About a month ago Eric and I decided to push off a family vacation this year because of some recent expenditures. (Immigration lawyers, renovations, rental property upkeep, etc.) However, one evening after the girls had gone to bed, we were sitting out on our balcony enjoying the most spectacular sunset when we asked ourselves just what exactly were we doing?!
First of all, we need a vacation. The last few trips we have taken have either been business-related, quick weekend getaways, or family visits. In fact, we haven’t had a long, relaxing vacation since I think before Elin was born. Secondly, there are two kinds of people in this world… 1) Material people and 2) Experience people. You either spend your money on material things or on experiences. Up until we bought the Austrian house, we were solid “experience people.” We always made an effort to live very conservatively in order to have incredible experiences abroad and the memories and stories we have from those travels are priceless! So what was stopping us now? Financial security? The kids? Whatever the reason, we decided YOLO and started planning a trip right then and there.
We are lucky enough to have some amazing friends in Austria (most of which are foreigners like ourselves!) and earlier this year one of our favorite couples invited us down to Greece this summer to visit the different regions each of them hail from, Chalkidiki & Ioannina. (Please Google image search and be amazed! I am dying.) Initially we had turned them down due to the reasons stated above, but that particular evening conversation made us change our mind. I now have visions of sand and sun, beautiful little villages, cold white wine and incredible Greek food floating through my head! I absolutely adore Greece and can’t wait to experience it again.
We will be spending several days in both regions and I am really excited because I have only ever been to Athens and on the islands. I have never ventured into mainland Greece or into the mountains (Ioannina). We are driving down because not only is that option more affordable than flying (gotta buy tickets for Elin now), it also gives us the opportunity to visit several other countries on the way down and back. We will be driving through Hungary, Serbia, Macedonia and then into Greece. The “halfway” point (not really) for us will be Novi Sad (near Belgrade) and we have booked a couple nights there on the way back so we can explore a little and enjoy the Danube and Serbia a bit. From experience, traveling with kids ain’t easy, but it is GOOD for them. Gets them out of their routine and comfort zone a bit and introduces them to new places, foods and experiences. Even though the girls are too young to remember any of this, it’s still pretty cool to say you had been to 10 countries (I think?? l’m losing track now) by the time you were 2 years old (Elin), or 5 by the time you were 2 months (Juni). Such cool kids…lol I was never that cool!
We are taking our holiday mid-August and I will, of course, take you along for the ride on Insta and follow up with some travel posts here on the blog. Have a great weekend!
{You can revisit our last trip sailing the Greek islands in 2013 here, here and here.}
