1. Borrow (straight from the mechanic) for the adventure the minivan you are thinking to buy in the near future to make it your camper. 2. Buy the equipment - matres, blankets, basic kitchen stuff and... solar panels! 3. Start your journey, driving slowly for the first 500 km, getting used to the car, to the heat, etc. 4. Stop on the first night at a beautiful lake in Germany, close to the Polish border and enjoy a bath by the sunset. 5. Go ahead another 500 km to spend a night at Anna's mother in Germany. 6. Get the engine warning lamp on just a few km from your daily destination (halfway to Spain). 7. Get a family friend to come Saturday evening to see what's with the car and receive an answer which, well, brings a lot of doubts and hard decisions. 8. Decide to drive the car back to Poland to give it up. 9. Spent next 2 days covering again those 1000 km back (stopping by the same gorgeous lake). 10. Give the car back (meanwhile buying tickets for the bus to Spain). 11. Take a bus to Spain with a change in Paris. 12. Miss the connection in Paris by 5 minutes due to the delay of the first bus. 13. Discover that all buses and trains from Paris to north Spain are sold out for the next 24h. 14. Ask a random bus going more or less that direction if there's any chance you can squeeze in. 15. Get the place of somebody who didn't show up. 16. Pay the drivers in cash (as the system doesn't allow you to buy tickets anymore) and get a discount on the bribe. 17. Reach your destination a bit more than a week after you actually started the trip.
It was a long journey, full of challenges and stress but we are actually very, very grateful for it. Although we spent just 4 days in the minivan, we learned a lot, preparing for it, getting info about it and experiencing it for real. We realized a few things along the process. One of them is that having a camperized van requires all in all a stable life (which we don't have at the moment). The other is how minimalist our souls are and how much we actually appreciate travelling with a tiny amount of things. No need to mention about the price of gasoline changing every day
Having a van was on our dream list for this year. We are happy we tried, even if for now we decided to postpone this dream for another time, ready for other adventures life has for us.
Big THANK YOU for those who supported us in this situation. Your support meant a lot and helped us to come back safe (both physically and mentally ;)).
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