A New Chapter in the Journey

Lindos, Syros

For Carla and me, there have always been two threads running through our travels. One is the simple desire to see and experience as much of this beautiful, complicated, astonishing world as we can . . . to meet new people, hear other languages, walk through unfamiliar towns, and experience the many different ways people live their lives. That part has always mattered to us.

But there has been another thread running alongside it. We’ve also been looking for a new home.

Ermoupoli, Syros

As many of you know, a little over four years ago we sold our house, our furniture, and most of what we owned, and began this traveling life. Since then, we’ve been moving through the world with our two carry-on bags, trying to stay open to whatever each place has to offer. And even as we enjoy wherever we happen to be, there is always a small part of us wondering if this could be home.

Corfu Town, Corfu

Not just a place that’s beautiful or interesting, and not just somewhere we’d gladly visit again, but home. A place where we could settle into a daily rhythm, feel connected, and wake up each morning with that quiet inner feeling of, yes, this is where we belong.

Ano Syros, Syros

Over these past four years, one country has continued to pull us back: Greece. We love it. We feel good in Greece. Something about it puts us at ease. And if you’ve been following along with us for a while, you’ve probably noticed that we keep returning, even if it means that we end up canceling  our carefully made plans to visit elsewhere. Greece has never felt like a place we could simply visit once and leave behind. It keeps calling us back.

Athens, Greece

And now, four weeks into our six weeks in Chania, we’ve realized just how much this place means to us. We knew we loved it before, but this visit has made that love clearer. Chania has become the place we now carry in our hearts and minds when we think about home. Wherever else we go, whatever other towns or cities we consider, some part of us will be asking how they feel compared to this.

Chania, Crete

There is so much here that fits us. Chania is beautiful, but not in a polished or distant way. Its history is not set apart behind glass. It is part of the streets, the buildings, the harbor, and the life people are still living here. The town has warmth, character, and a natural beauty that holds together without trying too hard.

Lindos, Rhodes

But more than anything, we simply feel good here. That may not sound like the most practical way to measure a place, but maybe it’s the most important one. Chania touches something in us that feels like home.

Athens, Greece

Whenever we stay somewhere for a month, even in places we truly enjoy, we’re usually ready to move on when the time comes. That doesn’t mean we’re unhappy. It’s just the rhythm of this life. We arrive, settle in, take in what we can, and then eventually feel the pull of the next place.

But Chania has been different. Four weeks have flown by, and we’re in no hurry for these next two weeks to end. When we leave, we’ll miss it. Not in a casual “that was nice” sort of way, but in the way you miss a place that has found its way into your heart.

Chania, Crete

So you may be thinking that somewhere in the next few sentences I’m going to announce that we’re moving to Chania, and that’s that. Decision made. Mystery solved. Thank you, Simcha, for finally giving us a short blog.

Well, not quite . . .

All things being equal, yes, we love Chania enough to live here. Absolutely. It’s our favorite town or city we’ve found so far. But here’s the complication: we also love the travel.

Corfu Town, Corfu

Just when we thought we might be ready to settle down after more than four years on the road, we realized we’re not quite done with this life. There is still something in us that loves arriving somewhere new and feeling the world open up again.

Athens, Greece

We want to spend more time exploring Greece. We want to see if there are other towns, islands, or regions that stir us in a similar way. Chania may remain the place that pulls the strongest, but there is still so much more of Greece we haven’t experienced. And that feels exciting to us.

Ano Syros, Syros

In a way, this new approach gives us the best of both worlds. We can return to the country that feels most like home, get to know it more slowly, and still keep the larger travel life we love. We can enjoy the comfort of returning, while still leaving room for discovery.

Athens, Greece

This also works because, for as long as our house-sitting arrangement in the States continues, we know we’ll return there for a few months each summer. And these days, with the pull of family becoming stronger, we’re also beginning to imagine coming home for four to six weeks around the winter holidays.

That leaves the rest of the year for the life that has become ours: time in Europe, time in places that feed us, and more time getting to know the country that keeps calling us back. Carla and I are both very excited about this.

Athens, Greece

I also realize we’ve been teasing this question for a while, at least for those of you who follow the blog and have wondered where we might eventually land. Believe me, we’ve been wondering too. Along the way, we’ve imagined ourselves in many places. We’ve tried to picture not just what it would feel like to visit, but what it might feel like to live there. Of course, the practical things matter. But underneath all of that, we’ve also been listening for something harder to define: that quiet feeling of belonging.

And now we have something that feels close to an answer. It’s not a final settling. It’s not a full stop. But it does feel like the beginning of a new chapter.

Corfu Island

We already have travel planned for the coming months. This fall we’ll be going to Nice, France, and Malta. But in the spring of 2027, we expect to begin this new rhythm in a more deliberate way. And to us, that doesn’t feel like the end of our traveling life. It feels like another way to keep living it.

Athens, Greece

Spending more time in Greece may look like we are narrowing our travels, but in some ways, it actually expands them. It gives us a country we can return to and come to know well, while also placing us close to so many other places in Europe we still hope to see.

Naxos Island

Greece becomes both a home base and a doorway. That is one of the beautiful things about Greece: its location. As a dear friend of ours from Corfu once described it, “Greece is the belly button of the places I want to visit.” And from that beautiful center, there is so much to see in every direction. We will absolutely take advantage of that.

So our journey continues.

Naxos Town, Naxos

And maybe that’s the way life works for all of us. We think we’re heading toward one clear answer, only to discover that the answer has more layers than we expected. We think we’re choosing between travel and home, movement and settling. But sometimes life offers something more interesting than either/or. Sometimes it gives us a both/and.

Paros Island

For us, that means continuing to travel while also returning, again and again, to the place that feels most like home. It means allowing Greece to become our anchor, while still letting the wider world keep calling.

Ermoupoli, Syros

We’ll soon begin this new chapter, and we couldn’t be happier about it. Of course, it’s probably wise to add a small qualifier here: Carla and I have been known to change our minds. It’s not that we can’t make decisions. That’s not it at all. It’s one of the hazards, and maybe one of the gifts, of continuous travel. You remain so open to life that you realize anything can change at any time.

Still, we make our plans. We move toward them. And then we remain open to the winds.

As always, thank you for following along, for caring about where we go, what we discover, and how this strange and beautiful journey keeps unfolding. Your interest and support mean more to us than we can possibly say.

Naxos Town, Naxos