The Luxury of Time and Space
When we first discussed with Annabelle and Julie what the intent behind their next trip together was, Julie’s comment could not be any clearer: “Annabelle will be starting grad school at Stanford soon and before things get very busy for years to come, we want to go somewhere where we can experience something unique, truly different, and simply be…Together.”
It was clear that their strong mother-daughter relationship would be cementing the trip but finding the right destination for the both of them to full enjoy this time together during nearly two weeks wasn’t immediately obvious.
Julie and Annabelle were looking for uninterrupted time. Time away from the routines, obligations and distractions of everyday life while keeping enough movement to satisfy their intellectual curiosity. The itinerary would create the needed movement yes, but Bhutan would create the space for long lasting memories to be built.
In the end Julie & Annabelle discovered a country they had never experienced before: a remote Himalayan kingdom where monasteries cling to mountainsides, prayer flags move with the wind, and valleys unfold beneath enormous skies. Somewhere between Thimphu, Punakha and Paro, this mother and daughter trip became as much about discovering the secrets of a newfound sacred kingdom as bringing them close together.
A country that asks you to slow down
Bhutan is unique in that it does not reveal itself all at once but gradually. Julie and Annabelle began with the mountains only progressively seeing what lied between them. From Thimphu, the country's capital, the road winds through forests and high mountain passes before descending towards the warmer Punakha Valley where prayer flags appear along the roadsides as beautifully captured below by Annabelle.
"The country seems to operate according to a different measure of time”
As they progress, small villages emerge between rice fields along with monasteries which seem to occupy the most impossible places on the hillsides. They quickly felt and shared that “the country seems to operate according to a different measure of time” which was perhaps one of the greatest surprises for them.
The quiet and luxurious comfort of the 6th Senses lodges chosen for Julie & Annabelle were an integral part of how they experienced the kingdom and a natural continuity of the peace they were experiencing: no noise, no urgency, few distractions.
"Peace itself can be a form luxury"
In retrospect, both Julie and Annabelle described one of the most important gifts of this trip as the realization that “peace itself can be a form of luxury.” According to them, there was never a need to fill every moment and in fact the itinerary designed encouraged the opposite: leave some moments empty to build richer memories.
The spirituality of everyday life
Bhutan's spirituality is far from confined to its monasteries but it is woven into the landscape and into daily life. Prayer flags flutter above mountain passes, chortens appear along paths and roads, monks walk with serenely along every road and ancient temples continue to be places of living worship rather than monuments to the past.
For Julie and Annabelle, this spirituality wasn’t just observed but deeply felt and lived: at Chorten Ningpo, Julie and Annabelle shared a morning with a community of monks joining them for breakfast and spending time learning about their lives. There was something particularly moving about meeting young people whose daily rhythms were shaped by traditions so different from their own, yet whose concerns, humor and curiosity felt equally similar. In Punakha, they visited the great dzong with its white walls and golden details rising above the meeting of two rivers deepening their learning about the beliefs and rituals that continue to shape Bhutanese life.
If you ask Julie what stuck with her the most during this journey, making prayer flags in Paro alongside her daughter was one of the most emotionally rich moments she’s lived. The experience took place in the home of a Bhutanese family who had been making them for generations. Their farmhouse stood amid the rice fields, and the family welcomed them into a world that felt both intimate and deeply rooted. For Julie and Annabelle, it wasn’t just about the simple act of making flags but about creating an object whose purpose is not personal possession. In the Bhutanese culture prayer flags are placed into the landscape and left to the wind allowing their prayers to be carried outward. For anyone making prayer flags the way Julie & Annabelle did, it is about becoming part of something larger than the person making them and that is perhaps why the experience resonated so deeply for them.
The people who became part of their story
For Julie and Annabelle, Bhutan's people became more important than its landscapes.
The many faces with them throughout the journey shared not only their knowledge but something of their own lives and perspectives. As they frequently noted it, all who surrounded them from drivers to guides, hotel staff etc quickly became as family to then and gradually, the distinction between “the people looking after us” and “the people we met” began to disappear. There was a genuine human connection that became particularly apparent at the end.
When it was time to leave Bhutan, saying goodbye to their guides was unexpectedly emotional. After spending days together, crossing valleys, climbing paths, sharing meals and discovering the country side by side, these people had become part of the journey in a way that no itinerary could have predicted. In Julie & Annabelle’s words “we left home to discover a place and in the end, it is the people we will never forget. If only we could have taken them with us home! They touched us beyond words. We nearly left in tears…”
The mountain they climbed together
There was, of course, one experience that demanded something from both of them and that is the astonishing Tiger's Nest.
Perched dramatically on the face of a cliff above the Paro Valley, Taktsang Monastery is one of Bhutan's most revered sites. Reaching it requires a steep climb, and the altitude and terrain make the ascent a genuine physical challenge.
After setting out early, Julie and Annabelle made their way to the path that rose through a pine forest with the valley gradually falling away below them. For a mother and daughter, physical challenges can have a strange way of stripping away everything unnecessary! Nothing more than the climb: no schedule to discuss, no work to answer, no outside world to perform for. Reaching Tiger's Nest together was therefore more than reaching a destination.
What Julie & Annabelle carried home
What made Bhutan so meaningful for Julie and Annabelle is that it was a journey that took them beyond their usual rhythms, gently challenged them, and invited them to embrace the unfamiliar without ever feeling rushed. They could venture further, climb higher, discover a different way of life, and still find comfort in the quiet moments in between. Along the way, they formed genuine connections, shared rich emotions, and created memories that belonged to them alone. Yet the most lasting part of the journey was not a particular temple, mountain or encounter but the time they had given themselves to rediscover their relationship away from the distractions of everyday life. In a country where spirituality is a way of life and where stillness seems to come so naturally, Julie and Annabelle enjoyed what travel has best to offer beyond the discovery of a new destination and that is changing the way we spend time with the ones we love the most.
And perhaps this is the rarest luxury of all: not extravagance nor the privilege of reaching somewhere few have been, but the freedom to slow down, find a little peace, and share it with someone who matters. For Julie and Annabelle, Bhutan offered exactly that: a journey that brought them closer and a connection they would carry long after the mountains had faded from view.
