As we are in flight to Guatemala City, I just keep thinking how grateful I am for the chance to travel. This will be my longest trip and my longest time out of the country since 2008. It’s also a special gift to be able to do the trip with Maggie.

Travel is a chance to step outside my normal spaces. Be uncomfortable in different ways. Enjoy the people I am with – and get annoyed by them. It’s just a different space and gives me an opportunity to learn a little from that different space.

Doing that with my kids has always been special and this trip is doubly so. Maggie and I have had a lot of change recently – new apartment, new neighborhood, new rhythms and soon to be new school for her. I am excited for this trip to bond a bit, maybe jump off some stuff into some water, maybe climb some stuff, but also just enjoy being in a place that’s a bit (a lot) outside our normal routine.

We have quite the trip planned. We will be in Antigua, Guatemala for three weeks. Maggie will go to language school and I’ll work remotely in the mornings then I am taking the afternoons off for us to goof around and do stuff. We will travel a bit on the weekend too perhaps. But mainly we will just hang out.

We will be joined by quite the cast of characters. My sister Michele will be with us the whole time and her friend Nicole and Nicole’s son Luca will join for the first week. Our friends Andrea and Matthew will be there the second two weeks with their crew of five kids age 5-19. They’ve promised us they have a pool at the condo complex they’re staying in. Michele and the kids will all be in language school together – the rest of us adults speak Spanish so will be working or enjoying a quiet house in the morning. I am optimistic we will pick up some friends along the way as well.

Many adventures ahead I suspect, but mostly I hope for good time together, a few good card games and a chance to step into a new space and learn something new about ourselves and each other.