’Tis the season to slow down and reflect

As the holiday season rapidly approaches, we’re settled in while awaiting the arrival of our second child any day now. And while last year, we celebrated Thanksgiving amidst a year of nearly constant travel, this year we’re close to home mulling our reasons for gratitude (and some hot apple cider as well). How exciting—and frankly, downright strange—to approach a holiday where we’re not on the go for the first time in a long while! 

In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday, and because it always should just feel good to give thanks, this year we’re feeling especially grateful for:

A sense of community: After our lengthy travels together with our daughter Eliza, Providence has been an ideal spot for us to land post-travels. We’ve appreciated the programs and events at District Hall (225 Dyer Street) bringing together a community of entrepreneurs—and their free drop-in coworking space is pretty sweet as well. Local bookshops like Books on the Square, Riffraff, and Twenty Stories have been welcoming and entertaining additions to our shopping and events calendars. And some of our favorite local cafes like Olga’s Cup & Saucer, Bolt Coffee, New Harvest, Ellie’s, The Shop, and Small Point have been key in keeping us hydrated, caffeinated, and fed while working — and meeting others in our community. 

Healthcare (and being in one place to access it): Turns out that traveling as U.S. residents for an extended period can be really quite difficult to do when it comes to managing healthcare coverage and billing. And when traveling with an infant or toddler, it’s important to be on top of pediatric care, vaccinations, and regularly scheduled checkups. This ends up being only more difficult (and more important) to navigate carefully while pregnant, and ultimately needing to be somewhere to deliver! As frustrating as some of the practices and processes can be, right now we’re particularly appreciative of having found good, caring doctors, most of whom are within reasonable walking distance—and of knowing the medical facility where we’ll soon welcome our newborn.

Kitchenware: When we packed up our cutlery and place settings in New York more than a year and a half ago, we never thought we’d be so eager to open them up again. But much more than the dishware, it was our own cookware that we missed while in various rentals and hotels. Turns out that having the right tools makes you want to cook even more! We’ve started a recent tradition of making hot pressed sandwiches on our griddle and banana waffles on Sunday mornings with our very own waffle maker and it feels special every time. That said, we’d recommend caution when making fresh blueberry syrup when you have a 2-year-old around!

And because Thanksgiving is a time of gratitude for what we have, we’re also fiercely reminded of how many of those around us struggle with community, housing, and food. We’re donating to a few local non-profit organizations that help address these issues. If you’re in a position to support the work of dedicated organizations in your own communities, remember that so many of their efforts are bolstered thanks to your donations and volunteerism. And in case you need it, Happify offers some solid tips for all of us to become more grateful in our lives. 

Of course, more than anything, we’re both immensely thankful for our families and friends, both here in the States and all around the world. A lot has changed since only one year ago, and we’ve felt so lucky to have had the gift of time with so many people who mean so much to us.  

And thank you too, to all of our readers! We’ve now been writing about our travels as a little family for nearly a year and a half, sharing our recommendations and reflections along the way. Please don’t hesitate to let us know what you’d like us to dig into more deeply in the new year. Once we welcome (and vaccinate) our new addition, we look forward to setting off on our next trips, both near and far, and giving you even more reasons to come back for more.