Beattys Overseas

Bath, EnglandWe realized tonight that this date was the one-year anniversary of our departure for the trip.  It seems like five years ago!  We talk about the trip often, and I find myself referring to events that happened "before we left the country," which sounds like I'm an expatriate or something.

Bad Durrnberg, AustriaAll in all, it's been great to get back in to our U.S. lives.  The transition was tough, but we're happy and healthy.  John took a wonderful job at a boutique plaintiff's law firm in May, where he's excelling and learning the ropes of legal life.  I'm halfway through my first semester at the New York School of Interior Design and working for a wonderful designer in my non-school hours.  New York has welcomed us back as only New York can, and our little apartment feels just as small as ever.  Some days we don't like 'the real world' and long for the lost moments of our magical times abroad.  But, such is life: you can't reverse time, but you can revel in your memories of the past.

Zululand, South AfricaSometimes, in the middle of my day, I'll get a flashback to a moment spent on the trip: I am sitting at the Geneva airport, laughing at John who is rocking out with his headphones, practically dancing in his seat, as we prepare to fly to Munich.  Or, I am walking in the heat of Australia along the waterfront strip of Cairns while John is on a diveboat somewhere in the Pacific over the Great Barrier Reef, while I feel guilt and regret for failing out of scuba school.  Buenos Aires, ArgentinaOr, John is teaching me to drive a stick shift in a leafy suburb of Cape Town (too bad the car is built for a right-side driver and therefore I learned how to drive a stick with my left hand!).  Or, I watch the peat burn on the fire in Rosha Ferry's home while she and John chat away about the dozens of relatives they share, all the while smiling and drinking hot tea. 

Those five months together, experiencing new adventures in new lands will be with us forever.  This was more than a vacation, it was a ridiculously wonderful sabbatical from our former lives.  Upon our return, we began living differently than we had before, both in literal day-to-day aspects, but also in cerebral terms.  This trip, life-altering and relationship-strengthening as it was, is only our beginning.  We are a stronger couple because of that trip, we are semi-seasoned travellers, we are happier knowing that the world outside our own is invigorating, diverse and welcoming.  We just gotta save up for the next trip! 

Thank you to all who supported us and our website during our travels.  With Love, Whitney and John

Beattys, no longer OverseasP.S.  It will soon be time to close down this website (I pay a rather hefty monthly subscription to Squarespace to have our site live here with their templates, fonts, etc.).  Does anyone know of a way to printout a website?  Ideally, I'd like to bind it and make it a proper keepsake, but I can't seem to find a service which prints entire sites.  Printing page-by-page obviously won't work.  Ideas are welcomed & needed!