Liebster Award – No Man Before

We’ve been nominated for a Liebster Award! If you’re not sure what that is, don’t worry, we weren’t either. Liebster means dearest in German, and the Liebster Award is a great way for fellow bloggers to show support and share the love with newbies in the blogging world like ourselves.

Huge thanks to Sarah, David and Spencer from The Luxpats who nominated us for this fun award. The Luxpats are a digital nomad family who recently launched Nomadica, a travel clothing and gear company driven by the motto Travel Well, Do No Harm.

To accept the award, we simply answer a few questions about ourselves. As a reward, we get to continue spreading the love by nominating a few other bloggers for the award.

Sarah and David’s 11 questions for us were:

1. What was your first travel experience and what did you take away from it? 

Kelly: My first big trip was with my family to Washington DC in 5th grade. I remember seeing Abraham Lincoln’s silk stove pipe top hat and Dorothy’s ruby red slippers from the Wizard of Oz and thinking history was so cool.

Aaron: I took a road trip to Yellowstone with my family. I learned to be a good passenger or else squirrels’ lives are in danger from parents who are trying to make peace in the car.

2. What is the best food item / dish you have tried, and where was it?

Kelly: The gnocchis at a little Italian restaurant near the harbor in Marseille. I know it’s France and I’m eating Italian, but that dish locked me into a life-long love affair with those fluffy potato dumplings. If there’s gnocchi on the menu, 99% chance I’m ordering it.

Aaron: Steak and frites at the Little Door in LA or malasadas at Sugar Beach Bake Shop in Maui. And it would be blasphemous to leave out donuts in California.

3. What is the best advice you’ve received?

Kelly: “Don’t let the world decide what makes you happy.” That may not have been the exact wording, but it was wise advice my Mom gave me a few years back.

Aaron: “In baseball and in business, there are three types of people. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happened.” – Tommy Lasorda

4. What is your ideal setting for travel/vacationing and for work?

Kelly: Somewhere open and free. Maybe that’s why I like hiking so much.

Aaron: Beach with nearby hikes. I love hiking along the coast and then taking a swim at the end. My ideal setting for work is more about culture and people and less about where I am.

5. What is your least favorite place you have been/visited/lived?

Kelly: Lived, Utah just for a few months. It has a lot to do with my individual experience more than the place, so I shouldn’t knock it too hard. But visiting would be nice. There are definitely a lot of hikes in Zion’s and Bryce Canyon that I can’t believe we didn’t do.

Aaron: I spent a day in Sacramento and can’t really remember anything I liked. I know if you look hard enough, there’s something good about every place, I just didn’t come across anything particularly great on my short trip to California’s capital.

6. What is the weirdest job you’ve ever taken on?

Kelly: I can’t think of anything too weird. Maybe not too fun, but not weird.

Aaron: Same here, nothing too weird.

7. What made you want to start a blog?

Kelly: My horrible memory. We thought it would be a good way to document our travels so I could remember what we did (this sounds like I have early-onset Alzheimer’s). Aaron always asks, “Remember the time when….” and it seems like half the time I’m racking my brain trying to recall what he’s talking about. Writing about it and posting pictures is definitely helping!

8. Name a book that changed the way you see the world.

Aaron: Going deep here with this one, Where the Wild Things Are.

9. What has been the biggest professional challenge and how did you overcome it? 

Kelly: Haha, wait, is this a job interview? It’s been almost a year since I’ve been in a professional role, and I think that’s been the biggest challenge. I typically like at least some predictability and stability, and last August our lives were pretty much upended when I had a baby, we both left our jobs, Aaron started grad school and we moved countries. All within a matter of six weeks. But I think it’s been a year of the greatest personal growth and transformed my outlook on life.

10. What mark do you hope to leave on the world? 

Aaron: Make the World Great Again! Just kidding, it already is great.

11. Do you have any funny/awkward cultural faux pas to share? 

Kelly: This one was pretty recent, so it still kind of stings. It’s not a faux pas per se, but goes along with being in a foreign country and not being able to fully express yourself, and perhaps coming off a little odd to someone local.

I read about this round church with beautiful azulejos and a stunning view here in Lisbon, so last Monday I made the trek to visit. It’s about 45 minutes walking up and down hills and it’s hot. Anytime I go somewhere new I tend to use our baby carrier for Hudson instead of pushing him in the pram, because inevitably I’ll run into a huge set of stairs. Also, I’m not sure if this matters, but I was wearing loose flowy pants, that in my defense, are totally popular right now and great for the warm weather. While I thought this was more boho chic, it apparently comes off as more hobo.

When I finally got to the church (on top of a hill with a huge set of stairs), I found it closed because hey, it was Monday, and everything is closed on Monday. I thought I’d just take a few pictures when Hudson decided he was going to have none of that. I found some shade on the large and completely empty terrace in front of the church, pulled him out of the carrier, and helped him walk around a tree. After a few minutes, I noticed an older gentlemen on the opposite side of the terrace eating his lunch, dressed in a workman’s uniform. He soon came over and gestured to a water bottle, asking if we needed any water. I thought that was odd, but very kind, and let him know that I had water but thank you so much for offering.

We were still busy walking around the tree when the gentleman stopped by again, heading towards the stairs down the terrace. My Portuguese is still sadly nonexistent, and while he spoke some English, I was having a hard time understanding his questions. He asked again if we needed any food or water, and then I thought his next question was about Hudson’s sleeping. Plenty of people ask if your baby is sleeping through the night, so my mind went directly to that. But then he asked again and pointed, so I thought maybe he was asking if Hudson sleeps in the baby carrier. No, I said, he has his own bed. And then it dawned on me, he was asking me if we were sleeping here, like in the streets, like were we homeless. I could tell this man was completely well-intentioned and only wanted to help. Apparently we looked homeless, me in my hobo pants, carrying around a baby on a hot day, hanging out in front of a closed church on an empty terrace.

 Our Nominees for the Liebster Award

1. Weird Wonderful Wanderlust
2. Lori Ann’s World Tours
3. Confessions of a Wanderer 

Our Questions for the Nominees

1. What was your first travel experience and what did you take away from it?

2. What is the best food item / dish you have tried, and where was it?

3. If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

4. What is your favorite place you have been/visited/lived?

5. What is your least favorite place you have been/visited/lived?

6. What is the first thing you do when visiting somewhere new?

7. What made you want to start a blog?

8. Would you rather visit somewhere new, or go back to your favorite place?

9. How do you prepare for a trip?

10. What’s your best travel tip?

11. Do you have any funny/awkward cultural faux pas to share?