Where we’re going in 2025…
2024 is slowly coming to an end. So, what’s next for us in 2025?
For the last month or so, Chad and I have been staring at the large world map in our living room, looking at where all we’ve gone and what parts of the world we still long to visit. We bounced destination ideas between the two of us, back and forth, weighing several different factors as to why we should or why we shouldn’t (yet) visit each one in the coming year. (Because traveling is both a personal experience and a business decision for us these days, we have to think about (1) how well videos from that country will perform on our channel, while (2) also considering what we want to do as people hoping to grow and blossom from our world experiences.)
There’s one country in particular that we stared at on the map for nearly an hour, a country that Chad has wanted to visit for YEARS. Any time we mentioned it in the past, I always responded with, “Not yet.” But, this time, I finally said “It’s time.” I think it actually caught Chad a bit off guard haha. He was like, “Really?!”
Sometime during February, we plan on visiting…KERALA, INDIA! Lucky for us, we have a close friend who’s mother is from Kerala and who spent several summers in that area throughout childhood. He has given us SO many tips on where to go, what to eat, and what books and TV shows to delve into before visiting. (Thank you to the moon and back, Anirudh!) This is truly going to be the trip of a lifetime!
We have another international trip planned for April and an extra special destination abroad set for July, when we’ll celebrate our 5-year wedding anniversary. We won't reveal those countries JUST yet, but an incredibly vague clue for anyone who wants to guess, we’ll be visiting the desert somewhere in Africa in April and the mountains somewhere in Europe in July.
Anywhere else?
In between those larger international trips, we hope to enjoy a few domestic adventures here and there. We have our annual “YouTube Mastermind Retreat” scheduled for January (it’s going to be a New Years edition this time!), when we’ll meet up with some other travel YouTube couples for a week of physical and mental relaxation and restoration. We’re going to be the hosts this year, so they’ll all be making their way over to the Blue Ridge Mountains for a week of winter fun! We can’t think of any better way to ring in the new year than with this loving and supportive crowd of friends.
Of course, we’ll always want to spend at least a week by the coast, swimming in salt water and indulging in seafood, so we’ll have to carve out some time for a beach trip with the dogs, either in the spring or for our birthdays in June.
It’s nice to be home–
October was our first month in all of 2024 where we did NOT take a trip anywhere (international or domestic). It blows my mind that we’ve been constantly on the move for the last ten months. Our last trip was at the end of September, when we drove to Charleston for my sister’s second brain surgery. Since returning from that, we’ve been able to stick to a daily and weekly routine with the dogs, and it has felt SO good to have that little bit of repetition and stability.
On Tuesday nights, we hang out with seven other couples who live in the area, and as I’m writing this newsletter, we’re out on an autumn camping trip with some of them in a nearby recreational area. Seeing people (in-person) consistently on a weekly basis has been so uplifting for our souls, and if we haven’t already said it a million times already, we LOVE where we live. So much. Moving to small town America was one of the greatest choices we’ve made for ourselves in our 20s, and we’re endlessly grateful to be based in a location with such beautiful outdoor scenery.
A big project Chad has been working on since August is our fence! After two months of our neighbors constantly asking whether he’s finished it or not hahaha, he FINALLY completed the project last week, and I’ve got to say, it looks outstanding. Now, Geppetto won’t be able to book it over to the neighbor’s yard to go sit on the porch swing with good ole Gary Senior any time he gets the chance to haha.
Getting ready for our group trip–
In mid-October, I sat down with my iPad and Apple Pencil for the first time in a VERY long time and drew. I wanted to design something special for the guests joining us on our upcoming group trip to Taiwan, so I illustrated a fun pattern for some custom tote bags! These will be the (reusable) welcome bags for the guests on the trip, filled with all sorts of goodies and useful items for on-the-go traveling. It seemed that the design was a big hit on our Instagram, when I showed process shots of me drawing, so we printed just a few extra for anyone who wanted to snag one for the holiday season. (They will be live in our shop sometime this month!)
If you saw our last email, our group trip had a last-minute drop out, but thankfully, that spot was quickly filled with another eager traveler. This group trip is just a month away, and we can’t wait to meet everyone in person. We have been working on getting this group trip to happen ever since March, so it’s crazy to finally see the finish line. We hope that it will be our first group trip of many!
New travel videos on YouTube–
Our Split vlog: We spent 48 hours exploring Split and its surrounding islands with tasty seafood and refreshing swims in the Adriatic sea. Here is the link to the video.
Our Dubrovnik vlog: We strolled through old town, tried lots of new foods, and zip-lined over the mountainside at sunset. Here is the link to the video.
So, what does November look like for us?
The mountains have been glowing a brilliant orange when we take our daily twilight walks with the dogs. Leaves have been falling all around us, swirling shades of vermilion and mustard around our front porch, and acorns have been consistently dropping onto our metal roof each day. Down the road at the old farm, brown horses and cows graze on the last bits of grass, as fog rolls into the golden valley and adds the finishing touch to a scene so autumn and so beautiful, we stop walking just take it in. Our world really is so marvelous.
We are living in the height of autumn, and we know that once the confetti of warm colors fall to the ground, winter will greet us with chilly days and a light filter of grey and blue. We got our propane fireplace checked and working for the season, and we look forward to curling up with a good book by firelight or candlelight and reading as our two pups snore away beside us.
Friends from across the States will be coming to visit us at both the beginning of the month and the end of the month, so we’ll get the chance to share this cozy transition into winter with people near and dear to our hearts.
Our souls have been bubbling with gratitude as we wrap us this year, and we hope you have a wonderful and stress-free start to your holiday season. This time of year can be so hard for so many across the world, so we just want to share a positive reminder that it’s okay to take care of your mental health and celebrate these last few months however is most comfortable for you. You deserve to be happy and at peace as you wrap up your 2024. Happy November, and may this holiday season be a joyous one for you.
MOST SINCERELY,
Claire (and Chad)
