We’re dreaming BIG of one year traveling across Europe, and I’ve committed to sharing the planning process here as it unfolds. Last week I shared our notes on Austria, and since we’re working our way through the countries alphabetically, up next is Belgium!

The weekend is upon us — a solid 48 hours in which we have nowhere scheduled to be and no pressing tasks to accomplish. So naturally, we find ourselves excited by the prospect of puttering ‘round the house and getting some fun stuff done!

We’re plotting a Big European Adventure of at least one year abroad — and today I’m showcasing our working list of “must see/do/taste/experience” for several countries we plan to visit …

Up first: Austria.

Here I am now, on the cusp of my 50th birthday (just 18 months away) and Toph is seriously eyeing his retirement in the next 5-10 years. We are closer than ever to what I have dreamed of for decades: a year of living abroad …

We went to England.

And I returned forever changed — and forever found.

Good travel does that.

For ten months, as I planned this Anglophilian dream of a trip, my family had been joking that my husband would be returning from our England vacation …

When you’ve booked a Disney vacation between December and February, you’re going to wish you’d prepared for it. So stay with me, ‘cause you ain’t never had a friend like me. I’m about to give you all of our tried and true methods for not having a winter-miserable time in the Most Magical Place on Earth.