Week 176-177: A week in Madeira, Portugal
ThePackMama
by Sarah Hollis
3d ago
We spent a week in the “Hawaii of Europe”…aka Madeira. Having been to Hawaii before in 2019, we were excited to see how it compared. Madeira is a Portuguese island off the coast of Africa. The island is a result of a massive submerged volcano that rises about 3.7 miles from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. The volcano formed over 5 million years ago and its most recent volcanic eruption was 6,500 years ago. March 9 For one week, we filled our days with thrilling adventures and found a few moments to just relax. Flying out of Salzburg Our journey began with the excitement of lan ..read more
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Week 172: A Hike Around Almsee
ThePackMama
by Sarah Hollis
1M ago
This week’s adventure led us back to the Almsee–a lake trail we visited over 100 weeks ago in week 53 and week 59. The Almsee is a crystal-clear alpine lake surrounded by the Totes Gebirge mountain range. With 33 lakes scattered around Upper Austria, the Almsee is one of our favorites and since the weather in Austria has been unusually warm for February, we harnessed up the pups and drove 35 minutes to the Almtal Valley for a hike. Driving up to the Almsee parking lot As we walked along the lake trail, we passed vibrant wildflowers which were popping up sooner than usual due to the warm weath ..read more
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Week 171: Hiking the Sonnstein
ThePackMama
by Sarah Hollis
1M ago
This week, we reached our 1200th day living in Austria! The Traunstein at sunset as heavy clouds were rolling through The bigger the days become, the closer we get to this expat journey ending. We still have nearly 600 to go, but reaching this number of days made us stop and pause to reflect on this once-in-a-lifetime journey we've been lucky enough to have. We’re not sure where we’ll end up next, but I guess that’s all part of the adventure. To celebrate these 1200 days, we hiked up the Sonnstein–one of the mountain peaks you can see from our window. We hiked here for the first time in Week ..read more
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Week 169-170: An Ordinary Day
ThePackMama
by Sarah Hollis
2M ago
Expat life is a double life. One side is full of spontaneity and exotic destinations. The other side is overtaken by mundane, ordinary tasks. The past two weeks were the latter. Weeks 169 and 170 were a culmination of relaxing nights at home, sunsets from our window, watching new Netflix shows, practicing German on Duo Lingo, trips to the grocery store, softball practices starting back up, and a stop at Offensee for a snowy walk with the pups. If you’re ever curious about what our lives look like when we are not flying off to another country or climbing up a mountain, this week is a chance to ..read more
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Week 167-168: 48 hours in Budapest + Bratislava
ThePackMama
by Sarah Hollis
2M ago
In the first weeks of 2024, we managed to check off two new countries–Hungary & Slovakia. When I think of Budapest, I think about the Buda Castle perched on the hill, the massive uplit Parliament Building, the historic thermal baths like Széchenyi, and the Goulash, Langos, and Chimney Cakes. The city's rich history, architectural beauty, and cultural heritage make it one of Europe’s most captivating destinations. When I think of Bratislava, I only think of the city next to Vienna. Since we didn’t know much about it, so we were excited to check it out and check it off our list. Friday After ..read more
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Week 165-166: Christmas and skiing in Austria
ThePackMama
by Sarah Hollis
3M ago
The final weeks of 2023 were spent celebrating our 4th Christmas and New Year in Austria and embarking on a wintery adventure, skiing down various slopes around the Austrian Alps with our friend, Nate. Dec 25 We had planned on walking around Hallstatt Christmas morning like we’ve done every year as expats, but when we arrived, there were no parking spots, so we turned around and came back home. Our first year of Hallstatt on Christmas was during the 2020-Covid Christmas. No one was traveling and everyone was inside, so we had the entire snowy fairytale town to ourselves… just seems like it was ..read more
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Week 163-164: Battle the Bulge sites in Belgium + Luxembourg
ThePackMama
by Sarah Hollis
3M ago
On our final trip of the year, we explored Belgium and Luxembourg, for the 79th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge (well a week early). This journey held deep personal significance for Eric and me, as both of us had family members—Eric's great uncle Ellery and my grandfather—who served in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. There aren’t many war stories shared in our families. However, over the last two weeks, we have been researching extensively. Talking with relatives, examining maps and timelines, and even finding stories hidden in deep crannies on the internet about the divisions ..read more
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Week 161: Basel, Colmar, and Strasbourg Christmas markets
ThePackMama
by Sarah Hollis
4M ago
The day after Thanksgiving, we boarded a plane to Basel, Switzerland to kick off the Christmas market season. For 48 hours, we clung to the border of Switzerland and France to explore a trio of cities. We decided to base ourselves in Basel because it was the best location for day trips to surrounding towns and closest to the airport. Saturday 9:30 AM - We walked to the Basel train station to book our 10:00 AM train tickets to Colmar, but since Colmar was in a different country, we had to go to the ticket counter. Everyone seemed to be doing the same thing, so the line made us miss the first t ..read more
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Week 157-159: Austria, Venice, Český Krumlov
ThePackMama
by Sarah Hollis
4M ago
We started year four with Eric’s mom, stepdad, and grandpa! For 10 days, new memories were made, new experiences were had, and new perspectives were shared as we witnessed a magical moment 6000ft up on an Austrian mountain, explored the charming canals of Venice, and walked the cobblestone streets of Český Krumlov. October 26 The fam arrived and Eric’s grandpa made us all matching Pack Mama t-shirts! Fall foliage on our house Matching shirts October 27 We spent the afternoon in Gmunden and then drove to Salzburg for dinner! We have been to Salzburg so many times and it never gets old, but co ..read more
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Week 156: Three Years Abroad
ThePackMama
by Sarah Hollis
5M ago
This week, we celebrated 3️⃣ years of living abroad. Had we stuck to our original expat contract, I would be writing this blog post from somewhere in America since we would have just moved back–which is weird to think about. Thankfully, we got the opportunity to extend our journey and we will get to share a “Four Years Abroad” and “Five Years Abroad” post someday. As we look back on this year a lot happened– We visited 12 countries, had 11 visitors stay with us, and flew in 25 airplanes. We crossed into the Arctic Circle twice. Once when the region was shrouded with darkness, and again when th ..read more
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