All change!

It’s safe to say that nothing goes to plan in 2020.

We would’ve been in Scandinavië this summer, with Italy, Eastern Europe, and Germany also in the plan. Instead, we’ve been in Hampshire since March.

Being back in the UK, and having that break of peace and quiet forced on us wasn’t all bad. We enjoyed the calm of it, and the quality time together. Yes, we did already have lots of quality time but this time there were no distractions. It was just the two of us and Luna.

It did present a few challenges and of course we wanted to see family which wasn’t possible for a while. But the main thing was to keep safe all around. So after a brief period of adjustment we settled in to life in a house.

Our time was spent working mostly. Stuart created a veggie patch and we grew leeks, onions, carrots, beets, broadband, tomatoes and lettuce. The garden at our new home was also full of fruit trees so we enjoyed watching the apples, pears, grapes, loganberries and raspberries grow. They’re still growing and the raspberries were lovely to eat.

A few weeks in, and Stuart found and started a new job. It’s doing what he loves and it’s a key-worker role so he’s happy.

All this change made us think. We know that travel is possible again but it is all still uncertain with travel advice changing constantly. The virus is here for a while. The Spanish flu stuck around for 3 years… The last thing we’d ever want to do is spread the virus in case of being (asymptomatic) carriers.

So we’ve made the very difficult and sad decision to give up the full time travel for now. Having a permanent base available to us is definitely something we feel we need to have now,while things stay uncertain.

That also meant Ritzie wouldn’t have much to do. As she was such a luxurious thing,and still very new, we decided to let her go to new owners who can enjoy her better right now.

We’ve got our trusty VW T5 camper back, and we’ll continue our adventures with that now. We’ve come full circle, back to where it all began when we had the T4.

So, it’s all change for us here at Flip-flops HQ. But stay tuned as we’re not done yet.

We’ve tried 2 trips locally so far. First to the Witterings – we sat in traffic for 2 hours and came home. No pitches anywhere and it was absolutely packed with people.

Second to a local beach for a cheeky wild night. Turns out we weren’t the only ones with that idea… It looked like an illegal campsite on that beach!

We have 3 trips booked, one to the Netherlands to see family before they change the advice again. And 2 locally, providing no quarantine is required.

We’re really looking forward to getting out in the T5 again! We’re excited and happy for today and the future. There’s a tinge of sadness that we won’t live on the open road anymore but we’re quietly hopeful we’ll get back to it in years to come.

2 Responses

  1. Julie says:

    An exciting new chapter for you guys. Don’t worry, the road is always there. We enjoy a mix of home and road now, after having done quite a few long-term trips. Looking forward to seeing what happens next for you. Hopefully we’ll get to meet up again for cheap pizzas and ice cream somewhere ?
    Ju x
    Ourtour.co.uk

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