Moving so often allows us to cover a lot of ground and see a tremendous amount of these countries, but it also requires a tremendous amount of work packing, unpacking, setting up camp and tearing down, plotting our next moves (huge props to Ross for doing all of the research!!), figuring out new cities, and just locating all of our stuff after each move! Needless to say, we've accumulated quite a bit of stuff for camping.
Ross and I were joking that all of our posts, videos, and pictures thus far have depicted the fun we've been having. While we're definitely having A LOT of fun, we haven't yet documented the reality of travel with two little kids - the meltdowns (both theirs and ours!), the blowups, the low points (our van's window was smashed out and we were robbed), and the joys and challenges associated with the four of us being together - and for the most part it is just us - 24/7.
Please don't mistake this for me complaining. I am beyond grateful for this amazing opportunity for our family. It has been truly life changing and we are all learning so much about ourselves and each other. It is a gift that Ross and I are able to spend this precious time with Nash and Tabor. We are very fortunate that they are being absolute champs in the face of constant change, and for the most part, rolling with everything and enjoying the new places and faces. Their outgoing natures have allowed them to make many friends along the way and their innocence has broken down language and cultural barriers on many occasions. We are very grateful Tabor and Nash are happy little adventurers! I want to be sure though that we paint an accurate picture of the ups and downs our trip has involved.
With all of the great adventures, we definitely have our challenges! One of our biggest challenges is travel days. Car travel is not something we did often in the states and it's not our family's forte. On travel days, we're generally in the car anywhere from 3 to 7 hours. Since travel days are every 2-3 days, that's a lot of car time! We usually get on the road at nap time so part of the ride is spent with the kids sleeping. When they're up, we have car snacks, do art projects, read books, look out the window and take in the desert (while it's beautiful, it's not super interesting for the kiddos), and usually watch a movie on the iPad. It never fails that the last half hour of every trip, we all get cabin fever and are at each other's throats. Once we arrive at our destination, everyone is exhausted, hungry, and at the end of their rope. It's a race to locate our next lodging spot, haul all of our stuff into the place once we find it (often involving multiple trips up elevators or stairs with all of our crap) and locate a place to eat. Maybe our next video should be of us when we arrive in a new town after five hours in the car where we're lost, starving, everyone is arguing, Nash has a poop in his diaper, and we realize Tabor left her shoes at our last camp spot!