Maybe it’s time again to put some things on paper 🙂 We do get some questions now and then about how we are doing and what we are up to. And why we never post anything anymore. We are already one year further from our last message. Oh yes, and more than 5 years away from the Netherlands, bizarre, right? Why do we write so little, I think we have been living in our own bubble a bit in the past year.
In our experience, we are still living our dream life, but to constantly post about our winter sports adventures and add the snow/mountain photos, we think that might get a bit boring for you. Our life has simply become less adventurous in terms of travel. A conscious choice, we live in Bourg Saint Maurice in France, staying at a fantastic place with super friendly landlords. We have also met a few nice and lovely people in the area who became our friends. The view from our house is simply amazing, distant views of mountains. Morgan can walk to school by herself and we are just minutes away from the village center. We are very content because our landlords Olivier and Arantxa have also indicated that we can stay as long as we want, which gives us peace of mind because we only need to move occasionally between Ella and the chalet. Very grateful for that!
Morgan is turning 10 years old next month, we believe it was a good choice to send her to school. We see the positive impact, she makes friends, integrates, and speaks/writes/reads French. What a great foundation for her life. She is now in the Freeski club, getting lessons three times a week for 4 hours a day from probably the best free skiers in the world, most of the coaches have competed in the Olympics – Incredible! The group dynamic is great, training but also various competitions in different ski areas in France. It’s crazy how good she has become at skiing these days, going off-piste with Morgan is almost no fun anymore, we are all looking for which rock she jumps off or which forest area she dives into… And then you lose her for a bit. But super cool, we are just jealous. Meanwhile, we are also becoming more all-round winter sports enthusiasts. Last season we spent 80% of our time on the mountain on skis. I think because we snowboarded so much in the first seasons, we were ready for new challenges. By now we ski very well and can even keep up off-piste. For the upcoming season, we will take off-piste courses, we are pushing the limit… We also enjoy ski touring. And about Freeski, they continue in the summer, practicing tricks on trampolines and iron rails.
We have started our first summer season here in the mountains. Again so much to do here, we are taking it step by step. Down hill mountain biking is a big sport in summer, which we want to try but keep postponing. We know it’s super cool but also quite expensive. We can’t do everything, so we are focusing on mountain hikes now, which is also great, allowing us to explore the surroundings. Today Morgan and Stephen also had a great hike, climbing 1000 meters with ibexes and marmots just a few meters away from us, so beautiful! The landscapes are so cool, sometimes we feel like we are walking in a Jurassic Park movie. Additionally, we will start rock climbing this month, secured. And yes, if there’s something cool to do, it’s paragliding, all three of us look at this sport with admiration, how cool is it to fly above the mountains…? Are we going to pick it up? No idea…
In other words, life here is not boring at all. We never get tired of it, and that’s why we will stay here, possibly for many years. Luckily, we still have our camper Ella, we tour around with her and will try to get it on French license plates because then we won’t pay any tax. But not everything is paradise here, French paperwork is quite challenging, more difficult than in the Netherlands. You need patience here, and hope it works out because in France the rule for many things is – rules are rules.
Is everything paradise? Mostly yes. But we do see our family and friends in the Netherlands much less. Stephen’s father is really getting older, and that remains difficult for him and us. Fortunately, because of work, we still have to be in the Netherlands occasionally and can visit him. We speak to him regularly so we know what’s going on. Luckily, Anja is close by, who sees him regularly. Unfortunately, it’s no longer possible to bring him here to France for a “holiday”, he has neuropathy and then you definitely don’t want to stay in the mountains. We do see Lillian’s family from time to time. We still see several friends, either they come to France or we see them when we are in the Netherlands. It remains a puzzle, and sometimes friends or acquaintances pop up at a party or a festival. Also nice!
Funny, as I write this down, I also realize how busy our little family is. Sitting still is not an option, we have never been good at that. Although, we still have to work and then we do sit a lot behind a computer. Fortunately, we have enough work at the moment, in fact, Lillian even has a bit too much. She now has three clients, one in Germany, one in the Netherlands, and one here in France. What she likes most is working with a team and improving processes. Even that can be done remotely, isn’t that great? She currently works quite a few hours, investing for the winter period when she wants to be on the mountain a lot. Stephen worked for two months on a research project about behavior change among citizens regarding sustainability. He dreams of initiating something through an online platform to achieve this. The research points positively, and he will continue working on this in the coming months, hopefully years. Additionally, he continues to work two days a week for commercial companies to generate income. In his case too, it can all be done from France.
We have realized that dreams can actually be fulfilled. It’s a matter of doing and simply expressing it and getting started. Yes, nothing is without risk, but if you work step by step towards something, it will be fine. Simply sitting still and doing nothing with your dreams also carries risks. Some things take shape during the process. Don’t let yourself be influenced by what some others say. Because if you do, we would still be sitting in Utrecht and always wondering, how would it be…. By the way, nothing wrong with Utrecht, but not for us and our dreams. 🙂
Is this our last story on our website? I don’t think so. I think it will be an annual update. The journey with Ella is somewhat over for the coming years. What an adventure with the biggest turning point being Corona. Returning to Europe was bitter. Once back, the journey would never be as we had planned. How much we would have loved to see more countries outside of Europe where we would be inspired by the people and nature. Unfortunately, it was not to be. There must have been a reason for it. Perhaps it’s now our task to make the world a little bit better, we are working on it – keep you posted and cross fingers.
One last thing, it almost sounds like we haven’t had a great time within Europe in countries like Portugal, Sweden, Norway, and Italy. Of course, this was wonderful, but the adventurous aspect outside of Europe with our own transport is on another level. Discovering new cultures had a bigger impact on us than we would ever imagion.
Everyone, have a great summer! Enjoy life.
Love, Morgan, Lillian & Stephen
World of Wise 