Dan’s recent post about Jervis Bay included a couple of lovely photos, but doesn’t The Most Beautiful White Sand Beach in the World deserve just a few more? I couldn’t resist, and so…

I’m not much for camping. Many people I love love it (including the two awesome people I’m currently traveling with), but I’ve just never quite been able to tip the hassle-to-enjoyment ratio in my favor. First there’s the gear—so much gear!—which all needs to be pulled down from a high shelf, dusted off and packed… Continue reading #vanlife

Our first stop in Australia was Sydney, where we stayed for three nights in a historic neighborhood near the waterfront called The Rocks. After that, we traveled south to Wollongong, where we stayed two nights with Fiona’s dad’s friend Jill, her husband Graeme, and their kids Joseph (15) and Miriam (12).   An Interview With… Continue reading Where in the World is Fiona? Sydney + Wollongong!

Our first day in Australia wasn’t exactly terrible, horrible, no good or very bad, but it didn’t find our family at its best, either. We were up at 5:30am to catch a 9am flight out of Fiji and, despite a cheerful early rise from our late-rising kid and a luxurious stop in the Fiji Airways… Continue reading Some Days Are Like That (Even in Australia)

Fiji Fun Facts Fiji is made up of approximately 333 islands, but only about a third of those have people living on them. We’re staying on Malolo Island. There are two main seasons in Fiji: Wet and Dry. We’re here at the end of the wet season, which goes from November – April. Fiji isn’t… Continue reading Where in the World is Fiona? Fiji!

Despite how it may appear on Instagram, it’s not all that easy being hot in a tropical climate. Let me clarify: While it’s extremely easy to feel swelteringly, steamily hot in the tropics, looking hot is a near impossibility. I suppose not for everyone (I’m looking at you, stunning pregnant mom of a toddler in… Continue reading Hot in Fiji

You guys, Fiji is SO beautiful. And I mean, obviously. But it’s not just the lush jungle vegetation and the impossibly blue (and impossibly warm!) ocean water and the crazy sunsets (really, how does the sky even get that color?)—it’s how welcome we’ve felt here. Every step of the way since we landed—at the airport,… Continue reading Welcome Home

It’s a loooong way to Fiji from San Francisco. What does a jet-setting kid need to survive the 22-hour trip (across the International Date Line! into the future!) in style? Here’s Fi’s top 5… 1. A full belly and a fancy mocktail to fuel up pre-flight 2. A largely deserted terminal, ideal for taking the… Continue reading SF to FJ Travel Necessities: 5-Year-Old Top 5

I find I’m feeling a lot of feelings as our big adventure approaches—daunted, excited, anxious, incredibly grateful, vaguely removed from the whole situation (as if this thing I’m talking about is happening to someone else entirely), hassled by the sheer inconvenience of fitting ALL THE THINGS (bills! taxes! kindergarten placements!) of the next five months… Continue reading The Wide World