We’re on our Way!

The Journey Begins

– Seville July 2023

“You’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So… get on your way!

Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” by Dr Suess

I can safely say that in the over 20 years that I’ve known Eric (16 of which we now celebrate our marital union), we’ve always talked about travel – in between all our conversations about food. It is, after all, our livelihood.

Before we were ever married, we took an 18-day trip to South America the summer before I moved to France. More specifically, we traveled around Brazil, a country I had previously lived in (briefly) before we had ever met. I’m going to say that this just made the expectations between us very high. We could agree that we both loved to travel, we both loved cultural exchange and we certainly both loved to cook and eat. A match made in culinary heaven.

This binding element gave birth to many things: Eric’s French cooking school in Paris, Cook’n With Class, my former vacation rental company, Feels Like Home in Paris, then Cook’n With Class Uzès which later became, Let’s Eat The World home to culinary experiences for travel lovers. And in the middle of this, the greatest thing we managed to produce, was our son, Oluremi (better known as Remi). Dotted with years of short trips spanning from a few days to a few weeks, this love for exploration only grew. I’m pretty certain that Remi has caught the bug as well.

So, it wasn’t really a spontaneous crazy idea that came up over too many glasses of wine or any of my killer cocktails. While the, “when will it happen” was never quite certain, the, “it is definitely going to happen”, was. Eric is a man full of dreams. I dream too but I have my feet a little more firmly rooted to the ground though you may hear me describe myself as a tree with no roots. Don’t be fooled when I say that, I don’t mean that I can’t be counted on. I mean, I can be planted just about anywhere and I will prosper. It’s a survival skill 😉.

Eric decided that 2023 was going to be the year. I was just starting to build my new brand but I agreed – well, half agreed. I was playing the, I’ll believe it when I see it game, because seriously, how were we going to pull this off? A year traveling around the world? Great idea in theory but in practice? We don’t have the money for that, I said. And what about Remi? And what about my business? At least Cook’n With Class has employees of which I am one, who is going to do my work? A blog? You want to have a blog? Who’s going to write that blog? Who’ll take the photos? I was looking at this whole thing like more weight on my shoulders and I wasn’t liking it one bit. Of course, I wanted to travel. There are so many places in the world I have always wanted to see, but this whole thing seemed so daunting. But finally, I agreed. Under one condition, I was not coming back broke or having to start my business from scratch. I had worked too hard and my father didn’t raise a fool.

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go

Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” by Dr Suess

Eric has done most of the planning. My excuse is that I didn’t have the time. That is true. But maybe it was also because I was a little scared of the idea. But I was there, doing my bit, reminding him of the small (but extremely important), details. We have someone renting the house. Our close friends & family will know exactly where we are in real time. I renewed our passports and IDs, and I got this domain up and running.

And now, in only a few days 🤯 , the adventure begins. We are hitting the road and apparently, we are taking you along for the ride through our words, through our photos, and through our Instagram account – @journeyon.life (maybe later I’ll explain how that came about). The IG account will grow with more images and videos. I may punch it up with some of the past trips we’ve done this year as there have already been a few both for pleasure and work. And, assuming we don’t kill each other along the way, we’ll be back to see you in person summer of 2024. Hey, don’t panic, I’ll have my laptop, my camera, and my phone so you know I’m never really far away.

Here’s to an adventure of a lifetime. Journey on!

1st stop – somewhere in the Caribbean