A detail of a startled man holding his head in his hands on one of the side arches of the medieval Marktkirche in Hannover, Germany.

Advice from friends who are experienced writers/bloggers/journalists is usually quite welcome — but the ‘Oh no!’ image above reflects a dilemma that I’ve been dealing with. Before we strike off into the world again, I’m taking a bit of a stand about adapting what will be on this site. Here’s why.

In the past, it seemed easy to just classify this as a travel blog and it led to some good writing and photography assignments since I used it as a showcase. BUT, the advice to just leave this site in that one category never really sat well with me.

From this point on, I am going back to the original idea for this site and that will include several of my own eclectic interests alongside more mainstream topics. You’ll be seeing a mix of articles ranging from photo essays and stand-alone photo of the day posts, travel articles that are sprinkled with photos, updates about our progress, occasional whinging about whatever is an obstacle to overcome, and sometimes the content is going to be topical social commentary, historical research, political reflections, and more.

I feel strongly that since the world is shifting so rapidly, it’s important for me to go back to longer journalistic articles that give a real feel for places or which inform the readers of the current ‘vibe’ versus the tourism office public relations spiel. If people are trying to decide between travelling in or relocating to Country A or Country B — wouldn’t they rather have accurate boots-on-the-ground reporting about what’s unfolding in that place and perhaps some history about what the forces are that are creating these changes?

This site has never been monetised with promotional tours or free hotel stays or anything else of any monetary value. If they had been, I would have made a note of disclaimer and that rule will also apply in the future.

I’d like to feel comfortable doing long-form essays, op-ed pieces, or outright critiques about places, people, and situations without feeling like I have to take the Ebay feedback approach of always saying something nice so that I get good reciprocal feedback. When it applies to real world issues, that’s not a helpful or truthful approach.

So come along for the ride as we finish this house in the next few weeks, sell it (send us some positive vibes!), pack, and head overseas to old fave places that make our hearts sing and new places that we’ll be both working in and exploring as future settling-down options.

We’re certainly never going to get into a boring rut if we live like this for the rest of our lives, eh?