The Terrific3 travel blog

We leave tomorrow night at 8pm, so I don’t know if I should call this the last full day in Bali. But I will, haha!

We are at the end of 8 weeks of traveling, as a single parent, with 2 high energy and wild boys, and I was definitely feeling the mental burnout of parenting a few days ago. It’s different than being in Portland, where each kid has their own room, and own stuff, and own friends, own routine, and our lovely nanny, and I have a way to easily exercise every day, and a social circle of my own. The village makes a big difference, and it’s not with you as you travel the world, at least not in the same way.

I gave myself grace earlier this week, and instead of being annoyed with myself for being annoyed with the kids, or feeling guilty for spending “less” time with them, invited our nanny to spend 7-8 hours with them a day (so from 7am to 2-3pm). During that time, I exercised hard, showered and pooped in peace ;-), just lay in my bed and did nothing, got an amazing massage, ordered Indian food in. Basically did whatever I wanted, on my schedule, without my mind having to monitor playing/fighting/arguing/wrestling boys. That allowed me to take a deep breath, and enjoy my kids for the hours I did have with them, doing a 1:1 with Z yesterday who wanted to swim in the ocean, and discovering our favorite gelato place (long line, quality as good as Italy), and a great dinner place by the ocean. It’s a reminder that we must take care of ourselves as parents to be there for our kids.

This is our view now as I write this blog. S is still finishing dinner and Z is happily chasing dogs and making sand angels in the sand.

As I sit here watching this gorgeous sunset, I think of this incredible opportunity we had as a family—to spend 9 weeks traveling part of the world, learning about others and ourselves, filled with both joyous and challenging moments, as life always is, and I feel very grateful—for the time, our memories, our health, the beauty of the world around us.

We head into our last week here, headed to London, where we will meet relatives, and my kids will meet some of their cousins for the first time. It will certainly be culture shock to arrive back into the Western world, and we are ready. I’m most excited to brush my teeth using tap water, eat lots of salads without worrying about Bali belly, and walk down a sidewalk without worrying that I’ll be run over. It’s the simple things. It’s unclear how this trip will affect my kids long term, but my hope and dream is that it’ll be a formative memory for them—that this forever changed their lens on the world and the privilege we live with daily, and that it ignited a love of travel and adventure forever.

I’ll leave you with our last day in Bali video if I can add it later (won’t upload).