A Look Back

A Look Back

9 years ago we moved to Morocco with a newborn and quickly became well-versed in traveling with an infant and then a toddler - so much so that our experience living in Morocco and travelling Europe, the Middle East and Africa blossomed into Sidekicks Travel.

What I didn’t know at the time was how much that desire to explore would stay with me once we came back to the states.  (As I had been an avid traveler already.) The desire to be off “finding the new” was so strong in fact it led to … camping.  Not something I had ever done before or ever felt the need to start doing.  But it turns out traveling in the United States is significantly more costly than traveling in Morocco.  So if I didn’t want to be limited to a single family vacation a year I had to get creative; and I shutter still to say it but that meant camping.  6 years later I am now a well-versed camper, much to the shock of the rest of my family and I’ve had some amazing adventures because of it. - Those we’ll save for another day…

Today I’m sitting staring out over the sea of Japan from my new home: Okinawa, Japan.  We moved here 2 1/2 years ago to start a whole new adventure.  One that I find myself surprised to say I wasn’t all that excited about.  But as I sit here listening to the ocean I can’t imagine being anywhere else or ever leaving.  Much to my dismay though that’s exactly what we’ll be doing in a month.  Getting ready to pack up is always bittersweet and  there’s always pros and cons to moving; a grocery store with hours beyond  9am-7pm would be wonderful, but being able to walk to a coral reef to snorkel is hard to beat.  I also can’t help but look back on our time here and wonder if we’ve made the most of it and if we’ll ever be back.  

When we found out we were moving to Japan we made the decision to homeschool, to be able to take advantage of as many travel opportunities as possible.  Much like camping, homeschool was never something I desired to do but has paid dividends in more ways than I could have imagined.  

In the last 2 ½ years we’ve spent time in Hawaii, Seoul, Kyoto, Tokyo, Busan, Seattle (although mostly in Sea-Tac), San Francisco, Monterey, Bangkok, Taipai, Australia, New Zealand, New York, Singapore, French Polynesia, Palm Springs, Provincetown, and of course our new home Okinawa.  And we’ve had school in our new home with no furniture, and our new home with furniture (much better), the Provincetown Library (one of my favorite spots), in countless hotels, planes, trains, ships, and of course the beach. 

I wonder what the next 2 ½ years will bring... 

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