REALLY a lot to do...

(9.9.22) After the idea was spread into the world, we were faced with a huge mountain of 'ToDo's'. Where do we start? What do we start with? As always with me as a mother, I simply started with the children. Felix is already a preschooler in the decision and should be enrolled in school in the summer of 2023. That means contacting schools and fighting until we are granted an exemption. Delaying would have been the emergency solution, but after my appointment at the local school, we had a positive approval for the exemption. Apparently, we were not the first ones :-) Now we had to wait anxiously until it was confirmed in writing. When the letter finally arrived in spring, it felt like a first step towards realizing the journey. Along with the feeling came the fear; can I even do this? Now I am responsible for making sure our son can read when we come back? Math? The small 1x1 and what else? If it doesn't work out, everyone will blame me... Oh God!!! Oh yes. Speaking of God. He created the children curious and inquisitive. So. Hand on heart and breathe. It will somehow work. It has always worked. Next point...

As always, my husband being a real guy, started looking for a suitable means of transportation. We are four. So four sleeping places. Oh yes, the dog... Camper with a pop-up roof or a motorhome? Semi-integrated or fully-integrated, what is that again? Alcove or just an expedition vehicle? Aaaaahhhhhh... Our strategy: Checklist and process of elimination. That usually works. And it did: our result was an alcove motorhome. For those who don't know exactly what that is - I was in the same boat!!! :-) Alcove seems to come from Arabic and means dome. In general, it is probably used for separate sleeping niches or bunks with curtains or something similar. My parents come from the north and in Low German it is called 'Butze' - hihihi, learned something new again. So we thought it just looked like a giant beluga whale that has such a strange big forehead. That's why it was also called Beluga. "Beluga's Journey" - makes sense, right?! *grin* Now this "whale" also comes with different beds. What?! That too. Bunk bed or double bed? Should the children have their own corner, or is it more important that we adults can lie together? What if someone is sick... It's for a year after all. So bunk bed crossed out, drop-down bed crossed out. Double bed = big garage, two birds with one stone. Check.

The question of the model was settled. That already minimized the search. After the camping boom - is that what it's called? - the market had already been very much depleted. When we finally had a real alcove motorhome at home for a trial, we - as smart as we are - first drove to the local landfill on the scale. After 300 km of travel, 3 euros tip for the nice man at the landfill, and 3 seconds on the scale, it was clear: Basti drives alone!!! Only with what God made him and a lot of fuel. Diesel, of course. Everything else would overload the 3.5 tons. We weren't that smart there... There are no scales in and around 'Buxtehude' and also not along the 300 km route towards Lake Constance. You learn from your mistakes. And of course Frau as well 😊 Luckily both of us have a driver's license for a 40-tonner truck, so the search was refined once more and we only looked for motorhomes with increased weight. So after a successful search (thanks to the Pforzheim family) we were able to take all family members, along with luggage, groceries, and bicycles. Ok, e-bikes became (finally) regular bikes again and the bike rack, as well as a steel beam incl. a trailer hitch, were also left at home. A few more kilos saved. If Mom and Dad can now get rid of some "ballast", it will fit perfectly! Anyway, everyone is a little overloaded ^^

Oh yeah... I could write a whole novel, just about the preparations. Or a comedy... I have already learned so much through the preparations. The best thing I liked about the preparations was the book of a colleague. After reading the book about her 18 months of time off with her husband and dogs, I was definitely hooked and had the necessary "kick" to get started... Thanks my dear colleague!!! (Travel blog happyhippieonatour - Vakantio, Travel blog happyhippieonatour2 - Vakantio)

The rest - just as examples - was roughly like this: Renewed all IDs, checked, adjusted, or canceled unnecessary insurances, attended various preventive medical check-ups, deregistered from kindergarten - and registered again for 2023, deregistered from clubs - and registered again for 2023. Registered as unemployed for ONE DAY, so that IF we come back and I POSSIBLY don't find a job immediately, I am entitled to unemployment benefits. What a paper and online effort - Germany and its authorities...!!! Signed up for a library membership to feed my eBook, informed the landlord that we would like to sublet the apartment, FIND UNDER-TENANTS who would rent furnished for one year. Quit my job, temporarily increased Basti's workload to what felt like 500% so that the hours for a sabbatical year come in - occasionally a Thai massage, so that the tension doesn't sit too tightly... Phew!!! Things like "which shoes should we actually take" were rather smaller crises 😊 Now that I'm sitting here in southern France and writing everything down again, my head is starting to smoke...

In order to overcome the mountain, we eventually had a to-do list with notes that we could take off daily until we attended Leonie's medical examination the day before the trip, so that everything is up to date. Another list adorned the bathroom mirror. That was the packing list that went about 2 meters from top to bottom. Red list. White dots in front meant "still to be procured", checkmarks behind, already in the motorhome.

The route itself was determined again through the proven process of elimination: we had already been to Spain, everyone knows Italy, so we'll take France - ok, because the family is there. And then we have to follow the season, in other words, as the temperatures drop, we will drive south as far as possible. We want to spend the winter in Greece or Turkey. As it gets warmer, we will gradually head east in the spring, through the Balkans, the Baltic states, to Scandinavia, to settle back at Lake Constance in August 2023. We chose Europe because we have never done anything like this before and with a little bit of courage, it was reassuring to know that if everything goes wrong, we can be home within a day.

What is still worth mentioning - and I say this at the end, as everyone knows, the best comes last - the conversion of our motorhome is entirely thanks to my twin brothers (www.backyards.de). Now we not only look better, have a double floor and an outside shower, but also sooo much power that we can stand self-sufficiently without any problems and almost indefinitely on sunny days...

Ok. One thing needs to be urgently addressed: the question of the shithouse (sorry!). But even among 'motorhomers' - a terrible term in my opinion - this is a science in itself. But once you have emptied a chemical toilet for 'four shitters', you actually start asking yourself some questions. When we then dealt with the topic, clarity quickly emerged. To travel independently and environmentally consciously, many long-term travelers opted for so-called Dry Separation Toilets (DST) - a pretty imaginative term, I think. This decision is completely due to a fortunately rediscovered old (new :-) friend and her very handy husband (if interested, I am happy to pass on the advertisement link).

In this sense... Have a good trip 😉

PS: Since Felix (theoretically) will start school, we had a small enrollment party for him at home so that he doesn't miss out completely... Thanks to Grandma, he also got a great school cone, which is now cherished as a pillow on the journey!!!