Hi friends! If we haven’t met, consider this an introduction. We’re Jana and Brett Aplin — Aplins in the Alps. Here’s a 10,000 foot view of our timeline from 2011-2020. Buckle your seatbelt because it’s gonna be a quick and adventurous trip!
March 2011: We met for the first time on a blind date.
August 2011: Brett proposed! He said, “You’re my perfect puzzle piece!”
May 2012: Jana graduated from university and we got married!!!
June 2012: Honeymoon to Switzerland. When Jana was in high school, she took a family vacation to Europe and remembers telling her family, “I’m going to honeymoon here one day.” During college, Brett had a photo of Switzerland hanging in his bedroom as a tangible display of his dream destination. So that’s how we decided on a 2 week honeymoon to the most beautiful mountains in the world!
2012-2014: We dreamed about returning to Europe for a long vacation. This season included more House Hunters International episodes than we can count, plenty of Rick Steves shows, and lots of “internet research” about traveling Europe.
March 2015: Brett had a dream that we lived in Switzerland with all of our friends and family. He couldn’t shake the dream all day, so he decided to research what it would take to live in Europe. He discovered that Jana was eligible for Italian citizenship through her great-grandparents (who immigrated from Sicily to Michigan).
May 2015: We made the big decision…we would spend a year traveling Europe!
January 2016: An airplane took us from Nashville, TN to London, England!
January-February 2016 (1 month in England):
- The plan was to house and pet sit with Trusted House Sitters and work online to fund our travels.
- The first lesson we learned was that people are so friendly to travelers!
- Trying to figure out a “new normal” routine.
February-March 2016 (3 weeks in Paris, France):
- We practically had the city to ourselves (because it was the middle of Winter and because of the recent attacks on the city).
- This was also the first time we attended an International Church.
- Spent 10 days traveling the Loire Valley (think huge castles!) and Normandy with friends.
March – April 2016 (3 weeks in Kotor, Montenegro)
- Finally some warm weather.
- Loneliness hit. Not many English speakers. No church.
- Jana lost her phone on a hike…which was unlocked so we could make international calls! But a friendly local found it and returned it to us 2 weeks later. Whew!
- Got official confirmation that Jana’s Italian citizenship had been approved!!!
- Spent a week traveling through Dubrovnik, Croatia and Mostar, Bosnia.
April 2016 (2 weeks in the French Alps, France)
- One of our favorite places! We dogsat for an active dog in a charming chalet home.
- More loneliness. No friends. No church. More hopeful questions about the future (like trying to find longer housesits so we could “live” in a place for a month or longer).
- Explored loads of the French Alps during this time!
April-May 2016 (2 weeks in Spain and Portugal)
- Barcelona was a cool city with yummy food and fascinating architecture!
- It rained the.entire.time. we were in Portugal. So that was a bummer. But we discovered a new favorite drink: cherry liqueur in a chocolate shot glass!
May 2016 (1 week in Sicily, Italy)
- This was epic! We ventured to the village that Jana’s ancestors migrated from!
- Jana got her official Italian ID (like an American driver’s license).
- This just felt like home…the people, the food, the culture. We loved it!
May 2016-July 2016 (6 weeks in Rome, Italy)
- Life in a big city was a fun change. We could walk out our door to a million touristy things. But the downside was it was summer heat and we had no AC in our housesitting apartment.
- We started learning Italian.
- Rome International Church became our spiritual community for the 2 months that we were here. And we still stay in touch with a lot of these people
July-August 2016 (1 month in the French Alps — again)
- The Alps are our happy place (obviously!) so we came back to the same family for a second housesit.
- More hiking. More picnics. Falling more in love with the Alps.
- 3 good friends came to visit! We watched the Tour de France with 2 of them, and Brett biked up the famous Alpe d’Huez with the other! They were such a sweet and timely gift.
August-September 2016 (6 weeks in southern France)
- Why not be stuck in a beautiful location when you have a lot of work to get done? We lived in a French farmhouse and housesat their sheep, dogs, and pool for a few weeks. And we got loads of work done so we could go explore the following month.
- Started praying for an opportunity to engage in ministry in Europe…somehow!
- It was lonely. And our ancient land rover vehicle sucked, so we didn’t go out very much. But the farm was fresh out of a magazine so the beauty kept us happy until we left.
September-October 2016 (2 weeks with Jana’s parents)
- Jana gets her travel for passion from her Dad. Her parents came for 2 weeks to explore Rome, Tuscany, and Sicily.
October-November 2016 (1 month in Budapest, Hungary)
- Best budget destination!
- Made a great crew of new friends here from an international church. And went to an escape room with them, which supposedly originate from this city!
- Brett drank so much cheap and delicious coffee here.
- It was cold and dark and the first taste of northern European Winters.
- Pit stop in Salzbug and Vienna, Austria and Bratislava, Slovakia.
November 2016-January 2017 (2 months in Munich, Germany)
- Germanic regions also feel like home.
- We pet sat a fun old dog here. Which meant 3 walks a day in the snowy wonderland! We made friends with plenty of neighbors who also walked their dogs regularly.
- Our neighbor was an old Italian/German lady who was the kindest soul ever. We saw her a few times per week.
- Plus we visited an International church and made even more friends.
- Also, the Germans know how to do New Years Eve…HOURS of fireworks! (And that’s not an exaggeration!)
January 2017-July 2017 (6 months living in Rome, Italy)
- Remember those friends we made in Rome, Italy? Well, they had no idea that we were praying for an opportunity to serve at an international church. But they invited us to be temporary youth and worship leaders. So we moved in with the pastor and his family for 6 months!
- We started Italian lessons and learned how to live in a big city. (Walking to the grocery story, meeting friends for coffee and shopping, taking the trains, etc.)
February 2017 (2 weeks in Denmark and Sweden)
- Our church from Tennessee sent a group of people on a mission trip to this area. We met up with them to serve university students.
- It felt so refreshing to be with familiar friends again.
- We went to a traditional sauna, where you sit in a steam room and then jump into the cold ocean (in February!)
April 2017 (1 week in Malta)
- This was a fun destination that had the oldest ruins we’ve ever seen (10,000BC).
- And we saw a blue grotto of crystal clear water in a cave with coral on the walls.
June 2017 (2 weeks in Slovenia)
- Brett’s best friend and his wife came to visit! We had a blast exploring the hills, lakes, and villages of Slovenia.
- Also met with an American mission who lives here, and he told us about life as Christian in this post-communist country.
July 2017 (2 weeks in Switzerland)
- We ended our work at Rome International Church with youth camp in the Swiss Alps. Combine the mountains with teens and Jana will be there every single day of the week! She loves mentoring teen girls
- After camp we spent a week doing nothing but hiking everyday. It was glorious.
July 2017 (2 weeks in Romania)
- Our last stop before returning home Romania, for another trip with Jana’s parents!
July 2017-June 2019(Tennessee)
- At home. Brett began working in business operations for our church. Jana expanded her copywriting/content editing business and began teaching flute lessons again.
- We hosted a high school foreign exchange student from Italy for the 2018-2019 school year. She’s now considered our Italian daughter
June-July 2019(Rome, Italy and southern France and Switzerland)
- Our hearts are intertwined with Europe and we couldn’t stay away!
- Spent 1 week with our friends who are missionaries in Rome, Italy.
- Visited other friends in southern France, plus we caught the seasonal lavender fields!
- Had all of our luggage stolen out of the trunk of our rental car. (Yes it was hidden. The police think they heard us speaking English and tried to see what we had.) Saddest moment to feel completely abandoned without any of our stuff, but we felt even more sad that someone was desperate enough to steal from a traveler.
- We wrapped up our trip in Switzerland…got new passports, bought some clothes, and savored time in our favorite country.
July 2019-June 2020
- Life and work as usual in Tennessee. Except for this underlying stirring to return once again to Europe.
- God gave us a vision of life and relationships and ministry in Europe.
- The plan: to spend a few months in the Alps.
- The pandemic temporarily interrupted our plans and caused Europe to close all borders. But as of mid-June, the EU will be open only to EU citizens…and that includes Jana
Summer 2020
- The pandemic made things weird, but we were still able to venture to Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, and Italy.
- We started our Instagram account, sharing posts and daily stories.
Summer 2021
- We launched our Aplins in the Alps YouTube channel.
- Spent 1 month in Switzerland…and then spent another month there before we flew back home!
- Also visited Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, and Czech Republic.
Summer 2022
- Spent 3 months in the Swiss Alps, and hosted 20+ guests in our apartment!
- Spent 1.5 months in Italy, mainly Rome, Tuscany, and Piedmont.
- We began sending weekly emails full of travel tips.
- We launched our first product: 1-Day Guide to Murren!
- Due to so many questions, we began offering Swiss Vacation Consultations.
- Our YouTube channel grew from 1,000 subscribers in January to 23,000 by the end of the year! And we started posting a new video every other week.
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SUBSCRIBEP.S. Curious about how we house and pet sat for Trusted House Sitters? Here’s the basics: You buy a membership to the platform, create a profile, and apply for available housesits from a gigantic worldwide listing. Once accepted, you take care of the home and pets for free. It’s like an exchange of services, so we hardly ever paid for accommodations because we lived in someone’s house in exchange for taking care of their pets. In our opinion, this was a sweet deal and an excellent way to live like a local! Sign up for Trusted House Sitters using this link and get 25% off your membership price!
