March | 2023 | Schnitzel and Vegemite

2021 was a transformational year for how Christine and I viewed ways we could integrate travel into our lives. With COVID seeming to have forever changed the world of work by delivering wide acceptance of working remotely, we set an intention to regularly seek new places to travel to and live during the year. The one wrinkle in all of this is the kids’ school education. Unlike in 2021, when both kids were still in preschool, starting in 2022 Bastiaan started school at San Domenico and with that began a new 15 year life chapter where one of our kids would be in school. So our best opportunity to travel in 2022 was the summer school break.

As Christine and I thought through places in the world we could go for summer, both of us had dreams of recreating our Hawaii like experience, with access to beaches, surfing and a laid back lifestyle. The other major consideration was being in a similar time zone as San Francisco, to align with our work schedules. This focused our attention on the Pacific Coast of the Americas. Pretty quickly Costa Rica became a top contender. Christine and I had both traveled there together and had fond memories. It is a spot that many of our friends loved too. A town in Costa Rica that would be a new experience for us, and that many people recommended, was Nosara, a village on the Nicoya Peninsula. Described as a laid back, yoga and surf spot, slightly developed but not yet totally overrun, it seemed like it fit the bill. Christine then went to work to organize the essentials (kids daycare and a house with reliable wifi) and pretty quickly we were in business.

Rainy season

As we were planning our trip, a few people pointed out to us that we would be staying in Nosara during the rainy season. Having lived through part of the rainy season in Oahu, we figured it would be fine. Tropical rain lasts typically just for a couple of hours and at least it would still be warm. But as prepared as we thought we were for rain, I have to admit that the rain cast a shadow over our first impressions of living in Nosara. In our first week, we did not see even a glimmer of sun. It rained for several hours each day and was overcast the rest of the time. One evening when returning home, Christine found our entire house to be flooded with water! Thank goodness this was not an uncommon experience and the maintenance staff quickly came to help in cleaning up the house and fixing the clog.

Fortunately by our second week in Nosara, the sun eventually came out and we felt our moods immediately lift. And even though we still had quite a bit more rain over the following 4 weeks there, I have to say that having settled into Nosara, we all started to appreciate how beautiful the area was and got into much more of a groove of enjoying life there.

As described, Nosara is very much a yoga and surf town. It feels like every second establishment is either a yoga studio or surf shop. This influences the types of people who are drawn to Nosara and the laid back vibe of the town. For better or worse, depending on who you ask, the infrastructure of the town is very basic. All dirt roads (which become particularly gnarly after downpours in the rainy season), brittle electricity lines, and rudimentary sewerage infrastructure (think septic tanks and cesspools). That said, development in the town is booming. Expats who we met who had been living there for several years described how much the town has changed even in the last few years, and with the amount of construction we could see in progress, we got the impression that Nosara would be vastly different in just a few more years.

Kids camp

Similar to Hawaii and Alaska, we lucked out with finding a great daycare option for Bastiaan and Lea. This time around, rather than enroll them in preschool, Christine found a great summer camp option, Nosara Day Camp, with different activities each day, from hiking, to beach excursion, horse riding, visits to local farms, tubing, and even riding banana boats! The kids loved it!

Highlights

While the rain limited our beach time somewhat, we still managed to spend plenty of time at the beach each day and on the weekends. Our local beach, Playa Guiones, had a great beginner surf shore break and was also a fun place to take the kids to let their imaginations run free. We also did a couple of weekend trips to explore new beaches like Playa Negra and Playa San Juanillo, which were beautiful too.

Christine and I hit up a number of the recommended restaurants in the area. Our favorites being Coyol and Huacas at the Tierra Magnifica Hotel. Both had excellent food combined with stunning views. La Luna was another gem, in a beautiful setting right at the beach.

On one of our days off while the kids were in camp, Christine and I went ziplining. I have to say, this massively exceeded my expectations. I hadn’t anticipated how long you get to ride the zipline nor how high up you would be. Super cool!

New friends

Beyond the sun coming out, one of the biggest drivers of our moods lifting a week into our stay was making new friends. Coming home from camp one evening, Basti started giggling while telling us a story of the mischief that he and his new friend, Max, got up to at camp. Soon Max became a name we were regularly hearing at home in the evenings. This led us to connecting with Max’s parents, Chris and Lizzy, who then became our Nosara friends! Chris and Lizzy are a lovely expat couple from the UK who had moved to Nosara the year before. Chris had recently sold his media company and is launching his new luxury hotel in Silvestre Nosara (opening December 2023), while Lizzy runs her own footwear design agency and recently launched the conscious commerce store Alberka in Nosara. It was truly special getting to spend a few evening, nights and weekends hanging out Chris, Lizzy and their kids Max and Emilia.

Final thoughts

Costa Rica is a beautiful country and Nosara is a very special place. Spending a month there reinforced how much we love beach living and how much we are inspired by nature centered settings. A good learning for us was how much sunshine impacts our moods and this will likely influence future travel plans. And maybe most importantly, having enjoyed spending time with Chris and Lizzy’s family, it was a great reminder how much having friendships and community drives your sense of happiness.

As our 6-month Hawaii adventure in 2021 was coming to an end, we weren’t quite ready to return home to California. Travel was picking up and Oahu was getting increasingly busy with tourists again. Where else might we go that is remote, vast and awe-inspiring? Christian threw out the idea of going to Alaska. We looked at each other and knew that we had found our next destination: Alaska for the summer of 2021.

To make it happen, we applied the same formula as we did for Hawaii: find a local town with a charming vibe, a preschool for the kids and accommodation(s). Off I was researching and triangulating these three criteria. Three weeks later we had our plan in place: kick off our Alaska summer with a two-week RV trip followed by one month of remote work in Homer on the Kenai Peninsula.

An epic RV trip … with highs and lows

Getting ready: Organizing an RV takeover and walkthrough during the kids’ nap time while the other adult is on work calls resulted in chaos and a somewhat irritable mama. I’m always overly optimistic when it comes to getting things done while having the kids in tow. Lesson learned 🙂 We managed to get through a state of heightened emotions, fit in a big grocery shop and take off. The kids passed out as soon as we hit the road.

Endless, awe-inspiring nature and wildlife. Our trip stretched from Denali National Park to the Kenai Peninsula and after two-weeks on the road we really only scratched the surface of this phenomenal place. We are already dreaming of returning to the land of majestic mountains, ubiquitous glaciers, dense forests, glistering lakes, fast flowing rivers and endless roads.

A childhood dream come true. My home town of Zell am See, Austria, hosted sled dog races when the lake was frozen over in the winter. I remember the commotion and thrill of these events viscerally – breathing in the cold air, trying to make out fish under the frozen lake surface, and observing the barking sled dogs that were eagerly awaiting their departure. These memories came to mind as we were transported up to the Seward glacier by helicopter. We cuddled with baby huskies, experienced the joy of being pulled by the sled dogs and took turns steering the sled.

Lots and lots of rain: We knew that an ample amount of precipitation was part of the Alaskan experience and arrived with the right mindset and proper rain gear. While it was a bit cumbersome at times it wasn’t as bad as expected. Being able to explore no matter what the weather situation presented, allowed us to take advantage of the limited time we had.

A three-year old who boycotted sitting in her car seat. This one was unexpected. After our 2020 California RV trip we expected Lea to be an easygoing travel companion. It was a good reminder to never take anything for granted when it comes to kids. Each one of our family trips comes with its fair share of parenting challenges 🙂 The solution was Christian sitting in the back with the kids and telling them stories. Turns out my husband is a creative and fun storyteller! The silver-lining: our family now has a tradition of telling made up stories. Plus, I got to drive the RV through the stunning Alaskan landscape (lucky me, I definitely got the long end of stick on that one). The downside: an exhausted Papa.

Our one-month stay in Homer – a rough and rugged, charming little town

Our hometown: Homer, the halibut fishing capital of the world, is a small city on Kachemak Bay, on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. One of our go-to spots and my typical running route was the Homer Spit, a long strip of land with a harbor, shops, art galleries, seafood restaurants and beaches. Our afternoons (post work + school) were spent exploring the local beaches, hanging out at playgrounds or getting cozy in our home. We found charming restaurants for date nights (our favorite: a little oyster bar called The Broken Oar) and joined locals for a beer at spots like the Homer Brewing Co.

The local preschool. Not only were we lucky to get a spot for the kids at Girassol Learning Center for a month-long stay, but it turned out to be a fun and engaging environment for the kids with caring and loving teachers. Thank you Rosana for making us feel so welcome!

Mingling with brown bears. This experience makes the list of one of the most memorable experiences to date. With Sasquatch Alaska Adventure Co, we flew to the middle of the largest population concentration of brown bears in the world. Flying past glaciers and active and inactive volcanoes along the rugged coastlines of Katmai National Park and Lake Clark National Park, our small propeller plane landed on a strip of beach in the remote wilderness. We spent half a day in bear territory. The kids were excited but got tired pretty quickly from all the walking so Christian and I got a proper weight workout in (which is typically the case when we get these little ones out for hikes). At one point Lea got so tired that I took her back to the plane to rest – a decision that I soon regretted. I saw a brown bear slowly making its way towards the plane. It still seemed far away, though I was torn. Should I stay in the plane that stored our backpacks with snacks (likely not safe!) or walk back to the group that I saw 500 meters away in the distance (I didn’t have a bear spray on me)? I decided that a brown bear could easily smash a flimsy plane door and “walked” back to the group. Heart pumping, almost running, and not trying to freak out Lea, I made it back to the group. Turns out the guides had seen me from afar and didn’t deem the situation dangerous (which would have been helpful information to have 😂). The flight back was as stunning as on the way there – incredible views of glaciers, volcanoes and the glistering water.

Deep-sea fishing. Being in the halibut capital of the world, we wouldn’t miss the opportunity to go deep-sea fishing. Christian and I spent the day with Bob’s Trophy Charter out at sea trying our best to catch some halibut. Turns out it’s not as easy at it looks. Reeling these big guys in is a true workout – and if you’re not able to pull it off by yourself you’re not allowed to keep the fish.

Cold plunges. Our last rental was right at the rough and rugged water of the Kachemak bay with views onto the snow capped mountains of the Kachemak State Park on the opposite side. The perfect spot to cold plunge. The water was (very) cold and reinvigorating – so was the setting.

Trying something new. I got inspired to explore some way to creatively express myself and signed up for guitar lessons at the local music shop, Moore Music. Four lessons in I could play Shallow (or what sounded like Shallow) and it made me quite happy 🙂 While inspired to keep it up upon returning from Alaska, I failed to get a guitar so my limited skills quickly faded away. That said, it was absolutely worth the experience. It’s a mantra that I’m trying to embrace more generally in my life – being in the moment and enjoying an activity for its own sake without the need to reach a specific goal or threshold.