Roamers Report #6 September 7, 2024

Dear Fellow Travel Enthusiasts,

Welcome to the 6th installment of the Roamers' Report!

General Update:

It's hard to believe we are a 1/4 way through our year-long adventure!  As is often the case, the days don't pass quickly, but the weeks and months seem to. That said, I think we are settling in and hitting our stride a bit. In Crete we were a still like the spastic tourists trying to do everything at once, but in Bosnia, we settled in to the point that we felt like we weren't just visiting a country, but really living in it, spending some days entirely at home and others walking to a park or the mall. And in Slovenia we even had a totally different and local experience living on, and volunteering with, an organic farm in the mountains (see below). 

Where We've Been & Where We Are:

(An overview of the countries and cities we've been since the last newsletter and an update on where we are currently)

We spent most of July in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina (aka BNH). It was SUPER HOT which curtailed our outdoor activities a bit, but we managed to learn a lot about this beautiful country and its tragic history.  And while we were based in an AirBnB in the historic Old Town (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), we often spent time in the newer part of the city among the locals in the cafes, the mall and one of the public swimming pools. 

Since August 19th we've been in Slovenia which has been quite an experience. There is a noticeable difference in the economic prosperity between BNH and Slovenia as well as with the mood and temperament of the locals. While in Mostar, and to a lesser degree Sarajevo, there seemed to be a pall over the people that is likely due in part to the tragic history and partly due to the devastating current economic situation, in Slovenia, the mood seems lighter, more playful and more prosperous.   

We spent most of our time in Slovenia volunteering at an organic farm in the mountains that had been all but destroyed in a devestating flood last year. Farm Narava (which means "Nature" in Slovenian) is run by Jack Simic, a single father of 5 kids (all under 12) who established a foundation that would allow young people and families from other countries to participate in a culture exchange for no money, just time spent working on the farm.  The week before we arrived Jack had just hosted a large group of scouts, but during our stay we were the only family.  Jack really incorporated us into his family and curated many cultural experiences for us, both sightseeing (including a trip to Croatia) and gatherings with other locals.   

This part of our journey was a challenge for our kids for a number of reasons.  Firstly, due to the flood, the living conditions were pretty rustic and they instantly had 5 other kids to interact with which was a lot at first for our highly introverted kiddos.  And then there was the work.  For the kids it was mostly weeding, and rubbish removal - Note: The Foundation doesn't technically expect/allow kids to work, but we told Jack that it was important to us to have our kids participate in the work so he agreed to let them do some necessary, but low risk tasks under our supervision.  Of course we didn't tell them it wasn't mandatory :) - but they acquitted themselves quite well and we were very proud of them.  Francesca and I had more demanding physical labor including carving out a flat space into the hillside where Jack will build a bike repair shop as well as demolishing an old coffee house so it can be rebuilt. 

Each one of us had a unique experience at Narava with both highlights and challenges and I am glad we did it, but we are ready to settle back into the slow travel lifestyle with a month in northern Spain. 

As a final treat for working hard on the farm, we drove up to Bovec (pronounced "Bovets") and splurged on a white water rafting trip on the Mighty Soca River.  Okay, given the late summer timing and the recent drought conditions this year, the river was not so mighty, but that's just as well as it was the kids' first rafting trip and they were a bit nervous.  

It was exciting for them and super fun as they guides let us stop a couple of times to slide down the backside of one of the rafts, swim a bit and jump from a boulder about 23 feet high.  Here is a video I put together using footage from my new Insta360 AcePro Action Camera. 

Travel Stories:

(Hopefully humorous stories about real events that happened to us on our trip)

What do you do when you lose your rental car key in a small village in the middle of nowhere in Slovenia on your daughter's 10th birthday?  First you panic....then you roll with it!  Click here to read more.

Birthday Bust in Slovenia and the Anatomy of Panic (Kanal, Slovenia) August 2024

In case you missed the previous Travel Stories, here they are.....

To the Bat Cave Ryan (Vyrises, Greece) August 2024

Gentlemen Start Your Bouzoukis (Anatoli, Greece) August 2024

Between Some Rocks and a Hot Place (Myrtos, Greece) July 2024

The Myth of Traveling Kindness (Crete, Greece) July 2024

The Sugar Spoon Caper (Chania, Greece) June 2024

Homeschool Update:

(Many of you may not care about the home schooling portion of this, but since it's ostensibly the reason we are doing this, I will provide a brief update during these Newsletters.)

Summer is over and now the real home schooling begins.  As a reminder we are regisered with Pathways Charter School based in Sonoma County. A few weeks ago we met our kids' teacher, Mr. Stasey Norstrom, over a zoom and immediately knew we were in good hands.  One of our worries was that a traditional remote school teacher might not appreciate what we are trying to do with our kids with this travel year abroad and force our kids into a traditional schooling environment, but we need not have been worried.  Stasey not only totally appreciates our efforts to "worldschool" our children, but he has fully embraced our trip - in fact he signed up for our newsletter to follow along - and he is going above and beyond to incorporate our travels into his lesson plans.  For example, Ryan's first social studies assignment is to research the Basque country and people (where we are currently living for a month) and the girls to paint or draw a picture of Gehry's famous Guggenheim Museum building in nearby Bilbao. 

Blog Posts:

(Blog Posts Published since the last newsletter - in case you missed them on social media)

Lovely Ljublijana: An Enchanting Disney City - September 5, 2024 

Night Train to Sarajevo - August 24, 2024 

Mostar: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly - August 10, 2024 

I also went back to my post on Myrtos and filled in some of the day trips and other memorable moments from Crete.  They can be found about halfway down the blog post.  Magical Myrtos: Hidden Gem of Crete

Truth Serum:

(A does of truth about some of the things that did not go according to plan or worries that we've had about the trip)

As mentioned above, our kids struggled a bit, at least initially interacting with Jack's kids on Farm Navara. And if I am being honest, it was somewhat disappointing for me - particularly as a card carrying Extrovert - but also because having our kids interact with local kids has always been my wish for this trip. It had honestly not occurred to me how introverted Ryan is - Austen I knew about - and Finley likes to copy everything Ryan does, so now she "hates people" too.  

It has gotten to the point that Ryan will flat out refuse to go to a beach that even has a scattering of people on it and instead insist on finding a secluded place to swim with just his sisters. I struggle finding the balance between letting him be who he is and respecting his personal boundaries and preferences and trying to encourage (no, no I would never force! :)) him to interact with local kids his age. But as Francesca keeps reminding me, my kids are not like me and I cannot expect them to be.  It will be interesting to see if this behavior stays static, increases or decreases as the trip progresses. 

Trip Stats:

(I'm a little reluctant about this section because this trip is supposed to be more about quality and experience than sheer quantity, but I find stats like this interesting nonetheless) 

I am getting a bit more comfortable with keeping the trip stats.  As time goes by and the stats grow, it is getting fun to track the various cities we've been to and the modes of transport we've taken, etc. 

Here is the link to the trip stats page.

Thanks for joining us on our journey. I have tried to keep to my self imposed routine of sending a Roamers' Report every 2 weeks, but it hasn't always worked out that way. But I do post more regularly on social media (mostly FB, but some Instagram too) so if you want more real time updates please follow our Five Tickets to Roam FB page .

Regards,

The Roamers - Dan, Francesca, Ryan, Austen & Finley