We have had lots of people asking how we packed for a year-long trip to Europe. The short answer is: we each took one pack and one smaller bag, and we did lots of research on what to put in them. The long answer… well, I could talk for about five minutes just on how we arranged our bags. Which I did. In this video.
For about two weeks, Tyler and I joined my family for a road trip. We covered lots of ground, saw lots of people, and had lots of squished quality time in the car! We’ll revisit a couple of these towns in later posts– with actual camera photos– but here is the iPhone roundup!
Our first few weeks in Europe were a whirlwind of family and friends and more family. We visited several towns in three different countries, and didn’t stay in one place longer than five nights. But despite the hectic pace, we so appreciated the chance to get reacquainted with many relatives and family friends. We didn’t do much photo-taking during these weeks, but we snapped some on our phones as the days flew by. iPhone is better than nothing, right? #memoriesmemoriesmemories Here’s the first installment– Hunzenschwil, Switzerland: ^^^ i have memories of visiting this home every time i’ve gone back to switzerland, and it was fun to introduce tyler to the classic old swiss house and charming garden. and that campervan? it was our home for the week and we loved it! ^^^ we got to help make süssmost (swiss apple cider) and we’ll be giving you a closer look at that later this week. we picked, cut, ground, and pressed local apples and then got to enjoy this sweet drink at our family reunion. ^^^ a lot of the apple work happened …
And… we’re here! (London, that is.) After several weeks of constant travel–which you can always follow along real-time via Instagram and Snapchat!–we are semi-settled in one place and back to blogging. We have lots of stories to share and are working on new ways to share them. This week we’ll be trying to play catch up so we’re dumping a lot of posts at once. And you’re even getting the pleasure of multiple videos :) Hope you don’t mind! We’re always working on improving those random videos, but as Tyler has been pushing me.. “finished is more important than perfect!” This video is a condensed look at our flight(s) to Europe. The trip was relatively uneventful, even with a couple delays thrown in there. We were caught in the middle of being immensely excited and in a surreal fog. The departure from Philadelphia was a rush of goodbyes and catching trains and realizing we had to check the bags we’d planned to carry on. We didn’t end up loving our experience with Iceland Air, and probably won’t fly …
When we first arrived in Anchorage, literally the first thing every person would say upon hearing our plan to move in a year was everybody says that, but no one ever leaves Alaska. In our true humble fashion, we were still laughing (scoffing?) at this the day we pulled our packed out UFO trailer out of town. However, as the weeks have passed and we dream of fall in Alaska, we are starting to realize… they were right. It doesn’t take long and Alaska grabs ahold of you. We’re homesick already. As a tribute– and as usual, a memory-jogger for my future elderly self– we are posting a slew photos from that time the young Murphmans brazenly spent just one year in Alaska.
So you can keep up with us in spirit, here is the route we’re currently driving. We have budgeted about ten days for the trip, which is shaving off a good four or five days from our trip up last summer! The drive down the Alcan (the Alaska Canada Highway) is gorgeous and remote. It’s a popular road trip route for those who are looking for pristine nature views… and a little bit of roughing it. There are very few places to stop and eat/sleep/refuel, but you get to see plenty of wildlife and enjoy the simplicity of a two lane highway under constant re-construction ;) We saw mostly semi trucks and RVs last year, and we expect similar vehicles to share the road this summer. After heading straight down on the Alcan, we’ll hang a sharp left and start across the mighty West and cross off more nearly-empty states. This land lies in stark contrast to the mountainous Canadian portion of our road trip. While we found that Montana does rival Alaska in some of …
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Psalm 23 The last twenty-four hours have been truly draining for us as a couple and as a part of a larger family. Cliches like being “put through the wringer” suddenly ring true in a way that you wouldn’t normally understand so corporeally. At this very moment, my body aches more than my heart, as my mind is dulled from lack of sleep and spent emotions. Yesterday afternoon, one of my dearest and oldest friends delivered a beautiful, perfect little girl. The medical world might not apply the label of “perfect”, what with tiny organs barely functioning at 31 weeks and a grim prognosis from months prior, but we think she was perfect. And no one …
Tyler and I recently celebrated our second wedding anniversary, and I reflected once again on what a lot of hard work a successful marriage requires. And how when you’re so new at this game of two-becoming-one, having the right virtual assistance can make all the difference. Once upon a time, in this past year of wedded bliss, Tyler and I got into a huge argument. I can’t even remember what it was really about, but it was one of those small things that becomes a big thing quite fast. In fact, Tyler later said he’d never seen me so angry; my eyes were apparently becoming orbs of death flashing their displeasure. (Well… Tyler at least called them “scary”.) After spitting our toughest words of accusation and building walls of defense around our weakly guarded egos, we retreated to separate parts of the house. When you live in a tiny apartment that means twenty feet apart with at least one wall in between the two. After what seemed like an hour of deep breathing exercises and meditating on all of Tyler’s traits that I love– …
Now that spring is trying to creep in to this northern most state, we are starting to get ourselves outside more. Tentatively we plan afternoon trips into the fresh air, testing the waters like we aren’t even sure what it’s like to run out the door without giving a thought to how many layers of clothes we have on. The weather isn’t yet dependable– it snowed the day after Easter!– but we make spontaneous decisions to go for bike rides when we see the sun is shining and the ground is dry. A couple weeks ago we decided to test the newly thawing city trails and see if I could get along without studded tires like Tyler’s bike. It ended up being a really nice day for cycling, although we did cut our ride short on the trails since some were still icy. We biked from our house to the Chester Creek Trail to Westchester Lagoon. Then, we biked along the Coastal Trail back to downtown where we took city streets back to our apartment. …
I’ve been so blessed to have my best friend from college living in Anchorage at the same time as me! It’s been really special for us to be together this year as she recently got married and is planning for a lot of changes in life. Since she and her husband had a small elopement, it worked out better to have her wedding shower after the event itself. (I labeled it a “Wedding Shower/House Warming” on the invites.) Speaking of invites, I picked those out at Target– my favorite one-stop-shop for putting together a party– and they set the theme for the afternoon. Peach, mint, and navy! The shower was on a Sunday afternoon, and I spent all Saturday setting up the decorations for the shower with the other shower host and a church friend. It was a beautiful space and really provided an awesome backdrop for the few decoration we made using crepe paper, tissue paper, and lots of fresh flowers. The day of the shower, I got there early to help facilitate and finish arranging as …
the murphmans 