Who Is Grateful Mama?
That is a great question! A little bit about me.
I am a 40 something mom who is so grateful to have traveled and lived in different places throughout my life. Born into a military family, I am no stranger to moving around and experiencing new places and people.
In my twenties, I completed two university degrees, traveled within Canada and the US, and lived in South Korea for a year teaching English. Though the days were long and days off were limited, still managed to get a taste of Tokyo and Beijing while living on that side of the world.
I was 28 before I visited Disney, but it was worth the wait. Truly a magical place and as a huge Harry Potter fan, their theme park did not disappoint!
Embracing Experiences
Stood for one of my closet friends at his wedding on a cruise ship; explored the Yukon and saw the Northern Lights up close; shared the land with many different animals in Alaska; enjoyed the resort life in Jamaica to be a part of another friends wedding; celebrated two dear friends 30th birthdays in Vegas; been to conventions in San Diego and Phoenix; and have traveled ‘home’ to Nova Scotia numerous times since I left at 14.
A trip to Greece with my then boyfriend was in the works when we found out about our little girl Gwen. She has been a true blessing and added so much to our lives. Her presence has definitely helped us get to our current path.
One Decision Changed Everything
The start of our current journey, that the majority of my writing will be about, began in the spring of 2019 when I asked Corey if we could do a road trip to Nova Scotia that summer. Let the research commence! Best ways to get there, cost of the trip, what would we explore. Corey’s three kids would be a part of it as well, so a motor home was the solution. Found a great deal for a 1982 GMC that we fixed up and made our own.
Our trip commenced in July of 2019 and we had the most wonderful time. We visited family, who had yet to meet Corey, Gwen and the kids, stayed for a couple of days with my oldest friend and his wife, went to Peggy’s Cove, a few beaches, explored Oak Island and just spent so much quality time together.
The kids still talk about this trip.
And this is how the idea of buying a bus and living in it full time was born.
We LOVED the freedom we felt of not needing to book hotels or having a strict itinerary to follow. Stopping when we wanted! Finding the closest campground or truck stop when it was time to sleep! And having everything we needed to be comfortable, including tons of road trip foods. We had FLEXIBILITY to explore! And with a ten-month old on board, that proved to be invaluable! And helped us with design ideas when it came to finding the perfect bus for us. But that’s a story for another day!
The journey to today has had it’s challenges, for sure, but has taught us so much about this lifestyle and about ourselves. We have LEARNED A LOT and are excited to share all of the good, the bad and funny stories along the way! Our early progress can be found on YouTube here. More recent updates can be found here.
