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

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

DAY NINE

The journey is coming to an end. We had a wonderful time and it perfectly matched our needs. It was very relaxing – even though we had high winds, huge waves, overcast skies and rain. Entertainment was always available all day and night. There was always food in sight and it was hard to stick with healthy choices when the most delicate deserts were twinkling at us. So for 10 days we tossed all health and weight concerns out of the window and ate whatever our taste buds desired.

Cunard provided an excellent service. All staff members were most helpful, always very friendly, looked after our room twice a day to keep it spotless and waited on us royally. If we requested something or voiced a need, the response followed within minutes. It will take a moment to get back to the reality of having to cook our own food and then to do the dishes. It is super easy to get really lazy in this environment. – Just what we needed –

Now, almost all the bags and suitcases are packed and ready to go. Waiting for the washer and dryer to be done to complete the packing. We place the luggage outside our state room and it will magically, in silence, disappear until tomorrow morning when we leave this beautiful ship.

We, wholeheartedly, recommend travelling on the Queen Mary 2. This will not be our last time. We are already looking at west bound crossings into New York.

You will hear from us again tomorrow.

SHORTENED TIME...........

Hi, it's me, Tom. This is my first official post and my first time blogging.

I never thought that I would see this day..........27 days until the boat...uh......ship sails.......where has the time gone. Soon I'll be sitting on a Baltic beach wondering "what the heck am I doing here." I used to do that at the start of every ski season at the top of the mountain as I looked down at that tiny spec at the bottom which was the lodge capable of holding five thousand people......"what the heck am I doing here?" After that first run I was alright and I'm sure after that first dip in the Baltic, things will be the same (or so I hope).

I am sure that my wife and the kids (all of drinking age) will help me through the initial stages of living in a foreign land...........guten Morgen..........wie geht's..........wo sind die toiletten...........you know, the formalities. I have been told that there is a tradition of roaming about to meet the neighbors and to introduce ourselves (they have already been warned that we are coming) and in doing so, breaking the ice with a shot of what-ever liquor is on hand. So............I don't think we will feel much pain or maybe a lot.

Winter needs to go as I still have painting, cables to put in the ground and caulking to do on the house......AND PACK! (Do they have professional packers that would come in and pack everything for you?) Once I get on the boat.....ship......I'll be ok...........it's just the getting there that is going to do me in.

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.