Hobgoblin Conclusions
We crash-landed back in Canada on April 21, 2026. In case you're wondering, we did get macrons and eat them by the Eiffel Tower, near the flame-belching tuba. In our 22-hour layover we also took strolls over the Seine and along the Champs-Élysées, encountered Monet's waterlilies in L'Orangerie, and enjoying a lovely Parisian dinner in a quaint cafe on the Left Bank. Magnifique!
Ahhhh, April in Paris is so atmospheric, with its flame-belching tubas and cooked snails! [📸 Rachel, Carla, & Johann]
The opportunity to travel the world for eight months has been an absolute privilege, and was made possible by the support of our family and friends. Thank you thank you thank you!
We had a grand ol' time circumnavigating the globe, always striving to learn as much as we could about this beautiful planet and all of its inhabitants. We were fascinated by the interweaving and intersecting of history and the natural world everywhere we travelled.
We asked a lot of questions, and got some answers, but mostly we got a lot more questions to wonder at. As we move forward, we are taking with us everything we learned about our global connections and differences, the complexity of our collective relationship to the natural world, and the many-layered cake that is culture and history.
The world is full of a lot of indescribably amazing stuff, whether natural or cultural or old or new. [📸 Rachel, Johann, our Gokyo Ri trek guide AJ, and a German couple in Bolivia]
With the privilege of travel comes the responsibility of learning and growing. This incredible trip is our seed, a path to hold connection with many different people and places, and a simultaneous knowledge of how small we are but what real change can look like from around the world.
This was a decade-long dream come true, and the start of many more plans and realizations. It has been beautiful and wondrous, exhausting and stressful, deeply impactful and life-altering.
Free hours will now be spent contemplating shared humanity, unspeakable cruelty, how water connects physically and spiritually, people rising up against corruption, and for a pallet cleanser, the cuteness of cats. Also bread.
The world is full of indescribably amazing cats, whether old or young or cuddly or rambunctious. [📸 Rachel & Johann]
On top of profound adjustments to our global understanding, we also ate so much mind-boggling yummy food! There are many new recipes we have to try, and we're even thinking of inviting all of you over for a tasting and story get-together sometime this fall!
A recipe for hobgoblin oats, to be prepared in the airport, on the train, or anywhere you might happen to be! Mix instant oats, instant coffee, protein powder (ours was vegan coconut milk), and a packet of sugar you foraged from some coffee shop. Add water and let sit for a few minutes. Eat and enjoy! We survived off this (and peanuts). [📸 Rachel & Johann]
Our sugar packet (and a bit o' tea) collection from around the world (accidentally collected, now deliberately kept). [📸 Rachel]
New friends to keep in contact with, new art to hang on the wall. New lessons learned, like never use a Bulgarian train bathroom while in the station. And never wash the wool socks you’ve been wearing for a week straight with the rest of your clothes lest you smell strongly like feet for a month. Travel is an experiential inquiry into the shared human experience.
We made many new friends all around the world, from all around the world - and hopefully we'll get to see them again in the not too far future! [📸 Rachel & Johann]
Hobgoblin Principles of Travel
Only take what you can carry on your back (and front).
Does Johann know what to do with a sewing needle? No, of course not. But those patches stayed on the ENTIRE trip without fraying! [📸 Rachel & Carla]
Be mostly prepared for anything, and improvise the rest.
A lot of the world could really use newer stovetops. Or at least matches or long lighters so we don't have to use a fiery napkin to light them. [📸 Rachel & Johann]
Eat the food the universe provides and don't ask questions.
Everything tastes better with Greek road cheese! Well, except for raw herring - Johann has moral qualms. [📸 Rachel & Johann]
Maintain whimsy. (Be playful. Be curious.)
Shout-out to Rachel for getting so many hotel points :) [📸 Rachel & Johann]
Avoid paying for laundry at all costs.
Yes, that's us washing the quarantined socks after four weeks of being unable to. And yes... it really, really smelled. [📸 Rachel & Johann]
Nap as needed.
It was at this moment that Johann discovered just how many photos exist of him sleeping. [📸 Rachel & Johann]
And what comes next? Johann will be returning to AME as a mechanical designer! Rachel will be working for the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute this summer as a plant technician before starting an MFA in Drama (interdisciplinary performing arts and environment) this fall in Calgary. We are excited to explore the mountains together and find a new favourite sushi source.
As we come to the end of this chapter, we want to thank all of you for the support you have provided on our journey. We won't be returning to real life; this has been an extraordinary opportunity, but it is very much part of the life we are shaping together. We're just moving onto the next adventure; we can't wait to see you along the way!
We'll make sure to give Fred as many pets as he asks for! [📸 Rachel & Johann]
