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

The post The waiting game appeared first on Let's be Nomads.

http://ift.tt/1HsESdh

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

The post Winter is coming appeared first on Let's be Nomads.

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

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!

The post It happened again appeared first on Let's be Nomads.

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

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!

 

 

 

 

The post A bump in the road appeared first on Let's be Nomads.

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

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!

The post Great things take time appeared first on Let's be Nomads.

http://ift.tt/1N2AxNc

Peyote, a trip into your mind

I guess you are never too old to experience something totally new, as long as you are willing to be open to it.

When we were in Guatemala a few months ago I heard a lot of people talking about a variety of traditional ceremonies performed by shamans and most of them were happening right here in Central America. I heard stories about cacao beans, ayahuasca and peyote; different sorts of natural substances used in ancient ceremonies to get in touch with the spiritual world, with the ability to cure all kinds of illnesses. I have always been very skeptical towards mind-altering substances, whether they are chemical or natural and have always had the feeling that I don’t need them in order to reach another level of reality. For example, hiking up a mountain with a few close friends and riding down the pure white snow definitely changes my perception of reality and fills my whole day with a enhanced sense of connection. And music played in the right setting also has the power to take me to another level, even without any extra mind-altering substances, including alcohol. Because, let’s face it, alcohol might be socially accepted, but it is a highly addictive drug and in a very high doses, it blacks out your reality instead of enhancing it.

The substance that came along our path is called Peyote, a small, spineless cactus mainly found in the centre of Mexico. Like alcohol, it is legal to use but with the restriction that it can only be used in a religious context and only by certified shamans who can grow, carry and transport it. And in contrast to alcohol it should enhance your reality. Welcome to my road to the world of mescaline.

A few weeks ago some friends of ours told us there would probably be a peyote ceremony happening in the near future and that we could join if we wanted to. This kind of hit me as shock and It took me a very long time to make my decision, but in the end I decided to go for it. Mainly because I always try to follow my instinct in life and also, when would I ever get another opportunity to attend an ancient ceremony under the guidance of a very experienced shaman with only a few close friends? When I finally made my decision I couldn’t help but think of one of my favourite songs by the Wombats: ‘Jump into the fog’, no words could better describe my sentiments at that precise moment.

We arrived at a secret location in the mountains near San Cristobal and the first thing we did was create a circle of comfortable beds around the altar of the shaman. Beds? You might ask. Yep, this kind of ceremony starts around 8-9 pm and lasts until the sun rises. And although I did not sleep at all, I was glad I had the opportunity to lay down from time to time. The whole night was filled with rituals. Before drinking the peyote, we cleansed the place by honouring the four wind directions, the sky and the earth.They all have their own specific symbolic meaning. Next, one by one, we were purified with a special ‘copal’ and offered tobacco to the holy fire. We also put a lot of delicious food (like home made lasagna) in front of the altar, which wasn’t to be touched till the ceremony had ended, because eating lessens the experience and the peyote spirit gets an assortment of food offerings in the morning.

Once the shaman offers you the peyote and you drink the beverage, the voyage starts after about 30 to 45 minutes later. Some people need to vomit almost immediately after drinking it (this is said to be a symbol for the release of negativity from your past). I found it quite easy to drink and digest, so I didn’t throw up. I have to say though that my stomach has been known for exceptional performances in the past, so it didn’t really come as a surprise to me. Just as a side note: If you would ever find yourself somewhere in centre of Mexico and come across some peyote cacti in the nature, don’t go off and start eating them straight away, because the effects are much stronger when you eat them! I would definitely recommend to take it in the presence of experienced shaman who knows what he is doing. Ps: He himself drank about 6 glasses with diluted peyote during the night, one was more than enough for us…

Peyote makes time slow down and at a certain point your whole perception of time vanishes, just because it is not important anymore. It is a very strange experience and I do believe this is one of the main reasons why many people call this a spiritual experience; realising that time is only an illusion is a regarded as a very advanced state of mind in many religions. The other extraordinary aspect of this experience was the singing of the shaman, every song had a different meaning and some of them seemed to last forever. My whole body shook with every note he sang and his voice definitely took me to a higher state. The musical climax was when the shaman used a traditional violin-like instrument to evoke an incredible intense connection to the music. It almost felt like he was playing to my soul. In between the songs the effects were a lot less stronger and at one point I decided to explore the nearby woods with Jenny, our English roommate. Everything I touched felt so real; every tree around me, the ground I walked on and the grass I laid on. We watched the stars and moon dance in the pitch black sky for what seemed to be an infinite time. This part was probably my favourite part of the whole night, being so close to nature. That and also the fun I had with Val, most of the evening we were laughing and having an amazing fun time, especially when we were looking at each others faces, which turned into different shapes and forms. Not once did I feel anything negative, this to the contrary of some fellow participants who were crying, letting go of their past or quietly searching for answers.

The biggest lesson I have learned out of this whole experience is that mind-expanding substances do exactly what their name entails: they expand your present state of mind. This makes the experience different for everyone at any given time and place, because your own self-perception changes every moment of your life.

While I am writing this down it almost is as if I am at that place again; I feel, see and hear everything in full detail, almost the exact way that it all happened that night. And this is the biggest difference with the other legal mind-altering beverage, alcohol: this particular night I will be able to recall forever in full HD!

The strangest thing probably was that the moment the sun rose and the shaman stopped singing, most of the effects were instantly gone and we entered the beautiful feeling, known as the afterglow.

The whole night we had been joking about how amazing the lasagne would taste, but we couldn’t touch it and when the ceremony had ended, the first one to eat according to tradition was the fire. You can imagine how we felt about that little extended sense deprivation! After we offered some food to the fire, the time had finally come to let our taste senses go wild and wild they went! I have never eaten a lasagna that tasted so good (thanks Chloe)! This was followed by cake, bread, tea, coffee, chocolate, sweets and fruits. You can imagine the feast! I have never seen so many happy faces!

The rest of day flew by, we sat in the sun, talked, laughed and enjoyed each others company. The shaman was exhausted, but there was a certain kind of glow around him, that is hard to describe. He sat silently against a tree and for some reason we were all drawn to him, so we joined him and had a glorious afternoon together.

The beauty about being around a real shaman is that you hardly notice him. He is the instigator, the driving force behind the scenes and will only talk when spoken to. He is the one who provides the blank canvas, which you can explore at your own pace.

I don’t know if I will do this ever again, but I do know now that it is not something to be afraid of, providing you are in the right place in your mind and body at the moment the opportunity present itself.

PS: Of course your body needs to recover from the whole endeavour, but I can tell you this: the moment your visit to the toilet isn’t a disappointment anymore because you couldn’t go, is the moment everything is physically back to where you started (normally this happens somewhere later in the day). Your mind, however, will probably never be the same (and this in a good way).

The post Peyote, a trip into your mind appeared first on Let's be Nomads.

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

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.

The post Progress update appeared first on Let's be Nomads.

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J