Long days (and nights in the garage)
As we started the preparation of our overland trip over a year ago an excel list of all needed - or might be needed - things originated and grew over the period of time. Probably very German we have to admit, but when we packed the car it was good to tick-off and double check whether we haven't forgotten any essentials. The accuracy of the list, e.g. has often made us laugh which makes it even more unique to us. In certain cases we tried to describe even which brand of food we´ll bring on the first weeks of the trip. Total nonsense of course, but the excel list became a tool where we noted down almost all our thoughts about equipment regarding the trip. In case you're planning a similar trip and might find it useful as a guideline just drop us a message here or on Instagram and we´ll be happy to share it (it´s in german language though).
Kitchen Equipment
Oh, damn!
Pre-Packing!
Generally packing the car can be summarized with a walk through a flat. Bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, livingroom plus garage as our home on four wheels might need some reparations (hopefully not too often, though). The first challenge we had to face was figuring out how to use the roof load best. We both love kite surfing and the basic idea was to put our kite equipment (kites, bars, harnesses, helmets, life vests & wetsuits) and our recovery boards next to the solar panel which was already installed. Space was not a problem but not to overload our pop up roof became the overall aim of the roofrack concept. After moving it back and forth we found an arrangement where most of the weight is at the front part of the roof rack, which makes putting up the pop-up roof by hand still managable.
Trying to figure out the pop-up roof load
Let´s try it like this!
Kiteboard-Bag goes on top of the MaxxTraxx later!
One advantage for us was not being in a rush. Having the time to sort, pack and re-pack in the driveway made it easy to little by little fill the interior of Rosie. The disadvantage of heading of during Covid-19-restrictions was saying goodbye to friends and family one after another. We always imagined having a goodbye-party having all our friends and family around for a barbecue before leaving the driveway, but that wasn't possible under the circumstances. Instead every visit we made one week before our departure date became a little farewell and we left our loved ones with tears in our eyes and their best wishes in our hearts. It made us feel grateful having such supportive friends and relatives who did everything they could to support our travel project.
One of many goodbyes!
Traveling in todays world is of course not as isolated as 40 years ago - thanks to roaming, wifi and videocalls - but knowing to not see some of our loved ones for a longer period of time gave us a lump in our throat. After many goodbyes and a quick-corona-test for entering Croatia in the next 48 hours we hit the road on 21. April 2021. A strange melancholic feeling accompanied us the first few hundred kilometers of our journey: Now it is getting real and though departing means our long-held dram was turning into reality it also means saying Goodbye! A thought we had pushed aside during the months of preparations.
But we all know: Hopefully it is not a goodbye, it is a see you later!
Jolien & Jonathan
Love💙mam
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