However, having now been away for a while we've had the chance to talk about many things and have some ideas which will make life in the future more pleasant for all of us.
'Life on the Road' has been an adventure. One of meeting many new people, of living closely with each other, of seeing new things and being able to quickly able to adapt to changing surroundings. One thing for certain,
we like our little Motor Home, being in the same place each night rather than moving around and wondering who had been there before us. !!! If you know what I mean.
The process of 'setting up' is quite easy and it's always enjoyable seeing others arrive and just noting how long it takes some. Caravans in Europe are incredibly light with motors to move the body around at the push of a button. The trend is certainly for Motor Homes and all sites have facilities for you to unload your grey water and the 'other stuff'. We always ensure that we have topped up our water tanks and 'ready' for the next adventure but sometimes you do find yourself a little short or unable to find a suitable place to offload. Caravaners tend to have 'capsules' which are then wheeled away. We find that most people save on 'grey water' by using communal facilities at the parks and this then becomes a social way to clean up. We generally stay quite compact,and find it works well for us.
Owning a Caravan and 4WD in Australia and now a MotorHome in Europe for our travels helps us clearly see the difference and I must say it's quite enjoyable to be able to quickly move around with the MotorHome. Ours is not the best one on the patch but it's a great little van and everything works really well.
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| Yeah - right ! ... |
Driving - well that deserves a chapter of it's own! and can at times be quite hair raising for us. Grant copes extremely well driving on the wrong side of the road and has got us out of some quite tight spots. Helena on the other hand has often found herself gripping the handrail on the passenger side rather tightly as we negotiate some roads. As in most countries, some of the roads are good and some are bad. We've found ourselves on very bumpy connecting roads and we've also found ourselves on tight city back streets with barely enough room on either side. After one particularily difficult 'very tight' street drive, a local came up and shook Grants' hand and in French with waving hands was clearly telling him what a good job he did. The 'other' locals raised their glasses in our direction and jeered. Glad to see us go or happy we made it !! Either will do.
The practicality of life on the road necessitates regular trips to the supermarket. Easy - you've got to be joking!!! You try reading in another language the simple word for butter, honey, marmalade, sugar, etc.... we've certainly made some mistakes and opened cans to put in our freshly made Pasta of 'stuff' which didn't look like it was for human consumption - let alone smell like it was. Yuk! Can be quite dodgy especially for milk. Milk in NZ and Australia is sensational. Almost fresh from the farm, it's normal, low fat, organic etc... but over here you might find one bottle or two in the fridge but it's mainly UHT milk so we've done the European thing and have boxes stored in the van for future use. Not bad idea really, because you know you're never going to run out. Same goes for juice. No freshly squeezed juice (i.e. straight from the tree') it's 'jus sans sucres ajoutes ne contient que de' ......... I fortunately get most of that but sometimes it's a struggle. Canned foods and contents (with a fridge that can flutuate in temperature depending on how many kilometres you do during the day!) can be a mystery so EATING OUT is the best option.
Our Garmin GPS with updated Europe maps has been a 'godsend'. It has sent us through some amazing countryside and we've been able to clearly give directions as to where we want to go. Grant has also linked our cheaper ACSI sites onto the GPS so we can have a full range of accommodation options. We've also turned it off and made our own way to places we want to see. Just followed our nose(s) to see what we'd find without the pressure of time. Helena in particular has had years of having to be at a certain place at a certain time and it's rather nice not to have to check a diary for details of numerous daily appointments which needed to be kept. It's a relief and one that has made a big difference to our daily quality of life.
To wake up and being able to enjoy the beauty of the day is a special thing and one which is definitely not taken for granted.
Helena 25-5-11
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| One happy camper |
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| Two happy campers |
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