Since the last travel post of Summer of 2021, we went a lot of places. After losing and recovering my laptop after traveling home from India, I have spent days organizing old photos and revisiting past years. There’s a post on that.
Looking forward, I have new hopes for documenting travel but with the same mantra of taking adventures and not vacations. Adventure is about the journey and the journey all depends on where you let the trip take you. Here’s where we have been…..
2021 Winter Holidays was spent in Canada
In December 2021 Covid tests were still a part of travel. We showed vaccine cards to get into restaurants in Quebec City and risked a non-refundable remote destination trip to a Northern Lights lodge on Christmas Eve if one of us would have tested positive for Covid before we boarded the bush plane. In Banff, the ski school had to be vaccinated to stay for lunch, but the Canadian kids didn’t have access to the vaccine yet. So, Esther was the only one to stay for lunch! We all skied during a hard freeze where the lifts sometimes didn’t open because it was -25C. The three-week trip was magical and epic. COLD but amazing.
That trip was documented well on Instagram and you can find the posts here.
In 2022 we went to warm places and CUBA
The next year we went scuba diving in Andros, Bahamas and Little Cayman. I took the girls to Anna Maria Island for Fall Break but we got evacuated by Hurricane Ivan.
In 2022 I bought a yoga prop business and ran the Inner Space Yoga website while traveling to remote destinations. Recently, I officially closed the business and am changing my focus back to this space. Literally – I even bought a new camera and am learning to use new software!
Now, I’m making a “brief” catch up before I move on to my next phase of documenting epic and meaningful travel. Like our long-awaited trip to Cuba, orginally planned for March 2020 when Covid shut down the world.
On Christmas Day we flew to Cuba and rang in 2023 in a country that changed our hearts and minds forever. We met beautiful, kind souls who welcomed us openly and joyfully. We traveled with amazing friends and our combined SEVEN daughters. We stayed in hostels and were hosted by local Cuban families. We had amazing drivers who led us on road trips through Cuba in vintage cars with no seatbelts – passing horse and buggies, meandering cows, beautiful oceans, farmlands and so much more in this country of struggling situations that feels like a misunderstood mystery to us Americans.
We traveled under a “Support for the local people Visa.” We were not allowed to visit and give any support to places that were owned by the Cuban government. We gave most of belongings away to locals we met and left with empty suitcases, but wide openhearts. Put Cuba on must visit List!
In 2023 we went a lot places!
The year 2023 included Mont Tremblant, Vermont, NYC, Taiwan (for 1 kid), Bonnaroo music festival, Bonaire and Finland! Haiden graduated high school and there were several college tours in the mix too.
During a long winter weekend, a friend and I took a gaggle of girls to NYC. We love sharing travel with friends and we love Canada, so for Spring Break has friends join us for skiing at Mont Tremblant, Quebec. In February I snuck off for a sunny birthday break solo at AMI and paddled around the island. In May I went to San Diego for the US Iyengar Yoga convention, as made monthly trips to Nashville to study with my yoga teacher. Somewhere in there (not shown in photos) I took FIVE girls to see Taylor Swift in Atlanta!
One college visit included a long Easter weekend for the six of us in Burlington, Vermont. Exactly eight hours after high school graduation, the graduate was on a plane with a friend to Taiwan. When the graduate asked to take my vintage camper to Bonnaroo, I enlisted my NYC mom friend to join me for some VIP glamping. And Bonnaroo became one a major destination!
That summer we spent 12 days scuba diving in Bonaire before moving Haiden to college in Atlanta. Esther is now counting down the six months to go until she turns 10 and be a certified diver with us!
In October I passed my assessment to officially be a Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher – this was HUGE In fall we went camping with my sweet vintage camper, a few times. We visited Haiden for family weekend at college and I flew to a yoga training in LaCrosse, WI.
We wrapped up 2023 with a big family trip to Finland, a road trip to the Arctic Circle to the home of Santa and onward North for skiing in Levy. It was dark, cold skiing and it was my favorite ever skiing adventure!
Find a few more pics on Instagram from Finland.
2024 was a weird year
With a Haiden away in college, we went without her on a two week trip of Costa Rica. We missed her. But really, this was not her kind of trip. She has led the charge on scuba diving in our family. She was happy to skip trekking in the rainforests with the birds. The rest of us loved road-tripping around Costa Rica.
The summer was quiet as we played catch up on life and stayed home. I went to my 30-year high school reunion. I had never been to one before and that was a TRIP. We took a short visit to our old time home away from home Anna Maria Island. And Esther had her first official lessons in scuba diving.
Then I took the leap to do some solo adventures. I went to an Iyengar Yoga retreat at the Feathered Pipe Ranch in Big Sky Montana. I took Esther camping solo. I passed my free diving certification which felt like a BIG win at the time. And I took my first live aboard to scuba dive in the Sea of Cortez, to swim with whale sharks and twill with sea lions.
The day the kids got out of school for Winter Break we left for a quick ski trip to Mont Tremblant and Montreal. We flew home on Christmas Eve because they all requested to be home Christmas morning. It was short and sweet. And everyone had a great time!
Next up is INDIA!!!
Two days after Christmas Rebecca left for India to attend the 50th Anniversary of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, the home of Iyengar Yoga.