This entire blog started with the Eiffel Tower.  Or rather, a moment we had with the Eiffel Tower.  Let me explain.  You see, Brian and I grew up, like most children do, thriving in the constancy of routines that our parents lovingly crafted for us.  We grew up in never-changing neighborhoods knowing what area schools we would attend when we got older. Our parents’ jobs were predictable and cycled around the same 9-5, Monday through Friday rhythms of all of our classmates’ parents.  Life was always just…the same.  And, I mean really, there’s nothing wrong with that.  We started following in their footsteps after all, attending a university where we met, getting steady, reliable jobs for when we graduated, we closed on our first (albeit quite modest) piece of real estate a few weeks before our wedding, got married and then started work on that happily ever after part, whatever that was supposed to be.

Then one night we saw amazing airfare prices for roundtrip tickets to Paris and Madrid…so, in a very out of character move on our part we bought them…and then asked our bosses the next day if it would be ok if we took just shy of a month off to trot around Europe.  Thankfully they complied.

We planned, we plotted, we booked hotels and pensions, we packed our backpacks and we boarded a plane.  Exhausted and jet lagged we navigated Charles de Gaulle airport, caught the train into the city and prepared to find our hotel and take a much-needed rest.  After all, we were told we’d be too tired to see much that first day and, always appreciative of sage advice, decided to heed those words and take the rest of the day off. We consulted our map, followed streets, tried to stay awake and then we turned a corner and all of the sudden were face to face with the Eiffel Tower.

We’ve seen it before, and read about it of course, but to be there…it was a physical representation that we were on the start of a great adventure.  And from that moment we were smitten.

We went home after that trip and settled back into routine.  We had a baby, then another and then another!  We moved up in our careers.  We bought a bigger home.  We started creating our own stable existence for our kids to thrive in.  We did exactly what we were supposed to do… but that feeling that stirred up inside us when we met someone on our travels, or tried something new or saw something beautiful and ancient never went away.  We decided that we would take the kids traveling.  Not when they’re older.  Not when they can “appreciate” it.  We decided to start now.  What does that look like?  We’re not exactly sure, but just like not knowing what we were doing on that first day in Paris, we’re excited to change directions and find out.  Why are we taking young kids traveling? Where are we going? Is any of this madness worth it?  Grab a cup of coffee and check back in from time to time, we’ll let you know exactly how it’s all turning out.