Is it possible to have it all? How to go back ‘home’ while traveling
Coming from California and traveling to South Africa we had a choice. We could do two long haul flights in a row with our two kids in tow… or we could visit our home country, hug our direct family members and especially my sister, her husband and their brand new baby girl. But we were wondering, is it possible to have it all? Or would going back ‘home’ break our travel experience?
We really desired to meet our new niece and spend some time with my sister and her family, so we chose to go for it, and to set the intention that it would be in service of our experience, and that it would not dilute it in any way. With that intention in mind we had given our stay in the Netherlands a lot of thought. Did we want to stay in our own home if it became available? Did we want to stay with family? In a hotel or vacation park? We had lots of discussions about what we wanted to receive out of our visit and non of the above really worked for us. So I scanned the web for other options, like rental houses, B&B’s and so on. It took some great diligence, but eventually I came across something that interested us. It was a working farm that had converted the old barn into chalets. The chalets were small but decorated to good standards, in a country setting just around the corner of the big cities were most of our family lives. And by the sounds of it it is was a kids paradise, with all sorts of animals, a playground, toys, and on opportunity to get involved with feeding the cows and other farm activities. (For those interested – Hoeve Bouwlust in Maasland)
It turned out to be a big hit. The kids were out and about all day long, we only saw them when they were hungry. They had a fantastic time. When the family visited us they were not really interested in the family, but they would happily show them around the whole farm. We had lots of family visits scheduled, but because we were living the way we had been living for the last six months we just continued in the flow. This time it just contained a lot of people we knew and love.
We had been wondering if it was possible for us to meet people and for people to meet us where we are now, in the energy we are living in now, and we found that the answer is yes. That is fully possible. So to answer the question I started with: Is that it is possible to have it all? Is it possible to travel for a year and go back home somewhere along the journey, without breaking the flow of things and the experience of a year of traveling itself? You do have to put some energy into it, have a clear idea of what you are looking to experience and plan accordingly, but if you ask us, it is completely doable.
It was truly awesome to be able to do what we love, traveling the world for a year, and still be able to meet and cuddle my sisters baby girl just weeks after her birth! We are very blessed indeed!
More pictures can be found here.