It’s been a week, but it feels like so much longer. We have settled so quickly into new routines and life on the road. A few things we have realised along the way so far:
*There is more to lunch than a cheese sandwich but we have yet to discover what…need to vary our diet lol
*Simple living is freeing – I’ve always wanted something small but perfectly formed and feel really at home in the motorhome. Oddly I don’t miss the house or all our stuff still in the garage, and was happy to see a family living there and making it their own
*Thank God for the internet – we have a very rough idea where we are going and thus constantly googling routes, things to do, possible places to visit, where to stay, and Google Maps has been great! Plus for keeping in touch with friends and blogging, I still feel very connected.
* We don’t miss TV – we were never avid watchers but had downloaded a few programs/films and have only watched one episode of Fleabag. For me TV was an autopilot thing to zone out in front of after a long day. Now I have more energy we are reading, blog writing, route planning and playing games in the evening.
*Exercise on the road is hard – previously my lack of willpower was sorted by attending lots of classes and a physical job. Here I’m going to have to set aside time, ignore the other campsite people and just do HITT or something to burn off the pastries.
*Still in holiday mode – not sure it has sunk in we are away for a year! Then at other times I find myself planning next March/April (back to UK for MOT then on to Norway/ Sweden/ Finland). We have been pushing forward each day when really we shouldn’t be afraid to stay a few days…we have plenty of time
*Dogs adapt quickly – Jasper was especially set in his ways and Mabel is nervous so we were worried how they would adapt. Ernest hasn’t a care in the world and takes everything in his stride. All three are now more relaxed when traveling (often asleep), have adapted to new mini routines of when fed/walked, and claimed favourite spots in the van. They are seemingly loving the variety of walks/new smells
*It takes the same amount of time to make a proper coffee as to do all housework – this for me is the dream 😂 I clean bathroom, put toys away, sweep, brush mats, make up bed and sofas, do dishes, air freshen and then sit down to coffee
*Tick watch – found two on both Ernest and Jasper so having to be vigilant
*Our van radio is rubbish…and I’ve bought all my old cheesy CDs. Most journeys have been quiet but Mark inadvertently put an Air Supply cd on and his ears were bleeding, while I sung along 😂
*Our language skills are shocking 🙈 We Google key words like hello in each language but if anyone talks back to us we haven’t got a clue… typical Brits
*Traveling with three dogs makes us a spectacle – they are a great talking point and we have been stopped by someone asking to take our photo 😂
*Recycling is more difficult. We have mostly been wild camping and even at the sites they don’t always have recycling facilities so we are having to travel with lots of rubbish until we find a place to dispose properly
*Microwaves make good bread bins as we never use ours
*They take European elections seriously there are posters everywhere!
SofaWolves 