Our favorite picture from May.
Steam train crossing the Nine Arch Bridge in Ella, Sri Lanka.

What a whirlwind of a month! After a “slower” April where we spent three weeks in Japan, we visited five countries spanning three continents in May. Not only did we move around quite a bit, but we also visited vastly differing cultures. From the warm hospitality in Sri Lanka, to the calls to prayer in Oman, the island paradise of the Maldives, the crazy hustle and bustle of Cairo, and the urban London, we definitely felt some culture shock last month. A couple reflections from May:

We still love London — You may remember that the catalyst for our sabbatical was that our plans to move to London fell through. We’ve always dreamed of spending a few years in London together and traveling abroad, and we thought that this trip would satiate our desire to live abroad. However, being in London last week and staying in the neighborhood we were planning to move to made us a little nostalgic for what might have been. It’s possible London is still in our future, but perhaps not anytime soon and maybe not as a full time move.

Egypt was as hectic as we had anticipated but pleasantly not as scammy as people had warned — We enjoyed exploring Cairo, but it was an adventure to say the least. We are thankful to not have experienced as many scams as we were anticipating… although we believe this was because Justin blended in a bit. Most people thought he was Egyptian with his darker complexion and newfound beard, regularly coming up to him speaking Arabic or asking where in Egypt he was from. So we think this could be why the scammers mostly kept their distance. Even with this slight reprieve, we were still exhausted after five days.

WHAT WE’RE LISTENING TO, WATCHING & READING

BRITT
📺 Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story

JUSTIN
📚 The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion — This memoir takes readers through Joan Didion’s grieving and mourning process after the death of her husband, John. It is a powerful exploration of marriage, illness, death, and life itself.
📚 Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity - Peter Attia — Fantastic book about extending lifespan and improving physical, cognitive, and emotional health. Highly recommend. Fair warning, it’s very scienc-y.

BOTH
📚 Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus — Our favorite book we’ve read this year! This is a page turner (and soon-to-be Apple TV show) set in the 1960s with a female protagonist that challenges the status quo and dares everyone around her to do the same.
📺 Shrinking — We loved this show and can’t wait until season two! This show had us laughing out loud more than any show has in a while… well, since Ted Lasso. 😊
📚 I Have Some Questions for You - Rebecca Makkai — We enjoyed this book, but felt like it was a bit of a knock off of Serial Season 1. If you’ve read this book, let us know your thoughts!
📺 Ted Lasso — Let us know what you thought of the season finale! So sad it’s over forever!
📚 Atomic Habits - James Clear — In Progress

JUNE GOALS

🥶 Cold Water Swim — We recently struck up a conversation with a guest at one of our shared Airbnbs who gave us the hard sell on cold water swimming. The colder the better, as he said. Britt has seen a couple TV shows documenting the health benefits of regularly swimming in super cold water (shout out @Goop), so we think we’re going to give it a shot.

Stop losing things* — We traveled for four months without losing a single thing**, and over the last month, we’ve* started getting a little careless / distracted when we have been moving from place to place. Need to refocus and stop leaving things behind! Reach out if you’re interested in hearing about our #fails.

Catch up on our blog and trip planning — We’ve gotten a bit behind! We currently have not planned or booked anything for July, and we’ve tried to stay two months ahead. 😬 Need to catch up!

*Mostly Justin
**Well, Britt lost two debit cards, but we won’t talk about those…

WHERE WE’RE HEADED IN MAY 
Feel free to send any tips, recommendations, or thoughts our way!

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland — We just started our 10-day road trip through Scotland! We’re planning to take a big, counterclockwise loop starting with a visit to The Old Course at St. Andrews, then up through Cairngorms National Park before spending a few days exploring the Highlands.

🇧🇪 Belgium — Another country that wasn’t on our initial plan since we have both visited in the past, but we had a few days to fill between Scotland and France and we are craving some good waffles and fries! We’re planning to visit Brussels, Bruges, and Antwerp, and we will most likely exclusively eat fries and waffles… 🤷🏽‍♂️🤷🏻‍♀️🙊

🇫🇷 France — South of France here we come! This is sort of a redemption trip from one we had planned with Britt’s high school clan (shout out Five Dots ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️) in 2020. And although they won’t be joining us on this redemption tour, our friend Melissa will be! We are very excited to spend a few days with Melissa in St. Tropez before continuing on our trip through the south ending in Bordeaux.

🇵🇹 Portugal — We’ll end the month in Portugal where we’ll take another road trip up the coast with Britt’s brother, Zack, and his wife, Jackie. We’re looking forward to celebrating Britt’s birthday and our wedding anniversary with some delicious Portuguese wine!

MAY RECAP — PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES

Colombo (CMB) 🚗 Sigiriya 🚌 Kandy 🚂 Ella 🚌 Galle ✈️ Muscat (MUS) ✈️ Malé (MLE) ✈️ Cairo (CAI) ✈️ London (LHR) 🚂 Edinburgh 🚗 Aberdeen 🚗 Inverness 🚗 Isle of Skye

That’s it for this month! Don’t hesitate to reach out if anything we shared resonated with you, if you have tips on places we should visit, questions about what we’re up to, or if you just want to say hello. We’d love to hear from you! 

P.S. Thank you to everyone who has supported my fundraising efforts for the Berlin Marathon this Fall! If you’re interested in learning more about my run, check out my fundraising page.

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