5 weeks on the road

In total, we spent 8 days with Rob and Barbara on the farm in Slovenia as Workaway workers. The work was tough, but there was good food (always with fresh vegetables from the garden) and enjoyable evenings by the campfire including night hikes, guitar playing, funny stories, etc.

On Thursday evening, the day before our departure, Sarah and I were once again clueless. We had no idea where to go the next day. Should we stay in Slovenia for a few more days and if so, where? Or should we take the direct route to the sea, which we could reach within three hours? This cluelessness is both beautiful and overwhelming. On one hand, we are free and can do whatever we want, but on the other hand, we often struggle with the flood of endless options and feel overwhelmed.

There was a heavy thunderstorm during the night and the next morning looked rainy as well, so we spontaneously decided to drive directly to the sea in Croatia. But somehow, there was a weird atmosphere between Sarah and me on the way. We were alone again, didn't know where we would spend the night, and we had recently had our periods and just felt... I can't find the right words for it right now, but to put it simply, things were a bit tense. During a stop at a rest stop restaurant, we openly talked about our thoughts and feelings and discussed different options: what should we do if we separate on the way? What should happen to Filou and the bus then? What bothers us about each other, what does each of us need... blablabla. I think we rarely shared our thoughts so openly and honestly with each other. It felt good. And it was very important. Because yes, we have been together for 3 years, but now we are really together 24/7, and that's somehow a whole different ball game. The conclusion of the conversation was that we need to give each other more space. That means specifically that we should physically separate from time to time, whether it's for a few hours, a day, or even a whole week, where each of us is on our own.

In the late afternoon, we arrived in Rijeka on the Croatian coast. We treated ourselves to a campsite that was full of children and had a wonderful view of a huge industrial area by the sea. At least we could fill up with water, wash clothes, and empty our toilet. The next day, we drove to Monty's Dog Beach a little further south in the town of Crikvenica. The small dog beach even had a beach bar that offered various drinks and ice cream for dogs. And finally, we could all swim together in the sea! After a long sunbath, we drove to the island of Krk via a bridge, as we were planning to take the ferry from Krk to Cres the day after tomorrow, where we would meet our friends from Switzerland. It wasn't easy to find a good parking spot in our camper app. In Croatia, it is completely forbidden to sleep in a car, not even to lie on the back seat to sober up after a night of partying. After driving around aimlessly for over an hour, we found a free parking spot in a holiday home neighborhood. We didn't know exactly where we were and the parking lot was anything but beautiful, but we hoped that our bus wouldn't attract attention here. We were annoyed after a long day and a long search for a place to sleep and just wanted to quickly go to a supermarket somewhere to buy dinner. The path led down a steep road, and our mood sank even more at the thought of having to walk up all of that again. But suddenly we reached a small town right by the sea. We looked at the map: we were in Krk. In the town of Krk on the island of Krk. And this little town turned out to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. For the sake of our mental health, we ignored the supermarket and found a cozy restaurant in the narrow alleyways. Although there were many tourists here, everything was peaceful and romantic, not like back in Hallstatt where the mass of tourists had destroyed the whole village atmosphere. By chance, we got into a conversation with another Swiss couple our age who were also traveling around Europe in a camper for a few months. In the end, we ended up in a bar with them and exchanged camper wisdom over a beer. The way back to the bus didn't seem so steep anymore. And our relationship crisis, which we had two days ago, dissolved into thin air.

Since we liked Krk so much, we decided to leave our bus there for another night against all camper free-standing rules (you stay for one night and then move on!). On this day, we put our anti-relationship crisis plan into action; we separated for a few hours. After a coffee together, I walked along the coast with Filou to a dog beach while Sarah explored the town of Krk in more detail.

The next day, we spent together at the dog beach in Krk. It was beautifully located in a bay surrounded by a large pine forest with many small resting places. We rented a stand-up paddleboard and then paddled as a trio through the bay. Filou, who doesn't like to swim so much, had fun being able to swim with us without getting wet. However, he eventually slid off the paddleboard and into the water, but managed to pull himself back up with great effort. A little later, he was stung in the paw by a wasp he had caught from the air and whined for an hour. After many treats and cuddles, he suddenly felt better again.

In the afternoon, we continued our journey and ended up on the island of Cres via a ferry. Our friends were on a campsite at the other end of the island and were still undecided about where they wanted to go tomorrow. So we decided to drive to a nearby parking spot that we had seen on Park4Night. The description mentioned that the last 500 meters would be a bit difficult to drive because it was a bit narrow, but that didn't worry us. In retrospect, I wouldn't drive that road up again, but on the other hand, it was one of the most beautiful places where we could stand freely so far. It turned out that it was not just 500 meters but almost a kilometer that we had to drive up the hill on a forest road. And on this forest road, there were huge rocks... with a lot of noise and shaking, our bus made it up the hill. When we reached the top, the hardships were immediately forgotten. In front of us was a kind of huge plateau; a large flat meadow with a campfire site, pine trees all around, and the sea at our feet. Take a look at the photos yourself, it was really a dream. We were the first ones there. Later, a car from the Czech Republic followed, and then a red transporter with a German license plate parked behind us. When we saw the two guys getting out of the transporter, our gay radar immediately went off. We clicked right away with Jamie and Wolfgang, who have been a couple for 5 years. They cooked a delicious curry for us, and we bought two bottles of wine. And once again, we played the internationally known card game "Arschloch" (a German card game), and only shortly before midnight did we put the cards aside and go to sleep.

The next day, we left Cres again and took the ferry back to Krk, as there was a communication breakdown between our Swiss friends and us. Slightly annoyed, we drove to Stara Baska, where our friends were already on the campsite, but unfortunately, it was fully booked. We spent the night on a paid parking lot by the sea, about 3 kilometers away from them. On the way there, we knocked off the right blind spot mirror because the streets were so damn narrow and there was heavy oncoming traffic. Our friends picked us up in the evening with their car so that we could still have dinner together. The next day, luckily something became available, and we booked two nights at the campsite. The place is beautifully located right by the sea and has a dog beach as well. We spent the whole day at the sea with our friends and were invited to a barbecue in the evening. Today they are already leaving, and we will probably meet them again somewhere further south in Croatia. We also plan to leave the island tomorrow and take the ferry from Dubrovnik to Bari in Italy in about a week's time. In late September, we will likely meet a couple of friends for a few days in Cinque Terre. So much for our future plans.

Now we have been on the road for almost 5 weeks. We don't miss our apartment, but the constant questions like "where do we get water from? How much electricity do we have left? Where can we spend the night?" etc. can be annoying at times. Living the camper life is often seen as totally easy: wake up in the morning, chill all day, and do nothing... well, it's not like that. You have to organize a lot, set up, pack and unpack things again and again, and everything takes longer. Cooking takes longer, for big tasks you have to find somewhere (restaurant, forest, public toilet, etc.), and you plan where you will go the next day, etc. But still, we still really enjoy it, and of course, there is much more time to chill than at home when working 😊

Author: Stephanie Köllinger