“Thirty days… in a studio… with kids. Are you crazy?”
–EVERYONE.
Either through words or facial expressions, most people asked how we were going to survive a whole month in a small studio with kids. Truthfully, until they started asking I hadn’t even thought about it. We’re used to living a gypsy type of life but we’ve been fortunate to have a home base in my childhood home in New Jersey. A place to hang our hat—or in our case—4 large suitcases, multiple carry-ons, and sometimes dogs. Heck, Husband has an underwear drawer there! This makes it super easy to move around. We squeeze into hotel rooms or friends’ guest rooms but typically only for a few nights… not a month!
But New Jersey wasn’t in the cards for us this year. Flying to NJ twice a year is pricey, multiplied by 9 years, which is how long we’ve been abroad, and I’m pretty sure we could own an RV with the money we’ve spent just on flying. So I knew—as a (trying to be) responsible adult—that we couldn’t swing it this time. My options were to sulk around about “missing out” on our usual summer or look at this as an opportunity that was knocking.
Taking a month-long family vacation has been on our hearts for a few years but we never considered answering the knock before. And here’s the thing about listening to those knocks and letting the Universe push you into something new… it often turns out better than planned. Turns out the Universe usually knows what it’s doing.
I’ll be the first to say that I was shocked at how seamless a month in a small space went and saying we “survived” would be a massive injustice because it didn’t feel like survival mode. I don’t know how we did it; I’m by no means an expert on the topic of patient parenting, but I’ll share our experience and maybe you’ll find some takeaways.
mindset
Again, we had thought about this kind of trip before and now that we were getting to do it; we were excited. It never dawned on us that we had to squeeze into a studio because our focus was getting to spend a month away together. If that meant cozying up, then pass the fuzzy slippers.
listen
My best friend laughed, “A month away? I’ll only be able to do that when I retire.” I heard that. Most people can’t do what we do and we try to remember that. Living abroad isn’t always easy. Sometimes we give up a lot, but sometimes we get a lot back.
where we stayed
It’s more of a logistics issue but, Lordy, is it a hugetastic one. I spent a lot of time searching for the perfect place. Condo Ottanta was it—the Mexican Melrose Place. The common space (patio tables, pool, and BBQ area) was a serious bonus that made our first-floor studio feel more spacious and the kids were a doorstep away from a luscious landscape to explore.
no tv
Rough, right? In fact, the opposite was true. The absence of a TV meant no arguments over what to watch or who would hold the remote. (I can’t tell you how many fights are had in our house about physically holding the control.) No TV meant endless options: Read. Write. Color. Draw. Explore. Pool. Sit around. Be bored. Boredom breeds creativity.
don’t fix what ain’t broken
There was a change in booking and our hosts offered us another room. Slightly bigger, TV, a bit more privacy, and it wouldn’t cost a penny more. “We’ll take it.” Duh, right? And then a nagging feeling crept in. The kids were happy where we were because in our current set up, Husband and I were each sleeping with a kid instead of one another. A different room would change the flow we had going. I messaged her back, “We’re not gonna take it after all.”
OUR daily schedule
There’s no rush when you have a month. No wake-up calls or full-day itineraries. With no one to visit and no schedule—the days were ours and mostly the same. A movie here or trip to Chichen Itza there, but the running joke when the kids asked what we were doing today was a reference to Pinky and the Brain, “Same thing we do every day….”
— Wake up. No alarm (le sigh)
— Breakfast
— Coffee outside while kids took turns reading and coding on the one iPad we brought.
*Pro Tip: clear off the iPad. One coding app, one reading app (we used Scrib’d for its free 30-day trial, use this link and get 2 free months). For every minute the kids read, they got a minute to play (aka code). They were fighting to read.
— Pool ready.
— Lunch. by the pool or local restaurant we found. Four meals cost about $15 and would get us leftovers too!
— Make moves. Explore town or beach. (We brought the kids’ scooters. Another brilliant idea if I don’t say so myself.)
— Dinner. At home or out.
— Home. Get back, take showers, read, snuggle, and fall asleep because hot pool/beach days are exhausting.
I told you. No expert advice or secret sauce. Maybe it was the absence of schedules or knowing we would share a studio so we were prepared. Maybe we were more disconnected from the outside world and more connected to each other or that we had nothing but time. I don’t know how we squeezed a family of 4 into a studio and loved every second of it. But we did.
And I offer you this perspective. What is in front of you right now? Where is the opportunity in it? Yes we love NJ summers. Sure a great big house on the beach would have been great but Opportunity came in a studio. So we accepted the invitation of the opportunity that was knocking; not the one we wished was knocking.
