In September 2015, I was finishing my final year of college. The plan was to get my degree so I could teach, have my own hobby farm and maybe, one day, eventually get married. 

But that all changed when I met Jared Holloway: a man who would convince me to follow him across the world to Japan. In 2017, Jared and I married and moved to Tokyo. We spent the next four years soaking up all the country had to offer. We traveled all around Japan from its northernmost island of Hokkaido to its southernmost tip of Kawagoe. We hiked volcanoes, camped along rivers, skied and snowboarded Japan’s mountains, and explored Tokyo’s many bustling districts. 

Children were definitely in our future, and I had big plans to keep exploring the world with them in tow. Then, Donovan was born, and I quickly realized that adventuring with children was going to be much harder than anticipated…but still doable. 

When Donovan was just 4 months old we moved to the small, remote island of Guam. During our three-year stint on the beaches of Guam, we soaked in the sun’s rays, enjoyed many staycations at beachfront hotels and walked along sandy lagoons. Oh, and we added another kid to the mix with our daughter Rory.

Our adventures have now extended to Europe as we moved to Hungary in 2024.

We hope to offer our readers some tips, inspiration or maybe just some good reads as we share our journey traveling and living abroad as a family of four, all while living conscious, present, healthy lives.

More on living conscious, present and healthy lives…

We’re big proponents of conscious living. What is conscious living you might ask? For us, it’s being as mentally, spiritually and physically healthy so we can pour from a full (maybe even overfilled) cup. It means staying as present as possible. It means letting go of anything that’s not serving us whether that’s too much screen time, too much “stuff” or too many added responsibilities—the list goes on.

We try and live kind lives—lives that are kind to the environment, our fellow neighbors and ourselves. The more we learn about other cultures, the more we realize how little we know, but we try and stay as culturally appropriate as possible, wherever and whenever we visit a new place. We also strive to make eco-friendly and sustainable life choices.

We recognize that to live a life of giving, we must support our own selves as well in sustainable, healthy, soul fulfilling ways. For me, that looks like yoga or a cup of tea whilst reading a good book. For Jared, it’s often a visit to the gym or pickup game of Frisbee. Either way, it’s an intentional practice that requires commitment to ourselves and allotted time. It’s a practice we recommend for all.