In his book Slowness, Milan Kundera asked “Why has the pleasure of slowness disappeared?” For us growing up was all about “slowness” and we found little pleasure in the daily grind, of everything moving at snail’s pace; school, homework, family reunions, skis that kept slipping, skates with dull blades, berry picking, potato harvest, acnes, hay fever, frost bites, the rain, the sleet, the snow, the cold and never-ending winter, and most importantly, the prospect of ever reaching the age at which the fun started seemed to be somewhere in between non-existent to highly unlikely. Slowness equated the daily and obstinate grind and we could do very well without it, thank you.

Many decades go by and we started to miss the slowness; we got tired of the relentless pace of our daily lives and craved for something else.  Life moves in phases and the time was ripe to do something else. Long story short; in early 2015 we sold pretty much everything we owned, bought a rundown property in Spain that we remodeled and made into a hotel. Eight years in, have we found the elusive sensation of slowness? Hard to tell. What we have found, however, is great pleasure and satisfaction in creating something together; we are (still) fulfilling a dream that did not enjoy even modest odds of ever materializing. Let alone ever get off the ground.

As we have learned over the years; it’s never about the destination; it’s all about the journey. We are still on the road and hopefully will be for years to come.