30 SOMETHING HOURS TO DEPARTURE

I'm so glad I got the laundry done yesterday! It was so raw here today. Rain and ice cold wind all day. 

Tom had an oil change done, all fluids and tires checked. The van is in top shape. I used today to do a detailed pedicure, because for the next three months it will only be touch up and maintenance. 

Talking about maintenance - this morning we found out that all three members of our apartment management and maintenance team were terminated. No notice, and the transition to the new team took place today. With the original team, we felt very comfortable leaving for several month and never had issues. We did go to introduce ourselves to the new property- and maintenance manager and discussed our absence and the few things we need them to take care of while we are gone. They seemed nice at first impression. We shall see what, if at all, anything will change.

It feels really good to be ahead of schedule and not feel rushed or stressed. Tomorrow will be an easy day of loading last minute odds and ends, strap the chairs to the roof and go grocery shopping. 

We leave Wednesday and should be able to build Zen towers in the afternoon. I did see that it is supposed to rain though.

4 DAYS, 22 hours

Did some housekeeping yesterday. Vacuumed up the remaining pine needles and mud from the last trip. Everything looks ready to receive bedding and luggage. We decided today to cover both mattresses with a warm fuzzy blanket. We can always remove it if we get too hot, but when it is still cold at night it might feel better. We already have reservations for the first week on the road. Two of the locations at the Outer Banks have no electricity and are directly by the ocean. 

Tom was always trying to find a comfortable lounging position - other than laying down. We had a surprise delivery from Amazon! Two inflatable boyfriend pillows! With our USB Air pump they inflate in 30 seconds!

My hanging window storage is filling up too.

Tom attached our power strip with USB ports with heavy duty Velcro. All under bed bins are labeled and easily accessible.

This top board on the mattress base needed some reinforcement. We didn't like the fact that it was already sagging. Now it is nice and sturdy. I still would not sit on that end, since that is the side where we shortened the base and it does not have the original support.

Tom did a test snooze. I cant wait to hit the road!

Ziploc bags!

Ziploc bags - a must have item for campers! I'm so happy they finally offer 2 gallon bags too. Instead of keeping 150 tea bags in this big square cardboard box, I transferred them to 4 quart size ziploc bags. They use much less space this way, are easy to slide into small spaces in the big bin and my teabags are never subject to moisture or bugs. I fill the bag, and sit on it as I zip the bag, to get (almost) vacuum sealed results.

I always transport plenty of them and when they are not soiled, I reuse them often. Even for transport, I take them out of the box and roll them into a big roll with an elastic band around. Again, it takes much less space in the bin. We usually buy in bulk. Having plenty of the items we constantly use on hand, prevents trips to the grocery store. Space is a serious concern when VanCamping with 2 people for about three month. Efficiency packing, loading and organizing becomes a game of Tetris! The big hole where the rear seats were is fantastic!

We have 7 more days until we leave. The van is almost completely packed, suitcases are also just about done. Most of the missing items have to go through the laundry next Monday.

I got my hair cut today. I was sporting the "Covid19" style. No style at all, my hair just grew. Now I have a medium short sunshine cut, appropriately for Florida. 

Everything we had on order from Amazon and other places has arrived and nothing else is in transit. Our mail forwarding order starts on Dec. 15. Tom will fill you in on our mail arrangements in the next post.

COMPLETING THE PACKING LIST

After every trip, we revise our list of things to take. There is always room for improvement! We both like our hot coffee/tea in the morning. Preferably right when we wake up. On a campground that is not always an option without getting out of the warm car. Years ago, while working nights at the USPS, we had issues keeping our tea hot through the night. It was very cold at the docks and nothing kept us warm inside, but our tea. We tried multiple different mugs, but by the end of the night, our beverages were lukewarm. The Thermos tumblers ended up being our choice, because our beverages stayed hot until the end of our shift. For our camping trips, we prepare the tea and coffee before we go to bed at night. Tom drinks coffee, and the coffee bags are a tasty alternative to fresh brewed (it's between Army coffee and home brew). I let the tumblers sit, filled with boiling water, for about 10 minutes. Then I re-boil that same water to brew the coffee/tea, close the tumbler tightly after the desired steeping time and set aside until morning. It is still really hot!

At home or on the road, our breakfast smoothie is a MUST! At home our smoothies are loaded with many different nutritional ingredients, including frozen berries. Even though the USB Blender Bottles are working well, they are not designed for frozen fruit. Besides, frozen fruit doesn't stay frozen for long and fresh fruit is just fine. Normally our smoothie provides about 24 ounces at home, while in the car it only provides about 12 ounces. We try very hard to keep up on our healthy eating regimen. Part of that routine is our daily intake of JUICE PLUS+. Our smoothie without Complete Vanilla/Chocolate is unacceptable. With getting only 12 oz of liquid from the blender bottle, we are not satisfied so we add a NUTRITION BAR to fill our breakfast needs. These bars are also in our backpacks for hiking provisions. Another staple nutrition product is the JP Capsules. We have been taking all of these products faithfully for 20 years to keep us healthy and vital for our adventures. It has served us extremely well and prevents the emergency stops at fast food restaurants. We are never starving!

We also have a constant supply of home made trail mix. We have an Amish store close by where we can purchase a huge variety of raw nuts, dried berries, chocolate covered seeds, coconut chunks, wasabi peas, and other tasty surprises. I have a two gallon Ziploc bag at the beginning of our trip and so does Tom, since he has his own combination.

We rarely eat at any restaurants. Instead we plan ahead, go grocery shopping and cook. As I mentioned before, we try to stay at sites with electricity. Water is not important, since we carry along 5 gallons (see previous post). Depending on what's for dinner we either use an Infrared Cook top or our Pampered Chef indoor outdoor grill. 

This grill is so cute. We can use it either with charcoal or electric power. The size is absolutely large enough to grill for two, but it is also small enough to transport behind the seats! A purchase that has proven itself worthy! Pampered Chef products are my favorite travel companions (besides Tom 😉). In our travel set-up, we have no room for bulky items and multi-function tools are a must. Some of my kitchen tools are also nation wide permitted self defense tools. Look at this! I think this could do some serious damage to any attacker!

                                             GRILLING FORKS with tip cover

SANTOKU KNIFE with protective sleeve

I hope we will only have to use them for grilling and cooking purposes!

When packing my suitcase, I like to use a lot of Ziploc bags. Generally, I can fit three t-shirts in one 1 gallon bag. As I close the bag, I sit down on it to transform it into a vacuum bag! This way, I can see what is in each bag, it protects my clothes from moisture, and I can fit so much more into my suit case.

We bring along some laundry detergent pods because they are too expensive to buy at the laundromat. 

As of right now, we have 11 days, 18 hours, and  50 minutes left to get ready. So far it looks like we are ahead of schedule! I don't like the last minute rush. (Tom!.....are you packed yet!)

#vanlife #simplicity #vancamping

CATCHING UP TO THE PRESENT TIME

We always liked camping. I grew up in Germany and went camping with my parents every year. I'm like my mother. I don't need much, but it has to be organized and easily accessible. I hate wasting time searching for stuff. My parents had a rather big tent to accommodate a family of four. 

One day, many years ago, one of Toms acquaintances gave him something she "found" at the curb to be trashed. It was a rather large JEEP brand bag. At the time we were so involved with our construction mess in the house, that Tom just set it down in the garage and never looked at it. Several months later he decided to take a look at what's inside the bag. I was busy indoors and didn't pay any attention to what he was doing outside. After some time, Tom came inside and asked me to come outside and look. I came around the corner and see this huge beautiful tent! We inspected it; no holes, no rips, all complete! It was perfect! Why would anybody toss a perfectly fine tent like this? We decided on the spot, "we are going camping!" We looked at a few campgrounds within a one hour radius and started camping almost every weekend. 

To move forward to what we are doing now. We still have the tent and will use it again eventually. For now, we've discovered that we can camp comfortably in our van. We own a Dodge Grand Caravan. With the stow-and-go seats folded down, it provides a large platform to serve as a sleeping space. Many years ago we got a full size, dual bladder, Sleep number bed. Over the years the mattress got dirty due to spills and we tossed everything but the bladders. We thought they would still be good as emergency beds. Little did we know. The platform in the back of the van is 4' wide. Too narrow for a full size mattress, and too narrow for 2 twin size mattresses. But guess what? Our two bladders fit perfectly side by side! I cut an old king size flat sheet and created two custom fitted sheets for our new beds. 

Our bedroom

Cooler and luggage

After this discovery, we went on our "test" trip. We didn't know how this would work out and were prepared to opt for a hotel or motel, just in case. To our surprise, we managed this well and spent only one night in a motel because we were not able to find a camp spot before dark. A list of campgrounds is provided on the matching page. We'll add new locations as we continue to travel.

Right away we realized that one bladder was leaking air. It was a slow leak and Tom did not end up on the floor, but that needed to be fixed before our next trip. We had a few nights with temperatures in the low 40s and even high 30s. Air beds are a good option, but as soon as the air inside the mattress gets cold, it feels like sleeping on a block of ice! While tent camping, we used to remedy this by placing a heating blanket UNDER the mattress. Even the lowest setting warmed the air in the bladders and kept us comfortable. Most of the time we stay at campgrounds, and have the luxury of electricity. We stopped at a Walmart and got an electric lap blanket for cars. It was returned the next day because it had auto shut-off that turned off after 3 hours. We replaced it with a regular heating blanket. That solved the problem, as long as we had power. We also had a bunch of hand warmers (to stick under the mattresses) on board, but did not use them. It would be easy to just run the car engine for a while, but that is not allowed at most camp sites and is not the safest option either. There is room for improvement.

Our old electric cooler was alright, but that too was only cooling when the car was running. At times, when we were out hiking or at night, the cooler did not hold the temperature for long. Therefore we opted for food that didn't spoil easily, and went to the grocery store more often than we liked. The idea of a power pack did not work out, because it extended cooling for only four hours. That purchase was also reversed.

This power pack is ideal for charging cell phones or other small devices, but not to run a thermoelectric cooler or an electric blanket.

As we arrived back home, we had some issues that needed to be addressed before the next trip. #1 was the mattress. What a lucky goose I am! Somebody offered an identical mattress with similar soil problems on Face Book market place for $30.00. We didn't care about the condition of the outer shell, as long as it was holding air! We only needed the bladders. A beautiful 2.5 hour drive north was in order to pick it up. At arrival, we found out that it actually came with the plastic box spring! Of course it would be too wide as well, but that can be rigged. The plastic frame is an assembly of multiple side bars and 4 platform covers. Out comes the circular saw. At the middle seam, we cut off about 3 inches on each side, and shortened the platform also by about 3". 

It was an easy job to customize the frame

We tried to fit the bladder with the matching shell, but that too was too wide and too long.

The frame lifts the mattress about 6" off the floor, creating some storage space underneath for items not used regularly. Also, Tom removed the last row of seats, which left a wide and deep hole under the bed. In this space I will have labeled bins with items we need access to frequently, like silverware and cooking utensils, spices, cans, toiletries, meds and supplements, and other odds and ends.

We carry a 5 gallon bottle of water with a USB pump, available at: USB Water pump

Once empty, we refill with two 2.5 gallon jugs available in every grocery store. 

Our new cooler arrived. We selected an Alpicool model available at the link below.

Alpicool cooler  We have tested it and it works well. Problem solved! 

It got pretty stuffy in the van at night, and we were looking for "bug free" ways to open windows and doors. This Hatch tent will be tested in a few weeks.

We also found slip over

Window screens for the front windows. They are super easy to install, fit over the mirrors, and are black to darken the inside of the van.

#vanlife #simplicity #vancamping

SIX YEARS LATER

Much has happened since our last post in July 2014. Let's start where we left off. Our home did not sell in time, and turned into a rental. Thankfully occupied by our daughter and her family. Back on the island of Fehmarn,

Tom was asked to help the grounds keepers getting the campground ready for the winter season. Cutting back shrubs, securing structures and such. He agreed and was volunteering through October and November 2014.

We were planning and preparing for our own first winter in the camper, when the campground owner approached us with a proposal. She asked if we, since we were the only campers around all winter, would be willing to keep an eye on things and make sure nothing freezes, report damages and mop the office/stairwell as needed. In exchange, we were invited to stay in the apartment above the office overlooking the Baltic sea. That was a "very difficult" decision to make! We moved to the apartment when the water to the campsites was turned off, and enjoyed the luxury of a large livingroom/dining room, a bedroom, a well equipped kitchen, and a bathroom with a deep soaking tub. We even had a car available to drive to the grocery store or get needed parts for the campground. 

It was cold! It's always windy on the island, but during the winter months, it is brutal! We did not have much snow that year, but it was cold enough to freeze the coast.

We spent Christmas and New years in Kassel with our German Family. That was a lot of fun.

In March 2015 we travelled back to NH  for a few weeks. On our return trip we ended up in Rota, Spain for a week. That's what happens when you fly "space A" on military planes. Unfortunately, there was no flight offered from Rota to anywhere in Germany. We ended up taking an endless, horrible bus ride from southern Spain all the way to Hamburg, Germany. From there it was only a short train ride to our island. 

In May I surprised Tom with a 60. birthday trip to Berlin. We stayed at the house of a super nice Couch surfing host through www.couchsurfing.com. We toured the city, and on his birthday we enjoyed a show at the Friedrichsstadt-Palast. The show was called "The Wyld". Similar to Cirque de Soleil. Great performance, great costumes and all in all a huge surprise for Tom.

The summer was warm and we took trips to Hamburg, Lübeck, Bonn, Berlin, Mainz, Kölln, Kassel, Eutin, Dahme, took the ferry over to Denmark, and explored the island.

In June we purchased our own car. We got a cute little used and cheap BMW. It served us very well, and to this day is still in the family.

In October 2015 we came back to the US and stayed there until March 2016. We took a flight from McGuire AFB to Sigonella, Sicily.  It was beautiful. We explored the city, climbed up Mt. Etna, traced the steps of "The Godfather" in Taormina, and then took the ferry over to Malta. We spend only 3 days there. It is on the list to go back and spend more time there.

After we arrived back on Sicily, it was no problem to catch a flight over to Germany. We had the great privilege to travel in the cockpit! That was a first time experience. I loved it!

Summer 2016 was cold and windy. Problems with our rented home in the US turned out to be a big and constant worry. We were contemplating, thinking, revising, until we decided to relocate back to the US and take care of business first and come up with a new plan. Now since we had figured out the SpaceA situation, it really didnt matter much where our headquarters was. We sold the camper and pretty much everything in it and came back to NH for good - for now.

From there we drove across Canada to Madison, WI.

For the remainder of 2017 we, once again, worked on the house to get it ready for the market...again. We really did not want to live in that house, in that State since a few years. We moved away for that reason. After long and hard thoughts we settled on a new location. Close to military bases from which we could fly out to destinations around the globe, and below the snow line. We zeroed in on Virginia and plotted our next move. 

While in the planning stage, we managed to travel to TX, FL twice, a big Canada loop, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and Germany.

Finally, in March 2019 we moved to VA. More tenants moved into our home. The market was not in our favor. That rent to own situation turned sour within a few month. In September they vacated the property and left us with much damage and dirt and financial stress. We spent from September to November working on the house - again. Finally by the end of November it was listed for sale. We went back home and anticipated a quick sale, only to find out, on Christmas Eve 2019 that the house suffered extensive water damage due to a frozen pipe. Back to NH we go to assess the damage. Is was not pretty...

We had it all back to normal by February. That's when covit19 started occupying the news.  Long and behold, our home sold at the end of February 2020. After all was set and done, a HUGE burden lifted off our shoulders. We were free! But then again, the pandemic kept us home. We originally had plans to travel to Japan for cherry blossom season. That did not happen. All international travel on military flights stopped completely. 

Today it is December 1. 2020. This crazy year is almost over, but I dont see the care free living, we enjoyed in the past, coming back any time soon. I'm certain that future international travel will require the covit vaccine. That will certainly curb my desire to travel.

We decided to venture out and explore the State of Virginia. We did 2 weeks of van camping along the "Wilderness Road". We started in Winchester, VA and traveled south to Cumberland gap. Then through N. Carolina back to VA. 

We enjoyed it so much that we have two new trips in the planning stage. We are leaving December 16. 2020 to Florida. But that will be in a new post.

Stay tuned. This is going to be fun!

#vanlife #simplicity #vancamping

RAINY DAY ACTIVITY

Today is the first day of rain and it’s a great opportunity to give you an update and tell you about our first week and a half on the island.

Let’s start with the end of our Transatlantic Crossing. We used the two port days in South Hampton, England and Seebrügge, Belgium to further explore the ship and to get ready for disembarkation in Hamburg, Germany. Before dinner, on May 25, we placed all of our luggage outside our state room door and it magically disappeared by the time we returned. We woke up early Monday morning because the engine of the ship sounded differently and we knew that we were already in docking mode. We wanted to be up to see the ship approaching Hamburg, but that happened in the dark of night and we didn’t wake up in time. There were already people at the pier waiting for arriving travelers. We told our pick up crew, our oldest daughter, grandson with girlfriend, best friend with husband and her 2 adult children not to be there until about 9:00 am. Our instructions for disembarking let us know that we were not able to leave the ship until 8:30 am. I figured that disembarking would be just as smooth as checking in on the May 16.

Just as planned, we had breakfast, at the Kings Court, as usual. With plenty of time to spare we went out on deck 7 with our coffee/tea and watched the activities in port for a while and then strolled to the Princess Room, our assigned gathering place and waited for further instructions. At 8:30 am sharp we were able to make our way off the ship. Our family and friends were already waiting for us and helped us gather and load our luggage. We sat down for some more coffee/tea for a few minutes before we headed to our final destination, the island of Fehmarn, Germany. It about an hour and a half by car at the end of A7 Autobahn. The roadways feel scarily narrow compared to American Highways, especially going 100+ miles/hour.

Arriving at the campground we found American decorations in and outside our camper and the American flag was blowing in the wind. Everything was set up ready for us to use. My daughter did a fantastic job getting everything ready for us to start living comfortably from day one. Everything we needed was ready to go and, of course, we had some coffee/tea and enjoyed each other’s company for several hours until our friends left and went back to Hamburg and our daughter went to her camper to make dinner. While she was cooking I used the opportunity to empty our suitcases and store all of our belongings in the cubby spaces of the camper and was surprised that, after all suitcases were empty and packed away, we had plenty of space left to accommodate the full 66 pound box that is in transit and will arrive mid of July. After dinner we played a few rounds of rummy and headed “home” to go to bed. We slept very well on our cozy little bedroom. It’s beautiful to wake up to birds chirping and the wind blowing.

The first full day we went to the town of Burg to do some shopping. I needed some coat hangers, food, certain ingredients to prepare meals, new pillows and a few necessities. It took about 3 days to set up everything just right. The good thing was that it was very windy and we didn't want to spend much time outside. The first week flew by and Saturday afternoon we went with another set of friends to the Rapsblütenfest in Burg. Many vendors offered locally made good, traditional German “fair” food like crusty rolls with pickled herring Lebkuchen hearts, roasted almonds, cotton candy, Bratwurst,

pastries and beer. For the kids they offered face painting, rides and other fun activities. One in particular caught my attention. It took place on the little town pond. Large, clear vinyl bubbles to climb in and walk/crawl on water. That looked like a lot of fun – not only for kids.

http://www.wowbubbles.com

Sunday we had our first birthday party invitation. My best friend, the one from Hamburg that came to pick us up at the pier, celebrated her birthday. We enjoyed our first German BBQ followed up by wonderful pastry deserts.

The wind stayed for almost the entire first week before it turned nice sunny and warm. We were somewhat sunshine deprived and soaked up the warm rays, resulting in our first sunburns. Not to the point of pain, but red and a bit sensitive.

Yesterday we worked on our bikes (as in bicycle) all day. That will be our main means of transportation for a while and since they stay outside all the time they needed some TLC. New tires, new brakes a transformer, new handle bars and BASKETS. The baskets are most important for transporting food home from the store. I have one in the front and one in the back and Tom has only one in the back. Tom takes a trip to the store every morning to get fresh crusty rolls for breakfast and the local paper. German breakfast without rolls is not German….at least for me J

We didn't really go and explore the area much. The change in the climate, the food and the calm lifestyle makes us really tired. Multiple naps are not uncommon and very welcome.
  

I had mentioned earlier in the Blog that Metro PCS told us that our cell phones should work in Germany just fine. Well, they sold us a bunch of lies! Nothing works at all. Not being able to communicate is not fun. I ended up establishing a Skype phone number to call Metro PCS just to find out that they don’t offer service outside the US and that the sales crew in the Manchester, NH is either completely clueless or they flat out lied! Now we have a situation where our service with them has to be in place for 90 days before they can unlock the phones to try if they work with a German sim-card. The service was established April 17. Ninety days will bring us to July 17 until we can unlock the phones to test it. But until then they expect us to pay for service we don’t have on phones that don’t work. Makes sense??? Another company on the list of American corporations to watch out for. It’s all for corporate profits and never in the interest of the end consumer. It is very upsetting.

Internet with Outland http://hotspot.outland-net.de, a local provider, was rather frustrating in the beginning as well, but after a few complaints it seems to be more reliable. A better solution still has to be found. We are considering purchasing our own hotspot. That worked well while in the remote location in Maine and hopefully will work here too. More research has to be done. All that will be easier while in my home town Kassel, Germany for the following two weeks.

For now let me close with a general feeling of calm and happiness. It seems it was a good decision and so far we have no regrets. 

APPROACHING A NEW PHASE IN LIFE

With great excitement and anticipation, the date of our retirement is inching closer. Yes, there is a bit of worry and uncertainty mixed in, but generally we are looking forward to go wherever the nose points. 

To start the journey we are planning to take a 10 day Trans Atlantic cruise from New York City, NY to Hamburg, Germany.

We believe that a cruise is the perfect way to ring in retirement.  

We know nothing about cruises at all. Everything is hear-say from friends that took cruises in the past. The other reason we decided in favor of the cruise is the fact that we will establish our headquarter residence in Germany. It will be somewhat of a little international move and we will need more luggage than for two weeks of vacation. The airlines would heavily charge us for extra luggage while there is no limitation on board the ship as long as each piece doesn’t exceed 50 lbs. and fits comfortably in your stateroom for no extra charge. 

From Germany, many destinations all over Europe are in driving distance. We plan on utilizing the wonderful network of public transportation via bullet trains,

planes,

busses,

City trains,

ships

 

as well as bicycles (this one is perfect! Tom will do all the work and I snap pictures)

and our feet.

For now, it is crunch time! We still need to sell our home here in the US and tie up all lose ends before we leave. For any remaining responsibilities we will put our adult children in charge.

One very helpful and money saving change is already in place. We started using the “Service Credit Union”

https://www.servicecu.org/index.asp . This Credit Union is available for anybody that has some sort of connection to service members in all branches. The benefit for us is that they maintain branches in many countries where the United States has military installations. With this US account we can perform transactions in Euro and other currencies without incurring additional charges from foreign banks involved in the transaction. That can become rather expensive in addition to the possible currency exchange loss.

We plan on frugal living and traveling without sacrificing the quality of life. To start with, we've already set up camp on a 4 season campground on the island of Fehmarn, Germany, in the Baltic Sea.

At this point, the plan is to explore the north-eastern areas of Germany and further north located countries in short trips of one day to a week. We are not sure yet what the upcoming cold months will have in store for us. Camping might not be the most desirable option.

We would like to invite you to follow us on our blog and see where we are and how we are doing. We also appreciate your input and experience you've gained in your travels.