The Lamzac week

It is 9pm, Val and Fenna are already in bed and Lewis is lying next to me on the couch in our living room. The bus is empty. He is exhausted and happily snoring. I totally get how he feels and I know I am also having some signs of withdrawal after this intense, but amazing week with the Lamzac crew. It is not that I am shaking or have a fever or something like that, however it does feel like my body and mind have been drained, but than in a good way. It feels like the afterglow you experience after an unforgettable party, where you don’t want things to end, but deep down realize it is for the better to call it a day and say your goodbyes to everyone.

 

Living on the bus with 8 people is something really special, especially if people don’t know one and other yet. For example, it doesn’t take long before you get past the regular ‘what do you do for a living?’ questions and start having real conversations. You also get the feeling like you have been traveling together for a very long time, when in reality you have only have been on the bus for a day or two. You instantly become a temporary family in a constantly changing setting and before you know it, you are helping with setting up the bus or preparing diner. In the end I think it all evolves about making the most of your stay on the bus and creating the best possible moments together. That is why I love the diner moments together so much, 10 people at together on the roof or inside the bus is something you have got to experience before you can fully comprehend the vibe it creates, especially when Val has turned on her magic in the kitchen and your senses explode each time you take another bite. It might seem like I am exaggerating, but I am not. It really is that good. In honour to her food, we’ll soon start writing a ‘food blog’ on our letsbenomads website. Definitely worth to check out!

 

Tonight we have two new guests arriving and tomorrow another one will join the bus, this week will be a lot more like a real hostel, where people will come and go, staying a couple of days on the bus. We are also going into the Spanish Basque country and discover the beautiful green coast. Another different experience and that is what our bus is all about: constant change. Nothing that makes my heart beat faster and makes me smile more than discovering new places and meeting new people.

 

Thanks again to everyone from the Lamzac crew for making last week a week to never forget!

Cheers!

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Life on the road

In a couple of days we’ll be on the road for almost a month.

Time really does fly by.

I was pretty sure we would be able to fill our bus every week with happy guests the moment we started driving and unfortunately it hasn’t been like that, but on the other hand it has given us the time to get to know jumbo George (our bus) a lot better. For example that he is quite intelligent and shuts himself down when you drive uphill for too long when it is plus 30 degrees outside. Not only are we learning more about Jumbo’s powers, we are also learning about how life on the road is when you are driving a yellow 12 meter long American skoolie in Europe. It is definitely an eye-catcher and not a day goes by that we come across people who want to take a look inside. People are always impressed with our conversion and in general with the whole idea behind our project.

I think France especially is very favourable, because of their ‘camion culture’ where people transform a truck into a house on wheels. It is a very well known concept and although we haven’t come across one just yet I am sure we will somewhere in the near future. At the moment almost all of our neighbours on the many parking lots we have stayed at are the classic white camper vans, mostly occupied by retired people We have also learned a couple of basics about the camper culture in France; for example you can stay on a designated parking lot for a maximum of seven days and there is a great parking spot app called parkfornight that shows all the nearby ‘free’ spots in the whole of Europe.

Living on the road in our big bus isn’t that different from what we used to do before this project: traveling around the world with our backpacks and a tent. We still have to look for a space to spend the night, talk to people to discover the best spots in the neighbourhood, find a store to do groceries and so on. The only difference is, is that now people tend to help even more than before, because Jumbo is so special and attracts a lot of visitors anyway, so we don’t really need to look for someone to ask for help. One of them was Marguax, who has become a real friend and who works for a big traveling festival in Albertville that takes place at the end of September. It sounds very nice, there are 30.000 people who gather to watch films about all kind of different ways to travel and she asked us to be a part of the festival, we haven’t figured out how just yet, but I am sure we can come up with something. She was so kind as to give us the keys of her apartment, so we could her Internet connection when she was off to work. We also met an older guy that owns a bus company in Arreches, who came by every day at the parking lot in Conflans to check out the rarity that is our bus in Europe. His passion for special cars drew him to our bus and because of Jumbo he has helped us in a lot of ways. Now we are in his hometown in the mountains near Beaufort enjoying another beautiful parking spot (one that we found thanks to him); we even have our own tennis court right in front of us!

What I have come to realize is, that we are definitely where we should be at this moment; we are basically doing a prospection for the upcoming winter, which is very important to make things go as smooth as possible when the snow hits the road in December. This month we have discovered many cool little resorts and beautiful places nearby Albertville, a city I used to drive through on my way to the big resorts in la Tarentaise without giving the mountains around it too much thought. These little mountain villages feel so much better suited for our project; they seem to be a lot cosier and friendlier than the big ones. I am already thinking about the possibilities for next winter here and I am very excited to return when there will be some fresh snow on the peaks. Not only are we discovering these mountain villages, we are also expanding our network of people: so far we have met a local cameramen, a policemen who has connections in many other small mountain towns, an art painter, a guy who runs a bus company, a guy who has his own 4×4 and a couple of downhill mountain bikes, a girl who is in charge of a travel festival, a guy who owns 40 family parks, etc… It is definitely very important to be here at this moment during the shoulder season when there aren’t a lot of tourists just yet, but all the locals are preparing for the upcoming summer season.

The same goes for us, we are also looking at the options for this summer and have decided that we’ll be heading towards the region of Gap and Briancon for the month of June, the Pyrenees for the months of Juli and August and go to the Basque country in Spain to catch some waves in September and October.

Hope to see you on the bus at some point!

Cheers!

 

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After the dust has settled

Two years, it took us two years…

The drive from Belgium to the Alps was super exciting and kind of scary for me, because I had only driven Jumbo George through the flatlands of Belgium and Holland and hadn’t been able to test his uphill riding skills just yet and who knew the engine might not be as strong as we expected it to be. When we crossed into the French part of Belgium and started the first long haul in the Ardennes and I saw the speed dropping to under 40 km/h, it felt like my whole world was crumbling down. If Jumbo was already struggling with these soft hills, there was no way he would be to able to get up the real mountains in France and our whole master plan of chasing powder next winter would fail.

I know the climb to Val Thorens by heart and knew that if Jumbo would make it past the first couple of turns, there would be a good chance of him getting all the way to the top at 2300 meters above sea level. I stepped on the gas paddle and smiled as Jumbo took his first turns with ease, he wasn’t flying up the mountain, but it felt smooth and steady. At some point 20 km/h was the maximum speed he could handle, but he was handling it and no sooner than an hour and a half later I saw the flags of Val Thorens waiving on both sides of the street, just before the last bend to the village.

I was home, again.

It is so weird to finally be in the place you are supposed to be. When we started the crowdfunding campaign exactly two years ago, we truly believed we would be on the road with our hostel on wheels by the upcoming winter about six months later. We didn’t reach that initial target because of many reasons, but the main one was definitely that we are both such damned perfectionists, something we have come to realise more than once during this project. It is so funny to look at some of the early footage, where we were constantly bickering about what the best possible option would be for, well, for about every centimetre of the bus: from the size of the table, the height of the kitchen sink, the placement of the wood stove, the sort of insulation for the roof, the kind of paint to the width of the hallway and a million other things. Not one thing was decided without brainstorming about it for at least a couple of days. In the end I am super glad we did the whole project that way, it has led to something that has exceeded my expectations in so many ways and thanks to this (sometimes tiresome) process, we now have a hostel on wheels, one that really works, in every way. Finally I am able to say it out loud, I am fu**ing PROUD! Sorry for the language, but that is exactly how I feel right now. I know it now for sure; making a dream come true is the best feeling there is. Never hesitate to follow yours. Ever.

Cheers!

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Life on the road

In a couple of days we’ll be on the road for almost a month.

Time really does fly by.

I was pretty sure we would be able to fill our bus every week with happy guests the moment we started driving and unfortunately it hasn’t been like that, but on the other hand it has given us the time to get to know jumbo George (our bus) a lot better. For example that he is quite intelligent and shuts himself down when you drive uphill for too long when it is plus 30 degrees outside. Not only are we learning more about Jumbo’s powers, we are also learning about how life on the road is when you are driving a yellow 12 meter long American skoolie in Europe. It is definitely an eye-catcher and not a day goes by that we come across people who want to take a look inside. People are always impressed with our conversion and in general with the whole idea behind our project.

I think France especially is very favourable, because of their ‘camion culture’ where people transform a truck into a house on wheels. It is a very well known concept and although we haven’t come across one just yet I am sure we will somewhere in the near future. At the moment almost all of our neighbours on the many parking lots we have stayed at are the classic white camper vans, mostly occupied by retired people We have also learned a couple of basics about the camper culture in France; for example you can stay on a designated parking lot for a maximum of seven days and there is a great parking spot app called parkfornight that shows all the nearby ‘free’ spots in the whole of Europe.

Living on the road in our big bus isn’t that different from what we used to do before this project: traveling around the world with our backpacks and a tent. We still have to look for a space to spend the night, talk to people to discover the best spots in the neighbourhood, find a store to do groceries and so on. The only difference is, is that now people tend to help even more than before, because Jumbo is so special and attracts a lot of visitors anyway, so we don’t really need to look for someone to ask for help. One of them was Marguax, who has become a real friend and who works for a big traveling festival in Albertville that takes place at the end of September. It sounds very nice, there are 30.000 people who gather to watch films about all kind of different ways to travel and she asked us to be a part of the festival, we haven’t figured out how just yet, but I am sure we can come up with something. She was so kind as to give us the keys of her apartment, so we could her Internet connection when she was off to work. We also met an older guy that owns a bus company in Arreches, who came by every day at the parking lot in Conflans to check out the rarity that is our bus in Europe. His passion for special cars drew him to our bus and because of Jumbo he has helped us in a lot of ways. Now we are in his hometown in the mountains near Beaufort enjoying another beautiful parking spot (one that we found thanks to him); we even have our own tennis court right in front of us!

What I have come to realize is, that we are definitely where we should be at this moment; we are basically doing a prospection for the upcoming winter, which is very important to make things go as smooth as possible when the snow hits the road in December. This month we have discovered many cool little resorts and beautiful places nearby Albertville, a city I used to drive through on my way to the big resorts in la Tarentaise without giving the mountains around it too much thought. These little mountain villages feel so much better suited for our project; they seem to be a lot cosier and friendlier than the big ones. I am already thinking about the possibilities for next winter here and I am very excited to return when there will be some fresh snow on the peaks. Not only are we discovering these mountain villages, we are also expanding our network of people: so far we have met a local cameramen, a policemen who has connections in many other small mountain towns, an art painter, a guy who runs a bus company, a guy who has his own 4×4 and a couple of downhill mountain bikes, a girl who is in charge of a travel festival, a guy who owns 40 family parks, etc… It is definitely very important to be here at this moment during the shoulder season when there aren’t a lot of tourists just yet, but all the locals are preparing for the upcoming summer season.

The same goes for us, we are also looking at the options for this summer and have decided that we’ll be heading towards the region of Gap and Briancon for the month of June, the Pyrenees for the months of Juli and August and go to the Basque country in Spain to catch some waves in September and October.

Hope to see you on the bus at some point!

Cheers!

 

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After the dust has settled

Two years, it took us two years…

The drive from Belgium to the Alps was super exciting and kind of scary for me, because I had only driven Jumbo George through the flatlands of Belgium and Holland and hadn’t been able to test his uphill riding skills just yet and who knew the engine might not be as strong as we expected it to be. When we crossed into the French part of Belgium and started the first long haul in the Ardennes and I saw the speed dropping to under 40 km/h, it felt like my whole world was crumbling down. If Jumbo was already struggling with these soft hills, there was no way he would be to able to get up the real mountains in France and our whole master plan of chasing powder next winter would fail.

I know the climb to Val Thorens by heart and knew that if Jumbo would make it past the first couple of turns, there would be a good chance of him getting all the way to the top at 2300 meters above sea level. I stepped on the gas paddle and smiled as Jumbo took his first turns with ease, he wasn’t flying up the mountain, but it felt smooth and steady. At some point 20 km/h was the maximum speed he could handle, but he was handling it and no sooner than an hour and a half later I saw the flags of Val Thorens waiving on both sides of the street, just before the last bend to the village.

I was home, again.

It is so weird to finally be in the place you are supposed to be. When we started the crowdfunding campaign exactly two years ago, we truly believed we would be on the road with our hostel on wheels by the upcoming winter about six months later. We didn’t reach that initial target because of many reasons, but the main one was definitely that we are both such damned perfectionists, something we have come to realise more than once during this project. It is so funny to look at some of the early footage, where we were constantly bickering about what the best possible option would be for, well, for about every centimetre of the bus: from the size of the table, the height of the kitchen sink, the placement of the wood stove, the sort of insulation for the roof, the kind of paint to the width of the hallway and a million other things. Not one thing was decided without brainstorming about it for at least a couple of days. In the end I am super glad we did the whole project that way, it has led to something that has exceeded my expectations in so many ways and thanks to this (sometimes tiresome) process, we now have a hostel on wheels, one that really works, in every way. Finally I am able to say it out loud, I am fu**ing PROUD! Sorry for the language, but that is exactly how I feel right now. I know it now for sure; making a dream come true is the best feeling there is. Never hesitate to follow yours. Ever.

Cheers!

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The waiting game

This morning I opened my Facebook account and as almost every day this past month I have to look at a picture or video of a friend riding powder. I guess this means they are all quite fortunate and/or have worked hard enough to get them into a place in life where they can afford to spend time in the soft beloved white gold. And of course that my circle of friends is quite snow minded. Am I jealous? Well, hard not to be when I see the smile on their faces and especially because I know the flow feeling all to well. On the other hand these posts do remind me of the good times I have spent with them doing the exact same thing. Unforgettable moments one by one and yep those memories also put a smile on my face, so can’t really complain about all those pictures, now can I?

 

Not so long after the smile has gone from my face, questions that have been haunting me for a while pop up into my head: ‘Why am I not hiking to top of all those beautiful white peaks?’ ‘Why in the bloody … are we still not in the mountains with our bus?’ ‘Is this still the right path for us?’ and so on… It is a never-ending loop, which quite frankly can get me quite depressed. Our bus is SO ready to go, everything is ready, we just need a way to get it legally on the road an that seems to be the final (and quite big) hurdle. FRUSTRATION is the word that comes to the mind A LOT these days.

 

Last year somewhere in December we got in touch with someone who imports American vehicles into the Netherlands for a living and we thought we were finally nearing the end of our long wait. In the beginning it looked quite promising; he told us he could probably import the bus via Germany and there was a good chance we could get through inspection by the end of January, but since a week or so, we know that this route will not work because we don’t have an official CO-emission data report of our Cummins engine in this specific bus. By chance I know someone who works at Cummins in Europe and I thought he might find the right certificate and a couple of days later he called me to tell me he had found the certificate with the CO-emissions on for our engine, so I jumped in the air, shouted hallelujah and mailed it to my contact. He replied that although this was the right certificate for this engine, it was not enough; it should be one that has data of our engine matched to our bus and not only of the engine itself. JEEZ! I know. So, we called Thomas Bus and asked if they might have such a certificate. They replied that such a document does not exist in the US, it is not a requirement over there.

 

Back to zero I guess. Luckily, our contact has more than one way to get things done and really wants to help to get our bus on the road. As we are speaking he is looking in to some other options: an inspection in the UK or Sweden, another path in Germany and even a possible alternative way in The Netherlands… The crazy thing is that we would probably have to get a German or Bulgarian temporary license plate to drive to the UK or Sweden. In any case, we are not there yet. He did say he is for 99% sure he can get us on the road, the only question that still remains is when?

 

Hopefully, soon, very soon.

 

In the mean while we have to settle with what the universe is offering us; luckily this includes a short trip to Avoriaz/Chamonix next week, something we are really looking forward to.

 

That’s it that’s all for now, I sincerely hope the next post will be the One!

Regards.

 

Neo.

 

Ps: For some of you, who might not know what the matrix is, just watch the movies

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Winter is coming

Time for an update.

At the moment we are still standing on the parking lot of the workshop in Hoogerheide, well actually not only standing, but also living there in our Nomads Bus. I must say it feels like home more than ever, the inside is super cosy and we have everything we need to live a comfortable life in it. I told Val that this is surely the most luxurious and convenient house I have ever lived in and it is only 25m2. I have lived in so many places I can’t even remember them all, but never have I had the opportunity to fine tune one completely to my needs. I guess it is also because our house is so small that you start looking at every corner and try to make the best of every little bit of space you can find. Also, it lends itself to quick improvements, because everything is made out of wood and it feels almost like playing with Lego, where you can easily remove and add new stuff all of the time. Thanks universe for providing us with wood!

From a technical aspect everything that needed to be done, has been done and so now the waiting game has begun (again). We were looking at different ways to get our bus inspected and our first idea was to go through what is called an individual inspection process in The Netherlands, but last week someone who works over there called me up and explained why it might not be the best idea to start that whole process. Basically, he said it would probably take a long time and a lot of money, he also mentioned there are other easier ways and that’s when Germany came up. He couldn’t tell me more about it, but he hinted it would definitely be a better option. Funny as how life goes, because later that day I met up with an old friend and he told me that one of his friends has a company that helps people import foreign cars into The Netherlands. How much of a coincidence is that?? The next day I called him and after that first conversation I can say it looks very promising, as usual there are some ifs and buts and maybes, but he told me that this is what they do for a living and that they import somewhere over 500 cars per year through Germany. Now all we need to do is get some technical info on the bus from the Thomas company and we can start the inspection process. He said it could be arranged in 30 days, if everything works out the way it should, but when does that ever? So, more realistically we’ll be to able to drive our home legally in Europe at some point in January. At least we have found a way that should bring our bus into the mountains, where it (and we) belong! Can’t wait, can’t wait, can’t wait!

The most frustrating part is that we still can’t accept any bookings, because we don’t want to disappoint any body, hopefully we’ll be able to open them in the very near future!

Still fingers crossed though, mine have been like that for quite a while now, I hope I can uncross them soon.

Ps: We have over a month to fine-fine tune the bus, so any suggestions are welcome!

Sent from my iPad

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It happened again

Yes it did!

I almost can’t believe it is true, but it is, this is the so-mani-eth time we have found the right place at the right time.

 

I am sitting in the front part of our bus, while Valerie is enjoying some ‘alone’ time with happy Fenna in our bedroom and can’t help but smile. Why, you might ask. Well, because I am in Hoogerheide at the workshop, where I have been working on The Nomads Bus for over two months now and tomorrow together with Michiel (one of the nicest people I have met thanks to our project) I’ll do the last difficult part of the conversion. It is not going to be a pleasant job though; we have to put on the black layer of undercoating on the bottom of the bus, very nasty stuff to work with, but knowing this is the last big task I have to do makes me really happy. When this has been done, it is up to Jan, the incredibly relaxed and friendly owner of the workshop, to finish up the last bits and pieces on the bus. I am so excited to see the end finally nearing and a bit scared as well, because this means we’ll be going to the inspection in a couple of weeks and find out if we can start our journey on the road.

 

The last post that I wrote, I was kind of depressed about the workload and the fact that Jan didn’t want to continue working on our bus. However, this final hurdle, like as almost any obstacle, has brought me quite a bit of joy these last few weeks; I have learned yet some more skills, I have met some very nice new people (especially a big thanks to Kasper and Maarten for helping out!), our favourite brilliant Norwegian Viking friend Vidar The Great was so nice to fly to Belgium and help out for two weeks and most importantly I got to know my brother Dieter a lot better thanks to the work we did together during this final part of the conversion.

 

There is a lot I have to be thankful for these days, like for example my parents, who were so kind to do a big detour on their latest trip and pick up some important parts in Munich. I am definitely most grateful though for having found this workshop; the way they have handled this whole thing has been nothing but amazing. Seriously, I don’t think there are many workshops in the world that are so friendly and helpful. Can you imagine letting in a bunch of different people in your workshop, letting them use used their tools, ask a million questions, have lunch and dinners in your kitchen, used your bathroom and let them sleep on your terrain? And then only charge the hours you actually work on the bus? Insane no? So much goodness, it is overwhelming.

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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A bump in the road

A couple of days ago the phone rang and I was too busy to notice that Val’s mood had changed completely after she had hung up. ‘What is wrong?’ I asked after I realised that my girl was moping and looking sort of depressed at the other side of our little three by three room. ‘The mechanic from the garage has just called’, she said ‘he does not want to continue on our bus and wants us to come over as soon as possible to explain why.’

 

It felt like a meteor had just hit me. Why would he say that? Two weeks ago he was fully committed to get our bus ready for inspection and now this? I saw our dream crumble before my eyes. It can’t be true, is what my first thought was, no way this was happening. I had to keep an open mind and hope we could convince him to continue to work. So, the next day we drove up to the garage to ask what was going on.

 

When we arrived, I immediately looked at what he had done so far and I was very impressed with the quality of his work. He had done some great welding and had reinforced a lot of beams; he even had screwed on some good-looking iron plates on a part of the bottom of the bus. He certainly must have worked quite a lot on it already and in everything he had done, you could see his craftsmanship.

 

A few minutes later he walked up towards us and started to explain he didn’t want to continue working on the bus, because it was simply taking up too much of his time, which made him neglect his regular customers. Not only that, if he would continue at this rate, it would cost us a fortune to get it all done. He had already put in 60 hours, at his normal rate this would cost us 3000 euro and he hadn’t even finished a quarter of the job. He is also leaving for four weeks and has not a lot of time when he returns.

 

Can we just drop our dream? Do we really have to? There must be a solution to this? What is the best way to move forward? So many questions popped up in my head, it was hard to get my thoughts straight. We have spent so much time and money in this project and so many people seem to believe in our dream, is it really time to end it?

 

My mind kept rambling on, so I tried to get it on track and think logically; we have come this far, from buying a bus in the US, shipping it, importing it, converting it and finally finding this guy, we are at the final stages of getting this on the road, there must be a way to convince him. Besides, this mechanic is really professional and a super-friendly human being who definitely has a good heart, which is a rare quality in a car mechanic.

 

‘Maybe we need to give you more time’ I said, ‘so you can work on your regular clients and work on the bus whenever there is time left. You could also tell us when you’ll work on the bus, so I can find a couple of people to come and help. I have met some amazing people thanks to this project, who are very skilled and probably willing to help, if we can schedule it properly.’

 

‘All right’ he said, ‘I’ll think about the options during the upcoming weekend, please call me back on Monday.’

 

‘Yes!!’ I thought to myself, ‘Maybe we can come up with a solution after all, we are so close, there MUST be a way.’ So, fingers crossed for Monday and if any of you want to help, please let us know, we’ll be eternally grateful!

 

 

 

 

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Great things take time

‘I think you should come have a look on Saturday.’ He said on the phone a few days ago. Apparently, the friendly round faced mechanic who has been working underneath the bus for a couple of days now, kept bumping into more rust than he had expected. So, he needed our opinion on how we wanted to proceed.

Together with our Skilled Nomad, Maarten, we drove to the garage in Hoogerheide and went into the pit underneath the bus to take a look and get a second opinion. Have you ever walked underneath a 12m long school bus? I hadn’t. Well yes, I did lay underneath the bus with a headlamp and my big pregnant belly last summer to look for space for the water tanks but to see the whole bodywork in detail was quite overwhelming.

‘Rust really? Where?’ is what I thought.

 

 

A year ago, when we found the bus on Ebay, we truly believed Jason, the Ebay salesman, who was very confident of the condition of the bus and convinced us that there was not much rust at all. I can’t really believe he deliberately lied to us and in his mind, he didn’t even have to; to US standards this is not much rust, to Dutch standards however, where not more than 20% of the metal can be turned into rust in order to get trough inspection he would definitely be lying. You really had to look closely and high up with a torch to spot anything, but there it was, hidden between the huge pieces of metal, which to me are all the same, you saw what he meant; the copper colored stuff, still stuck in my memory as the never ending parasite covering the floor of the bus, that dirty brown color streaming down Tim’s face in the shower when he spend his days trying to grind that stuff away on the inside of the bus.

That was almost a year ago and so much has happened in the past year, that I couldn’t let negativity slip into my mind when the mechanic told me this was going to take at least another month and would cost somewhere in between five to ten thousand euro to fix. Mainly in man hours, because it is all about getting the rust away in the most gnarly places. When I was thinking about whether or not we needed to stop this beautiful project, stay patient and pump more money into it, not for a second I doubted what was closest to my heart. My mind is not created to host mister negativity.

Even if I was able to let the negativity get the best of me, I still wouldn’t have given up, because this project isn’t just about the end goal. It’s not about that moment I always envision when I think about the bus in the Alps, a bus full of stoked riders chasing pow. It has always been about the road that has led us up to this point; my memory is overflowing with positive moments building this thing, from all the work-awayers we have gotten to know to walking into the bus with a one-day-old baby and lighting the wood stove for the first time. We’ve made it to this point in the story. I’m not ready to give up.

‘Just do what has to be done. At least the main frame of the bus is strong and safe enough. We’ll try to find some extra hands to get rid of the rust. We need to get this bus, our dear Big Bertha, through inspection. As long as we’re on the road before the next winter starts it’s all good’. Is what we told the mechanic at the end of our visit on Saturday.

So peeps, to make a long story short, this is what’s happening:

We’re staying in Belgium just a little bit longer. It might even be till the end of October. In any case, we’ll put all of our energy into the bus but and at the same time enjoy the amazing things we’ll miss when we’re in the Alps: family, friends, Belgian beer, Stoofvlees and all the rest what this amazing and oh so flat country has to offer. Everything always happens for a reason and although at the moment we do feel a bit shitty towards people who already bought a trip during the crowdfunding last year and to our sponsors who have been with us from the start, we are absolutely positive this will happen. Don’t stop believing in this crazy dream we have. We certainly haven’t and we’ll do whatever we can to turn on the engine and start driving towards the snowy mountains with a bus full of stoked riders who will have the privilege to enjoy Bertha’s first big adventure!

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Progress update

It has been only a couple of days since the campaign has ended and although we were (and are) super stoked on reaching our goal, there is still a lot left to be done.

These last couple of days we have been trying to figure out the practical side of getting to the bus in Tennessee, getting the bus to the port in Jacksonville and getting back home ourselves. All of this at the best price possible in a country where dogs are not allowed on public transport…

It hasn’t been easy, but as always we have come up with a solution.

We believe that everything happens for a reason and finding our bus in Tennessee was no different, the seller is one of the kindest people we have met during our world travels and is very understanding and willing to work with us to get the bus shipped, so he proposed to drive the bus to Jacksonville himself at the cost of the gas (normally that would have cost us a 1000 usd). His daughter has to play softball in Florida and he himself proposed to make a detour of 500km for us. We’ll rent a car and drive to Atlanta from Austin on the 9th-10th of June and he’ll pick us up at the airport in Atlanta, where we will drop off the car. We’ll join him on the bus and drive for about five hours to Jacksonville, which will actually be our first time on the bus. Can’t wait! His daughter will follow us in another car and once we have arrived there, they will continue their journey to Panama City, Florida.

We’ll arrive in the middle of the night on the 11th and will probably sleep for a couple of hours in the bus till the morning. When we wake up, I’ll have to find a way to get to the airport in Jacksonville and pick up another rental car, that will get us to Miami. We’ll have five days to get there, which gives us a chance to explore Florida, we’ll work our way down using couchsurfing and wild camping.

The main reason why we are not hitchhiking this whole adventure is that we still have Lewis’s big cage with us, for his flight back home and that we are on a tight time schedule to get back to Europe and that you almost can’t get anywhere in this huge country without a car.

The total transport cost for all of this will be:

- 450€: flight from Miami to Brussels for 2 people and our dog, long live Jetairfly and skyscanner.

- 360€: 7 days car rental and gas (2000km)

We are very happy to end our world travels with a bit of adventure and are also excited to get back to the mainland. Hope to see you all!

PS: We’ll be landing on the 17th of June, the bus will arrive on the 17th of July. We have started the production of the LbN T-shirts and Jackets. We’ll let you know when we are ready to ship them out to you.

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