It’s not like I didn’t know it would happen. When I dutifully typed out our proposed itinerary I did it with some trepidation. After all, our launch is a ways away, a year is a lot to plan, the odds were definitely high that things would change. Nonetheless, I didn’t expect that almost the entire first eight month our our year long journey would effectively be tossed out the window.

Partly for geo-political reasons. Stuff started going down between the US and Turkey and suddenly none of us felt like going to Turkey anymore. I still really want a middle eastern country though. So the search began for a new one.

Partly because the longer I live in the world, the more I read. The more I read, the more I hear about new places. The more I hear about new places, I think, “What’s that place like? I wonder what they eat for breakfast.” I don’t even have to read something compelling. Literally it takes hearing a new city name for me to reach for Google maps and start thinking.

Partly (and this is a biggie) because I have to embrace the very real possibility that my French citizenship won’t come through. It could…they could process and accept my appeal with a comfortable margin. But I’m not pinning anything resembling a hope on that. The thing about me is this. i cope with anxiety by designing an exit strategy, a way to make it okay. Bonus points when I can turn a monkey-wrench into a monkey-dance. Or monkey-lemonade. Choose your metaphor. And also tell me if you think we did that by reading on…

Catching you up—Initially we had FIVE Schengen months planned:

Lithuania (2 weeks), Amsterdam (1 month), Belgium (2 weeks), Sevilla (1 month), Spello (1 month), Dolomiti (1 month)

In order to comply with Schengen regulations, we have to remove 2 months. We don’t want to leave the Europe area, as our major non-negotiable is the Dolomiti, and we need to be there in the December/January range. After that, we’ll skedaddle the continent and will darken its doorstep no further.

It’s important to note here that I am fully aware that ours is a fabulous problem to have. There’s no part of me that feels sorry for ourselves that we have to cut out places we’d initially chosen in favor of finding new, more off-our-radar destinations. Gabe did start to scowl, but I told him that I feel 100% sure that wherever we go instead, we’ll wind up believing we wound up there by some stroke of luck. Not because it will be perfect—nothing is—but because we are honing our skills in being adaptive, at looking for positives to believe in, in cherishing opportunity. Novel destinations bring novel discoveries. We’ll relish them. And I can’t imagine we’ll come out of any destination preferring a place we only read about compared to an experience we lived.

So we studied Schengen maps and airports and articles and instagram hashtags and we asked people and… okay. Confession time.

I think I have travel ADD. Because I find myself LEAPING at the opportunity to delve into new places. I’ll text the rest of the family, “Guess my new obsession???” I get on a tear and I’m just so damned excited. If you’re not embarrassed for me, then I’m explaining it wrong.

At the end of the day, and I can’t believe I’m saying this—I like this new itinerary better. I’ll explain why as we go through.

So, even if I get my citizenship, we’ll opt for this new plan. That EU passport would be useful, though. I would love not having to leave a destination before our time is up, just so travel days don’t tip out our Schengen meter. That breathing room would be a gift. But how nice that we can not let my citizenship define our trip.

Before I tell you the plan, I want to share an idea with you. In the service of the next book, I’ll ask a series of questions of myself and my family as we arrive and depart each destination. Questions like, “What do I think will be great, what do I think will be hard?”, etc. I think it will be interesting, a way to compare destinations. If you have ideas for questions you’d like to see on our list, let me know in the comments section!

So, enough of my yapping. Let’s get to the itinerary.

A Global Itinerary, Take Two

mid-June to mid-July: Scotland. And now we know details! I’m working on a post (as is Gabe) about the trials and tribulations and negotiations we went through as a family to settle on the specifics of our Scotland leg. But now we’re set: We’ll arrive and adjust in Edinburgh for a couple of days before heading to Plockton, where we’ll be for a month. Plockton is a wee village (we’ve noticed that descriptions in Scotland are rife with “wee”; we’re on board) on the north-west coast of Scotland, just up the island from the Isle of Skye bridge. Not too much happening, but there is a pub and a fish bar (an excellent fish and chippy, according to reviews), a distillery, the house is on a loch and there’s loads of walking, and a castle 15 minutes away. In short, everything we need and more.

After our month in Plockton, we’ll head to a bothy on the Isle of Eigg for a few days (I can’t wait to tell you about this), then return to Edinburgh to fly out to our next stop.

mid-July to August 1: Lithuania. Unchanged. Note this is a Schengen country, so 2 weeks on the clock. Gabe, while he has my dreamy wanderlust does NOT show signs of my travel ADD, as evidenced by the fact that this is still the part of the itinerary that gets him the most jazzed. Bread water. Don’t get the child started (see here for his post on the subject).

This is the best I can do with the free photos accessible to me, I can’t wait to take my own photos to show you, or Google Brasov! It’s lovely…

August: CHANGE! Brasov, Romania. Originally, I had Serbia here. That was jettisoned from the itinerary in spectacular fashion (read about that here). The advantage of Serbia in this spot was that EVERY PLACE is packed with tourists in August, but not Serbia! Perhaps that should have been my first clue. I thought maybe Serbia was merely undiscovered. Like I was onto something. Turns out, I’m not that clever. Now, I know for sure many people will tell me Serbia is amazing. Though in all the travel forums I follow, those people tend to be Serbians. Still, it may well be fabulous and I want to check it out, but perhaps not this time.

With Serbia off the list, anyplace we head to in August will have elevated tourism as a problem. Unless you know something? If so, share!

All that said, when I asked on my Facebook author page about non-Schengen destinations, Ann told me about Brasov. I had Romania on my radar because in family travel and worldschool forums, people are always raving about it—it feels like Europe a long time ago, it’s gorgeous, it’s affordable, the people are lovely. I’d always nodded along and not really believed it, counting it as different strokes for different folks. I mean, isn’t Romania deeply depressing, wan and grey? DON’T SEND ME HATE MAIL! I ALREADY KNOW I’M WRONG. I’m going out on a limb people, confessing my limited world-view. Don’t make me regret it!

Because I looked up Brasov, where Ann lives and HOLY SMOKES. Gracious public squares, whimsically colorful buildings, dramatic cathedrals, all nestled in a green valley. I showed the photos to Keith who grabbed my computer to peer closer and said, “THAT’S Romania???”

Something about it actually reminds me of Sulmona, one of my favorite cities in Italy. Only, from what I understand, Brasov is actually touristed, and everyone in Sulmona seemed shocked to meet an American. So I guess there are still some (relatively) unexplored fabulous places.

I started investigating other towns in Romania to avoid the rise in tourism in August (Brasov gets more than its fair share because it’s awesome), but decided I kind of liked the idea of just sticking with this one. I’m charmed. Why look for something “better”? Yes, someplace else, with less to do, will have fewer tourists. Then again, we’ll be there for a month, Keith will be working, I think the kids and I will be quite grateful to have new places to wander and hills to explore.

Advantages: This will replace Amsterdam, a huge financial boon. I literally couldn’t find anything in Amsterdam at even double our budget, unless we lived in a studio (which would grow old quickly, especially with Keith working) or lived so far out of the center that it didn’t seem like Amsterdam. We still want to go, but we also know that because it’s always been on our bucket list, we’ll make it happen. We don’t need an around the world trip.

Also, it’s just kind of fun to go somewhere we’ve never thought of (one of you fair readers suggested long ago that we spin the globe and pick a destination randomly….this almost has that feeling). And also nice that we’ll know someone there. Oh! And it’s in Transylvania. The worldschool options here really open up, I predict a lot of gothic fiction reading and writing. Also, I love the vibe of saying, “Well, we’re off to Transylvania!”

Final advantage, it’s a mere 12 hour drive from our next destination (and leaves room for a stopover in Serbia so I can see how reality and imagination meet)…

September: CHANGE! Sarajevo, Bosnia. Originally, we had Paris in this calendar spot, but we nixed it so quickly, I can hardly remember why. Partly cost, it suffers from the same dollar signs as Amsterdam. Also, I seemed outvoted. The rest of the family wanted to explore more places we’d never been, more places that felt like an adventure. So I lost. Only on the caveat that I reserved the right to spend an entire season in France at some point, with or without them. They didn’t looked remotely threatened, so maybe they’re not taking me entirely seriously.

So Sarajevo takes the Paris calendar spot, and takes over for Serbia in our Balkans spot. I’m really excited about the juxtaposition of cultures in Sarajevo, the history, all of it. And, it should be mentioned, the cost is a huge advantage. I found a well rated apartment for… wait for it… 400$ a month. The other advantage is that Bosnia isn’t in the Schengen zone. No Balkan country is part of the zone (including Croatia). In fact, tourists to Albania can get a one-year stay, easy breezy. One year!

October: CHANGE! Tunisia. or Cyprus. Or something. I’ve had a couple of people mention Tunisia. The first time, I just nodded and ignored it. Right around the third time, I started paying attention. Probably because at that point, I was planning this trip, and nowadays I pay attention to every possible destination.

I’ve noticed I do three things when I want to get a better sense of place. One, I get an overview by reading one of those NYT-type articles “36 hours in fill-in-the-blank” (here’s the overview article I found on Tunisia, this one in the Telegraph). Two, I Google “(destination) versus (the destination I always confuse it with)”, which gives me differentiating information, what makes the place its own thing. And three, I reach for my trusty airbnb app. Not because I want to confirm the toaster meets my exacting standards, but to get a sense of cost and also to start to imagine ourselves there. I found a place in Sidi Bou Said (which I’ve since found out is a posh suburb, so probably not our thing? or is it? I don’t really know what our thing is), far under our monthly housing budget, with a spectacular view of the ocean and an expansive terrace to drink it in. Along with Arabic styling, which for some reason, I hadn’t expected. I don’t know what I’d expected, again I really hadn’t given it much thought. Researching led down a rabbit hole that got me super excited about the history of Tunisia. I also loved the Instagram photos I saw of people in a glorious ancient Roman coliseum or ampitheater or other ruins, with NOT ONE OTHER PERSON IN THE SHOT.

Now, I know many people will wonder why not Morocco?? I dunno. I just have no interest, nor does anyone in my family. Even listening to people raving about Morocco hasn’t made me reach for my Airbnb app. Clearly people love Morocco, I’m sure their right and it’s fabulous, but what they love fails to inspire a sense of wonder in me. It’s a personal thing.

Or maybe we’ll go to Cyprus. it’s gorgeous, I’ve heard great things about the food. I need to do more research. Certainly, if you have insights, share them!

Advantages: We don’t have a beach experience, so that might be nice (and nice to find in our price-range). Also, if we pick Tunisia, it’ll give us a bit more experience in Africa. Nice to mix up our continents a little, our itinerary was feeling awfully Euro-centric (which makes sense, we hear and know far more about places that are more familiar). This takes out Belgium from our itinerary, a bummer for sure, I had all sorts of images of Flemish art and having yet another new beer in a novel glass and I love Belgian food. But like Amsterdam, we’ll go eventually.

November: Sevilla. Not a change, and this takes us up to 1.5 months on our Schengen clock. Siena took a baroque art class at the University of Virginia last year and she came away smitten with Spanish art. Apparently, it’s quite meta. So she wants to keep Spain, and I want to keep it because I really did want 3 Spanish speaking countries. Plus, it’s inexpensive (are you sensing a theme?). Especially since we’d want to stay in a neighborhood out of range of the tourist draws. I found super cheap apartments in the Triana neighborhood, which I fell in love with when we were there for its authentic and vibrant vibe. A half hour walk from sites, but what do we care? I want to be close to a market! Check and check!

December 1st-mid-December: Spello, but now for two weeks. Which feels better. Obviously, I’d stay forever if I could (and may!), but with about a dozen month-long destinations, I’m not sure how much good it does us to use one of them on a place we’ve lived. We’re up to 2 months on our Schengen clock, 1 month left which takes us to…

mid-December to mid-January: Dolomiti. That’s all the same. Still looking for towns though, so let me know if you have one that is charming for people not skiing and also easily accessible to slopes. Now we’re at 3 months in Schengen, time to fly!

mid-January to Feburary: CHANGE Israel. What with growing weirdness between the United States and Turkey, we started rethinking it. While I really want to go to Turkey, I hadn’t been entirely committed to it in this spot because of weather. Israel, it turns out, has spectacular weather in January. Plus, Keith got me two Israeli cookbooks for my birthday and Christmas last month, and reading them, cooking from them, has made me really eager to explore this little country that could. It also made me realize that cookbooks make exceptional guidebooks. Do you know any cookbooks like that?

I hadn’t understood before what a crossroads Israel is of different cultures. In my totally limited worldview, I knew that western people of Jewish descent landed in Israel, but hadn’t reckoned on Iraqi, Yemeni, etc. This is third country of my list that interests me because of it’s cultural cross-roads (Bosnia and Tunisia being the other two). Which is funny…I think I used to prefer destinations that felt “pure” in the misbegotten notion that they would have more of a sense of place. Hmmm. Would love your thoughts.

I’m the only one in the family super pumped for Israel, though. Keith is definitely more into it now that I made pita and labnah with a fabulous Israeli salad (way to a man’s heart and all that). Plus, we know people there and that is a huge draw for him. Siena shrugs and says she’s okay with anything. Gabe, though, is dragging his heels. He tells me it’s like living in Charlottesville when there’s a war in Richmond. I can’t talk him out of it, and this month includes his birthday, so I’m thinking maybe on that weekend we’ll take a jeep trek to Jordan and see Petra. It’s not all about him, and I get that, but I’d like to not feel like anyone is being pulled along against their will. If you know a thirteen-year old who loved Israel (we’re thinking Tel Aviv, since that’s where we know folks), tell me!

So right now, we’re making this a two-week stay, which I feel funny about. I’d like to stay longer. I think we’ll work it out as time gets closer. Cost is also an issue, Israel is expensive!

February: CHANGE (in city, anyway) Dali, China. We removed Thailand because we wanted to be inland and it turns out, that’s the burn season when air quality is horrendous. Also, this gives us a bit more breathing room, in case we want to explore a major Chinese city on our way to our month long destination.

Originally we considered Xi’an here, but research made it less and less appealing as a month long destination, so we revamped to Dali. Why Dali? Well, as you may have noticed, I am really swayed by people who tell me about a place, particularly a place I have no conception of. And I met these fantastic guys who told me about Dali and I said, OKAY! (read here about How a Yelp event changed my life).

March: CHANGE (maybe) (Unnamed Japanese City). This is where we had Tokyo. And it still may be Tokyo. But I’ve been reading Pachinko, which takes place in Osaka and it’s gotten me curious. Not because Osaka sounds fascinating—it doesn’t, it’s barely described, actually. But because reading it made me think, “Osaka? What’s that like?” Reach for Google, and I’m pulling up articles about other Japanese cities. I think the deal is that when you have a totally open road before you and no commitments or limitations other than the need for wifi, EVERYTHING IS SUDDENLY POSSIBLE AND EVERYTHING IS AN OPTION. I could no more ignore the Osaka part of the map now than I could ignore the appetizers section on the menu.

In my very cursory research, I learned that Osaka is far less expensive than Tokyo. And also that it is known for its street food. Two very, very good things.

April : South Africa and Botswana. Unchanged! But in case you are wondering—yes, the DIY safari thing is seeming more and more the way we’ll go. (insert emoji with clenched teeth, here). This might be longer than a month, since we’re dividing the time. Or maybe we’ll end up going to southeast Asia first, we’re all bemoaning the lack of that. We’ll see.

May: Argentina. That’s not a change, though we’ve decided to definitely go to South America (I had debated because of weather). Where in Argentina is sort of up for debate. Buenos Aires appeals to me, but I’ve heard it can feel more European and less South American. In my sorrow to say goodbye to Dutch canals, I did a google search for cities with canals, and discovered there’s a town outside Buenos Aires (Tigre) that is filled with canals. But I don’t think it’s what I’m picturing. People rave about Patagonia, so maybe we’ll zip there.

June: Oaxaca, Mexico. We’re even more set on Oaxaca nowadays. Especially after learning about their night of the radishes. Which is at Christmas, but learning idiosyncratic things about a people always make a place seem more compelling.