The Slow Creep of Travel Fatigue and a Fun-filled Weekend

I’ve been feeling what is likely the slow creep of some travel fatigue. It was bound to happen eventually, so I’m not surprised. The feeling comes and goes. I want to embrace the last part of our year, but we’ve also had to start talking about the logistics of things when we get home. Things like buying a car, changing health insurance, and catching up on all our annual medical visits. You know – super fun stuff. Regardless of the fatigue, we had a really fun weekend with a trip back to the flea market, date night, and a Mother’s Day celebration.

Flea Market Finds

Alexis and I made our third trip back to the flea market on Saturday. It’s so fun to look at all the random stuff and we always see something new. I found the perfect white button up shirt and Alexis bought a tote bag she’s been eyeing for the past couple weeks.

Strangers, Stories, and a Lisbon Date Night

Dave and I went on a date night to Time Out Market and had so much fun! The seating here is perfect for engaging others in conversation. There are long tables that run parallel to each other the entire length of the building, basically like a cafeteria. It’s often hard to find a spot to sit, and you are sitting right next to other people. We enjoyed drinks, ate yummy food, and had great conversations with those around us. We talked to travelers from London, Ireland, Scotland, the United States, and other parts of the UK.

Interactions like these are something we have loved so much this year. They haven’t always happened because we either haven’t been in the right situation, or the language barrier was too extreme. We were told by people from two separate countries that they feel like American’s are extremely friendly, which made us feel good. It was a nice change from the constant question of “What do you think of Donald Trump?”

Mother’s Day in Portugal

Sunday was Mother’s Day here in Portugal. Father’s Day already happened here back in March. We decided to celebrate them both together for the day and will skip the celebrations coming up for the American holidays. The kids made us cards and we went for a long walk. We pass this door every time we walk to the river and I love it. I finally took a picture!

We also enjoyed delicious gelato and had pizza for dinner. It was a great day!

The Endless Pull of More and The Guilt of Not Exploring

With travel there seems to be an endless pull for more and a side of guilt for not exploring it. There will always be something more to see. A question we are often asked in conversation is “How long are you here?” With the type of travel we are doing, we are almost always staying much longer than any other travelers we encounter.

The conversation then turns to what we’ve done while we are here and people are surprised by the fact that we aren’t exploring more areas of the country. During our walking tour our guide told us we could see the entire country in the amount of time we are here. However, traveling all over a country isn’t cost effective or sustainable when you’re traveling around the entire world. Unlike other travelers we meet, this is not a vacation but a year of living in a different way. Plus, it sounds exhausting. We have one week left here in Lisbon and I keep reminding myself, whatever we explore will be enough.