Good bye 2019!

31 December 2019… OMG! When it all passed so quickly?!?

I’m still afraid to write public resolutions for the new year, but I need to close the circle and see what we accomplished in the year that just ends. And we accomplished A LOT!

The second half of our sabbatical year

We entered in 2019 from a regular hostel in Chiang Mai, with a great vibe and lots of plans. We were “on the road” for about half a year and continued through Southeast Asia for almost another half.

We got to see lots of places that were on our bucket list and ticked new countries of our travel map:

• Vietnam, where we travelled north to south, with 5 major stops in Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Hoi An, No Chi Minh and Can Tho
• Singapore, unfortunately just for a short stay, but really want to return as soon as we can
• Indonesia, actually just Bali this time, but felt in love with it and even now Eric mentions Bali as his favourite place
• Malaysia, spending Eric’s 3rd birthday in Kuala Lumpur and then exploring the north part of Borneo
• Cambodia, as I we dreaming to visit Angkor Wat for years and it impressed me beyond words

Then we returned for the second time this year to Thailand, to spend some time on the islands and made a last stop in Dubai, to catch a breath before heading home.

Family time

Returning home for such an epic adventure, we needed time to reconnect with family and friends, spend less time online and writing, just enjoying the moments. Everybody was shocked how much Eric grew and developed during the year we were gone. We enjoyed seeing he still remembers things from back home, even if he was less than 2 years and half when we left. 

Probably the most happy about our return were our parents, who got to spend enough time with Eric (allowing us to spend some time alone too :P). They have an awesome relationship, which is very important for both the kid and the adults.

Skiing in the summer

We are not big fans of winter and cold, but we love being on the slopes. Andrei is skiing and I am snowboarding for over 10 years now. We have to admit we missed some snow while we were traveling through exotic places. So…. if we were in the sun during winter time, we planned to have snow in the summer. The best idea of the year!

We took a short adults-only holiday and headed to the Austrian glaciers, where the slopes are open all year long. I was very skeptical about it, but it turned out to be an extraordinary experience. We actually plan to return next spring too, hopefully with Eric, if he learns some basic skiing by then.

Our new business

We returned home determined to try a family business which would allow us enough flexibility to still enjoy family life. We are so used now to fully own our time and we try to keep this for as long as we can.

Even since the end of 2018, when we were in Lima, we started thinking about a restaurant concept that did not exist in Cluj at the time. Slowly, the idea became more real and got some shape. So, after a few months at home, at the end of September, we opened Healthylicious right in the heart of Cluj.

Healthylicious is a small restaurant, with fresh and healthy dishes, no tricky ingredients added. It is kind of a fast food where you can eat in just a few minutes and everything is prepared in front of you. It serves smoothie bowls and power bowls, cream soups, sugar free desserts and fresh fruit juices. We created a clean and simple place, with low impact to the environment, were our guests can feel like home.

This is just the beginning for our business, as we have serious development plans for Healthylicious in 2020 and beyond!

Quite a busy year I would say! We planned to travel more through Romania in 2019, but that didn’t really happen. It was more like moving around to meet friends and family, not really to explore our beautiful country. I guess we were still tried of that. But exploring Romaina with our son is high on our list for 2020!