#8 My Travel Journal - Simple living on the road
How we live on the road from sleeping to cooking and staying clean, plus an update on what we've been upto...
I’ve mentioned before that we have a saying my husband and I whilst travelling: “thriving over surviving.” When you live this way - this way being out of a vehicle with a tent strapped to the roof - you need to thrive as much as possible, otherwise morale will wain, and if you are anything like me, your mind will go into a spinning frenzy of frantic overdrive. It is however impossible to thrive in every way, with sacrifices having to be made, but you learn along the way that what you think you need to thrive and what you actually need are two very different things.
Our number one thrive and pretty much our priority from when we started to plan this trip, was to ensure a comfortable nights sleep. Ok, so you won’t have your usual heavenly mattress and plush quilt and soft bedding but you can be a damn sight comfier than sleeping on a blow up bed on the floor in a sleeping bag that makes your skin itch and your feet feel claustrophobic. We chose our roof tent carefully, opting for both comfort and ease, adding in our own bedding and two pillows each. Bliss. Let’s not beat around the bush here though, we are still sleeping in a tent where you hear everything and constantly expose yourself to the elements.
I don’t know about you but after I’ve had a shower and my hair is freshly washed and my face squeaky clean, I feel a million times better. Our second thrive therefore is to have the ability to stay clean. We have a black water bottle which if placed in the sun warms the water and to the bottle we add a hose and shower head which then plugs into the 12volt socket in the car to give the effect of a power shower. Our shower tent pulls out from the side of the car and voila! We can shower in the tent and - hopefully - with warm water. There are days however where the water is cold and it may not be the most perfect conditions to shower outside, and there lies the sacrifice. But cold water is good for you so, you know, that’s a small win.
Having plenty of storage for food and an easy means of cooking is our third thrive. We need to be able to whip up a dish with little hassle after a full day of driving and exploring. We have a full drawer for food along with a fridge, and we cook using a gas bbq. We then boil water using our jet boil. I’ll admit that we aren’t very adventurous with our cooking and tend to have the same meals on repeat most weeks but with other decisions to be made, it helps to remove one from the equation. A collapsible washing up bowl comes in super handy for afterwards! When it comes to water, we keep our drinking water and pot washing water separate as we only drink bottled water. I can’t risk the stomach upset, but I do try to buy 8 litre bottles of water to avoid too much plastic use.
Another thrive is having shelter which we have in the shape of the awning (and the tent and I suppose the car itself), but we are unable to be sheltered from everything at all times. Wind and rain can be a real pain when you live this much outside. One thing we have spoken about is needing cover over the back door. You can get a wrap-around awning which covers both the side and the back of the vehicle but they are pricey so we opted against it. It may be a possible future investment though.
For me, my personal thrives are certain things I wanted to bring along with me: running shoes, yoga mat, skincare, kindle, notepad, pens, laptop. Oh and a bag big enough to fit my clothes in! It’s crazy to think how much stuff I used to have and how little I have now. This way of life has definitely opened my eyes to simple living, making me realise that to live a fulfilled life, I don’t need to fill it with stuff. I can live with less and still be comfortable. I hope, once we stop the travelling and are stable again, I can carry on these lessons I’m learning into our lives. Of course, a house with space and non-stop warm water and complete shelter and one which is filled with all of your favourite things, is the ultimate comfort and something I do crave from time to time and will enjoy going back to. But right now, we have the basics we need to live comfortably whilst on the road. Plus it’s pretty fun to try something different, right?!
In terms of what we’ve been up to, last week, we left the sweltering heat of Provence behind and ventured to the Languedoc region of France to meet family at a campsite for a couple of days. It was great to catch up and be still for a little while. After we said our goodbyes, we made the journey over the border into Spain, hitting the Spanish Pyrenees just in time for some typical unreliable mountain weather. We did manage to drive to the top of Pic Negre, a peak which sits on the border of Spain and Andorra at 2644 metres (around 8600 feet) above sea level, and challenge the car (and us!) with some fun and technical off-roading. We continued driving into Andorra hoping to hit another trail but it was closed due to the world downhill biking championships (who knew?!) so we turned around and made our way back into Spain. We are now in the Aragon region with plans to hit the Rioja region in the next couple of days where we actually have a hotel booked for a little treat! But I’ll tell you more about that another time …. 💜
I hope you’ve enjoyed this little insight into how we thrive on the road. If there is anything you would like to know, please ask away in the comments below!
Much love always x
I loved reading this and am in awe of what you’re doing. Can’t wait to read more of your adventures 😊