These last few months have been well spent. You may have read our recent post about why we decided to settle down for a bit. As much as our soles need to explore, our bodies needed to catch up. Myles was able to devote the time he needed to rehab his body while we escaped winter. With our heart’s longing for more, our brains knew how important this time was for us.
As the days grow warmer we are spending more and more time outside. We are surprising ourselves at how much we missed living 100% of our life outside. It’s not just us, our dogs feel it too. Despite their daily walks and endless love, they are BORED! We are moving into our van in a couple of days and Myles said to me “I can’t believe how much better I feel, I can’t wait to start actually living again.”
Just like that, I knew we made the right decision. Staying still wasn’t lavish but I am so grateful that our admittedly hectic life gives us enough flexibility to move (or stay) how we need to. As hard as it was to give up our life of mobility, I am so thankful that we were in tune with our bodies enough to know what it is we needed.
As our bodies began to regain their strength we found ourselves turning our talks and dreams into a reality. Lying in bed one night we started with a simple “wouldn’t it be cool to do this extended Euro trip, where we jump from the beaches in Sicily to the islands in Greece?
We can sip wine in Nice and get in a massive food fight in Barcelona (it’s a real thing and we couldn’t be more excited for it!)”. Somehow, this transformed into an overwhelming “holy shit we are moving in less than 2 months.”
I can’t confidently tell you how in less than a month we went from an idea to plane tickets and dog vaccinations. But I can confidently tell you one thing: Always marry someone as crazy as you are. Or don’t and save A LOT of money ;).
I am going to be honest here, Europe has never been at the top of my list of places to explore. I know, the history is amazing. The architecture, the food, the castles, the cobblestone streets… the list is endless. I have travelled to Rome and the Netherlands before and loved both trips.
The vastly different day-to-day life experienced in other parts of the world has always been appealing to me. Asia, Central and South America have always been the areas on my radar. Recently, my wanderlust has skyrocketed and you’d be hard-pressed to find a country I don’t want to visit.
There are 195 countries in the world and I want to explore all of them
The beauty of Europe is the range you can see in a shorter time. On our Canadian road trips, we drive for 6 hours and are still in the same province. In Europe, we could be in 3 different countries. Not ready to give up our time in the mountains and forests quite yet, we will be devoting our next two months to nightly campfires and getting lost in the woods (hopefully not literally FRECKLES). Mid-June we will be ON A PLANE TO… well, who knows.
This is how we see our next few months shaping up. Our plan as of today (keep in mind this changes HOURLY):
- Throw our pups on a plane
- Land in EUROPE – we’re thinking London or Amsterdam.
- Hunt through the streets for a van #vanlife FOREVER
- Spend the summer driving anywhere and everywhere throughout Europe
*DID YOU KNOW that Sweden has a “Freedom to roam” act. This allows you to camp on ANY land that is not privately owned!! That’s right the stunning mountains, coastlines and archipelagos are all fair game! GO SWEDEN! 🙂
- Find an apartment in Barcelona for the winter to act as our home base.
*Their winter months average around 16 degrees, we can live with that!
Any advice could not be more welcomed!!!!
14 Comments
You have everything all figured out… Camping is on my bucket list… Sometimes its good to stay away and have a good life outside your busy schedules.
Glowyshoes’s blog
Oh how true! It is so easy to get up in all the hustle of everyday life. Sometimes, the best thing to do is take a step back and focus on what really matters! 🙂 Hope you get to try camping soon. It’s like a step back in time.
So awesome! I’ve done a road trip through Italy, France and Spain in an SUV – and it was so tough to park! So many roads are tiny and narrow – you’re brave to do it in a van! A couple tips we learned – don’t drive in Rome, traffic in south France during summer is HORRENDOUS. We waited 45 minutes to get through a toll that was maybe 100 yards away. There were no lines, it was like a jammed parking lot in the middle of the highway. But if you can make it through the driving, it’s amazing! A food tour in Nice we did was really fun!
BTW I believe Norway also has the same law as Sweden – the right to use the land is everyone’s!
Oh really? That is so great to hear that you have done it too! The traffic is always a risk in this lifestyle but we find that we are often able to avoid it by traveling during non-peak hours. I believe you are right, I think it is actually Finaland as well with the right to land. A stark difference from Croatia’s no camping policy!
We will DEFINITELY try a food tour in Nice. Sounds like a dream <3
I enjoyed reading this. I also want to travel the world with my hubby, we plan to retire early and do that. I admire you, it takes a lot of courage to do what you do.
Thank you! I definitely recommend taking the plunge to do it! My only recommendation is to not think too much. Do it, everything will fall in to place afterwards!
I hope we can meet you and your husband somewhere around the world one day. <3
If you make it to Cyprus while Greek island hopping, buzz me! You know where to find me! Looking forward to your impressions of our lovely continent! 🙂
I will absolutely make it a priority to come your way on our travels! Would love to meet and share stories, love and laughter <3
I really want to do this one day!! Am so looking forward to following your adventures 💕💕💕
Thanks for following along! I can’t wait to show you everything we’ve been up to! 🙂
Talk soon. x
I’m so incredibly jealous of this lifestyle! My honey would never want to do it full-time, but he is looking to buy us a camper so that’ll be close enough for me 🙂 Can’t wait to ready about more of your adventures!
Full timing certainly isn’t for everyone. I LOVE hearing that you are looking at campers! The freedom of any sort of road trip is amazing.
Our dream is definitely to go and never come back. Can’t wait to share what we’re up to! See you on the road someday! <3
Full time traveling is really hard for those who never tried any dare in normal life but peoples like you are real life heroes. who never step back from any problem and fight with this. and your adventure always gives you great memories….
I like to read it and would like to read more n more about your van life…. Keep it up…. love all of you…
Congrats for you adventure, and wish you all the best for next adventures in van life… I’m also have done a lot of adventures in my van life. but now I left it after a long time and now I started to guide new comers but I like to see more peoples who are still living van life like you with great challenges.. and that’s the main reason there are so many peoples who need help and we should guide them to live there life easily because we have experience and which is very helpful for them…