You know those moments where you look around and you think, “This cannot possibly be my life,” and then you pinch yourself and realize that it is?

Yesterday was that day.

Perhaps it was just the massive jet lag hangover, or perhaps it is the unreal serendipity of seven of the traveling families that orbit in our extended community converging on one island in Malaysia at the same time for a week of adventure together, or perhaps it was the massive pile of foam I inhaled all the way down to my lungs, burning my vocal chords and reminding me very harshly that I am quite alive. It’s hard to tell.

The 36 hour trip back to my side of the world was, in a word: Long.

There is nothing better than the feeling of being at the center of a group hug of 12 arms and kids chattering as fast as they can to catch you up on what you missed. And nothing better than not having to carry one single bag because the little men instantly resume their self appointed roles as my porters. And nothing better than just collapsing a little because the Man is happy to spin all the plates and let you snuggle in to rest.

Of course, I’m hitting the ground running. We’re in Penang because we’re attending this multi-family meet up of other travelers and it’s already been a blast. How often does it happen that seven separate nomadic families manage to converge on one island? In our experience: NEVER.

With one exception, the lovely Gabell-Davenport family who we connected with in Chiang Mai, we’ve never met any of these folks in real life. The fun part? We’ve known them all online for years. A couple of them are people we’ve helped in their pre-launch sequence, and one family is in the very first week of their big adventure and we’ve been cheering from the sidelines for them for well over a year. Putting faces to those names is priceless! I’ll introduce you to them one by one over the next week or so.

One of the perks of being here with six other bloggers is that there is a powerhouse of creative energy in every direction. One of the ladies had the bright idea of pitching the Hard Rock hotel for free tickets to their monthly foam party. Having never attended a foam party in our lives, we were game for anything.

It was definitely a culturally broadening experience. Imagine filling a big room with bath bubbles shoulder deep and then dancing like crazy, kind of by braille, with friends and strangers. Got that mental image? Yeah. It was an adventure. Some tips, should you ever feel the need to attend one:

• Go with people you really like because it’s like taking a bath with strangers
• Be prepared to play hard
• DO NOT inhale the foam. Trust me on this. One person we were with threw up… I wished I could have
• SHOWER after, the foam kind of burns by the end of the night

It was fun. It wasn’t exactly “our thing” but it was fun. Try anything once, right? And the post game margaritas with a beach full of people we’ve read about for years was fully worth the price of admission and just added to the adventure.

Words can’t really capture it, so here are some pictures:

At the “kids party” earlier in the day… considerably tamer than the “adult” one

Parasailing on the beach

Doesn’t every 16 year old girl deserve a jet black Lamborghini?