We had many hopes for our year of world travel. We hoped for a slower pace of life. We hoped for more time with our kids. We hoped to learn more about our world and to return as changed people.
This week we arrived back in London. For thirteen years we have called this city home and have enjoyed living in a world capital that only seems to get better with each passing year. City life was demanding for sure, but it was also incredibly rewarding.
Rather than getting back into the swing of things and returning to routines, this week we will say goodbye to our home of thirteen years. Our year away has indeed changed us and pointed us in new directions. As much as we love London, we are eager for new adventures and new challenges. We can’t just slot back in where we left off. We couldn’t bring ourselves to re-enter the busy working world in London or to take back on the high expenses and demands that come with life in this big city. Most importantly though, the kids and Michael have fallen in love with surfing and have decided we need to live near the waves – a decision I very happily support. : )
So we’ve spent the past few days organising our belongings, making plans for things left in storage and saying goodbye to dear friends. Though we are excited for what lies ahead, it hasn’t been easy to say goodbye to the city where all of our children were born and so many happy years were spent. We are leaving London for now, but we want it to remain part of our lives forever. To keep that connection we bought a small flat — not a home for six, but a small physical and emotional tie to a city we love. We hope to return to it each year and we imagine our kids living in it someday – maybe during university or for their careers. Michael and I even imagine time spent in retirement here. In between now and then, we will have a little place to call home, to visit old friends, to relive old times and to experience a dynamic city that will always captivate us. Just knowing we have somewhere here has enabled us to move on. In our minds, we are not leaving it all behind — a part of us, a part of our family history and future, will remain here and welcome us back each time we return.
We’ve decorated the flat with treasures and trinkets collected during our travels — a dream catcher and feather headdress found in Brazil, handmade pottery from Chile, the ‘Birds of New Zealand’ poster we toted around in our camper van for 5 weeks, and the beautiful quilts and baskets we bought in Sri Lanka. It’s been so fun to unwrap packages sent from little post offices around the world and so nice to have reminders of a special year all in one place.
I’ve shared a few photos of our flat here. I thought it would be fun to show you some of the fun things we picked up during our travels. These special items are forever connected to a special time and place for all six of us. (You’ll also see the occasional basket or accessory I recently ordered from Indego Africa, a company I wrote about earlier this week.)
Very soon we will be off to the US to visit our families for the first time since last year. From there we will begin to lay the groundwork for our future home and future adventures. It’s too early to talk about now, but I can’t wait to fill you in soon. Until then, I wanted to say thanks for all of your support and encouragement over the past year!
Courtney x
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