And we are off!!

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We returned to reality just over a year ago, although it sometimes feels like ten years have passed. In late March 2015, we said our farewells to Laura’s family in Colombia, our last stop in our year trip, made a passing comment to anyone who cared to listen about all the places we saw, experiences we had, and people we met…and then simply settled right back into our previous routines. It was a harsh realization, learning that despite our new understanding of this world and the growth we experienced together, internally and externally, life was pretty much the same as before we left. There was a sense of relief and frustration with this realization. We wanted everything to be different but understood that there was a level of safety knowing that home will always be home. With a deep breath of understanding, we held each other’s hand and dove right back in. Our successes are in direct correlation to our experiences from traveling. We have fostered an attitude that anything is possible if we work hard enough. This past year, while perhaps not as exhilarating as traveling, has been just as good to us, and we are incredibly thankful for all of the opportunities that have been presented to us. Laura has been doing so well at Sonoma State and recently walked at graduation in which her parents were able to attend. It was an accumulation of 10 years of university work coming to fruition, and we are so happy that Laura was not only able to share this with her family, but also doing so while making the Dean’s list with an overall GPA of 3.8. I have also been fortunate in this past year. I was able to get a job teaching Physical Education at Kent Middle School, and had the most fun teaching in my professional life. I would like to give a quick shout out to all my students who are reading this, you guys were awesome and I will remember this year forever.



As great as this year has been for us, we still have the travel bug pretty hard. We laugh that right as we landed over a year ago, we already began planning this trip. Once you travel, you realize how large this world is and how it is virtually impossible to “see” everything, but we don't care and will always try regardless…



And so we find ourselves on an airplane to Rome. We have only five weeks this time, but we will do our best to maximize every minute. Our strategy is a little different as we have had no time to research or prepare any itinerary other than hotels and discounted train tickets, so each city we are going to enter with a blank slate. This will provide us with an opportunity to simply enjoy each place for the way it is and appreciate the moment, rather than be stressed out about all we have to do and see. We are also traveling much, MUCH, lighter than last time, and are more mentally prepared to handle whatever comes our way. Appreciation, love, experiences, people, food, drink, architecture, nature…we are ready for it all, because #welivefortheexperience and we are the #gattisaroundtheworld.

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