Hey Chris, we haven’t heard from you in quite a while! Yes, that’s true, and I’ll have to admit that I could have been more productive, but Van-life is, in fact, a severe effort despite the beautiful moments and joy it brings. So here I am giving you an update on Van-life in Greece, what I’m up to and why you haven’t heard from me in quite a while.
First I have to disclaim that I will be finishing the tour with you in the days to come so there will be no shortcut or anything but a slight delay. Since so much has happened in the meantime I’d like to skip ahead on some parts for the single purpose to keep all of you up to the present day.
The serious efforts during Van-life
As most of you will be aware, my van is pretty well equipped for everything. In some terms, it is in fact over-equipped. Nevertheless, it is still a hustle every day to get all your things in order and the times when you are stationary are not always as long as you might think. It is November, and as in the rest of Europe, winter is coming. With cloudy skies and winds, sometimes rain-showers and the temperature drop overnight is quite significant. There were some nights where I shivered in the midst of the evening just to check the thermometer and discover that the temperature is around 12 degrees Celsius, which is way beyond my personal comfort zone. In fact, I even caught a cold which directly translates to me escaping the cold fingers of death one night after another. At least now, every guy can relate to that.
Ok, ok, back to being grave right now. I bought some candles and a ceramic stand, which is usually meant to boil some etheric oil or something. Without the oil, it just gets hot and makes up for a few degrees inside the van. I even bought myself a heater a little bit later, only to be sure to keep the temperature up and me healthy since a cold is not really funny, especially when traveling.
At this point in time, I have picked up another passenger for a few weeks and reunited with my sister and her boyfriend. Yes, traveling with four people makes some things easier and complicates far more.
Ok, ok, here’s some explanation needed to be honest since it should not be this way in general but wait a minute and I’ll give you some facts.
Filie and Balu
The names of the little furballs full of energy and enthusiasm for everything that is not theirs are not even near as cute as the two buggers are.
At the time I picked up my company at the airport in Thessaloniki my sister had already adopted the two puppies. She originally intended to keep one of them and bring his sister to an animal shelter, but the personnel there told her, that they are already full and there is entirely no space for more animals. The side note that the young dogs will probably not survive the winter, due to temperature, food shortage or straight out poisoning from people who are annoyed with all the stray dogs. Yes, there are this many. Hardly a place to stay where no animals will come around begging for food or attention. Over the duration of two or three days, it is quite common to have a whole bunch of dogs around the car if you are willing to share some food with them.
Well, so my sister and her boyfriend had two dogs, both three months old and, in fact, brother and sister. They had them chipped and prepared at a veterinary clinic complete with EU-Passports and all the paperwork to take them home. It was for free since the doctor wanted to help the little creatures as well but could not offer them more. As we met up with them, Melanie instantly fell for the second small puppy and decided to take her back home as well.
And this is how I ended up with a third passenger in my van. A lot of work and effort to get both of them healthy was put up since then. I can proudly state that both of them have grown significantly since then, are playing with themselves and everything around them. Now they are curious and nasty beyond belief. In the first days they were laying around most of the time, swallowing their food without chewing out of sheer fear, somebody could contest with them for it. They still have a habit of eating fast, but at least they chew the food provided.
Van-life with two vans, four people, and two dogs
It has been a complicated time, waking up at night to let Filie, which is traveling with my van, out to do her business. So sleep has come in short supply combined with some detours to shops for pet equipment and food. This is eating up time and adding extra kilometers to our pre-planned travel route through the southern parts of Greece. Since they learned how to jump in and out of the vans, nothing is safe from the two of them. It is nice on the one hand but requires more work to clean everything up since both of them are not particularly keen to clean their feet at the doormat while entering. In addition to that, the curiosity is another matter. While Balu was waiting inside, he emptied the cookie jar and had a fun time spilling all the flour through the interior. As you can imagine there, it was a mixture of fun and a pain in the a** to get everything sorted out.
And time keeps flying. There is so much to do, to see and a lot of effort behind almost everything. If you get some silence and a moment of peace there are still fun group activities like a „quick“ game of poker in the evening and not much time is left to sort out my footage, and write the blog.
In addition to that, the crappy Greek mobile internet strikes again which is both pricey and unreliable. 600mb for 6 euros and stuff like that is far beyond decent.
Another thing is the fact that I have a washing machine on board and the temperatures require you to go through a lot of clothing. So I spent a good part of a day just to wash all clothes since the two had no opportunity to wash their clothes properly since we last split.
The beauties of the Van-life
At the moment we are camping at a secret hotspot during summer, now that the season s over we have a whole beach to ourselves. Since three days we have seen not more than five people down here. And things like this make up for almost every effort you have to put up for living like that. A beach, entirely four the six of us, with an abandoned beach bar, a direct view to the sunset and a beautiful playground for the dogs, without limitations since there are no cars to watch out for. The only thing that makes me chuckle about this place is that Filie will be a little bit disappointed when she finds out that we will be leaving and she still has some treats dug into different spots so no one will find them but her.
But be sure we will get her some new treats at regular intervals. Every time we have used up all of our supplies we restock and get her something new to chew up on the next beach. And I can tell you, there is no shortage of lonely beaches at this time of the year. The general look at google maps and a quick look for a beach, where only a beach bar is located will get you beautiful spots, where you are almost alone.
The moments to shut down and relax, enjoy yourselves and the nature around you are rarer than you might think at first glance. But the intensity is of a magnitude, unknown to me before the adventure. You really find yourself, and you might not like what you see at first during the time you are alone, just thinking about life. I have made my peace with it so far since my thoughts go back and forth about quitting the Van-life or continuing on as long as I can. I think a compromise would do the trick here, but the time for it hasn’t come yet. Maybe at the end of the Year, I’ll get a job here in Greece as well as a small flat and either transfer the van back to Austria for a while or just send the license plates back.
Unsure, about what time will bring me, I live in the here and now. Sitting together, cooking, listening to Tom’s ukulele play or just reading a good book, brings satisfaction to my mind, I’ve never thought possible.
During a regular work schedule and the habits of life itself, I did not find enough time for stuff like that. It’s really different to sit on the beach, type something for the blog and just fade away in thoughts, looking at the clouds passing by. Previously I always had the feeling to miss something funny or entertaining before the evening or weekend ends, and I have to get to work.
I will try to put up more content on regular bases in the future but will not make a promise out of it since I don’t know if I can keep it. Well, let’s see how these things turn out!
EU - Adventure 
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