Day 72 - Is this a lonely journey?

We're all looking for Connection

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So, yes, we had a meeting in Ávila before going back to Valencia and going to the UK. But we’ll get there. Before, just a thought that we want to share with you.

After 2 months of not actually meeting people or making any friends, we were wondering if caravaning life would be kind of a lonely journey. In most of the places that we’ve stopped, we’ve seen caravans, motorhomes, and campervans stop late at night and leave early in the morning, without even exploring the town. And some of the towns, like Medinacelli for example, are breathtaking and worth spending at least a day.

Anyway, apart from small conversations here and there, mostly because of Chewie, on day 72 we actually met a Brazilian couple and a Spanish couple in a car park just south of Madrid. The conversation went a long way, and the Brazilian couple once did a journey back in 2008 that we have to add to our plans. They went from Ushuaia (It lies on the main island of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago at the southern tip of South America) to Alaska… YES! A journey that crosses 14 countries and sounds like a life adventure for all the caravaning people… You can find their blog here: http://jarbasecleusa.blogspot.com/

So, again, it’s not about the destination or the journey, it’s about the people that we meet on the way.

Avila was refreshing, tables out, everybody sharing food, drink and good laughs. We needed this community sense after 3 months on the road. So, yes, there are a lot of groups organizing meetings around Spain and you can just join to be part of a really nice community.

Talking about community and caravaning people, that’s part of a new project that we’ll share with you soon… Exciting!

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Day 82 - UK - A Wedding and a Funeral

We had 10 days in UK before returning to Valencia. It was very intense, as we paid the last tribute to Reed’s dad and his ashes are now resting where he wanted, in Hadleigh Castle, Essex.

Also, we went to the wedding of friends Lisa & Ian and took the official pictures. It was beautiful at Downhan Market, a very charming town in Norfolk, England.

We wish you both a lot of happiness!!!

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Day 113 - Paradise with Goats, Chickens and Veggies from the garden…

… And the lovely couple André and Cris.

Well, we finally got back to our homevan. After almost 40 days. Damn, the days are passing so quickly. Anyway, we drove from Valencia to Santo Domingo de las Posadas, 15 minutes from Avila. We stayed for 4 nights and enjoyed life in the campo. Well, enjoyed the looking and not having to work on! Goats, chickens, veggies from the garden and nice walks around the countryside.

On our last day, they took us for a walk which made us realize that we need to exercise more. Not a long way, we only walked around 7km, but I don’t know if it was the heat or the hill (we got so used to not going up hills, haha), but we struggled a little bit, like our old car. We did, however, come back to a traditional Brazilian barbecue!

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Day 117 - First drive with new car towing the caravan

From Santo Domingo de las Posadas to Valencia. We stopped in a lovely little home-on-wheels service area in Villarejo de Fuentes. It had only four or five spaces (although, it had room if you wanted to wait for a space to become available). The spaces came with all the usual water services as well as free electric! Just across from the area was a swimming pool, which was free to use, as well as a nice little bar with Paellas on Sunday for only 10€.

If we had more time, we would have loved to have stopped for longer, as the area was actually better than most of the paid campsites that we’ve stayed in so far!

We’re also happy to report, our new car towed the caravan with ease. It was much more of a relaxing experience. Instead of keep staring down at the engine temperature gauge and having to plan for emergency stops, we could relax with the air conditioning and enjoy the ride.

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Day 119 - The Solar Panel Arrived

OK, so for those that don’t already know, we use a solar generator as our main source of power to give us electricity in our caravan. The solar generator we chose was the Ecoflow Pro which gives us sufficient power to use even the most power-hungry appliances (if needed). To charge the solar generator, we had Ecoflows 400-watt foldable solar panel. It worked great to begin with, but after folding and unfolding it multiple times every day (as well as maybe a couple of knocks), the connections in the folding seams of the panel gradually became disconnected, meaning every time we unfolded the panel, we had to mess around (in the sun) trying to get it working properly. While we’ve been back in the Valencia area looking to buy our car, we got in touch with Ecoflows customer service. Occasionally, it took them a while to reply to emails (which they always apologized for), but it turned out to be a great experience, and they were very polite. As the panel was still under guarantee they were happy for me to send the broken panel back to them, and they sent us a new panel completely free of charge.

(We’ll try to take better care of this one.)

So for us, Ecoflow gets a big thumbs up!

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Day 120 - Pet Sitting For 12 Mainecoon Cats

Lastly, the other reason why we came back to Valencia. We are currently pet-sitting 12 adorable Maincoon Cats for Clients/Friends. We’ll be with the furbabies until the 15th August and then we’ll be back in our Home On Wheels heading towards, what was meant to be our first destination, Galicia.

Our website, www.HappyLifeOnWheels.com, is gradually taking shape. It's still under construction, but if you want to see what we're up to, feel free to take a look. (It’s looking pretty good now)

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Any Questions?

Do you have any questions about the nomad life, caravan living, pet travel, or anything travel-related? Then ask away!

We also want to hear from seasoned travellers. Do you have any places you recommend? Especially caravan and pet-friendly places! - Put it in the MAP

The link below should show the caravan friendly places that we have personally been to. Obviously, new places will be added regularly as we continue our adventure.

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