Off we go...
It has been one year now since we
bought our camper van we call Scotty. - You know why. (For a while we
even thought of calling Lisek „Tchekhov“) The original plan was –
and still is – to travel through Europe for half a year. Two
friends of ours took off two weeks ago on a very similar journey.
Before we bought the van I was a bit afraid that we might not use it
so much and it would wear off some of it's novelty quickly. My
grandmother thought we were crazy to buy a van like this. But all
doubts have proven absolutely wrong. We love taking the van on trips
over weekends. Only packing some clothes and off we go.
Spontaneous trips are somehow the best.
When we only have the weekend we have to stay in our area, which made
us appreciate how beautiful our county is. We have gone to see
mountains, lakes, old volcanoes, meadows, rivers and intersting
buildings, old ones, new ones; European bisons living in the „wild“
and some of the oldest and prettiest towns in our area we had no idea
were so close by.
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| Beautiful town of Monschau |
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| Just like teddybears fur |
After we had decided to buy a van the
decision to get a new dog was also as chances were that we would
travel abroad less often with the van at hand. In which a dog might
also help to get a better sense of security. Lisek is so welcoming of
everybody that we cannot really feel safer, but people might think
twice of robbing us if they can hear him barking inside the van.
Lisek loves the trips we take with the car. As soon as the motor is
running, he is lying down in between us and falling asleep. And we
are off to another adventure. I cannot describe the feeling I have
when we are on the road. We rarely plan ahead, most of the time we
only knwo which are we want to visit and sometimes we checked out the
parking lots fitting for our vehicle (although with a car as small as
Scotty, we are allowed to park in most parking lots anyhow.)
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| This was taken at a lake in Netphen |
We wander off, driving through
beautiful landscapes, deciding to go where it looks prettiest. I can
understand how this way of travelling might stress some people out.
It can be fun to know where you are going to end up and looking
forward to exactly this and that hotel, finca, etc. But to just live
in the moment and do what you are feeling like is priceless. If you
feel like having a nap, you stop and have a nap. If you feel like
eating, you stop and cook something wonderful on your stove. By now I
have even taken some showers in our van and it is lovely. To be so
independent (we have solar energy, a fridge, so all we need from time
to time is gas and new food.)
Along with the beautiful nature to see, the memorable aspects of our trips are the people we meet. I am not a
big fan of the typical camper couple, I imagine them to be too
conservative and square. People with a van however, I am usually
quite happy to get to know. One day in the Sauerland – an area with
beautiful mountains practically „around the corner“ from
Düsseldorf, where some areas actually look more like pictures of
Canada than Germany – I wanted to visit an ecological farm, which
they had plenty of there, and who offer sometimes vacation for kids.
I am technically not a kid anymore but I still love animals and pets,
so we went to a nice looking farm on the top of a hill and just rang
the farmer's doorbell. He was welcoming us and showed us a place we
could park overnight – free of charge. The next day he even invited
us on a tour of the farm and gave us two litres of the freshest milk.
Mmh, really good :) (The whole experience is overshadowed by one of
the worst hangovers of all times that made me travel back home with a
bucket on my lap... ) check
here for an impression of the Sauerland
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| view from our bed |
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| The chef is busy in the kitchen |
Next weekend we might go to visit the
area where I grew up in, the Niederrhein. One thing is for sure, we
will not find any mountains there. (When I was little we called the
bridge over the autobahn we had to pass on the way to town „the
mountain“, which might give you a good idea of how flat this area
is. We have this saying that you can see today who is going to visit
the day after tomorrow...
Nonetheless lakes and beautiful meadows
and forests make up for the lack of mountains. I am looking forward
to discover the area of my childhood in a whole new light.
Here you can find more information.
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| All year Christmas shop in Monschau |
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| First holiday with Lisek |
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| Externsteine |
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| Scotty at Night |
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