Living in Spain - The "What am I doing still here?" Feeling and two drawings.

I'm sitting in "La Siesta" it means the nap. It's a beach cafe. The view is out across the sea to the headland. The floor is literally sand, although the beach here is shingle (they have brought it in to be more beach venue). The kids are at the flat with Tim, Dylan is having a real siesta. I'm drawing the view and the jumbled white carved couches and floaty curtains that decorate the place. The sea is quiet, it's only about eight meters from me, but every now and then it "cheeks" me by sending a sudden loud wave! Sparrows abound, clearing up the crumbs the French family in the next nest of couches have overlooked.

For the first time in a while, I'm not beset by the question "How did I end up back here?" And "I'm forty and I've done what?" It's actually a pretty unfair question because the town I grew up in is a privileged place to live, I just felt too much like I was stuck. The second question is also unfair, I've traveled widely, I've started and sold businesses, I've got my design degree and a brilliant world class studio to sell my work. I've got two perfect kids. I've got a brilliant husband who always steps in and quietly fixes the mess when my plans go wrong. Yes, it's Tim who dealt with the angry buyers of the last camper, and Tim who untangled the breakdown mess - mostly in French! Still I was loading the dishwasher back home and thinking... "What am I doing here? Back where I grew up? Among the middle class, suburban retired people? (And my collection of awesome friends - mostly not local!) One of said awesome friends keeps referring to this as our "first" trip, I think she might be right. I've been around Europe a bit (France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Poland, Austria, Hungry...) with a backpack and visited; America, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Egypt... but it's different to move off and say "Now I'm out and it's the start of my travel." See what I mean? I mean this as a change, not a ten day mini adventure. And that idea has dispelled the "What am I doing here?" Feeling. :)

Now I better go pay for my lunch, that I ordered by pointing at the menu and saying "Please" in Spanish, it was yummy (mostly onion and oil I think!) if you get something horrid by this method you should always try to eat it anyway, as it's your deserved punishment for not learning local language and customs fast enough - unless it's cheese, especially mouldy cheese, if it's cheese you are excused! Well not if its this sort of yummy goats cheese they have given me... I might be making the rules up as I go! :)

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Europe by campervan - what now???

Europe in a campervan.

So what happened and what will we do now?

Well the Campervan was worth about £4,000 and expected to make it around the France, Spain and Portugal. The transmission now needs replacing and a piston is not working properly. The bill just for the transmission is €4,000 so it's not worth fixing. The piston not working could also mean a new engine!

Thank goodness the breakdown cover will pay to ship it home. The broken camper is currently stored in Pissy poo-vile, in France, I didn't make that address up!! So I let my kids watch so much screen time while I got that van ready that my son started calling me "Mummy Pig" from Peppa Pig and now it's bust!

Its going to my mum's street and we will have to ask her to take out our gear then we can sell it "spares or repairs", someone fixing an old Chevy can use it, good buy Sparkle.

What will we do? The short answer is live in Spain! My friend has given us her flat while she is away. There is something we are doing to help her - it's a great two-way arrangement, but as she didn't mention it on facebook, nor will I. Suffice to say we are not living on charity.

We have agreed to be here until June. We will see Spanish summer too.

We need to save, keep paying debt, homeschool and MAKE A NEW PLAN!!! I have not given up on touring this peninsula seeing everything.

Living here will also present problems we have not had to deal with before. Firstly we all need to learn some Spanish, but what will we do when someone is sick, buying unusual things...

If my friends are interested I could still blog about the challenges and joys of learning to live in Spain?

Secondly once my poor husband gets a minute (he has somehow managed to keep tutoring on Skype throughout this crazy time) we will make a new plan.

I am open to ideas and input from my friends, as long as they don't involve towing a caravan! What a terrifying idea! We don't want to pay for hotels, or even camp sites every night, so some sort of van that can use the Airs  makes the trip less so so so much cheaper. What could I get? What would we need to save? Who could source a good one that might not break!??

We are all enjoying our time here. We are happy.

Thank you again to all my friends for the floods of love, help and support. ️Xxxxxxxxxxxx 

Europe by campervan, not anymore!

Europe by campervan.

Well not any more.

The van that cost more than £1,000 a night to sleep in for three nights! Argh!!

It's official the bill to fix the van is approximately the same as we paid for her. Both the garages that recently did work are not to blame, the guy who sold it to me is not to blame, it was just bad luck, it could have gone for years, it didn't.

All day on the phone to insurance and grange and UK family.

We are not going to tour Europe in a camper - at least not just now - but we are going to live in Spain until June, after that there is no plan as yet.

We had to snatch some stuff from the camper as they stood over us waiting to load it on a truck to go to "Engleter" where we have to sell it for parts! But we are flying to Spain, via Paris to live till June.

So we did launch!

We will avoid English winter!

We are worldschoolers!

However the camper was a financial disaster. Good and bad!

Thank you so so so much for all the support!!! Amazing!!!!

Europe by campervan - tails between our legs!

Europe by campervan.

I think we might come home with our tails between our legs. You all have my permission to laugh at me. Two days in France and we broke down! The ferry was wonderful! That "we did it" feeling caught hold of us all and the sunlight, struck the sea and our hearts alike. I did pretty well driving on the other side of the road (a few non serious mistakes) and we somehow managed to sleep in the van with too much stuff everywhere! There was a lot of frost on the van in the morning. The morning was freezing!!! We always knew it was late in the year and we should head straight South. I set off to do a decent chunk of France in a day and 1 hour in, on a busy roundabout the steering went shudder, shuddering, shudder! The whole van became difficult to drive and even difficult to stop. I chose the least busy exit and found a bit of gravel (sort of semi-layby) to pull up on. Long wait, very scared daughter crying to go home. Breakdown truck. Long wait at garage for taxi to hotel. They say it's the transition, that's pretty serious. They say call tomorrow and then we have to choose. Getting the van and us home is covered or fix it here (fixing it is not covered) and continue. Jasmine, the trips previous best advocate, is begging to go home. I got a proper scare. If the van had done that on one of the windy valley sides we have climbed then it would have been even more dangerous. Jasmine wants to come home, not that we have one, and get a newer van when we can afford it. She also wants to go a big trip in England first to really test it. We call the garage tomorrow for news. Jasmine may have a point??!!? The trouble with the Chevy is its old and American so it always has to go to a specific garage to be fixed.

If we do what Jasmine wants, where do we live while we fix and sell the Chevy?? And sell it and what should we buy that is reliable and we can afford? A mini bus?" Whatever it is we have to turn it into a campervan and register it as such or no Aires and britstops so no free accommodation! Or should we just fix it and continue? I'm exhausted, scared and sick of the cold after only two days travel. Right now I would love to go home. Have I lead my little family up a blind alley?

I know I'm always welcome on my mum's floor. Perhaps I'll take this opportunity to come home and rethink a bit. Looking and feeling stupid and unlucky. :(

What are you doing still here? Europe in a campervan.

I'm taking my family to France, Spain and Portugal this winter in a classic Chevy van. For adventure, to break out of suburban middle class thinking, to learn languages, to experience culture, and to escape the rain - mostly the last bit!

I'm still here, however, getting rained on! We are becoming professional at waiting for garages to do work! All British people are already professional at getting rained on! We finally got a service and an oil change but the breaks need work, I'm thinking we might need them! We might leave on the the 1st or we might not!

I keep meeting friends who greet me with “What are you still doing here?” “I thought you had gone?” And even “I can't wait for you to go!” Then they realise what they have said and frantically try to dig themselves back out, “Oh! I do like you of course…” it's ok, I understand.

The people who bought our previous camper and then said it's not their van, when it broke down, have reached an all time high on their reaction, they actually lied to the DVLA and forged my signature on a government document!! Fortunately the DVLA were on the ball and sent me a form asking if I really did want to transfer ownership back to me! They (the DVLA) won't discuss if they are taking action but they will keep all evidence. The police gave me a leaflet to report fraud. Tim also got a nasty letter from the buyers, and some calls to go on a lurid TV program and fight about it in public! We said no!!! If they do anything else I'm going to open a fraud investigation and perhaps even press charges! I'm not a vindictive person, but the threats have been horrible, so It's quite comforting to know I now have them by the private parts if they give us more abuse! I wonder if they will Google me and read my blog!!? It sort of cramps my writing style so I try to assume they won't.

I've discovered that the little Chevy cars you see everywhere are called a Chevrolet Spark!! Can you believe my daughter called our big Chevy Van “Sparkle” without knowing that? It all makes sense to me now. I've been showing her the A team van and theme on u tube, hopefully she won't now think I can jump six police cars at a time in our van!

We have got rid of all our stuff except a plastic set of drawers each. Each of my kids has two drawers of clothes and two of toys. Three pairs of shoes each…

Today I put everything in the van and it does fit, just!!! It's going to be like living in one of my daughter's dolls houses (now given to friends) without being doll sized! However if we can cope with so little space, we gain all the space, if we can cope with owning so little, we can “own” Europe...  We have been getting rid of stuff for weeks then sudden shopping spree; all week I've been getting boxes, they contain things like the extra car battery (now fitted and ready to run all our devices without flattening the main battery), a cool box, a roof bag and a potty. For the first time in my life I have a pot to piss in!

We are really, really, really, nearly ready. If you see me you can say “I know why you are still here!” I think it sounds sinister, perfect for Halloween!!!

The pictures are us “test camping” at a Brit stop; a campervan only free stopover that you can sign up for and get a book of. It's about £35 for the book, which is your membership, then you can park safely and free all over the country in pub car parks, vineyards, Mannie houses… it's a brilliant idea. You can't bring caravans, or tents and you can't set up furniture or awnings, just sleep and perhaps have wifi, fresh water or some facilities.

On our test camping we learned; don't set off when it's already dark and be looking for turn offs to some tiny country manor house in pitch black except for the angry local driver up your bum because he knows all the bends and wants to go fast!! But on the upside the view was a complete morning surprise!

Also a picture of our “Pot to piss in!” and trying to fit everything in! Heaven help me on that!

Heavy Chevy, Europe in a campervan!

Heavy Chevy. Europe by campervan.

I think everyday society might have a short of magical inertia, like the heavy Chevy I now drive, once it's chugging you need to work hard to stop. I'm sure it's a good thing for us all to travel and change our lifestyle too, but I'm struggling with the last of the “break out” we have got rid of almost enough stuff, the van is almost ready, I've almost worked out the taxes and insurances… almost, almost, almost...more bits of everyday society keep coming up… “Oh! We will need to do something about that too!”

I'm calling this Heavy Chevy because I seem to have spent all week driving around garages being told my van is too heavy for their ramps! Luckily the Chevy (Chevrolet G20 Day Van) is in good condition, but it's stalling in reverse sometimes and needs a service and oil change. I booked her into a garage, when I turned up they went “How heavy is that? It won't go on our ramp!” So I drove around looking at the ramps! The next garage was doubtful “I better not put it on my ramp” they recommended a garage “We have a four ton ramp but we can't get parts for that! What is it?”

So I called the campervan garage, “Sure we can service it, sure we can get parts, oh! The ramp is no problem, we don't have one, we will just jack it up! What is it seven tonnes? Only one and a half, no problem!” Just goes to show it's attitude and experience not tools that count!

On the people who bought my previous van, the police advised us that they have no legal leg to stand on and we can ignore it unless they threaten violence, in which case it becomes a police matter.

Hopefully they realise their only options are to fix the van and sell it, to one of the many people who want old motorhomes, and are prepared to do work on them, or fix it and keep it. I made her so nice, sweeping her out and checking everything was spotless the night before she went, even though I already had the money, it is crazy to be accused of some sort of fault.

Anyway my husband has started telling people we are leaving before Halloween! So I guess we are. We can't really do a leaving party, (shame on you if you didn't come to my 40th while I still had the big house for parties!) it's getting on for winter and I don't want to drive right across France in snow so it's going to be like the end of “Good Will Hunting” one day you will call round for us and find us gone! When you do, make sure you do that huge Ben Affleck smile! They made it!

The pictures are the “All the aires” books. Aires are little parking spots for campervans only (no tents or caravans) that cost nothing or only a few euros. Tim’s mum got us the books - thank you. Whenever I am feeling like I'm never getting out of here I play “Who can find the prettiest Aire?” With Tim! These are Aires for campervans, don't mix them up with truck stops which are also called Aire - something or other and are not always safe.

Garages may quail when they see her but I'm getting to love my Chevy, “Sparkle” as my daughter named her. She's built for big American rednecks, or A team members, and I sit on, not one, but two cushions so I can see out to drive. All old vehicles have eccentricities, when you dove my last van over 40 MPH the wing mirror went flat against the side!!! It was open the window and hold it out to change lane (I super glued it!) With Sparkle, the driver side window packs in if it rains! You have to leave it down till it dries out, think before you wind it down? Will it rain? Do I need my van secure?

Europe in a campervan, "I love it when a plan comes together?...I'm...ish!"

So selling my camper took a turn for the worse. I planned to blog about the whole adventure honestly (while trying to be entertaining) for my friends to enjoy, but I seriously considered leaving this out. I'll leave out the names instead. I usually have a strict policy of not sharing any bad news in the public domain but somehow it seems to me that I should share my complete adventure, ups and downs, and hopefully, over all, you will judge it good news.

We sold "Winter" I walked round her and pointed out all the little old vehicle eccentricities, we had talked already about how she needed her radiator fixed pronto, and that had been taken off the price. We smiled, shook hands, they drove off happy with Winter purring along.

On the way to her new home she overheated and produced smoke. The buyer went ballistic, he wanted his money back now, saying : "it was not his van, he was going to call the police and say there was a van outside the house with no tax and insurance, he was going to take us to court..." You've never seen so many CAPITAL LETTERS and exclamation points in an email!!! It was very upsetting, and I'm a bit pathetic when it comes to being threatened, reading it made my hands shake.

Tim is a bit braver than me, he did the  gentleman's thing and took my phone for a while! They probably don't have a legal leg to stand on as we put all the faults in the listing or told them, but it's hard to know what they would try to prove as they will give no specifics, just a list of faults I showed them and threats. We call ebay and the police, (to find out what happens if they carry that threat out) they both say they are not interested, we sold the van, they took the vehicle, end of story. We discuss blocking the calls and leaving them to cool down and ether fix or re-sell Winter. Tim feels he should help them.

We called the lady who had offered the asking price if I would let psyco-buyer down. (I wish I had not been so high on my integrity.) She still wanted "Winter" yes, she fully understood it needs the radiator fixed and can overheat till its fixed. More could be wrong too, we don't know as the new owners have not taken it to a garage, just left it in the street and attacked us (turns out they left it in their street 100 yards from a garage).

Tim found out where Winter was and met the lady who still wants to buy her there to view it. She had to bring her two pugs and there five puppies, which were too little to leave all day! They dropped Tim home and we all got to see the puppies! :)

Other people from the list of people interested would all still like it. Her new owner calms down and is ok. All the people interested need to know what it will cost to fix her, Tim books her into the nearest garage. He spends a whole day helping them to re-sell Winter.

I now feel so threatened and cowed that I just want to stay home and hide from the world forever, preferably in bed, but I think we would all regret that. Also I keep wondering if I did something to merit all the furious threats, I know she needed fixing and I had a long chat with him on the phone about that, he told me confidently he had the friends and skills to do it. I told him I was no mechanic.

I decide I have to continue as if my heart was in it and wait for my courage to catch up. So Jasmine, my mum and I go for "Sparkle" the very non-sparkeling van which is more right for us because it has four seatbelts and is ready to go. We take five trains to get there and my mum and I take turns to drive her back. My daughter was traveling 12 hours without complaint, bodes well for taking her all over Europe. Sparkles seller is a brilliant chilled out, alternative sort of accountant! Have you ever even thought of a hippy-accountant! You should meet one, they are awesome! He really likes our plan I tell him "If my kids grow up and want to be like everyone else that's fine with me, but I want it to be an informed choice, not just something that happened to them, that's the backbone of my travel plans." 

Sparkle runs just as well as Winter always did for me. But she's not got the above cab bed, so she's much less rocky and wind resist-ish to drive. Oh! And the power! I'm in love with having a 5L engine, hang the petrol costs, it's so nice to have so much, get-out-of-trouble extra there if you want it. Frankly, sitting on the left and driving on right hand side roads sucks!!! I'm going to prefer driving her in Europe for sure. Sparkle has nothing inside but a bed seat and lights, and one 12v socket (that's the cigarette lighter sort) We are going to fit a second battery and an awning. Then we will get all plug in separate things, plug in cool box, plug in kettle... You get the idea. It's going to be more camping-ish, less little-home-on-wheels. We will be able to park and drive her closer in to cities and use her more like a car. We will not have running water, it's a trade off.

The next day Winter's buyer is back to making threats. We are going to have to tell him, "It's your van, you bought it, drove it off and we told the DVLA, we are helping you because we feel sorry for your bad luck, we sold her in good faith, running fine with an oil leak and a radiator leak both in the listing and discussed with you, if you don't stop sending threats we will have to stop helping you find a new buyer."

In the meantime I'm trying not to let all the hate and threats stop me feeling pleased with Sparkle (I'm going to have to put something that sparkles on it to make sense out of my daughter's name for it).

Hopefully these people will calm down if they get a new offer for Winter once we know what she will cost to fix.

I'm so wishing I'd said yes when I was offered the asking price and pick it up today, if only I'd known how vindictive the person I was keeping my promise to would turn out to be.

I had planned to say "I love it when a plan comes together" because Sparkle is the van used in the new A Team movie but it's not really where I'm at right now. I am pleased with my classic American campervan.