Monthly Archives: June 2017

So far we have booked flights to Barcelona and leave in early August and return in late October.  We have only booked the first week in Barcelona at an AirBnb apartment in the suburbs.

For anyone interested in good flight deals, I have found success in the email alerts from Scott’s Cheap Flights (https://scottscheapflights.com).  They have a free service and a paid service.  (Our RT flights between Orlando and Barcelona were $350 per person!)

Our tentative itinerary includes Barcelona, Southern Spain, Portugal, Southern France, Geneva, Lucerne, Munich and Bavaria, Prague, Salzburg, Slovenia and Croatia.   Please send us a comment with any thoughts or ideas!

Planning with a toddler is adding a twist this time, so we hope to stay in each location at least a week.  This helps with weekly accommodation discounts, plus gives a chance to settle into an area.

Been busy with packing, selling stuff and enjoying our remaining days in Jax Beach!

Some final successful fishing trips in Jax

Enjoying Jax Beach on the bikes

Chef Charlie’s pizza creation

Family day on the boat

Rita’s is #1 on a hot summer day

It’s hard to believe that the start of our first sabbatical was 5 years ago!  It’s been a whirlwind of finding jobs, relocating to the beach, pregnancy, celebrating 10 years of marriage, starting a fishing charter business and raising our son Charlie.

Our path seemed to be on track this year for settling down somewhere at the beach and Charlie starting pre-school in the fall.  We’ve quickly transitioned in the last couple months from that path to something a bit more unique but somehow fitting of our  lifestyle.

Sometimes life seems to point you in a particular direction and a few things started to align to a potentially different path.  Chris’s contracting job was coming to a close, our home lease was ending and Charlie’s official school didn’t start until August, 2018.  Cindy and I began discussing whether to stay in town, find new employment and a new place to live.  There were numerous reasons to stay and continue enjoying this area, but the idea of another sabbatical began to emerge as a possibility.

As the weeks passed, the alignment continued as details emerged of these major changes but the downsides of leaving town was evident for both of us:  pausing relationships with friends, leaving Cindy’s excellent job, putting the fishing charter business on hold and possibly disrupting Charlie’s stability and growth.

An international flight deal arrived in my inbox one evening after work, which initiated the discussion again.  While the downsides of leaving were still a concern, there were some definite reasons to go for it:  desire to see other parts of the world which we missed last time, Charlie’s school being optional this year and his developmental opportunities to see new things, meet new people and learn new languages.

Before heading to bed that night, we had booked flights to Barcelona, Spain!  Since then, it’s been a plethora of activities for planning our first trip, wrapping up our jobs, packing up stuff to keep and selling a bunch of items that aren’t worth storing.  Glad I kept all of our old lists and plans from 2012, which has made it easier this go-round.  Plus we don’t own nearly the amount of stuff we had in 2012.

Be on the lookout for regular posts to this blog as we continue preparations and then start the next adventure!