It was Thanksgiving yesterday, while not celebrated here, of course, we managed to do it up properly. There was turkey, card games, video games, desserts, and even a movie. The only thing missing, of course, was the wider range of families. This we missed tremendously. We reminisced about our individual Thanksgivings of the past and thought also what Thanksgiving would look like next year (where will it be, and with whom?). It all got me thinking about family, traveling to them and with them.

In preparation for this epic journey of ours, we went to Mexico last summer for 2 weeks. I have family there and I messaged my tia with dates when we'd be down and hopes to see them. Well, they scooped us up at the airport and folded us right into their arms over the next weeks. The time spent with them was really some of the highlight experiences of our trip. We wouldn't have feasted like we had (a grilled meat and veg fest, street tacos that made us cry with joy, strawberry and pineapple tamales that Harrison couldn't stop eating) or explored some of the places that we did (wandering underneath Puebla City in the tunnels). They were our tour guides, our connection with the area and our familiar touchpoint in unfamiliar territory.

When planning the first three months of our epic year, we kept that experience in mind. We'd settled on the direction of our travel (East to West) and knew we had 3 months at most in Europe. Although neither of us has a family based in the countries that were on our list, we did have friends. From there I sent out rough itineraries to these wonderful people that lived in the general areas of where we were headed. We crossed our fingers. What came back were excited WhatsApp messages and texts asking for more detail, dates, and dreams.

Our meetups all looked different. Some were long, some short, some had us camp out with them, others we met at places around our new borrowed city. All of them refreshed our souls and connected us to the area in a deeper way than we would have, could have, without them.

We explored WWII bunkers in Bristol and gazed overhead as great balloons floated over our friend's backyard garden. We hiked out to the Finnish wilderness and bouldered, drinking hot cocoa and eating rye bread with cheese and an epic view of the city. We gatecrashed a friend of a friend's birthday party partaking in lovely food and drink while trying our best to understand German. We waded through torrents of rain to meet up with buddies in the dark of night, where they translated the delicious food options from Italian to English for us and we feasted together before walking back home under a momentarily clear sky. We plunked ourselves and our bags down in a friend of a friend's apartment after traveling and got the rundown of our new city, recommendations for restaurants, the name of the theatre that plays movies in English twice a week and a quick lesson in Catalan before heading out for a personal grand tour.

Our friends are amazing. They've given us tremendous memories and helped us feel comfortable in the unknown.

And, if that wasn't enough....we met up with my PARENTS just recently in Barcelona, Spain! We'd arrived just a few hours ahead of them, getting in around 7 and then navigating (poorly) to our Airbnb. Exhausted and half-starved, we chose dinner (poorly) and then collapsed into bed. Harrison ("I think Grandma and Abuelito will be really happy if I come with you.") and I went back to the airport early the next morning. H parked himself by the arrivals area and flagged my parents down! Hugs all around and navigating once more (much better this time) we arrived back to the apartment to coffee, pastries and orange juice courtesy of Jon. Well, when we arrived in Dublin in September we all slept for like 15 hours straight, so I was impressed that after a couple of hours of a nap we were all out and about walking around the city, using the metro and taking in the sights. Our first real plan was eating. We had a reservation at a somewhat respectable Spanish-dinnertime of 8 pm. We feasted. Tapas are delicious. Spanish wine is also delightful.

Our time together was short, fast-paced, full of love and food. Harry enjoyed learning poker and using tea bags as coins. I enjoyed getting my head massaged on my mom's lap.

Looking to the next months' journey, it is different. We've run out of built-in friends. We do hope to meet up with Jon's parents in April, even writing that it feels a long way off! Well, if you're reading this and want to plan a vacation....take a look at our itinerary and know that you'll have a built-in friend waiting for you wherever we are!