Whoooooaaaaa...

…we’re halfway there!
- Bon Jovi

I guess I can’t try to claim this photo was taken today.

It’s October 4th. Day 94 of 188. We left Colorado on July 3rd, and we’ll fly back there January 6th. That means we’ve reached our halfway mark, timewise. It also feels pretty close to halfway location-wise, though there’s not really a way to mark that.

We’re winding down our time in Europe (plus the brief stint in North Africa). We started in the UK, then hit some spots in Northern Europe, eventually working our way down to Southern Europe and the Mediterranean region. The first bit of travel was easy, which was a nice way to begin all of this. No new languages to learn in England or Scotland, and we all know the Scandivanians are famous for being tidy and organized. We even had friends to see in almost all of our first several cities. I’m grateful it worked out that way, because a smooth entry was key in getting the kids settled into this nomadic life. And who am I kidding? It was key in helping the adults, too.

Starting in Paris, things became noticeably different. Different languages and foods, more smokers, more graffiti, noisier traffic, warmer temperatures, and bigger crowds. We had to start working a bit harder to navigate daily life. Some menus translated hilariously incorrectly. Grocery items were sometimes a guess. “Is the water here safe to drink? Let’s check online first.”

The cruise gave us a weird mix of luxury and grit. The ship itself was a safe, comfortable haven, and the port cities were dirtier and more chaotic. Every taxi ride felt like a roller coaster - both emotionally and physically. (I will never, ever, ever drive a car anywhere near the Mediterranean.)

Tunis was the peak of “differentness.” A strongly religious country - a religion that none of us is especially familiar with. Not just one, but two languages that none of us speak. And the landscape? Full of trash and rubble in every direction, but still a place where the citizens take great pride in their homes. Our kids got to experience some harder travel there, similar to what Mike and I experienced ages ago. And also similarly, they saw that the harder travel can also be some of your favorite time on the road.

Now we’re in Croatia, which might turn out to be the overall winner of the first three months. It is stunningly gorgeous, very affordable, and the people are friendly and English-speaking. As a final extended stop in Europe, this one is hard to beat.

I’ve taken some time tonight just to skim through the hundreds (thousands?) of pictures we’ve taken since July 3rd, and it’s really amazing how much we’ve done and seen. There’s no way I could list them all, but here are the scattered, stream-of-consciousness memories the photos have triggered for me:

We’ve hiked in Scotland, gotten haircuts in Tunis, seen the Northern Lights in Paris (sort of), played in fountains in Toulouse, sunbathed topless in Barcelona, driven a boat in Copenhagen, and learned to play Kubb in Lund.

We’ve donated hair in Spain, bought a skateboard in France, and found a deal on Nike Dunks in Denmark.

We’ve gone swimming in pools, oceans, seas, and canals.

We’ve taken taxis, ferries, Tubes, Metros, planes, trams, Ubers, city buses, regional buses, and double-decker buses.

We’ve also walked and walked and walked and walked. Ankle Express, as my parents used to say.

We’ve used dollars, pounds, euros, krona, kroner, kuna, and dinar.

We’ve learned to say prego, dobar dan, merci beaucoup, gracias, hvala, ursäkta, and au revoir.

We’ve mastered WhatsApp and SIM cards and apps for every form of transportation we’ve taken.

We’ve seen Roman ruins from England all the way to Tunisia, and we know the difference between Turkish and Arabic mosques.

We’ve been unimpressed by the Mona Lisa and awestruck by the Sagrada Familia.

We’ve been on top of the Eiffel Tower when the lights came on, and heard the crowd below cheer.

We’ve ridden horses in Greece, captured crabs in Sweden, fed pigeons in Barcelona, and pet countless dogs and cats everywhere.

We’ve used toilets and toilettes and baños and loos.

We’ve done math on trains and German lessons in Africa.

We’ve stayed with friends, in hotels, guesthouses, AirBnBs, and in Home Exchanges.

We’ve loved seeing signs of support for Ukraine.

We’ve stayed in one town in Italy so many times, a restaurant owner knows our order when we walk in.

We can also tell you where to get free sparkling water or do your laundry!

We’ve decided that Arabic is the most beautifully written language, and it sounds like a mix of all the European languages at once.

We spent enough time in Tunisia that I’m pretty sure this translates to “Coke.” I’m basically fluent in Arabic now.

We’ve seen trashy graffiti, beautiful murals, flags of all the nations, monuments, palaces, sculptures, and ruins.

We’ve lost one dear friend back home, which broke our hearts. We’ve found new dear friends along the way that helped fill our hearts back up just a bit.

We’ve collected memories and pictures and so many patches that we might need a bigger corkboard when we get home.

We’re gonna need a bigger board.

My head is swimming with all of these memories and more. And the crazy part is that we still have just as much time ahead of us as we’ve already had out in the world. About six weeks in, I worried a little that we’d gotten in over our heads. I was tired and still trying to figure out homeschooling, and we were all missing our dog like crazy (still true every day on that one!). But more recently, I think we’ve found our stride a bit. Some days are still harder than others. Same is true for some places, languages, foods, and so on. But overall we’ve learned to embrace the newness while still finding ways to get some familiar comforts here and there. I think we’re all excited to hit this midway mark, knowing we still have lots to explore but also feeling that much closer to home.