particularly difficult on us while staying in the USA, even though everyone tried their best to wear their masks around our kids.
Highlights from our 4th year of travel
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR
Exploring 5 new countries as a family, 9 new countries for the kids.
Experiencing the amazing hospitality of Turkiye.
Checking out Uzungol, the Ayder Highlands, the waterfalls, and Borcka Karagol Nature Park in the Karadeniz region of Turkiye.
Watching Waltoshi learn to swim on the boat trips on the Turquoise Coast and being convinced by him to also go river tubing.
Seeing about a hundred hot air balloons take off at sunrise in Cappadocia and hiking through the Ihlara Valley just southwest of Cappadocia.
Eating delicious food and watching the culture shows at “Turkish Night.”
Finally getting our Pfizer Covid-vaccines in Tirana.
Relaxing strolls at the Grand Park of Tirana and Dajti Mountain National Park, not to mention the delicious food on top of the mountain!
Watching our son play the drums alongside an old man - playing the bouzouki - at Kruja Castle, after purchasing them from the local bazaar.
Eating a gourmet farm fresh meal at an actual farm just south of Tirana, Albania.
Visiting the zoo and walking through the autumn forest in Duisburg, Germany.
Finally getting to explore the Christmas Markets of Germany - especially at Cologne, Achen, Essen, and Frankfurt.
Heading out to France for a week to check out the Luxembourg and Alsace Christmas Markets.
Celebrating our fourth year of marriage at a fancy little Italian restaurant in Duisburg.
Wandering around and eating waffles at Zaanse Schans in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Finally getting back to the USA and seeing some of our family - especially watching the kids play with their grandparents and cousins!
Being in awe at how beautiful and relaxing it is in Medellin, Colombia.
If you can't tell by this list, Turkey completely surprised us at how amazing it was. It was one of the most underrated countries that we've ever visited and we loved it so much that we can't wait to go back and explore the rest! That being said, it was VERY AFFORDABLE when we went and it's even more affordable now!
We have now visited 28 countries on this trip - and 45 in total – from 6 different continents - mostly in North America and Europe, as well as a few in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Latin America.
2021-2022 was a very different year for us, filled with indecision, uncertainty, and stress. But it was also a year of new cultures, amazing Christmas markets, and the wonders of watching our children learn new things.
We had even more amazing life experiences, and positively changed perspectives on places and cultures that we'll remember forever! 🌟
Check out our budget and learn how we can afford to travel endlessly on our other pages.
Orlando International Airport - Heading to Colombia on Spirit Airlines
Mishaps & Lessons Learned
As expected, we've definitely had a few mishaps and learning experiences this year.
Bad Locations: Even as experienced travelers, sometimes we pick a place in a bad location - in this case, during a record heat wave across Europe. We stayed at two different places in Antalya, Turkiye that were decent sized, but only had one room-sized air-conditioner in the living room each. The heat was so unbearable that we basically had to sleep in the living rooms where street lights shined in all night long. Then, we ended up continuing this mistake at our first place in Tirana, Albania. It was such a hot summer!
Long Flights with Small Children: We made a huge mistake at the beginning of this year when we chose a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Trabzon, Turkiye that didn’t start until the evening and was 24 hours long. The story is long, but it nearly made us quit traveling all together.
Ramadan: While we loved the experience of learning about the culture and festivities around Ramadan while in Trabzon, Turkiye, we hadn’t realized that this meant we weren’t going to be able to order any food from sunrise to sunset. Essentially, this meant that we definitely had to cook all of our own food for breakfast and lunch each day if we were hungry. We did a lot of snacking to keep from being too obvious as well.
Bad Locations Part 2: Automatic approvals at a few places caused us issues. For example, we tried to show up at one place and the location was no longer available - so they put us up in their hotel for the same price, although we received a studio hotel room instead of the 3 bedroom bed and breakfast that we booked. A separate hotel that we booked a few nights at had never used Airbnb before, and didn’t understand that we had already paid Airbnb and that they would pay him. It took about 35 minutes to straighten that out. A final one simply said “No Airbnb, we deleted the app!” and hung up on us a few hours before check-in, so we had to get a hotel at the last minute - and get a refund from our credit card company as Airbnb never responded to our issue.
Not so Family-Friendly: Our hotel in Fethiye, Turkiye recommended that we try out the pirate ships and said that they were family friendly. We looked at the brochure and it did look like a lot of fun, and our son really wanted to go, so we booked it. However, when we got down there they had their rave/party music all blasting very loudly. We asked if we could get switched to a more family-friendly boat, and they helped us do that - although our new boat wasn’t pirate-themed. At least he got a boat trip and he did get to see all the pirate ships! A separate time we were in Cappadocia and the salesperson recommended to see the Sufi whirling dervishes instead of the “Turkish Night” as the whirling dervishes were more family-friendly. It turned out to be the exact opposite! We really enjoyed “Turkish Night” as a family, but the staff at the whirling dervishes performance made sure to tell us multiple times that it was a religious ceremony and that we would need to remove the kids if they made too much noise - a conundrum with a 7 month old and 2 1/2 year old. That was difficult!
Moving: When we were leaving our first place in Tirana, Albania we were told to leave the key on the table. So, Bradley decided to leave it there and then take the last load down as we were on the 9th floor. The elevator required the key… and with the door already shut he ended up walking a carry on suitcase, our son, and one of two car seats down 9 floors of stairs. We had to go back for the second car seat a couple days later because he was too exhausted. The next place after that we were on the 5th floor, but there were no elevators there so we had to lug all the luggage up those stairs!
Halloween Party: Our son was seriously enjoying shows about halloween on YouTube Kids for many months, so we decided to make that years Halloween day special for him. We found which places were doing events in Tirana, and tried to stop in to them. The last one was a pizza restaurant, and had a huge play area in the back that was just opening up and didn’t have any kids there - so we let him play. More and more kids, dressed in costumes, started showing up and he didn’t want to leave. It was either going to be a huge meltdown or let him play. Exhausted as we were, we let him play and we all ended up getting covid from that event - our son’s cough lasted until our flight to Germany - it really hit him the hardest.
German Car Rental: Upon arriving in Germany, we went to pick up our reserved rental car at our selected time. It turns out that all of the rental companies were closed at that time, but nobody told us anything. We ended up staying the night in a hotel at the airport and renting a car the next day.
German SIM card: Then we tried to get a prepaid SIM and data package for our phone, something we've done in every country that we've been to so far. There, though, they clearly don't seem to trust people. We had to first get a postal worker to question us and examine our passports to get it activated, but that required that we make an appointment using of all things, a German phone number - the very thing we were trying to get. What a pain that was! We've never had that issue in any other countries.
Lost in Ribeauvillé: We went looking for this Christmas Market, but ended up in the Bergheim Christmas Market instead. Honestly, it was a cute little town, but we spent a few hours in the wrong market that by the time we arrived at Ribeauvillé it was hard to find parking and crowded. So crazy in fact that we actually lost each other for a half hour! It was the first time that has happened to us in four years, and a bit scary.
Delay of the Under 5 Vaccines: When we heard that the vaccines for our kids would likely be available by late November or late December of 2021, we booked tickets to the USA for early January. We also booked an Airbnb there for 45 days to remain safe while getting those vaccines. Shortly thereafter, we learned that the vaccines for kids under 5 years old were delayed. Then, the Airbnb canceled on us. We almost skipped the USA altogether at that point.
Living with Parents: It was a change of pace for sure, some moments were much less stressful, but others were much more stressful. Instead of a consistent level of stress, it was now like waves. Before that, we did stay with families in Fiji, Sydney, and New Zealand. Using a shared Airbnb means you're moving in with strangers. You’re seen as independent adults that can each mutually learn from each other. Or at least the hosts don't expect you to do much. When you move in with parents, it’s significantly different. Even if they try to let you be independent, they can occasionally find themselves parenting you, questioning how you raise your children, or cooking you meals unexpectedly and then becoming disappointed if you don’t show up for them - even though you never knew they were happening. You may be expected to let them know when you’ll be home. It is a challenge, especially as a married couple with 2 children.
Reverse Culture Shock: This was covered in length in a section above.
Flight to Colombia: As if we haven't learned enough lessons from flight issues already, Spirit has many different check in lines for domestic and international flights. We went to the wrong one, twice. Then, they wouldn't let us in the correct line without a pre-entry form, which the US Embassy in Colombia didn't say we needed. Then, we couldn't pick up our boarding passes until we purchased a return ticket - which, despite popular belief, is NOT a common requirement when entering a country. So, we had to book a return trip (which we canceled after we arrived in Colombia). Last, the line to go through security for international flights was nearly an hour long. We almost didn't make the flight, even though we arrived three hours early.
Mentally Tired: Even though Waltoshi has become a lot more self sufficient, Ellie has become a lot more demanding. We are usually so exhausted just doing regular living that we've become more demotivated to get ready to go out to do things. We often still feel like we're just living a regular life in a different country when we really want to be exploring the countries we go to more. It takes us 2-3 months to get done what a couple without tiny kids, or with bigger kids, could do in 2-3 weeks.
We'll have to see what mistakes we make in year 5, but hope that we've learned some lessons from this year that we won't repeat in the future.
Ellie and Waltoshi in Medellin, Colombia
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