We started Forever Explorers last year to document our travels and share the experience with others, but the reason behind it goes much deeper.
Travel is literally what connects us to the people we love most.
We can’t be in the same room as our firstborn or my parents without boarding a plane. That’s exciting and at the same time, sad that it’s not feasible to do more than a couple of times a year. We miss being able to see them on any ordinary day, but it really does make our time together special.
The trips we make now are like oxygen to us, not only to see who we love, but to bring new excitement to us too.
It’s a new era for Scott and me because we are now starting to plan some trips independent of our children, traveling to places that we’ve always wanted to see.
I joke that we work for plane tickets but that’s no lie.
BY FAR this season of parenting has been the fullest and most demanding that we ride the waves of change. Our lives and our kids’ lives are all in big life transitions and it can feel like a lot.
So for us to board a plane just the two of us, knowing we can now leave two capable adult sons to take care of the house and pets and live their lives just fine while we go to visit our daughter 5,000 miles away is quite the feeling!
Don’t let anyone tell you to flip a switch overnight and just enjoy life when “empty nest” starts, as if you’re in your 20s again and nothing ever happened. It’s a transition to start feeling like it’s ok to do things we want to do now when it was the most precious responsibility to do things as a family of 5 for so long.
We’ve not done our story justice beyond showing videos of the places we’ve been.
This is the WHY behind documenting our trips.
Maintaining a connection with our family. Seeing all of the places on our bucket list. Making memories together while we can – especially after Scott almost lost his life to a heart attack last year.
Every day feels like a bonus day. There is no guarantee we can wait to travel after retirement.
We have a second chance and the stamina to do everything we love now – hiking trails, exploring new cities 20,000 steps a day, red eye flights with adrenaline left to hit the ground running to explore!
So on April 29th, we flew direct from Tampa to Amsterdam overnight. It’s the first time we’ve seen spring in the Netherlands and it was overwhelmingly beautiful! New leaves on the trees, baby animals in the pastures, and flowers blooming everywhere.
We didn’t even take a nap because it was already 4pm when we arrived at our hotel. We took a shower that gave us a second wind, and headed straight to see our girl!
So many couples don’t know what to do after the kids are raised. We have a long list to tackle together and we are learning to relax and just go for it.
