We Moved To Europe With 2 Weeks Notice

I was 19 years old the first time I came to Europe on a solo backpacking trip. I immediately fell in love with the architecture, quaint towns, walkable cities, lifestyle, food, history and fashion. I always knew I would live in Europe at some point but didn’t know when or how it would come to fruition.

When Clay and I found out we were pregnant, we were debating where we’d want to give birth and raise a baby. At the time, we were living in Tulum, Mexico. I am so happy our baby boy was conceived there as it feels like a gift after all the personal growth Clay and I did in the year prior. However, as we visualized ourselves as parents to a newborn, we were having a hard time picturing that reality in Tulum.

One day in early May 2025, we were laying on our yoga mats on our living room floor, and I was like “I just want to live in Europe.”

It honestly felt so far-fetched but we immediately got to work researching.

The Netherlands is my favorite country in Europe, so there was no doubt that that’s the country I wanted to try living in first. Naturally, moving to my favorite city (Haarlem), within my favorite country seemed like the logical choice.

Even though Clay had never been to Europe, I knew in my heart that he would really enjoy it, otherwise I never would have suggested it. One of his all-time favorite activities is riding bikes so I knew he’d love that about The Netherlands. His ideal weather is cloudy 65 degrees. Perfect. He also enjoys the beach, and it’s only a 15 minute drive to the ocean. I know that we could “be happy anywhere” as long as we have each other, so I figured if we tried it and he didn’t like it then no worries, we’d move somewhere else.

I contacted a real estate agent by email and sent her my sob story (aka - I would do anything to live there, here’s our budget, we’re newlyweds, we’re pregnant and we have remote work so we’ll be able to get a visa) and included a bunch of photos of myself, Clay and Peaches.

Securing housing in the Netherlands is already a huge challenge, let alone as a foreigner, let alone with a dog, let alone while still being in Mexico - so getting this email reply absolutely blew my mind.

!

I replied immediately and coordinated a FaceTime with the homeowner to do a virtual tour, get to know her, and convince her we’d be good tenants. Thankfully, everything went well… the only catch - the lease was starting June 1st… which was only 2 weeks away.

When we first imagined relocating to Europe, especially knowing the housing situation, and all the logistics involved - we figured it would be around August or September. Our baby’s due date is November 30 so I just wanted to get there in time to settle in before birth.

I did NOT think we would be moving there in June! Right away, we let our Tulum landlord know of the changing plans. We were supposed to stay in that unit through summer, so I posted photos on Facebook, hoping someone would sublet it so we could avoid paying double rent. Lucky for me, a gal from NYC saw my post, loved the unit and was just planning to live in Tulum for the summer - so we made plans for her to move in June 1-July 31st. Whew. Big check off to do list!

We had already scheduled our ultrasound in Mexico City on Monday May 19th with flights booked, an Airbnb, and a dog-sitter so we followed through with that trip. You can read more about it here. It was a lovely trip and getting to hear baby’s heartbeat made all of it feel SO real, which lit a fire in us to make all of this happen.

When we got back to Tulum on May 21st, we got to work cleaning and organizing. Logistically, we needed to go from Tulum to Omaha first, before flying to Europe. We wanted to see our families, host a gender reveal party, needed to get our marriage license at the courthouse, pickup my engagement ring that we had shipped to his parents, put some items we didn’t need for Europe into storage, and check on my store. We booked our one way flight from Tulum to Omaha for Wednesday May 28th. So we had exactly one week to close our Tulum chapter… which is VERY short notice.

We separated items that we needed to sell in Tulum, items that were going to our storage unit in Omaha, and items that we wanted to take to The Netherlands. A lot of the things I had were really heavy (crystals, books, ceramics, etc) or way too big to put in a suitcase (handmade baskets, hangers, huge pillows, kitchen appliances, etc) so I had to part with probably 80% of my belongings... which is honestly a really big sacrifice. Most of those items were not replaceable because they were vintage, handmade or collected on my travels all of the world. I think I would have had a harder time with it, but knowing we have a child coming into the world - I knew there had to be an equal balance of give and take.

I was able to sell quite a bit through Facebook so we made about $700 from that (which is nice but the value of the items was 10x that). I also gave away a lot of items to friends there. Even still, fitting our entire lives into a couple suitcases with a 50 pound weight limit was a major challenge. We packed and repacked and made cuts multiple times in order to take only our most cherished and needed items.

Photo of Clay weighing on suitcase on our gym’s scale to ensure it was under 50 pounds. (The overweight bag fee on international bags is $200 per bag and we were not trying to pay that 4 times).

Our last day in Tulum was so surreal. It happened so quickly that it didn’t really feel like we were actually leaving. Our assistant was over helping us with final cleaning as we raced the clock, packing up the rental car. Thankfully, we got everything done, said our goodbyes, returned the rental, and made it to the airport.

Once we got to Omaha, the race continued as we only had one week there as well to tackle our entire to do list. Since our lease started in The Netherlands on June 1st, we didn’t want to make our property manager wait on our behalf or risk losing it. She wanted us to sign all the documents in person, so at this point, we we’re still just hoping for the best, so we booked our flight from Omaha to Amsterdam for June 4th. One week in Omaha definitely wasn’t enough but we wanted the reassurance and peace of mind of “arriving to the Netherlands” on a good note.

During our week in Omaha, the most important thing we needed to do was get our marriage license and have a ceremony with the judge. We’ve always known we’d get married but it was taking us both a long time to “grow up” and commit. Once I got pregnant, we wanted to ensure that Clay would have full rights as the father. And for our visa, we also needed to be married to file it jointly. Thankfully, that all went smoothly as well. We hired a retired judge for $150 who met us at the courthouse with my friends Jessie and Hillary as witnesses. The entire thing was done and signed within a couple hours.

We also had to get Peaches International Health Certificate from the vet, get her approved to fly with the airlines and coordinate an immense about of paperwork with customs.

There was also a lot to do at my clothing store. Summer is our busiest time of year and I normally go to the shop monthly to check on things. I knew I wouldn’t be making it back to Omaha anytime soon so I had a massive check list of tasks to accomplish.

A fun aspect, we hosted a gender reveal party at Clay’s parents (read about it and see photos here). It was so special to have all our family’s together.

It really was an amazing week in Omaha. I felt so much love and support from our friends and family - on everything… the move, baby, and our relationship.

June 4th came quick. My mom dropped us off at the airport and after 24+ hours of travel, we made it to Amsterdam. Unfortunately, our luggage did not! We went to the help desk and they said our bags were still at JFK, but would send them on the next flight tomorrow. We didn’t even have our carry-on bags because they made us gate check those, as it was a full flight, so we literally had the cloths on our back, and my laptop in my purse.

We took the train to Haarlem Centraal then walked to our new apartment, and waited outside for the property manager. She showed up 15 minutes later with all the paperwork. She walked us through and we signed everything. Of course, she noticed we didn’t have anything so we explained what happened.

Important to note - the apartment is unfurnished, so we literally had nothing… no bed, no cups, no toiletries, no towel, no pillow. She very graciously went to her house, got an air mattress, a couple kitchen items, towels and bedding. These were low key a life line because our luggage didn’t arrive for 3 days. With the flight and the jet lag, and the two weeks of packing, we were so out of sorts those first few days.

Day by day, we ran errands and slowly started getting the essential toiletries, furniture, groceries, and supplies. It’s going to take awhile to get properly settled, but I’m really looking forward to making it “our home.”

I literally can’t believe that only one month later, we made it a reality. Even though that is such a fast change from idea to execution, it’s something I’ve wanted for so long. When Clay was on board, I knew there was no reason to second-guess this dream.