Here's an excerpt!

Here's an excerpt: Hey Read the entire story http://ift.tt/2mPnBUQ

Here's an excerpt!

Here's an excerpt: Call me Read the entire story http://ift.tt/2mPnBUQ

I Think We Were Hacked...

Hi All,

I want to apologize for the previous post. I have no idea how it got there. Believe me we did not post it. I'm looking into what happened but for those of you that read it thinking it was a post about our travels I truly apologize.

Reunited (with the airport) and It Feels So Good...

NomadicMama Blog Post

“Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh” That’s the sound of relief, peace, joy, excitement, and familiarity that my kiddos and I experienced just a couple of weeks ago being back in the airport. The trip itself was long and exhausting. It started with a two hour delay, followed by a two and a half hour wait on the tarmac, only to have to wait in line for eleven hours (yes, you read that right… eleven hours) with customer service only to be told there were no more flight until Thursday yet it was only Saturday. Even with having to face the Denver snow and get a hotel the kids and I were thrilled to be traveling together again. We all agreed that there was something about being in the airport headed to far away destinations that gave us all a sense of peace.

And we're off

Sleeping on the airport floor while I wait in the 11hr line

About one hour into our two and a half hour wait on the tarmac... so close yet so far away!

More snow for this boy

One happy 6yr old about all of this snow... one unhappy mama!

Taking over downtown Denver since we're stranded here anyway

We're all together so we're cool!

They mastered the cold snowy way... mama not so much!

"Say FREEZE"

So with this new year on us… and Happy New Year by the way… we are eager to put on our wings and are traveling shoes and hit those friendly skies and beat those foreign pavements.

The first trip that we have planned for 2017 is a road trip to Mexico. Living only three and a half hours away from the border we decided to take full advantage of our location. We plan to follow that trip with a flight to Cuba (courtesy of Frontier Airline for their earlier mishap). 

We do not have any trips planned after that but are open to suggestions. We are still on our mission to visit 40 US states and 40 countries by the time I turn 40 (and I turned 36 just a couple of weeks ago). And with all of these enticing flight deals going on right now we just might be able to take you up on your suggestion of where to travel to next.

So until we hear from you and where you think we should go next we will keep our eyes glued to the globe and wanderlust in our hearts.

So until you see us on the road or somewhere around the globe… Peace, Love, and Thankfulness!

We're Settled but We're Not Sitting Still

Sooooooo I've written this post at least five times over the last two weeks. One from behind my computer desk, one while sitting on my motorcycle watching planes land and take off, another was written on the airplane while on my way to Charlotte to deliver a speech at Davidson college, and various other places. Needless to say that although you haven't heard from me in a while I've been busy. Although you'll never read the words from those other posts know that they were not written in vain nor were they wasted. They were therapeutic in many ways. This post here, the one that actually made it before you is special not just because it actually got posted nor the fact that I'm writing it from a very relaxed state at a Korean spa here in Las Vegas. It is special because of the state of mind I'm in and my future plans as NomadicMamaof3. The previous posts were jumbled and all over the place just like my state of mind at the time. Now after a chance to regroup and refocus I write this to tell you that we are absolutely loving Las Vegas. We are settling into our new home base very well. We have had so many adventures here I wouldn't even know where to start to tell you. We haven't done a lot a traveling... just a few trips here and there to California. That will be changing very soon as we are now in planning mode for a next big set of adventures. I won't tell you now but stay tuned to find out when and where we'll be headed next. I just wanted to let you know that all is well and Nomadicmamaof3 is still on the move.

So until you see us on the road or somewhere around the globe... Peace, Love, and Keep Going Places!

Settling in Sunny Las Vegas

Welcome to Las Vegas

Yesterday marked our three week anniversary of us arriving in hot and sunny Las Vegas, Nevada. I know this may sound like the beginning of a long adventurous tale of a whirlwind trip to Sin City and all the many glamorous things we did and saw there but I’m afraid it is not. In fact, this is a tale of a more permanent nature. One that tells the story of us packing up everything we could fit in a box truck and selling and giving away everything else, throwing the kids in the RV and hitting the road to never return to Charlotte. OK! Maybe that’s a little drastic. We will, of course, be returning to Charlotte (for holidays and summer breaks).

The question we keep getting is why Las Vegas? Now that I’m experiencing this 115 degree weather I am asking myself the same thing. But once the sun starts to set and it begins to cool off I instantly remember why Vegas. Because Las Vegas is absolutely amazing. Our goal was to pick up and start fresh. New scenery, new experiences, new home base, new life and Vegas is providing all of that. Let’s start with the scenery. The mountains that situate Vegas into the bowl it is nestled into are stunning. Growing up in the Great Smokey Mountains region I am not new to mountains but I am new to mountains with no trees. The “rocky” mountains a gorgeous and it is a sight to see them change colors as the day progresses. I could go on and on about how pretty it is here but I’ll save the rest for another post. As far as experiences we are certainly enjoying new ones… everything from making milkshake runs at 3a, walking the strip to be among all the beautiful sights and sounds, eating dinner at the top of the stratosphere as it rotates, to even a lot minute road trip to LA to enjoy the beach and delicious fried chicken in Compton. 

Our new home base on the west side of the country is everything we imagined it would be. We are settling in nicely and happily getting adjusted to our new life. We’ve decided to take the rest of the year to explore areas around our new home as we adjust to being “west coasters”. We’re saving the next leg of our international journey for 2017.

Any suggestions for what to see and do on this side of the country? In the meantime here are some shots of us settling into our new city and enjoying nearby cities alike.

So until you see us on the road or somewhere around the globe… Peace, Love, and Keep Traveling!

Birthday girl turning 11 here in Vegas

My silly guys out watching the fireworks on the strip

My guys after a trip to the Las Vegas Children's Museum

Our visit to the Adventuredome... we had a blast riding those coasters

Had to include this one to show you just how hot it is here

A nice, kid-free dinner at the top of the Stratosphere

I had duck confit and it was yummy

View from our dinner table

View from the top

Road to LA to hit the beach

We made it to Santa Monica pier

Now time for some beach action

More beach action

The boys touching a sea cucumber in the mini aquarium on the pier 

My girl

An "usie" from the top... viewing the Hollywood Sign

Norway, Sweden, Italy, and Switzerland... Oh My!

(Pictures coming soon!)

We are now back in Oslo  preparing to return to the US after a whirlwind  10 day adventure. During this trip we visited four countries (Norway, Sweden, Italy, and Switzerland) and each of these places offered something truly unique and amazing for us. Norway offered us some very unique food experiences while serving as a travel hub. Switzerland was beautiful and for just a moment allowed us to live like and among the rich and famous. The tailored suits, beautiful people, and amazing landscape was a small part of that fantasy. Sweden was awesome with its 14th century fortresses poking over the mountainsides and it's utterly amazing meatballs. Sweden also showed us a good time at the largest Scandinavian amusement park right in the heart of Gothenburg. And then there was Italy, oh Italy, that turned out to be everything we ever thought it could be. The views were stunning, the food was fresh, delicious, and perfect in every way. The language was so beautiful as were the people. Oh the people... Everyone was so warm and kind and helpful. From the little old ladies leaning out of their window sills that reminded me of Sophia from the Golden Girls to the owners of the ‘alimentaris’ who were so gracious in helping me figure out what was what. I'll admit this to you here... I think I was meant to be born Italian, it's just that no one informed my parents ;-). 

The trip was truly epic. I know I said the same about our most recent RV trip but I suppose we're just lucky to keep going on these amazing adventures. The only negative was our bad experience with Norwegian Airlines. I won't get into it here but let's just say there were a lot of delays, cancellations, rebookings and more delays. What should have been an eleven hour trip back to the states turned into a thirty three hour one. I don't want to gripe and moan here, this is not the platform for that but I will say we will certainly reconsider flying with Norwegian in the future. 

All in all the trip was amazing and we look forward to returning to each of these places. when we arrive back in the states we will be returning to an empty house so we can prepare for our next big travel adventure... Relocating to Las Vegas. Stay tuned for more on that!

So until you see us on the road or somewhere around the globe... Stay peaceful, love hard, and travel even harder!!!