After our first week back on the road it is time to truly start heading north. We move on from our pathetic Spanish campground after our laundry is done to drive no more than 45 kilometers. The goal is to sleep in reasonable temperatures, with as little rain as possible. Little do we know at this point how much we are going to put up with later, weather-wise. We park in the city park of Tous. Close to us, a family is having a party. They have a barbecue and turn on music. When Finn hears the music across the park, he asks if we should give them some money.…
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And then suddenly we were living the Vanlife.
Our last visit to Europe had been more than 3 years. With another little one added to our family, a trip was overdue. After we found a friend willing to keep our black lab for a very long time, we booked tickets. The plan was to spend the Holidays in the Netherlands, and then to take a train down towards Malaga to rent an Airbnb. Do you have any idea how expensive it is to train 5 people through Europe? More expensive than purchasing a vehicle and driving it there. The Berry Bus needed a little TLC. New tires, shocks and some welding plus other things that my hubby…
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Hot springs, cliffs and forest.
After staying put in one spot for about a month, we have now been back in our van for a week. It’s about time for an update. We are still south of Valencia, so taking our sweet time to drive back north. Why heading for cold weather sooner than absolutely necessary? Leaving the apartment in Vera on the late side, and of course in a rain storm, we did not try to get very far. Just after the next town down the coast, we set up camp on the rocky cliffs next to some other campers. There was not much of an evening since it was late as we were…
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Destroying the Alcazaba?
Like most other children, our kids are intrigued with castles. Since we spend most of our time in the United States, we have not had the chance to visit many. Here in Europe every other town seems to have some sort of castle, or at least a ruin. We were curious about the Alcazaba in Alméria. Finn was just a tad bit nervous. Was this like the castle in Dutch amusement park The Efteling? That one had just been a little too realistic in its décor and activities for his liking. And despite the conversations beforehand, Zoe was imagining that today she was finally going to meet a…
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Swim Float Swim: Potentially a lifesaver
One hundred swimming lessons. One hundred, and still she could not comfortably put her head under water let alone swim. Lessons at the local rec center just did not do the job for us. When we tried one more time last summer, our boy was pulled under water by a teenage instructor with no warning whatsoever. He was afraid of the pool for the rest of the summer months. I had known about survival swimming for at least a year. A friend told me about it, and she was very positive. I watched videos online and did the math on cost and time investment. How would we be able to…
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Cabo de Gata
Cabo de Gata is a fairly large Natural Park on the southeastern coast of Spain. Beautiful landscapes, impressive coastal views and dozens of hikes describe this area in a nutshell. Hiking was our intention for this day. We ended up on a few little walks instead. Oh well. We managed to roll out by nine, and hoping that local signs to the Park would trump iPhone maps, we ended up in Carboneras for coffee. At that point we had driven though the park for a grand total of maybe 5 kilometers before heading for an industrial zone. What was this? A fountain downtown, a couple playgrounds and our usual chemical…
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Castillo de Tabernas
To be honest, we were supposed to visit Almeria last week. But plans change, especially when you travel with kids. With the Spanish siesta in the back of our minds, we knew we would have to be down there pretty early on in the day if we wanted to visit anything at all. So when kids went to bed late the night before and we did not get the show on the road until well beyond 10, the plan morphed into a visit to Tabernas. I had never heard of Tabernas before, but if you like watching a Western every so often, you may be surprised to know that many…
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Budget
So here we are, in Spain. Slightly discouraged by the rainy winter months while camping in our mini camper van, we opted for some peace and quiet. Dry peace and quiet, because we are renting an Airbnb for a little while. Slowly the fog from ongoing sleep deprivation is starting to lift, and it almost looks like the kids are getting bored. It is such a luxury to have the opportunity to think and talk and to figure out life. One child is playing with the miniature dollhouse, the others are hanging out at the playground in front of the house. I can see the Mediterranean from the kitchen window,…
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The journey to Europe
I know we could have opted for 24 hours from door to door. I know we could have looked at the travel as pure necessity, the only way to see our European friends and family. But why would we, if life is a journey in itself? We flew from Denver to London, took a train to Newcastle, slept in a hostel and then took a boat to The Netherlands. Except for the part of flying for eight hours with a 2-year-old, we enjoyed every minute of it. Everyone was exhausted after the flight, and it was a good thing that we had our Ergo Baby and that the 4-year-old still…
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Coffee or compassion
We have had quite a summer here. Getting our house ready to rent, selling most of our belongings and fitting what was left in 10 x 10 storage, being kind of homeless when our original summer plan as WWOOFers fell through and maintaining a job that required us to wake up at 3:20AM almost every day. Even after three kids with one of them having serious sleep issues, fatigue has reached a whole new level. More often than not have I fallen asleep at night without even getting changed. Yet life as a mom goes on. Back from work, there is school to be done, laundry waiting to be handled…
