Exactly one year ago this week, we decided to go live in a camper. We wanted to leave the rental house because of the owner’s medical condition (we wanted him to get back in his own house).
So we thought it would be nice to be in a camper for a couple of months, visiting places in the Netherlands and see if we could find a new place were we could contribute or start a giveconomy-community.
The first few months we had to get used to camperlife. We had to develop a routine, Iza was still so small and the nights were hard (especially in a camper where you hear everything from everyone).
When we felt like we were used to the vanlife, is was already autumn and we needed to find some better weather. So we drove to Portugal. And here we had to get a new routine again, with the weather, long distances and being in a different country.
And now, after one year, there is more peace and calmness in our vanlife. We settled in for longer periods of time on some places and we did some maintenance on the camper which makes it more convenient (new battery’s, extra solarpanel, kitting the roof so it doesn’t rain inside anymore;))
For all those months we had the idea that eventually we would go back to the Netherlands. That Portugal and vanlife were only nice pieces of live in between bigger things. And that, that bigger things would happen in Holland.
For the first time, last week Robbert and I both felt that there are other options than ‘go back’. We could go forward…or stay still for a while….what that means, we don’t know yet. But for now we feel at home. Living the vanlife, in Tomar, Portugal. And there’s no place we’d rather be.