Tag:

sabbatical

Shifting Lanes for a Change of Pace

by Kirsty Larmour February 6, 2023

Continued from Part 1 of Kirsty’s story.

After almost 10 years in the Middle East, my husband and I decided it was time for one more big adventure before we would need to settle down in one place so that our daughters could finish school in person. We headed off on another set of multi-month travels, this time in our camper van across the Arabian peninsula, before relocating to Goa in India for a slower pace of life.

Both of our careers had done well during our years in China and Abu Dhabi, but my husband was facing burnout and wanted to take a sabbatical. Goa was an affordable place to drop to one salary, and he became the trailing spouse — handling the school runs, grocery shopping and cooking while I traveled to Abu Dhabi every few months to work with clients and continue my role as an educator for Nikon Middle East. I also began running photography retreats in Goa.

*Using multiple modes of transport on our travels*

For me personally, this was a particularly challenging time of expat life. The jet-setting wasn’t as fun as it had been in my younger days, and I didn’t really enjoy being away from the family. I had already experienced life as a working Mum, but it was undeniably hard to redistribute our household responsibilities now that I had become the breadwinner. My husband (and many husbands I’m sure) simply didn’t realize that things like having a supply of presents for parties the kids were going to, or back-up ballet tights in the drawer for those inevitable holes, was something he should be looking to do!

Kirsty Larmour and her global family with their camper, exploring the world.

Bucket Listing Career Transitions Expat Experiences Trailing Kids

My Long and Winding Road

by Kirsty Larmour January 24, 2023

written by Kirsty Larmour

Part 1 of 2

A new year is always a time of reflection. Perhaps even more so after the last three years among the expat community; almost every fellow expat I know has a pandemic story of displacement, or getting stuck somewhere, or some other sudden, unexpected change prompted by the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent variants.

Upon reflection, I believe the winding path of life, complete with stumbles and rocky patches, has held me in good stead for where I sit today. Able to breathe a little easier, be at peace with holding space for things that don’t go quite as planned, and capable of once again being curious and soaking up the opportunities that come our way.

After all, the life of a expat spouse involves learning to dig into your own inner resources, especially if you also want to continue having a career of your own. Fortunately, I’ve long described myself as passionately curious — a quality I believe has enriched my life in a multitude of ways, especially as a long-term expat and creative professional.

My family in the UAE desert — *Family fun in the UAE desert*

A global family

In my little family, each of us — my husband, our two teenage daughters, and myself — was born in a different country: Ireland, U.K., China and the UAE.

Expat Experiences Trailing Kids

Finding My Feet in Egypt

by Nada El Sawy February 22, 2021

written by Nada El Sawy

I moved to Cairo at three very different times in my life: as an 11-year-old kid, a 20-year-old college student, and last summer, as a 40-year-old spouse and mother.

One could argue that as an Egyptian American, I should consider Egypt my “homeland.” But as a Xennial born and raised in California, Egypt felt nowhere near home in the early ’90s, when my parents told me and my brothers that we would be moving there.