The Journey So Far
We’ve been on the road for 3 weeks now, and it’s around this time where even a longer summer holiday would usually come to an end. The realisation that we’re only just starting this journey is slowly kicking in, but it genuinely feels good! Given the frequent change of scenery we’ve experienced so far, the 3 weeks are already feeling much longer. And that sentiment applies to all of us. I think we are still finding our rhythm, adjusting to the flow of life on the move, but I believe that we are still relatively fast-paced and will slow down, eventually, as we settle more into the journey.
Thus far, we’ve been staying in our places between 3 to 4 nights at a time (Zagreb being the 2-night exception here), but 3 nights is quickly turning out to be the absolute minimum we can manage comfortably. And I think even that is not sustainable in the long run, considering the sheer amount of input that is difficult to digest, especially for the kids. While our son needs some extra time to adjust to new surroundings, our daughter struggles more to leave and would prefer to extend our stay in pretty much every place we’ve been fortunate to visit. One difficulty in taking more time per stop is the simple fact that we will only have until late September before we’re heading out to Asia in early October. That leaves us with just around 2 months to go, and there are still several countries to cover as well as many kilometres to be driven. We are actively looking into options for a longer stop to slow down, and whilst Kotor in Montenegro looks like a promising and beautiful option, it appears to be a bit out of reach for now, as Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Albania still lie between us and Montenegro.
Right now, we’re very much enjoying the peaceful remoteness of the place we’re staying at in Serbia (the post about our stay at “Tara National Park, Serbia” should be online on the 7th of August), but on the 8th of August, we will be departing towards the city of Nis, before crossing into country number eight, Kosovo.
What has been working exceptionally well for us so far is the balance between staying in bustling cities and more remote, natural locations such as the two national parks we’ve had the pleasure to visit. While the cities allow us to properly dive deep into each country’s culture, the remote locations provide us with the necessary downtime to process and digest these new and exciting impressions fully.
Most importantly though is the fact that everybody is still enjoying the travels! The ocassional video call with friends has helped the kids to stay in touch with their friends back at home, and at this point in time, they are still enjoying the amount of time they get to spend with their parents. Let’s hope it stays that way :D … We will keep you posted!
