THE SABBATICAL – Episode 30: Tick Tock (Portugal)

The road trip continues! And tick tock, there isn’t that much more to go!

As we continue our road trip from Southern Spain and through Portugal, we’re confronted with the reality that our sabbatical will soon be over. In the meantime, William is celebrating his 18-month-birthday, which marks the fact that half his life has now been on the road.

As we start in Silves and make our way north to Lisbon and eventually east through the mountains, we’re constantly reminded that the baby we came with is now a toddler.

Tick tock.

+_+_+_+_+

“The Sabbatical” is a hobby travel series following the adventures of Steve, Marlene and their baby William, as they take a year away from work to tour the world. The Canadian-German family start The Sabbatical from their home in Switzerland. But with no return ticket, no home to go back to and no solid plans or professions to return to, the trio make the best of the nomadic lifestyle while adjusting to living life on the road and out of a suitcase. The Sabbatical has no sponsors and is not monetized. We’re in it purely for the joy of travel and to document our once-in-a-lifetime experience for family, friends, followers and – most importantly – our future selves. We hope you’ll follow along and enjoy!

#sabbatical #FamilyVacation #FamilyTravel

THE SABBATICAL EPISODE GUIDE:
Episode 1 – Departure (Leaving Switzerland) – https://youtu.be/vs0uI0ED34Q
Episode 2 – The Layover (Doha, Qatar) – https://youtu.be/rr46fpvMNnk
Episode 3 – Jet Lag (Arriving in Australia) – https://youtu.be/BlNruInD8BI
Episode 4 – Road Trip (Down Australia’s Pacific Coast) – https://youtu.be/9EqUn6rHTd4
Episode 5 – Autumn Vibrance (South Island, New Zealand) – https://youtu.be/oxlcIGLmBzQ
Episode 6 – Don’t Drink the Water (Fiji Islands) – https://youtu.be/R2TTDDwNju4
Episode 7 – Konnichiwa (Kiryu & Kanazawa, Japan) – https://youtu.be/QIysp-RXhpA
Episode 8 – Paper Cranes (Kyoto & Hiroshima, Japan) – https://youtu.be/jukWqzL7oQg
Episode 9 – What the Tokyo? (Tokyo, Japan) – https://youtu.be/ZisEwcQDcxg
Episode 10 – Middle of Earth / Middle of Nowhere (Mindo & Quito, Ecuador) – https://youtu.be/Y-yFFkh-IlI
Episode 11 – Babysitters (Turks and Caicos Islands) – https://youtu.be/3rEeH3-hmpw
Episode 12 – Sounds & Colours (Colombia) – https://youtu.be/5SEMqq0zWGg
Episode 13 – Change of Plans (Ontario, Canada) – https://youtu.be/-H59lP7vlEI
Episode 14 – Man Camp (Algonquin Park, Canada) – https://youtu.be/w_60EUKQ3Us
Episode 15 – West Coast Best Coast (Kelowna, Canada) – https://youtu.be/WmJhQ1hD7vY
Episode 16 – Rocky Ground (Rocky Mountains, USA) – https://youtu.be/CEqgstUQEEA
Episode 17 – Crowd Control (Rocky Mountains, USA) – https://youtu.be/kNJyKZoQXRc
Episode 18 – New York Minute (New York City, USA) – https://youtu.be/TYSJ3GXvwMY
Episode 19 – Animal Sounds (Cape Town & The Garden Route, South Africa) – https://youtu.be/BQxY1hCCGeo
Episode 20 – Child’s Eye (Garden Route & Addo, South Africa) – https://youtu.be/QIp5ZfWtsyg
Episode 21 – Out of South Africa (Stellenbosch & Cape Town, South Africa) – https://youtu.be/6kYTIi6hNSQ
Episode 22 – Tiny Pharaoh (Cairo, Egypt) – https://youtu.be/8OnGij7HBto
Episode 23 – Intermission (Zurich, Switzerland) – https://youtu.be/mepWaZhZJNU
Episode 24 – Moveable Feast (Paris, France) – https://youtu.be/w01hXE4fh1w
Episode 25 – Grandparents (Germany) – https://youtu.be/a3zjN9RXKfY
Episode 26 – Nobel Prize for Parenting (Sweden) – https://youtu.be/PyNHasTOcT8
Episode 27 – Grazie e Arrivederci (Italy) – https://youtu.be/c-_qGxIEUUM
Episode 28 – Origin Story (Mainland Croatia) – https://youtu.be/dpP8jERxjks
Episode 29 – Forever Fun (Hvar & Vis, Croatia) – https://youtu.be/QF3KJbJPqoQ
Episode 30 – Tick Tock (Portugal) – https://youtu.be/f-vffvaMzcU

We both ordered a Portuguese sparkling wine because we have something to celebrate he survived 18 months and we didn’t kill him Y how do you think you say cheers in Portuguese this is important Google translate please fasten your seat Belts Tick Tock another day of air travel and we find ourselves in the Algarve region of Portugal it’s here where we would spend the next two weeks of our sabatical by now William is 18 months old and we’ve been on the road for more than half of his Life that’s hows like you doing nothing how is the castle of Sy I feel I really haven’t seen it I was busy collecting The Rock there you go today our travel looks very different than it did when we started this trip 9 months ago our boy observed the world as a spectator with big eyes and a wide smile and while his

NeverEnding curiosity and contentment haven’t changed he now plays a more active role on tour dinner at 4 p.m. because time difference and uh travel with a toddler dinner tonight was 1,000 points in my feelings always in youring do oh God are you ready to push this it’s your turn I I did it

Earlier somehow it’s my turn again today William has back and forth interactions with strangers shares his interests likes and dislikes and explores his surroundings on his own small feet me forward We might move at a slower Pace compared to the days of toing him around everywhere but we now experience every place more intensely every Rock stick flower sewer cover and puddle must be examined and inspected all three of us have undoubtedly changed since we went wheels

Up 9 months ago and while it’s easy to observe how William has changed throughout the trip the enduring impact of this journey on his parents remains yet to be Determined Market time you deserve it after a long run this morning that’s Right everyone is drinking beer at 9:30 in the morning on a Saturday this is the week I decide to detox what a horrible decision I think that one’s yeah that was 6 7 8 9 10 11 and we didn’t pay attention for one second and this happened can you get the

Wet wipes out of my bag it is hard to believe that we’ve been on the road for so long by now it would be hard to count how many new places we have called home for short periods of time and we have Arrived And we made it and still this place in rural Portugal stood Out Among the others its calm atmosphere was just what we needed to recharge for the last stretch of our trip okay ready not toys not toys not a toy okay we CL This good Moran what a silly cat over the next few days we would continue our trip North exploring various regions of Portugal before heading into Spain for the final stage of a road Trip but before jetting inland we headed to the coast we are in Portugal after all while specific memories of this trip will fade as the years go by the time we spent together as a young family free from the responsibilities of a Daily Grind will always stay with Us My The number of countries visited and the accumulation of Air Miles won’t count only the time and laughter we shared together as a family will so much fun How is everyone this morning wet and tired fun little bit of an early morning for the fam William today we’re going to Lisbon mommy and daddy have only been in Lisbon once we went for a long weekend we had a great time I’m excited to go back promise mhm not excited to find

Parking bless you not excited to push you up every Hill of a stroller on Cobblestone yeah you can go yourself yeah you should go yourself you can walk yourself I’ll be at the bar here comes our ride going to explore has Been nice nose we’re here we’re here I can’t believe it’s sunny after we decided not to bring sunglasses stop smoking very nice I’m not complaining though Tik Tok while the last 9 months have flown by the seven years since we we’ve been here last have also seemingly

Vanished the last time we were in Lisbon we were just finishing our MBA and didn’t know what the future would hold I guess in many ways we find ourselves in a similar situation today we found the perfect breakfast spot but we’ve got our sunglasses so I think we have to move Inside but if our future yields just a fraction of the Joy from our past then we have plenty of Reason To Dance it’s really coming down now the rain got us back remember 5 minutes ago when we complained about too much sun in our eyes yes well that’s his over I have to say pushing down the hill it’s way easier than pushing the stroller the hill up what would you know about

Pushing a stroller up a hill someone is excited to see thisin look at their R you guys are too cute oh I love these two so much so much William you have no idea how lucky you are that you have the best dad in the World the absolute Best Off to the Christmas Market the weather is terrible this footage is going to be absolutely unusable so bad but I’m having fun me too first Christmas Market first Christmas Market of the Year in lisbin with our little de get TI after a few days in Lisbon it was time for us to move on but that didn’t mean we would escape the rain okay okay and we have arrived to our new accommodation for the night beautiful old windmill too bad that the weather is really bad right

Now the other challenge we going to face is that wind felds by definition are not very Babys safe oh look who’s working hard what’s up and we have a lot of stuff I just brought everything inside I was babysitting okay can’t you tell but we have to figure this out

Because these stairs the railing over there with the big gaps and then on the upper level is the bathroom it’s not very Babys safe William just spent all of his time time down here careful glass how’s it going he’s on track to build like a record Tower here all by himself but

Every time he drops something he SC this glass is going to Shatter this is nice yeah you look like you’re having a great time so lovely the weather someone doesn’t seem to be too bothered I guess both of them seem to be Having oh my God that’s my Wife it would be really quite nice if it wasn’t so miserable she call me diamond on a we Day I’m having so much fun in Portugal hey puppy it’s okay [Applause] puppy this camera is going to be garbage by the end of this trip you look a little uh moist also how are you shoes not dry how are you doing I’m great this is exactly what I wanted out of my Portuguese holiday can’t believe I’m going to

Dieet I would absolutely delete a sixpack right now if I were allowed okay I’m not having fun and we decided tonight it’s going to be all about Christmas because today is November 30th so we’re listening to Christmas music we’re setting up our little tree later and we eat noodles that are Christmas

Themed be careful here Okay Good Morning on this sabatical we’ve prioritized Journeys that provide a glimpse of local life this time it meant traveling further Inland where we would spend the next days wandering through medieval villages and enjoying the local Hospitality look how huge that fish is that’s a Tuna how’s it going in here trying to change a diaper put on a new pants an extra sweater jacket and clean your child in a hard it’s fully packed fun it’s Tough why don’t you pretend going down there don’t CU then I have to come back up No You’re very attractive you an attractive face thank you that’s fun fun nice that’s a great start to the day I love it tick tock time passes further and our road trip across Portugal is coming to an end one final cute old town and another race with William up the hill

And it was soon time for us to say the Portugal and wos us to Spain race of the Century how are you today sore 60 push-ups like five days ago we’re back in our workout Routine my Bo so we’ve been shifting William’s bad time later in the day so that we already get adjusted to the Canadian time zone which allows us to go out for dinner together fun is that fun cheers cheers and there’s nothing left that was so good I’m so full I will

Sleep until tomorrow I hope you sleep until tomorrow Are you okay I’m tired the days are so long Sometimes don’t drop that thing on me Please And as seasons change we realize our trip around the world will soon come to an end Christmas is going to be very special this year as William allows us to find the magic of a holiday that we haven’t felt since we were children ourselves know where the Tree Christmas also symbolizes the conclusion of our sabatical there are only a few more stops before this adventure of a lifetime converts to a happy foggy Memory Tick Tock we’re across another border and into Spain to round out our European leg of the sabatical