It has been eight months now since we have exchanged our house for a campervan.

Since I am a photographer and not so much a writer or talker, we have not shared the ins and outs of what it means to be living and traveling together.
The last two weeks Janek Sedlar started making a documentary about me and pretty soon came to the conclusion that my photography and our personal life simply can not be separated.
I was rather reluctant at the start and had to get used to all the attention focused on me for a change. Till now we used the blog mainly for my pictures with some descriptive lines.
Although I often did start writing more about our personal experiences, I have never posted them. But now since we started with the documentary, it became more obvious it will be an added value.

Our first trip

Our first trip lasted three months. Now why would I call it our first trip while our whole life is a big journey now. It’s because we saw it as a try out. Would our relation stand, is the campervan living up to our expectations, its not the youngest anymore. Will I still be able to do my work in it. Will we be missing our house, children etc etc.

Therefore we decided to hibernate at Annemarie’s parents house in Germany and to use the winter to work and evaluate. Fortunately we were very welcome to stay the winter, because living the way we do is not recommended when the days are short, dark and cold. Therefore at the end of this year we will be heading south and will travel to warmer countries.

The exchange of our home for a mobile one was a big step. Everything changes. It’s about finding a new balance in our work, our relationship, our household, deDutching, getting the rush out of our life etc. You can imagine a small place, where you have a kitchen, a bathroom, a bedroom, table and seats all in a few square meters, could squeeze the goodness right out of your relationship. We knew tension could arise en we agreed on facing the tough times together and solve any problems. And I am glad  to tell you we even have grown closer and never had so much fun and laughter. And all furniture and glasswork is still in one piece.
This way of traveling, the opportunities we get to see beautiful places in nature almost everyday, makes us easily overcome our small disputes.

Pyrenees

Okay, back to some other highlights from our first trip.

Since we like to scout the area, either by foot or camper, it often leads to rather small roads. Like the time when we were in the Irati at the Fábrica de Orbaitzeta in Spain where we chose a narrow road from which we knew it would lead us over the mountaintop into France and right onto the road to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France where we visited some dear friends. They made the clever move by leaving the Netherlands and immigrate to the French Basque country.  It is an area of outstanding beauty.