OUR PROMPT TO ADVENTURE
When I realized I hadn’t saved enough money to fulfil my promise to Chloe of going to Paris for her 16th birthday, we started to dream about a different kind of trip. Less defined and less restricted. Maybe we could go between her high school graduation and college? we thought. Maybe more places than Paris? Maybe for a few months? What about a gap year? and so it was decided.
We gathered our courage, and began the process of making this dream come true.
PLANNING AND PARAMETERS
It takes over a year of planning, lots of nights of lost sleep, months of worry and truckloads of detail management. Mostly, it takes a strong will (pigheadedness, perhaps).
And then there is this little detailed, found in your bones, a predisposition to travel, the vagabond bug. I don’t know if Chloe caught it when she was little when I read and reread “Oh, The Places You’ll Go” to her or if it was already there. But from an early age, she was interested in books that took not only her imagination for a ride, but allowed her to visit other countries. She takes after her mom, for sure.
As we set out planning, we started with parameters and goals. The most significant, a limited budget. Also, as non-Europeans, our stay in Schengen countries would be limited to three of every six months. Venice was a must-return-to for me, and I wanted to visit Portugal. Chloe wanted to learn Spanish in Spain, if possible, and get to Iceland.
Then there was Chloe’s modelling career. She hoped to land an agency in Europe (she already has one in Vancouver). If she did, that would change the direction of all our plans. (Read December stories to find out what happened!)
GREY GARDENS
One of our inside jokes is that we are “Grey Gardens,” an obscure reference for most people, unless you happened to be a documentary film afficionado. “Grey Gardens” is a film by the Maysle brothers about a mother and daughter, big Edie and little Edie, who lived as recluses in a completely ramshackled, bug- and vermin-infested mansion in the Hamptons. (Big Edie has since died, and the house was sold — to Martha Stewart, I think).
Big Edie came from a super wealthy family, but her fortune was lost. What remained for her and her daughter was the house, on highly valued land. The reason we joke about it (a bit twisted) is we see ourselves like them , a mother and daughter alone, and more importantly, land rich but cash poor.
Thanks to Vancouver! I bought a condo here five years ago, and it’s value nearly doubled. A ridiculous, absurd real estate market, but one that has served us well. We’d make our “land” work for us…Grey Gardens with a twist!
In order to make this property-based scheme a success, we packed all our belongings, moved them into the smallest (and cheapest) storage space possible, and hired a fancy rental/management company to take glamorous photos of and rent our apartment.
VROOM….
Then the test began — can we actually live on the road, off our rental income and some savings for a year?
On Sept. 1, 2018, we flew on one-way tickets from Vancouver to London. Each of us brought a large suitcase and a small backpack. (Packing for a Year).
Afraid and excited, we hurled ourselves into the unknown.
This blog is a record and a roadmap…for crossing cobblestones and countries…with us or for making your own adventure.
ANNE
I make art, write and produce/direct films and radio, but most importantly, I’m Chloe’s mom. Chloe and I are itinerates of sorts. She was born at New York Hospital, almost the New Year’s millennium baby. We lived in NYC for a few years; in Venice, Italy, a few months; Salt Lake City, Utah for six years; and the last eight years, in Vancouver, Canada.
I’ve traveled my whole life…all of Europe, much of Central America, some of Southeast Asia, parts of Africa, almost every bit of the US and through each of Canada’s big cities. We are dual US/Canadian citizens, who proudly travel as Canadians.
CHLOE
I don’t like writing about myself so I take photos instead. I’ve included some in the portfolio section of this site. I love traveling, exploring, observing and learning about the world around me.