It’s been almost two years since my last post (with the exception of my February’s text about Rijeka becoming European Capital of Culture, which is a whole another, somewhat tragic story) and so many things happened in the meantime that kept me away from my computer and from the blog. It took me some time to return (relatively speaking) to my routines and I am finally ready to continue – first and foremost, traveling – and then also jotting down my impressions of all the beautiful places I visit, beautiful art I discover and beautiful things I experience.
With a slight difference, that is.
Two years ago, my travels usually took place either with my family (four responsible adults sharing relatively similar interests and being flexible enough to respect everyone’s experience and wishes, with well established routines and roles in the traveling context) or with my then boyfriend-now fiance-soon to be husband (two responsible adults with very similar interests and routines that complement each other very well and travel effortlessly in search of adventure). This year, the picture is a bit different: two adults, one toddler and one small energetic dog. These are my travel companions for the year and hopefully for many many years to come. While such a fellowship seems wonderful at first, it also means that, with two new additions to the family, we have to completely restructure and adjust the way we choose traveling destinations, travel and spend our time in places that are not home. We have to establish new routines, take into considerations new interests that we never before thought of – finding kid-friendly and pet-friendly destinations, making sure there are enough parks and activities that would appeal to a child, making sure that our destinations and means of transport are chosen so that we can take our dog (because we want to travel with her as much as possible, given that Frida is a member of our family) – and create a completely new dynamics to cater to everyone’s needs and wishes.
The dreaded C word I will not even mention. Rather, I will pretend that the pandemics will soon be over and we will return to life (and travel) as we knew it before the bizarre 2020.
Sounds challenging. And I have no idea how we will do it. But we sure as hell will, and I will try and write, as persistently and regularly as I can, about the experiences and challenges of our new merry gang’s adventures.
