I met Lindsay six years ago in prenatal yoga, where we bonded over our relatively low-key approach to pregnancy and both having husbands named Dan. In the time since our daughters were born three weeks apart, she’s become one of my favorite friends. Fiona and Rylan play almost miraculously well together, and our families always… Continue reading All up in New England

After spending such a long time abroad, it was perhaps inevitable that re-entry into our home country would be a little rocky. But “a little rocky” is a generous term for the absolute disaster that was our travel day from Ponta Delgada to Boston. Now, right up front here, I’m going to accept some responsibility… Continue reading Coming to America

Fiona’s last stop in Europe was a country we’d already been to on this trip—Portugal! But this time, we explored two new destinations: the capital city, Lisbon, and an archipelago (group of islands) called the Azores. Lisbon is a really cool city that’s actually a lot like San Francisco. It’s on the water, it’s super… Continue reading Where in the World is Fiona? Portugal! (Again!)

In July, Fiona spent 10 days in France. Our first stop was Nice, a beautiful city on the French Riviera. We got to stay in a really fancy hotel with a pool and a view of the Mediterranean Sea. Fiona did a video tour of our hotel room for her friends: After that, we went… Continue reading Where in the World is Fiona? France!

Our mid-July stay in the tiny medieval town of Caunes-Minervois, France, was one of the very first things we booked on this trip, way back in February. Our friends Grant and Ellen, whom you may remember from our stop in London, have been going to the same vacation spot there every summer for more than… Continue reading (Au Pont) Romain Holiday

This trip has had its share of contrasts. We’ve gone from beachside bungalow to high-rise hotel room. From urban tourist destination to remote family farm. Spacious suburban home to teeny tiny campervan. But perhaps the most striking of these was the one-two punch of Schweiben, Switzerland and Nice, France. Because beyond beautiful views (and let’s… Continue reading Ooh-La-La-Living It Up in Nice

After Austria, Fiona got to spend some time with kids her age(ish) in Germany and Switzerland. First was Kaufbeuren, Germany, where some friends of Fi’s parents, Courtney and Greg, live with their three kids, Zachary (11), Ryan (9) and Lexie (7). During the weekend we were there, Fi did lots of playing, plus some biking,… Continue reading Where in the World is Fiona? Germany and Switzerland!

Fiona spent the last week and a half of June in Austria, first in the Stubai Valley, then in the city of Salzburg. Salzburg is a city founded (literally!) on salt—it sits atop an ancient sea, which evaporated and left huge amounts of salt, a substance that was very valuable when they started mining it… Continue reading Where in the World is Fiona? Austria!

Like London, Salzburg is a city I campaigned to visit on this trip, and one that’s rich in memories for me. But unlike London, my Salzburg memories are older, hazier and a bit bittersweet. I’d visited twice before, once with my family during the summer I turned seven, and again on a school trip the… Continue reading Nostalgia and New Memories in Salzburg

You know that thing that happens when you feel better after feeling terrible? You have the flu or Covid or food poisoning and your body just completely turns on you and it’s miserable and then, one day, you go back to feeling pretty normal and it’s AWESOME? Like, sun shining, birds singing, ready to take… Continue reading The Hills (and the Johnslingtons) Come Alive in Austria