In November 2013 we left the kids at home with members of our extended family and flew off to Guatemala for a 12 day vacation. We spent 6 days on an awesome running adventure with Mayan Running Adventure, 4 days in Antigua and roughly 2 days travelling each way.
During our trip we were surprised, and inspired, to learn how many people had relocated to Guatemala and surrounding countries temporarily and permanently. Just like them we fell in love with the people, culture and cost of living.
This got us thinking...if they can do it...why not us? We spent the next 6 months researching everything from safety to tax laws and ultimately decided to uproot our family and take the expat plunge.
We created this site to chronicle the adventures of our wanderlust. It is our intent to entertain and inform others about our family travels via this site. We named it Sunglasses Required because we only intend to go to countries that have a lot of sunlight (we last lived in Seattle, WA which is frequently missing this feature).
If you're looking for more info here's a podcast interview we did with FamilyAdvenutrePodcast.com.
The Sunglasses Required Family
----- A little more about each of us -----
Ken is an avid runner who enjoyed giving his race medals to his kids and later stripped them away to give them to Brooks Running for a statue in Seattle. He is a technology geek that reads and follows things that often bore the rest of the family. He grew up in the great country of Texas and lived as an adult in Washington DC and Seattle. He is enjoying “life outside the cube” after spending many years in the corporate world.
Mickelle loves swimming, biking, kickboxing, and yoga, but often runs because it’s convenient. She is a teacher specializing in elementary and mathematics curriculum and doesn't care for the standardized tests taking over the US. She spent several years as a stay-at-home mom mastering the art of raising little humans which she realized is beyond her reach when she couldn't get the youngest to wear underwear.
Elle (aka Ela) is an inquisitive child and spends many hours peppering her parents with questions that often need to be googled. She likes Barbies, but doesn’t always admit it. Her best paper, “How to Annoy Your Little Brother”, is accompanied by her own illustrations. She’s not happy that her parents tore her away from her friends and family in the States, but occasionally admits that she’s having an awesome adventure. Elle eats bread and dessert.
Tag gives his parents exactly the same number of kisses that they give him. Exactly. No more. No less. He likes asking other kids where they get their t-shirts, and therefore is anxious to shop at Target and Walmart. In preschool, he was the first child every parent knew by name…not sure if that’s because of his distinctly curly hair or his behavior, which is both aggressive and honest. He is clearly Ken’s offspring.