Judy’s Journal

"Finding Gina Marie" began as my quest to meet my birth mother, a journey that transformed our lives. We reimagined our future, embracing full-time travel and authentic living. Our story is about reclaiming life’s priorities and finding freedom in unexpected places.

Restaurants in Madrid as full-time travelers give us sticker shock! Tapas can be an affordable option, but they’re often too carb heavy, especially in summer. Add drinks and it starts to get expensive. The grocery stores and farmers’ markets have budget-friendly ingredients, so it made sense to do our own cooking. This taco salad cost only €7.27 for two people, including a side of tortilla chips!

This traditional ginger cake is a celebratory dessert in parts of Vietnam and Cambodia. If you're looking for a way to mix history, culture, and food, this mildly sweet donut-like dessert is a perfect fit.

Three adult elephants and a baby playing in the mud transfixed us. The guide here at Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand, was in no hurry to move us along, so we watched this adorable interaction for a while.

Here in Nimman, the hipster area of Chiang Mai, there’s a huge coffee culture and some of the finest latte art we’ve ever seen. We thought finding a welcoming coffee shop would be straightforward and simple.

In the whirlwind of full-time travel, our Airbnb kitchens are more than places where we cook; they're the heart of our nomadic home. The simple joy of preparing a meal, the comfort of familiar tools, and the occasional indulgence in local flavors define our journey.

Krakow surprises me. I don’t expect to feel such a strong emotional connection to my adopted Polish mother, Maxine, when I arrive in Poland for the first time.

Full-time travel is a big decision, and we had to ease our way into the idea of it.

Once we take a beat, we drink in our surroundings. Nubian Village is bright, colorful, welcoming, and like nothing we’ve ever seen. We later learn that Nubians are indigenous people from the ancient …

For people who worry that Egypt may not be a safe place to visit, I have to share about my amazing experiences on the West Bank in Luxor. When we booked our Airbnb…

There’s something incredibly serene about watching colorful hot-air balloons drift lazily through the sky. I never seriously considered being in one since I assumed they’d be fairly expensive. It is a shocking surprise to see how little it costs to hop into one of these floating wonders in Luxor, Egypt, so this is one of the rare occasions …

I’m sitting on our Airbnb patio taking in the sounds of the truck and driver using a megaphone to shout out foreign words that I can’t understand. Birds are chirping and horns are honking. We were supposed to tour the pyramids and see the Sphinx today, but

It’s not actually spring yet, but we have had a variety of showers that are worth mentioning. Here are a few from our short months of travel, but I know I’ll have more. Our accommodations are as much of an adventure as every other part of our experiences.

Don’t think that it’s sufficient to see Rome in a day. You wouldn’t be bored if you spent a full two weeks or more biking through and examining all the gems hidden here. But when you only have a day, it can be fun to do a quick stop and wave to familiar sites and allow your heart to swoon for a few minutes before finding the next place that takes away your breath.…

We arrive at our next destination’s train station on Monday evening. Lecce greets us with cold temperatures, elegant Baroque architecture, and silence. Our original plan for the Christmas season was to visit this eastern city in Italy’s Puglia region and take in its famous paper mâché manger scenes, but we ran short of time. Since Greece is only a hop away, we …

Now that they are older and wiser, they take great care to not repeat their mistakes by packing much lighter and always reading the fine print. But the Airbnb in Lecce bewitches them with its alluring image of a balcony ripe for cozy mornings with cappuccino or sunset aperitivos. They are not prepared for the …

We head back from Aeropagus Hill on this lively Saturday afternoon and there’s a festive mood all around us. The street musicians are everywhere, the outdoor restaurants are buzzing, and the energy of Athens is palpable. Street carts are loaded with roasted chestnuts and grilled corn. I step up to the open flame …

We begin every morning with a walk around the city to explore new neighborhoods and historic landmarks. Our Airbnb is in the neighborhood of Monastiraki, which is at the center of everything in Athens, and has…

The streets of Athens, Greece are quiet and abandoned on this—and every—Sunday morning, in part because many people are at church. Kevin claims it’s equally because people party well into the wee hours…

So this person, who cuts and styles hair for a living—and changes people’s lives every day—can’t see a way to make her own dreams come true.

I know many things about this new phase of our lives may not be what people expect…

Our walk to the DHL office is markedly different than it was a day ago…

We are pretty happy with our apartment rental in Athens, Greece. The shower isn’t too small, the bed doesn’t sink in the center, the pillows aren’t too flat, and we have plenty of …

The Mafia can afford to be discreet since everybody in Sicily knows what they are talking about. You don’t need pizzo, or protection money, to be spelled out.

Aegean Airlines gave each person boarding the plane a wrapped pomegranate with these instructions…

The real bravery in becoming a full-time traveler is not giving up your home and everything you own. It’s being in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language and need a hair color touchup and haircut and trusting that you won’t need to wear a hat for the foreseeable future.…

My first encounter with these fragrant, delicious snowflake cookies was when I was in third grade and a friend who had an Italian mother brought them to school and shared them with me.