Our 2025 Adventures Pt. 2

If you haven't yet read about the first half of our 2025 travels, click here. Let's pick up where we left off: stunning, but expensive Copenhagen, Denmark (pictured above). We wandered the city for four days, even visiting the self-governing, alternative lifestyle community known as Freetown Christiania. Established in 1971 on an abandoned military base, its' storied history is fascinating (wikipedia link here). Today it's home to roughly 850-1000 residents on 84 acres. We had a delicious lunch from a small cafe and visited the market (above) as well as many local artists. Christiania has some interesting "rules" too:

1. No cars

2. No running

3. No weapons/guns/explosives

4. No hard drugs (cannabis is tolerated but not legal)

5. No stealing or violence

6. Must respect residents' privacy

It was definitely worth wandering through this brightly colored, lively Bohemian neighborhood for a unique view of Copenhagen.

While a great flight deal routed us to Copenhagen, our trip home ended with additional layovers and extra connecting flights, adding 6 hours to our journey. We flew Copenhagen-London-Philadelphia-Minneapolis. From there, we rented a car and made the 250-mile drive home to North Dakota.

October 2025

USA (North Dakota & Minnesota)

We were home for over three weeks and utilized every minute. Our first priority was downsizing our storage garage. We had talked about doing this on several previous trips home, but life tended to get in the way and we always prioritized seeing family and friends. After three years of paying way too much to store crap we likely will not use in the next three+ years, we committed to downsizing our storage unit and moving it 70 miles into Minnesota, near Brad's dad. So, for our first several days home, I spent 12+ hours at our storage unit going through each and every box and deciding whether to keep, sell, donate, throw, or give away each item. Brad made regular evening trips to MN with what we kept.

Photo 1: Original Storage Unit - full to the ceiling! (approx. 10'x15')

Photo 2: Original Storage Unit - finally empty!

Photo 3: New Storage Unit - room to breathe and find things! (approx. 10'x10')

Prior to leaving the USA in November 2022, we downsized our life 3x over the course of five years. While each and every time gave us feelings of utter freedom, this felt different. Knowing we likely wouldn't use/look at most of this stuff again for another 3+ years meant seeing each item in a new light. First off, what was I THINKING keeping 90% of my "work" clothes?!? Why did I save 250 cupcake liners, 4 spatulas, 6 wooden spoons, and 3 sets of measuring cups? And the ever nagging question, WHY did I have all those things in the first place when much less would do. Stepping back with a new set of "eyes" made these decisions so easy now. Who knows, maybe one day we will get rid of our storage garage all together!

In addition to completing the monumental task of moving our shit, we also squeezed in a few more enjoyable things during our visit:

• Mother-Daughter Weekend Trip to the Brainerd Lakes Area

• Guys Trip for Brad & his high school friends

• Dinner at my hometown Pizza Shop with dear friends from high school to celebrate a classmate's 55th birthday

• Numerous coffees, lunches, dinners, and happy hours with several of our favorite people from home

• Medical check-ups and routine dental work. While we have always found excellent medical & dental care abroad, we like to "check-in" with providers at home who know us personally once a year

• Haircut & Highlight; Yes, I still only get this done at home. Curly hair is finicky and my stylist is amazing! I joke about booking tickets for her to visit me with scissors in hand

• Travel Clinic appointment for advice, vaccines, and medicines for our upcoming South America trip

• Countless visits to multiple stores for restocks of favorite brands of travel products in addition to replacing a few items of clothing

  
  

Lastly, we spent our final few days in Minneapolis, Minnesota with numerous close friends and family catching up and planning future adventures. Whew! Coming home is great AND exhausting. We enjoyed this extended trip home a bit more because it also allowed us a bit of downtime.

Costa Rica

From Minneapolis, we flew to Liberia, Costa Rica for a purposeful week-long detour to visit one of Brad's high school friends and his family, who are also some of my favorite people in the world! They have lived in many places around the world, but settled in Costa Rica a couple years ago with their two children. Brad took the week off, so it was lazy and relaxing. Check out Brad & Justin in their pool with gorgeous views of the sunset over the Pacific Ocean. We had a fabulous time and look forward to our next visit.

November-December 2025

Chile

Next stop: South America, our 3rd Continent! We called Santiago, the capital of Chile, home for seven weeks. It's centrally located roughly 60 miles from the Southern Pacific coast as well as 60 miles from the foothills of the Andes Mountains with temperate weather and very dry air. Our only negative was the noticeable smog and unhealthy air quality multiple days. Overall, we absolutely loved the city and want to come back to explore more of the entire country.

Fun facts about Chile:

• Longest (2,670 mi.) and Narrowest (93 mi.) country in the world

• Extremely biodiverse with the highest & driest desert (Atacama) in the world in the north; Mediterranean & rainforest climate in the middle/central area; and glaciers, fjords, and wetlands in the south (Patagonia and beyond)

• Only country in the world with no venomous snakes (high five Chile!)

• Strongest earthquake ever recorded (9.5) was near Valdivia, Chile in 1960

• World's highest volcano, named Ojos del Salado, is located on the border of Chile & Argentina. Really fun fact: The top 35 highest volcanoes (over 19,390 ft) in the world are in South America! The next closest is Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa at 19,341 ft.

Brad on bench in Valparaiso

Bike with Wall Street Art in Valpo

Brad and Jenn Lindemann

Brad on colorful street in Valpo

Street art in Valparaiso

Colorful street and steps

Valpo Street Art and VW Bus

Valpo Street Art

Street Art in Valpo

Brad Street Art in Valpo

Street Art in Valpo

Street Art in Valpo

One random Saturday, we took an early bus to visit the coastal city of Valparaiso. We spent the day walking around admiring the tremendous street art and enjoyed the city's labyrinth of narrow, cobbled alleys and intensely colorful buildings. This major port city is known for its' Bohemian Street Art, as evidenced in several photos here. The city was built upon dozens of steep hillsides overlooking the Pacific Ocean and climbing them only worked up our craving for wine. Multiple funiculars are available throughout the city to aid in ascending the vertical climbs, if needed.

Prior to the opening of the Panama Canal, Valparaiso was the dominant port on the Pacific Coast of South America. While it is still utilized today, traffic has considerably slowed. Today, the city is home to a Chilean Naval Base and is the seat of the National Congress of Chile.

Argentina

We arrived mid-December to Buenos Aires (BA), Argentina for our next (almost) seven week stay. We were fortunate to have a large group of fellow nomads staying in the city, so it was fun to have a circle of friends to call on for lunch, wine, museums, music, game nights, and activities. Nicknamed the "Paris of South America" for its European architecture styles, BA is a vibrant and unique city. Filled with a multitude of museums, cultural events, and live music, we also found it very walkable, with endless parks & green space. The overall vibe was laid-back and family-friendly. The food & restaurants options were unbelievable! The steak was as good as you would imagine for a country whose beef is ranked among the world's best. Additionally, we had (mostly) moderate temperatures, ranging from 65-85F with only a few days of 90F+ degrees and insane humidity, but that's why we have air conditioning! Far from the "White Christmases" we're used to.

Buenos Aires was a vibrant city and we'd love to return during a different season (which are opposite of Northern Hemisphere seasons). We arrived in Summer (Dec-March), but would love to try their Spring (Sept-Nov) or Fall (March-June) weather. In addition, here are a few other things we found challenging:

• The late night hours: Merienda, considered their "4th meal", is served between 4-6pm, and consists of savory/sweet snacks, sandwiches, and mate (tea). Dinner is typically served between 9-11pm and can last two hours or more. Luckily, some places catered to tourists who are used to eating earlier.

• The lack of festivity around Christmas and New Year's, which surprised us a bit since it's a predominately Catholic country.

• The Argentine Spanish dialect is very difficult to understand. A local told us they literally make up their own words!

• The bus system wasn't super reliable, and we didn't live close to a subway stop, however Uber was very inexpensive (less then $5.00 most places within the city).

Our friends, David & John, recently became nomadic after retiring mid-2025 and joined us in BA. They plan to travel full-time for roughly three years before settling back in the US. It was wonderful to have them in BA for the holidays and close enough to "meet in the middle" from our respective apartments for wine every other day. One weekend the four of us boarded a ferry to cross the Rio de la Plata (Plate River) to visit Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. This picturesque town, a little over an hour from BA, was the perfect day trip. The narrow, cobbled streets and crumbling ruins made for a perfect backdrop for a day filled wandering around tasting local dishes and trying local wines.

These photos are a sampling of the meetups we had with our various friends while in Buenos Aires. Our social calendar was busier than it's been in a long time!

What's Next and Where Are We Now?

That's a wrap on our 2025 travels. Our 2026 adventures started out with a bang -- an almost two week expedition to ANTARCTICA the end of January, which will require it's own blog post. Since February 6, we have called Cuenca, Ecuador home and it has quickly become our new favorite place! So much so, we are tentatively planning an extended stay here of 6 months in late 2027.

During our 9 week stay in Ecuador, I've been able to finish our travel planning for the rest of 2026! Our agenda:

April: Quick trip home for my niece's wedding then fly to London to cheer on our friend Annie running the marathon

May: Dog-sitting in England

Jun-Aug: Lake Ohrid, N. Macedonia (revisiting after loving it last summer!)

Sept-Nov: Dog-sitting in England

Dec: Madrid, Spain with David & John

December 22, 2026-January 10, 2027: We will be in ND & MN. Our first Christmas home in 4 years!

Please let us know if your own travel plans ever overlap with us - we love meeting people anywhere in the world.

We continue to fall deeper in love with the world the more we travel. I can tell you one thing after traveling to only 34 countries -- the majority of the world is amazing and it isn't even half as scary as the media wants you to believe. Of all the places we've been in three and half years, we've never felt unsafe. Uncomfortable? Yes, almost daily. That's kinda the point! Moving outside our comfort zone has fostered more resilience and adaptability in us both. We are always in the minority, having to rely on the kindness of strangers. And guess what? We have encountered genuinely great people in every country we've lived. And not just a few. The majority are good everywhere. I leave you with this advice. Make friends or simply talk to someone who is different than you: Maybe they are from a different country, belong to a different religion, identify themselves differently than you, 20 years older or 20 years younger, maybe they're simply a different race. It doesn't matter. The point is, as Michelle Obama so poignantly said, "It's harder to hate up close."

Cheers, Peace, Love, and Kindness,

Jenn