After a must-stop in Miami to see Charlotte (and Danielle and Arthur), it's great to be back in Austin. We have missed Agathe and all our Texan friends, it is a treat to enjoy - for a couple months - the place we now call home.

**Charlotte is 19 months and has many friends.....**

Our temporary crib in Austin is a very cool spot - the guest house in the back of John, Chris and Fritz's place in Clarksville. We might never want to leave this little paradise: beautiful house and grounds, pool privileges, the best neighbors & friends to share newspapers, fun times and good stories.

Two months had passed since we had seen Agathe, this was a long time for us and we could not wait to see our dear daughter. Pierre immediately put on his Father hat and went on a car search and acquisition mission with Agathe. Success!

The best part of Austin is its people. We are thrilled to chill with our friends.

Back to work: Our construction project has been progressing well over the last couple months. The East 5th Condos are scheduled to be ready for occupancy next January. We are working on preparing for the next project.

Located at 505 Tillery Street in East Austin, these 12-units condominiums will include 1-Bedroom, 2-Bedroom and 3-Bedroom "town houses" with interiors designed by Isabelle.

And fun parties: Motown night to celebrate Jeff's birthday.

The last 6 months have been a wonderful experience for both of us. Discovering new places, revisiting familiar ones, spending time with family, enjoying old friends, making new ones - Having unlimited time to fully appreciate the beauty of nature, the diversity of cultures, the inspiration of art and the relevance of history - All have touch us in a meaningful way and made us so grateful to have the chance to live this unique experience.

But the best of all was to be together "On The Road Again". Where does our "Nomad" blood comes from?

Few practical tips for an enjoyable sabbatical trip around Europe and the US that takes you to multiple places over several months and within a pre-defined schedule:

1) Have at least one highly organized partner - In our case, I am sure you all have guessed that Isabelle was the brain behind our precisely planned escapade. The Organizer Extraordinaire made it possible for us to go from sea to mountains, hot to cool, casual to formal (weddings), cities to country sides and from fast to slow for 6 months in a row.

2) Reduce your foot print at home - Limiting the need to be preoccupied with domestic matters back home is essential to fully enjoy the "Road". This step seems obvious but not always easy to achieve. Do not underestimate its importance.

3) Secure a base camp - Having a base geographically centrally located somewhere within your travel is key for longer voyage. The challenge is the suitcases. In our case, Paris was an ideal location having the benefit of Isabelle's brother flat he doesn't really occupy. We left Austin with 6 very large suitcases and 2 sizable carry-ons, being able to leave the bulk of our "stuff" in Paris and run multiple expeditions from "Base Camp" with reduced gear proved to be essential.

4) Mix the travel frequency with short and long stays - We found that 2 to 3 nights in one place is the minimum length of time in one place to sustain extensive travel comfortably. Less than 2 nights can become very quickly exhausting. We also found important to settle for few weeks in a given location providing recharging cool down periods.

5) Allow for personal time - This trip has been a very refreshing experience for us - being constantly together for 6 months doing things that we don't do in our regular lives has been very enriching and has brought us even closer. It was however interesting to witness the benefit of taking personal time once in a while - even though we rarely experienced tension between us during these 6 months. For example, Pierre's trip to Brittany for just a couple days to see his sister and Isabelle staying in Paris to enjoy childhood friends gave us the personal space that we wouldn't have anticipated to be so fulfilling.

6) Mix Sceneries - Our European tour took us alternatively from City to Country, Museums to Nature, Being by ourselves to Sharing with Friends, Being tourists to Being with family. The variety and diversity of the settings gave a unique dimension to the experience.

7) Enjoy and live the day - This is the easy part assuming you have addressed points 1 to 6 above.

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But be reassured, the Nomads are not settling for long and are ready to hit the road again! Our great friends Véronique & Michel D. arrived from Belgium on Halloween day. We took them right away for a walk around Town Lake - Isabelle unfortunately twisted her ankle, we got a wheel chair for the next leg of our trip. When we came back from our tour of Austin, our neighbors/landlords "The Triplets" had their Halloween outfit on: "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" AhAhAh!

After a visit at the LBG presidential library, we went to the James Turell installation at U.T. at sunset: The Color Inside A Sky Space. We are huge fans of James Turell and were happy to introduce him to our friends, they were blown away and the Austin installation is not his most impressive...