Re-introducing Ourselves!

We're a US family of four who traveled the world nomadically for 9 months and then moved to Albania

I’ve had some new folks start following (welcome!), so I thought I’d do a bit of a re-introduction and also a recap on where we’ve been and what we’re up to.

At Schönbrunn Gardens in Vienna, October 2024

• Who/What: We’re a family of four from the United States (California most recently, but also Washington and Colorado) who headed out at the beginning of November 2023 to travel the world. Our girls were then 11 and 13.

• What/When: We traveled nomadically from November 2023 to mid-August 2024. Since then, we’ve been living abroad in Tirana, Albania, and are here through at least June 2025.

• Where: We traveled a lot of places! Here they are in order. I’m still working to document our time and adventures in many of them. Since landing in Albania, we’ve taken some side trips, but I won’t list those here just to keep things simpler:

  • Spain (via a quick overnight in Lisbon, Portugal)

  • Greece

  • Italy

  • Singapore

  • Malaysia

  • Thailand

  • Japan

  • Argentina

  • UK (London)

  • Albania

  • Norway

  • UK (beyond London)

  • Denmark

• Why & Why now? You can read about that here. But basically, we wanted to expand our perspective (aka open the aperture of life). C lost both of his parents in 2020. That plus the pandemic invited us to reevaluate what we wanted out of life. We figured why wait till we’re old(er) and “officially” retired (whatever that even means these days) to see the world? We wanted to go while we had our health and we wanted the girls, especially, to experience life beyond their birth country. We had a narrow window of time to travel before S entered high school, so we figured out our finances and took the leap. Carpe diem, as it were. Along the way we pivoted and decided to stay abroad for a while, but in one spot because nomadic life with adolescents was tricky; they wanted structure and friendships.

• Why Albania? You can read about that here. But essentially, it was an easy place to stay for a while, though not an easy place to adapt to living, but we’ve figured things out and are decently adjusted now. That said, there’s a lot that doesn’t necessarily make sense on paper about Albania but, at the same time, there’s a je ne sais quoi about the country that makes it work for us for the time being. I’ll write more about that as time goes on.

• How? C manages our investments. So long as they continue to do well, we can continue to live an international life. Should that or other factors change (including what the girls need/want), we’ll re-evaluate and pivot again as needed.

So that’s us in a nutshell. Follow along for recaps of our nomadic travels and current side trips, adventures in raising adolescents abroad, and reflections on choosing to step away from a conventional life and the many transitions involved. I try to keep things balanced — some highlights, yes, but also real talk about the challenges we’ve faced and continue to encounter, along with learning lessons and growth we’re experiencing.

My writing is loosely organized by tabs at the top; feel free to jump around to what interests you. I post organically and sporadically, and I’m not trying to monetize anything. Have a question? Ask away! Want more real-time updates? Follow along on IG: @openingtheaperture.