On the Move: Upcoming Travel Plans

Today is a big day – baby Phoenix’ first flight! Today we fly to France to introduce Phoenix to Bruno’s family.

But let me back up a bit, because it has already been an eventful travel-full few weeks.

Two weeks ago, we moved out of our home in Bayfield, Nova Scotia, the house we’d been renting for the past 4.5 months. It was a bittersweet goodbye, as it was Phoenix’ first home ever and the place where the three of us had gotten to know one another. At the same time, leaving Bayfield meant we were beginning the travels that would eventually lead us back into our Big Blue Bus and on the road!

Leaving Bayfield meant Phoenix would do his first road trip and enter a new province. Unfortunately, he really didn’t enjoy the car ride and cried almost half the 350km trip. I sure do hope he learns to like car rides soon, as road trips are a pretty big part of our lifestyle!

I was initially worried that Phoenix would struggle to adjust to a new environment, but he seemed to take to my parents’ home fairly fluidly. It was me who struggled more, having to organize his mass of baby stuff in a new place! Apparently, I was more tied to our Bayfield breastfeeding chair, diaper station, and bedroom environment than my baby was!

We have spent the last two weeks introducing Phoenix to family and friends here in New Brunswick. The most important introduction was to my brother, who, because he lives in Toronto, hadn’t yet met his little nephew. It was heartwarming for me to watch the two of them bond. For the most part, Phoenix was easy-going, letting people hold him and taking all the new faces in stride. This, too, was surprising, since he had been so cocooned for his first two months of life. It made me feel less anxious about our upcoming trip to France.

Which is a good thing, since today is the big day. We fly to Montreal, take the red-eye to Lyon and then a train to Geneva. We will spend five nights there with Bruno’s brother and extended family, then take another train to the south of France, where we will spend three weeks in our home on the Mediterranean. All told, we will be in France exactly a month.

What is on the cards for us after this trip? Hitting the road with our baby!

When we return from France, we will clean and pack up the bus, perhaps making a few more adjustments to make it more “baby ready”. Our hope is to leave New Brunswick by early June.

If the weather is conducive, our first stop will be Acadia National Park in Maine.

Next, we’re planning to meet up with my Aunt Louise somewhere around New York City, and then a couple of my girlfriends near Washington, DC. (Both of these visits will happen outside of those cities, hopefully in nature reserves or parks, as it feels a lot simpler to be in nature with our baby and our bus at this stage).

By the end of June, our goal is to be in the Appalachian Mountains. We envision a summer of hiking and being in nature as we get used to life on the road as three.

We will spend fall traveling down toward Mexico, where we plan to winter. I would love to visit the coast of South Carolina and Georgia as well as the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Texas, but hurricane season may thwart those plans. We’ll leave things flexible and follow the weather.

We’re not sure what comes after Mexico. Will we head south toward central America and extend our summer before heading back toward Alaska, or will we make the long trek north in 2019? As with all things in our life now, it’s the baby who will decide!

Travel Plans for the Remainder of 2018

May: France

June: NE USA (Acadia National Park, visits with family and friends around NYC and DC)

July-August: Appalachian Mountains of Virginia and North Carolina (with a probable trip back to New Brunswick for a couple weeks)

September – November: SE USA (focusing on the coast if the hurricanes allow it)

December: Mexico!