Part Deux....The McGehee's Abroad, Again!!!

London Tower Bridge January 2017

Three years ago, we, The McGehee's, went abroad and thus came this blog....The McGehee's Abroad!
The first trip was so successful we immediately began saving for the next trip--this trip.

McGehee's Abroad 2020

Greece - Italy - Slovenia

 Before we discuss our next trip, let's reflect:

In 2016, the kids were 14, 11 and, 9 years old. Madeline was just a freshman in high school while Nolan and Fischer were still in elementary, and we thought that would be adventurous--traveling with such young children. Now the kids are 17, 14, 12, they are no longer followers; they are independence-seeking, pseudo-leaders. It may be that we are funding a trip they are taking us on--or maybe, since the entire trip will be Greek to all of us, we will have to buddy-up and work as a little team (one can always wish).

Packing for Five

Madeline is a senior in high school eagerly awaiting responses from her college applications, feeling pressured by her upcoming college auditions (piano-music performance major), and feeling like this trip will set her back.  The boys are busy with their friends and less eager to start packing, recalling what an ordeal packing was from the first European vacation.

The Ambassadors of Music European Tour 2017

Maddy Abroad 2017

However, there were positive lasting effects too - Madeline has developed into a jet-setter. Shortly after our first trip, she was selected to participate in The Ambassadors of Music European Tour as a mallet percussionist. She traveled to England, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and Austria. For the rest of her high school career she was always on a plane to one state or another with band and choir (New York, Seattle, Washington DC, San Francisco, and soon to be New Orleans).
Not to mention, this year Nolan said he was more excited about traveling to Europe than celebrating Christmas.

All in all, we highly recommend traveling with children -- Europe is not lost on them. In fact, I believe we discovered elements of our trip we might never have noticed without kids with us (i.e., ice-skating rink on the first level of the Eiffel Tower).

Here's how this blog works - We make daily postings with pictures/video clips and musings of our adventures and/or misadventures and you, our readers, follow along with your morning coffee, or your nightly reading. Beware, we are pretty honest (I recall having never felt more loved than New Year's Eve in Paris when Madeline refused to layer her clothes with thermals, feeling as though they may ruin her look, and then spent all night stuck to me like glue hoping for a little shared warmth, in what I now look back on as my best "I told you so" moment).

Enjoy the next 16-days with us from December 25, 2019 through January 10, 2020!