About BAAUX Journal
(pronounced like “box”)
The Story Behind The BAAUX Journal
The BAAUX Journal was never meant to be just a travel blog. It’s part story, part reflection, and part guide to building a life that feels like your own.
Here, I write about the things that shape our days — moving abroad, learning to live slower, finding new rhythms as a family, and the small moments that make unfamiliar places feel like home.
This Journal became my way to document it all: not just the milestones, but the in-between moments too. The quiet mornings in cafés. The airports and new homes. The lessons that come with chasing change and choosing something different.
Our move abroad might have started the story, but it’s grown into something much bigger — a space about life, travel, family, and the freedom to create what comes next.
Why I Started The BAAUX Journal
The BAAUX Journal began as a way to capture the biggest leap of our lives — moving abroad in early 2025. After years of talking about it, we finally made the jump, and I wanted a way to document what it really felt like.
I’ve traveled to more than seven countries, but this wasn’t just another trip. Traveling somewhere and deciding to live there are two very different things. This was about starting over, in real time, with all the unknowns that come with it.
What I didn’t want was to share our story through just a highlight reel on social media. That never felt true to me. And honestly, putting every detail out there to be picked apart or judged just wasn’t what I wanted this journey to be about.
Even after all my research and travel experience, life abroad has been nothing like what I expected. The gap between what people say and what it actually feels like is one of the biggest reasons I knew I had to share.
What I do love is sharing knowledge — breaking things down, reflecting on the lessons, and passing along the pieces that might help someone else. That’s where The BAAUX Journal comes in.
This isn’t perfectly curated. It’s a space to write the story in my own words, to be honest about the fear, the freedom, and the beauty of choosing a life outside the BAAUX.
I’m Brooke — the one writing here — but this Journal is really about all of us: me, my husband, and our two girls.
I’ve spent the last ten years working in operations, building systems, managing teams, and helping businesses run smoothly. It’s work I still do and still love because creating clarity out of chaos is part of who I am.
My husband worked as a police officer, a job that carried long hours and a lot of responsibility. We were proud of the work we did, but eventually we wanted more — more freedom, more time with our kids, and more experiences that went beyond the routine.
We last called Raleigh, North Carolina home, but in early 2025 we left it behind for our first stop abroad: the Philippines. A place we had never been. No family waiting. No built-in community. Just us, our girls, and the belief that we’d figure it out along the way.
Now, our days look different. We homeschool in cafés, grocery shop in markets where we can’t always read the labels, and laugh through all the “firsts” that come with starting over. It isn’t perfect, but it’s ours — and that’s what makes it worth it.
The “BAAUX” Family
What You’ll Find Here
Maybe you’ve thought about moving abroad. Maybe you’ve wondered what life could look like outside the routine. Or maybe you just love hearing real stories about family, travel, and finding freedom in unexpected places.
Whatever brought you here, you’ll find pieces of it in this Journal:
The honest story of our move abroad — the good, the hard, and everything between.
Practical tips for taking a leap of your own.
Family and homeschooling life on the road.
Lifestyle shifts and lessons we’re learning along the way.
Travel memories worth holding onto.
This isn’t about perfection. It’s about sharing what’s real — and maybe sparking something in you, too.
more than a journal
Change doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be yours.
For me, this Journal was never just about writing down our story. It’s about giving a real look at what life abroad actually feels like. The parts no one talks about, the lessons you only learn once you’re living it, and the small wins that make the hard days worth it.
That’s why it’s more than a journal. It’s not just a place for me to reflect — it’s a space to be honest. To admit that moving abroad is both exciting and overwhelming. That some days it feels like freedom, and other days it feels like a mess. And that both are true at the same time.
I want this to be more than our family’s story. I want it to be a reminder. That you don’t have to follow the rules you were handed. That you can make a change even when it’s scary. And that your version of “outside the box” doesn’t have to look like mine — it just has to be yours.
So yes, this is our Journal. But my hope is that as you read, you’ll see pieces of your own story in it too. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll feel the courage to start your own chapter.
