We spent a month in Europe with a toddler

November 19, 2023: Since being back from Europe have been heads down streamlining the business and took a surprising interview. Will talk more on that. Have lots to share and excited to make more time to write again.

If we haven't met yet, welcome! Shoot me message, would love to connect.

We spent the month of October working/traveling in Europe with our 2 year old.

4 countries. 5 flights. 2 trains. 35 chocolate croissants.

Here's the full breakdown:

 Why: I quit my job in January to pursue independent consulting.

In the back of my mind I always thought how cool it would be to be work abroad for an extended period of time. We've traveled extensively but I've never work/lived abroad. (My wife has.)

My best friend lives in Spain and recently had his first child so I wanted to visit.

Business was good this year so in August we bought tickets to spend October overseas.

Where we went: Spain. Portugal. Italy. Netherland.

Cliff notes:

- Spain (Castellon) because we have friends there.
- Portugal (Lisbon) because everyone loves it.
- Italy (Amalfi Coast) because my sister-in-law was on her honeymoon and wanted to meet up.
- Netherlands (Amsterdam) because we have friends there.

Spain: 2 weeks (Castellon)

My friend lives in town called Castellon de la Plana. It's about 1hr north of Valencia. It's this size of Chattanooga population wise but 15 minutes from the beach.

They're both golf teachers so we rented an airbnb 2 minutes from their home course, a 5 minute walk from the beach and a 10 minute drive to a beach playground.

I worked evenings (US afternoons) to keep projects on track. We did 2 weeks in 1 location to fully adjust the baby and to have stability while I also had to run my client work.

We love Spain.

Portugal: 7 days (Lisbon)

We planned to visit Lisbon and Porto during our 7 days in Portugal.

We ended up canceling Porto about 3 days into our Spain trip. We took the train from Madrid to Valencia and the amount of luggage we had to move was not a fun experience.

Lisbon we stayed at an airbnb for the first few days (4 story walk up) and then an amazing family focused hotel called Martinhal. Highly recommend. 

They have an onsite daycare.

Met @heathpadgett in person after only chatting for 10 minutes off Twitter. Dude is doing 3+ months in Europe with 2 kids!

Italy: 4 days (Amalfi Coast)

My sister-in-law was in Italy for her honeymoon 16 days while we were doing our big trip. She wanted to see our son in the Amalfi Coast so we split an airbnb in Conca di Marini.

Omg. There are so many stairs.

Beautiful part of the world. No strong urge to go back. We took a boat around Capri and the toddler loved it.

True voyagers.

Netherlands: 4 days (Amsterdam)

Our friends moved to Amsterdam in February so figured while we're on continent let's go visit.

Beautiful city and super easy to get around. My son won't stop saying 'trains' now that we're back.

The dutch don't agree with my southern sensibilities but we had a ton of fun.

The Science Museum was awesome. Until he had a full blown meltdown for 30 minutes as we carried him back to the airbnb. Ended up giving up and calling a car to avoid any more disapproving dutch stares.

There's something about Spain that our family really enjoys.

Good chance we'll go back next year to visit a different friend but in Northern Spain.

Traveling with a toddler is totally possible.

He was good 75% of the time which is a ratio we're happy with.

No more big travel through the rest of year though.

We need a breather.

The End

2023 is about building for me. I'd love to grab coffee/chai or jump on a quick call. Shoot me a text and we can schedule something. 404-731-7814. Go big! - Nik Fuller Sta