The Trip That Changed Everything
Las Catalinas, Costa Rica — 2021
There are trips you plan for months. There are trips you stumble into. And then there are trips that change the trajectory of your life.
Big Life Little Crew started in early 2020, during a strange window when the whole world felt like it was holding its breath and we were trying to figure out what to do with ours.
It was early 2020. COVID was creeping into every conversation. Everything felt uncertain. And for the first time in a long time, we had a real window of freedom. Chris was working remotely and about to start his own business. We had just had Sawyer, and I was in between jobs. We were tired in that young-parent way, but we were in this rare, quiet gap between “what used to be” and “whatever comes next.” And in that gap, something shifted.
We started having conversations that didn’t feel like normal conversations. Not about schedules or to-do lists. The kind you only have when you slow down enough to explore what you really want in life.
What if we just go?
Then someone told us about a small town in Costa Rica called Las Catalinas. We looked it up and honestly thought we were being tricked by the internet. A walkable beach town. No cars. Plazas and footpaths and ocean breezes. It felt like something out of a movie — a European-style village carved into the Costa Rican coast.
Not for a week. Not for a quick reset. We decided to go for three months.
We had all the normal fears. And then there was the one we didn’t say out loud: what if we love it…and then we can’t go back to pretending we’re satisfied with the way we’ve been living?
Still, we committed. We packed up our life, packed up a baby, and we went.
We can still remember arriving. The light looked different. The air felt different. Not “vacation warmth” like a resort where you’re temporarily escaping real life. More like a different operating system for living. The kind of place that makes you realize how much tension you’ve been carrying without knowing it.
Las Catalinas is designed for walking. That sounds small, but it changes everything. No cars. No traffic noise. You step outside and you’re already where you’re trying to be. The rhythm of our days changed almost immediately. Morning walks on the beach. Afternoon naps without guilt. Picnics at sunset.
While the rest of the world seemed like it was spiraling, we were in this little pocket of life where the days felt real again.
And in that quiet, the deeper changes started happening.
We had both been running hard for a long time. Building careers, building a family, always grinding toward whatever was next. We were both strong and capable, and we were both exhausted in ways we had stopped admitting.
Costa Rica didn’t magically solve everything. But it lowered the volume enough that we could hear ourselves again. We started feeling like a team again, not just two people holding on and getting through the day.
And without realizing it, we crossed a line we can’t uncross.
Before that trip, travel was something you did to escape life for a minute. After, it started to feel like part of life. Like a way of designing it. Like something that could shape your family, not just entertain it.
It gave us a reference point. It showed us what life could feel like when it’s not constantly maxed out. And it gave us a new kind of confidence. Traveling with a kid felt intimidating until we did it. And then it just felt like…life. Just in a better setting.
That trip was the first domino.
And now, almost five years later, we’re standing in front of a much bigger version of that same decision. Nine months out of the country. Four kids instead of one. A life we couldn’t even imagine back then.
Las Catalinas didn’t just change our travel plans. It changed what we believed was possible for our family. And it created the promise behind Big Life Little Crew: we’re going to do this for real, and we’re going to bring you with us.
Not highlight reels. Not curated perfection. Real family travel. Comfort without being cringe. Logistics that actually work. Marriage teamwork, not martyrdom. Presence over pressure.
It started in a tiny town in Costa Rica during a season when the world felt uncertain.
It opened our eyes to a different way of living, and we decided to go for it.
If you’re thinking about taking a leap with your family, stick around. We’re building the playbook in real time.
