Travel—why solo and why now?

Kaliméra! As I’m waiting to board a ferry in Greece I figured it’s a good time to explain what the heck I am doing here—now—and why I am alone.

Why solo?

Is my marriage failing? I don’t think so! Am I having a midlife crisis? Perhaps! Do I miss solo trips like I used to go on when I was working? YES!!! And was my husband’s passport getting renewed when I decided to do this? Yes. :)

Look, I love my family and if you’ve been reading this blog for a hot minute you know we love traveling together A LOT. But if you spend almost every waking moment concerned about the needs and wants of others you are probably neglecting yourself to a degree. And while I’m mostly talking to the parents and partners here, single folks can get wrapped into the care and concern of others, too. 

Back when Frank and I were working we both traveled as part of our jobs. For about a two year stretch one of us was gone for at least a week every month, and sometimes one of us would be gone for several weeks at a time. The “away” team member would check in with the “home” team, but really they only had to care about their own needs for the most part. Work trips became a mini-recharge for me as a wife and mother. What does everyone want to eat? Not my problem! Want to wake up early and see the sunrise? There’s no one to have to crawl over or worry about waking up! Want to just lie in bed for an hour and do nothing? Go for it! I’m not saying my family stops me from any of that when I’m home, but rather I do! I stop myself. I don’t want to bother anyone, I don’t want anyone else to have to worry about anything that I can take care of, and I sure as heck don’t want to slack on stuff around the house by lying in bed.

And I would also take weekends to see my girlfriends and he would take hiking trips with his buddy. At the end of any of these trips, no matter which side I was on, it was great to talk about our unique experiences and learn about new places from one another. And yeah, maybe distance did make the heart grow fonder! 

So I am solo in Greece! Frank does want to come someday so I’m considering this a recon trip, but I am definitely enjoying a little bit of traveling on my own agenda.

Why now?

There is a Level 4 “Do not travel” advisory for Greece from the CDC due to COVID right now so I get that my decision might not make sense to everyone. But I am vaccinated and readily wear a mask when asked or when I feel like a space or crowd requires it. And between my desire for some solo travel (it’s been over two years since my last true solo) and wanting a distraction as my daughter leaves us for 10 months (and Frank’s passport being “in the mail”), now seemed right! I was actually looking at a trip to Spain when I stumbled upon a good deal on a flight to Greece that departed from the same airport the Katreina was leaving from within an hour of her flight—this would allow me to be with her just a little bit longer! And I found a great place to stay in Athens that was affordable, in a great neighborhood, and close to transit. So…Greece, now!

This trip is two and a half weeks long. While even a few days alone in the mountains would have given me the recharge I need right now, this long trip to a completely new place is also helping me learn a bit about myself…what really makes me happy, what causes me to be anxious, and what do I really want out of the next few years. And I can’t wait to share my experiences with the home team!

The marina in the Port of Aegina, Saronic Islands

(the end of my ferry journey!)

~Jo, 1st Mate

Au revoir, Katreina!

After months of planning our crew is officially embarking on our biggest change to date! This week, we became a crew of three for the first time since Trent was born as we sent Katreina off to France for the next 10 months!

We made the decision to say goodbye to the boys at the curb since they couldn’t come through security anyway. I would get a few hours in the airport with her before my own flight to Greece. The two-hour drive to the airport was a long, silent build-up, and the goodbyes were hard, as expected! Ok, maybe not-so-expected were the tears shed by her little brother. He’s usually so unemotional! Katreina said Frank teared up, too, but I missed that through my own tears! 

Check in and security were a breeze, and then we headed to the Air France/KLM lounge (the perk of being a Priority Pass member!) to relax, eat baguettes (of course), sip wine, and say our long goodbye. And damn, it was hard! I’m tearing up just writing about it! It felt just as heart-wrenching as my departure on deployment in 2010 did. I mean, we have tons of technology to keep us connected and I’m not at all worried about her safety, but this mom loves hugs and silly, spontaneous moments. I will miss that with her for the next 10 months. And there’s a fair chance that her brother will get sick of me!

Katreina’s flight was a little delayed, but she made it and survived a long screening line to join her orientation group in Paris! Over three days they had presentations about what to expect in France, went to the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, and took a river cruise on the Seine. 

She departed the U.S. on Monday and by Thursday evening she was settled in to her new room and having dinner with her French family in Tours. It’s been a busy week for her, but she seems to be holding up quite well! She’s off on an end-of-summer trip with the family before school starts next week. Her adventure is underway! 🇫🇷

On Course to Financial Freedom--Boatschool and Beyond

Last year we did an interview with Stephanie at Poppin' Smoke and it was recently featured again as part of a "retirement alternatives" piece, "Reimagining Military Retirement: Think Outside the Box". While Poppin' Smoke is geared towards military retirees, the options presented are, in my opinion, options for anyone (with a few tweaks to step away from military lodging/travel options). As we have cruised we have met so many people from diverse professional backgrounds with widely varying budgets that have made a "seabbatical" or full-time cruising part of their plan through a variety of financial moves--selling it all to move aboard, working full-time remote, saving for a 1-2 year cruise, cruising between jobs in various ports, and more. Some friends are exploring the country in “land yachts” and others are traveling the world full-time. And we all have been called "lucky" by friends and family! It got me thinking...was it all really luck?

"Lucky" is a term that has always made me feel a little funny. I know that we are extremely fortunate to be living as we do and making memories together, but luck? I think if we had won the lottery to get here it would have been luck. How most of us got here though was through deliberate planning (and maybe a little bit of crazy). In our case, we started living with less, making asset decisions that matched our goals, and investing early on, and for a solid 10 years of pay raises in two successful careers we lived well below our means and didn't increase our standard of living with each promotion--we lived in the same little boat and Frank drove an ancient truck (which is all now apparently known as FIRE--Financial Independence Retire Early). Yes, we have my military retirement and that was certainly part of the math that got us here, but we could have gotten "here" without it, even if that meant "here" looked a little different, like cruising different areas, or with a different boat, or with a different timeline, or without so much other travel and goofing off, or...way too may branches to these options to dig into them all! But we had a "here," a goal that we deliberately moved towards.

So what's my point? I think we all have more options than we fully consider. I grew up in the era where success seemed to be tightly tied to some degree/title/family/car/paycheck metric and that's not a totally horrible thing, but I don't think it's the only thing either, or at least it's not for me. And THAT is what I want my kids to know. We want them to know that there are options, and that if they plan properly, they will have more options to choose from. Or maybe that they can do one thing and then reinvent themselves and do another without major stress. Or that they can plan a vacation or a sabbatical using passive income. Annndddd...that's why we teach them about finances as part of our homeschool journey!

Time to brag on my hubs a bit! As we began homeschooling he embarked on "Investments 101" with the kids, setting the goals of the class and designing his own curriculum. They were in 6th and 8th grades at the time and began with basic terminology, routine checks of the market, lots of Warren Buffet videos, and discussion about financial news articles around the dinner table. The trick was making it fun and therefore interesting so Frank dropped the "let's try to make some money" bit early on, perhaps earlier than a traditional curriculum would have. So part of the class involved the kids researching publicly-traded companies they were interested in and tracking them for a bit. Then we gave them the seed money for a well-timed purchase. The deal was that they needed to stick with the stock for a year, but then could keep/sell as they saw fit. Any profits were theirs to keep and we would absorb any losses. And they were off! Some mornings Trent would call out to Katreina from his bed to report that his stock (EA) was up and hers (BYND) was down...loved that they were a little competitive, but really loved that they were checking daily without our prompting! The first sale went at the 15-month point and Katreina walked away with ~70% return on investment (bought at $110.79/share, sold at $189.12/share). A few months later, Trent sold for ~35% return on investment (bought at $109.79/share, sold at $147.95). They had fun, learned a lot, and are reinvesting! Outside of the class, the kids have had their own savings and spending accounts for a few years (including their own debit cards) and have managed those with just a little oversight from the parental units. And we talk about our family's budget openly in front of them (marina expenses, travel expenses, their cell phone bills, groceries...all of it). All of this is with one goal in mind--arming the kids to have financial options and to make good choices.

Nothing grabs their attention more than seeing $$$ growth over time.

They got LOTS of finance class during a week-long blow in the Bahamas.

As Investments 102 ramps up, they will hit more of the basic terminology, tax implications, risk, fund types, and portfolio diversification. They will also dig more into personal budgets, banking (savings vs checking, FDIC, CDs, loans, how to pick a bank, etc.), and taxes. The topics are seemingly endless!

And it's never too late to start investing, whether with a financial advisor or getting out there and learning all you can. Why not let your money work for you? You can learn a bunch by reading CNBC, Seeking Alpha, Market Watch, and others. I mean, if you're willing to spend hours scrolling on Facebook or on YouTube watching other people do stuff, why not spend a little of that time learning something that will help you do the stuff you're dreaming about?

So get out there, set your goal, and reach for it! 

~Jo, 1st Mate

A truly unique (and beautiful!) head on a production boat

A non-essential boat project is complete and I LOVE IT!

Katreina has always been artistic and began painting last year. Her creations are so lovely and as she prepared to leave for a school year abroad, we decided that we really wanted her to leave her mark on our home. We decided that the door to the aft head would be her canvas and she was allowed to paint whatever she wanted. She went through a few solid ideas and sketches before settling on her final design and spent so many hours (~50!!!) working on it. Was she inspired by the pillows we made? Or the sea life that has surrounded our boat the past few months? Whatever the inspiration, the result is amazing!

The Artist and her finished piece!

So much detail in the tentacles.

Her signature, complete with "ily" and a fingerprint heart. 💙

From design to finish, she spent over 50 hours on this piece. 

We will finish this with a few coats of Minwax Polycrylic so that the painting isn’t damaged when folks shower. I am so happy to have this piece of art as part of our home!

Travel amid COVID, civil unrest, and wildfires

Marina life continues on here in Maryland as we've undertaken a repair/reinforcement of the deck (more to follow on that!) in the midst of a heat wave and have begun to lay in spares and provisions for the winter cruising season. Oh, and we are about a week out from sending the Second Mate to France for the school year! 

Here's the deal--the U.S. State Department has issued a "Level 4--Do Not Travel" advisory for France due to COVID-19, terrorism, and civil unrest. And here we are, sending our daughter there in nine days and a wake up. Are we crazy? Should we pull her from the program? You may think we are crazy, but we have no plans to pull her from the program. We have done all we can to mitigate the COVID-19 risks and she is one very cautious kid when she's out in the community. As for the terrorism and civil unrest, it's a threat in Paris and mostly on the weekends. People are upset and are protesting...it's like that in many places around the world right now. She will be in Paris, but only briefly and during the week...she will be in a chaperoned group...and honestly, she has been raised in a home where we talk about risk (weather, public unrest, sports...) openly. From Paris, she will travel to join a family that faces all of these risks with their two kids in their home in Tours. Her risk, in our opinion, is comparable to what she faces here in her own country and therefore we are moving forward.

She's not alone...I will be traveling to a "Level 4--Do Not Travel" country (due to COVID-19 and wildfires) as well on the same day. I'm monitoring https://travel.state.gov/ for both of our locations daily, we are ready to meet the COVID requirements, I am in contact with my Airbnb host for "on the ground" conditions, and we will flex if we need to. This is the state of travel right now and as a traveling family, we accept it!

The intrepid travelers are sweating the heat wave and clogged a/c lines more than the travel requirements!

~Jo, 1st Mate

SURPRISE staycation in the Shenandoah (and D.C. area)

It all started Sunday with a friend's Facebook post about her trip to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center...we hadn't been and had lived in the D.C. area for years...we were planning to visit family in the northwest suburbs the next weekend...why not hit the museum on Friday on our way? Oh, and I could surprise the family and just go there! But then I was on AirBnB looking at places for a possible trip this fall when I casually did a search for places near Shenandoah National Park. We were expecting temps in the 90's all week and escaping to the mountains was starting to sound pretty nice! But...I started to think about all the work we need to do here, the cost...but also the fun we could have...so I pulled in an accomplice! Who better to help me plan a fun surprise trip than Katreina??? I did ask Frank if he would mind if we went away for a few days and discussed budget, but after that we were planning! That night we requested a stay at a nice AirBnB that Katreina picked out (pricier than I was looking for, but she insisted we all deserved it!) and had a rough plan of activities that the boys would like. Monday we got our confirmation, planned what to pack for everyone, and told them to rest up because we were heading out bright and early Tuesday morning to...

At this point the boys were clueless! They had seen us pack hiking gear, swimsuits, sweatshirts...

...Front Royal, Virginia! The boys couldn't guess what was up until we were in the car. Frank had a clue given how many days, the fact that I had talked about this location earlier, oh, and because I blurted it out to the marina manager the day before with him standing right there! But he didn't know exactly what we had planned so we filled them in on the drive. We would spend our days hiking, exploring caverns that we hadn't been to before, riding horses in the park, floating down the Shenandoah River, and enjoying some good eats in Front Royal! The house was cozy, the weather PERFECT, and the activities were a great mix of active and relaxing. I'm calling it a success!

So cozy, with all the things boaters long for...a soaking tub, washer and dryer, dishwasher, lots of hot water...

Skyline Caverns was distinctly different from nearby Luray Caverns with curtain flows, rainbow lights (minimizes algae growth), and anthodites (a feature only found in two other caves in the world!).

LOTS of hikes in Shenandoah NP! Fort Windham Rocks, Traces Trail, Rapidan Camp, Compton Peak, and a few little sections of the Appalachian Trial. Loves the scenic views, streams, history, geology, and peace.

Our favorite activity of the trip! This was Trent's first time riding (and my first time since our honeymoon) and we all had a great time with our fabulous guides and sweet horses.

A slooooooow float down the Shenandoah River.

And of course, we visited the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center on our way from Front Royal to Gaithersburg. It. Was. AWESOME! I can't possibly list it all...Shuttle Discovery, old and new military aircraft, an SR-71, the Enola Gay, the Apollo 11 capsule, "Flak Bait," a Concorde, an X-Wing, and...and...and...AWESOME! And it's big and open so you can just wander around and take it all in. It's free to visit (love the Smithsonian museums!), but $15 to park--worth it.

Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Center

But wait, there's more! That was the end of the family staycation, but we spent the weekend with extended family to celebrate our niece's birthday and just enjoy the company of the people we love. The ladies headed into the city to visit the National Gallery of Art (and a very quick stop into the Natural History Museum)--this was my first visit to the NGA ever and I was blown away by how many famous works of art that I had read about were right in front of me here!

National Gallery of Art

We ended the girls' day at Duck Duck Goose, a French brasserie, to celebrate family, a birthday, and a farewell. We were treated to champagne and a crazy candle for our celebration, my SIL was able to enjoy here favorite foie gras, and Katreina was able to try ratatouille (and loved it!). It was great to have so much family time ahead of K's departure in a few weeks--it's truly been a highlight of our marina stay this summer!

💕Family💕

~Jo, 1st Mate