-
5k Training: A New Challenge
As I stated in an earlier post, I’ve made a monumental, life-altering (this is a total joke) decision to attempt to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I think a couple of things were wrong about that announcement. The first thing I did when I got serious about my goal was hire a running coach. He
-
Slow and Steady Wins the Race
It has officially been 17 days, 23 hours, and 4 minutes since I finished the Los Angeles Marathon. I wish I could say that I was kidding about having kept track this closely. Finishing a marathon brings with it a strange compilation of feelings. Although I have been working out consistently for the past two
-
Los Angeles: The City of Angels
As promised, Evan and I have not yet stopped traveling. Last week we traveled to Los Angeles for me to run my second marathon. Although the trip was solely for the marathon, we were hoping to get some time to explore and check out the city while we were there. We did get a bit
-
Adjusting to Everyday Life
Hey guys! Long time, no talk- it’s been a little over 3 months since Evan and I got back from our extended honeymoon. It’s weird to think that we were gone for longer than we’ve been back in the United States, but the time back has felt a lot longer (not saying it hasn’t been
-
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Croatia! I’d heard so many things about Croatia: people raving about the beautiful beaches, the clear water, and the awesome walls around this city in particular (hello, Game of Thrones)- but had never even thought that I would get to visit this early in my life. We chose Croatia because again, budget travel: but this
-
Podgorica, Kotor, and Budva, Montenegro
Next destination! I decided to group all 3 of these together because although they are all technically different cities, they are all in the same country of Montenegro and 2 of them were day trips taken from our home base in Podgorica. I’ll start by saying this: Podgorica (or Montenegro in general) was never on
-
Belgrade, Serbia
Ahhhh, Belgrade! I’ve been waiting to make this post because there truly isn’t enough good things I can say about Belgrade. You may be wondering why we chose Belgrade, Serbia. It seems like an interesting, less talked about destination- and it is! Along the same lines as Budapest, at this point in the trip we
-
Budapest, Hungary
Time to talk about Budapest! Evan and I visited Budapest directly after Munich. We took a bus between the two cities which took around 9ish hours. We arrived in Budapest late at night to the Budapest Keleti station and headed straight to our Air BnB to get some rest. I decided to format this leg
-
Munich, Germany
Ahhhh, Germany. Let’s just say this: within 3 hours of being here, I already deemed it my favorite location up until this point on the trip. Germany was where I rediscovered my love for cool weather, experienced the most incredible mountainous landscapes, and almost convinced Evan to just move into a rural German cabin and
-
Lisbon, Portugal
Hello everyone! I’m back today to talk about our brief time in Lisbon, Portugal. Unfortunately, we only got to spend ~24 hours in Lisbon. After our time there we both decided that we would love to return and spend more time there, because we really enjoyed it! The reason we spent so little time was
“As soon as I saw you I knew a grand adventure was about to happen.” -Winnie the Pooh
Our Story
Hi, we’re Alexis and Evan Emmerling (as of August 2022) and we are a newly engaged couple living in Little Rock, Arkansas and embarking on the journey of planning and completing a 5 month hybrid journey of exploring Europe and participating in sustainable mission work in another location- TBD on the second part! We are so blessed and thrilled to have this opportunity and wanted to use this blog as a way to connect and inform readers on the highs and lows of this journey, potentially inspiring others to do the same.
Friends since cerca 2007, Alexis and Evan grew up going to the same church, with the three year age gap between the two hindering anything more than a casual friendship. The Summer of 2018 posed an opportunity for the both of them to travel to Migori, Kenya for 7 weeks to participate in community service and an integrated experience in a community very unlike theirs. It was here that the two began to establish a true friendship, quickly becoming best friends as they spent days and nights discussing their life experiences, old and now new. This shared experience confirmed in both of them the love and connection that their hearts shared and affirmed the desire to chase their hearts desires together forever.
After navigating the waters of long distance while Alexis attended the University of Alabama and Evan settled into a job in Little Rock, the two were engaged July 29, 2021 and began to brainstorm about what a life together would look like. Alexis had a lifetime dream of traveling abroad for an extensive period of time that Evan was well aware of, and after much thought and prayer Evan confirmed that this dream was the first of many he would willingly pursue with her. Deciding on Europe, the time after has been a frantic combination of wedding planning and (more importantly) envisioning the culmination of a lifetime of dreams with the people they love most!
And that leaves us where we are now. With the ideas in full swing, our goals and dreams are only getting bigger and we cannot wait for you to get to know us more throughout this adventure.
CREAR 