Reality of Buslife – 2020 – week 7

Realities of solar system troubleshooting and friends visiting from Denmark, the love of the full time traveling life and the focus you would need anywhere.

Af Cecilie Felumb Conrad | February 17, 2020

Driving from Andalucia to Catalonia

Driving on the Mediterranean Highway on a sunny and not too hot day from Andalucia to Catalonia is a very beautiful ride. It is also a very long ride. We travelled for nine hours and 2 minutes, only stopping in total 32 minutes to get from La Herradura to El Vendrell.

It was of course a bit hard, we were tired and in the beginning the day seemed endless. We slept a bit (not the driver, he listened to his audiobook), listened to music, talked, ate 2 meals, talked some more, listened to audiotheatre, looked out the window.

The mountains, the almond trees in bloom, the orange fields heavy with ripe oranges, the small villages, the big cities, and of course: The Mediterranean. As the sun set, we drove through the known landscape of Northern Catalonia and in the last bit of light we arrived to our bus, tired, happy, at home.

We are all grateful, this can be done: To move the whole family 900 kilometers in one day by car. We are also – and more – grateful for our traveling life, our bus to live in, our friends in Catalonia, the adventures awaiting.

Visiting friends from Denmark

Traveling full time, of course we miss friends and family from Denmark. Fortunately we go back in the summers, and they tend to come visit sometimes. This week a friend of mine from University came to see us and enjoy Catalonia with her two sons. We had to go to dentist and doctor in Barcelona, and met them after in Gracia in the afternoon. The timing was perfect, as it tends to be, if we lean into the heartfelt directions. But the day WAS intense as the dentist apointment was delayed into the time we needed to get to the other doctor, and we had to separate the family, leaving someone on a bench with the dog, someone with one child at the dentist and someone going to the other clinic. And reuniting by taxi. But it actually worked out perfectly and with precise taxi. Noone is sick, by the way.

And at the same time, we had to organize the meetup with our friend.

As I said it was perfect. We enjoyed beautiful Gracia, had coffee and big hugs and smiles, and Jesper took all of the five children by car to the bus, as I got a few hours with my old friend, shopping for organic food in Gracia and just sitting to talk in the train back to El Vendrell. How we loved it!

And we kept loving the days of showing our new homebase to old friends, sharing moments, thoughts, sunshine, playing boardgames and hugging, going for walks in the countryside and the city, cooking meals and relaxing.

On the Friday, the final day of their visit, we spend all day in Barcelona. They visited Sagrada Familia and we all enjoyed exploring the city, ending up at our favorite restaurant: Veggie Garden to have a goodbye dinner. Very tired, very happy.

The reality of buslife

Technical reality

When we came back to the bus, there was something wrong with our solar system. It seems 4 units of the batteries are broken, and therefore the whole system keeps crashing. In order to not break the other batteries, we needed to speed-learn how to troubleshoot it and to take things in and out of the storage to work with the batteries. A year ago this would have stressed us out completely, now we only get stressed about it as we had to work with it while we had the precious guests from Denmark.

The tech story is a long one, and I will skip it. I am not writing a bus-blog. Maybe I should.

Another thing is our bus has – for many different and good reasons – been standing still for a very long time. There are small elements that need to be fixed, and we have been somewhat afraid of that. It is not a rational fear, but it has been there to stop us.

This week, something changed. I think it actually changed during our trip to Portugal. We have become more fearless, more focused. We know now, we need to prioritise our tasks, and get the most important stuff done first. And we also know, we are not going to stay in the bus all the time, so we need to work on it while we are here.

So, we changed the batteries and started the motor. It started right away, with no problems. We were so happy! Then we fixed a little thing that was wrong with the control panel, and a light in the back of the bus. It feels so good to do something you have been putting off for too long. And we actually love our bus and want it to be all perfect and ready for adventure.

Practical reality

The main element of the practical life in the bus is, that it is a tiny home. We live 5 people in 22 sqm and the kids are not getting smaller.

Coming back from a long journey, it becomes even more clear how much we love to have less stuff, how much we love to do things instead of organizing things, and now we are again letting go of whatever is too much. It feels really good.

Letting go of stuff is about trust. If we hold on to only what we need and to a few things that have very high personal value, we can easily live in a bus. It is just perfect. And it is so true, this saying: Less is more. The less stuff we own, the more freedom we feel.

This whole year will have a continous element of learning this exactly, as we also sold our house in Denmark and have a huge load of stuff in a storage in Denmark. In the summer we will have to organize and minimize that. For now, we enjoy getting our buslife ready for adventure, letting go of stuff and organizing the rest, so the practical life is truly functional and cosy in the bus.

The perspective

It seems, since we have now been full time traveling for one year and eight months, we are slowly learning how it is to travel with no return ticket. With no plans. Just living our life from the heart, being where we are supposed to be, going where we feel is right. Being all together in life, in the adventure, in the intention.

Something is changing now. Probably it is a combination of personal growth, the loss of 2 of my parents, the letting go of the house, and all the little things we learned along the way.

Right now we are returning to the inner homebase. Of values and heart energy. Letting go of “if” and “maybe”, staying in “yes” and “hallelujah”. We want to focus, and to get things done. It is not hard. We get up in the morning to live and work all day long.

Thank you for reading the blog. I write to share our experiences and perspective, and would love to hear yours. Please comment in whatever way feels right to you: Facebook-comment, personal e-mail, text-message, whatever you like. It brings a lot of joy in the bus, when we hear from readers. Thank you and may the sun shine on your path.