Vanlife isn't always easy.
For today I had planned to tell you about that rusty old ship that I have visited a few days ago, but I had kind of a bad day today so I feel more like complaining.
I actually feel a bit like a rusty old ship right now and all I wanna do is lay down and rest on the beach like the Domitrios.
Of course I don't have nice pictures from today (who takes photos on a bad day?), so all you'll get, except the first one, are those pictures that didn't make it into my post about those old forgotten ruins that I explored, and that have nothing to do with what I write about today.
Like this one:
I'm pretty tired, because I haven't had a good night sleep in a week. Last night was particularly unpleasant, because it was also very cold.
"Hey, Ana, you're in South Greece, isn't it nice and warm there even in winter?!"
It is indeed, but only by the sea. And this is where all the other campers want to be too. So if you are looking for a quite place in nature where you can be all by yourself you have to drive up the mountains.
So this is what we did a few days ago, although we should know better. And we found those nice remote places that we were looking for, but we also found that it was pretty cold up there, which led to me being tired and miserable.
Have another unrelated picture:
"So why don't you have a heater in the van that you live in full time, Ana?! That's not very smart!"
I know. Now I know.
I thought I wouldn't need one. I was naive and thought I would always go where it's warm enough. I didn't think about the mountains that I would have to cross on the way to those magical places. And I didn't know about all those other campers that I would have to share them with.
So a heater was one of the things that I didn't find worth spending my already quite low budget on for converting the van.
So this is why today me and my man decided to leave the peaceful nature in the Peloponnese mountains and drive back into the warm climate on the sea side.
Only to find four other vans already parking at the first suitable spot that we found on the map.
It's not that I don't like people. I just like to have a little space and this place just wasn't big enough for me to feel the privacy I need.
The fact that we don't have a toilet in the van might play a role here too.
Time for another picture:
So although we were both super tired and exhausted and all we wanted was a quite evening and a night without freezing, we checked out google maps for a possible alternative.
It's not that easy and even with the satellite view you never know if the spot you find is even accessible or if it's actually private land or something.
So it's a gamble really.
But we found a spot that looked nice from above and decided to take our chances. So we drove further along the coast, already mentally preparing for a weird night on the sand right beside the main road.
But every good story has a happy ending, and now I'm almost done with complaining.
The spot that we had found on Google maps is the one where I'm writing this now, which means we decided to stay. It's not the best place in the world but absolutely good enough for a night. It's kind of remote at the end of a little village near a closed beach bar.
The only downside is that "NO CAMPING" sign at the stone wall, which made us a bit nervous at first (we're still Germans), but there's really no one around here, it's the middle of winter and we were just too tired to drive any further, so we stay and hope to not bother anyone.
Alright, I feel much better now.
If I wasn't so tired I would probably rewrite the last two passages, the ending of the story didn't turn out as good as I anticipated, but it's late and I can barely keep my eyes open.
So I thank you for reading and leave you with the only picture I took today. It's the first picture again, I don't have any more photos to be honest.
With love,
Ana <3
posted via the @travelfeed mobile app
all images by me
I use a website called freecampsites.net to look for places to stay when I'm on the move here in the USA. Not sure if that site gets used much by people in Greece though… if not, then maybe there's a similar site that you could try out? I've found it really helpful to have more than just google maps to look at :)
As for the cold… I feel your pain. (Maybe this !BEER will warm you up.) I've been woken up many times by the cold, usually around 3 or 4am when it's the coldest time of the night. I'm fortunate right now to be spending some of winter's chilliest weeks with family in a warm home.
Hope you two catch up on your sleep!
We do use an app called park4night, the thing is that all the others use it too ^^ and you wouldn't believe how many campers are spending the winter in Greece, especially Germans which is funny. So we try to find our own spots whenever we feel like being alone.
But I'll take a look at that website you mentioned!
I actually don't regret not putting a heater in the car, it's kinda nice to feel nature this way and learn to deal with sometimes harsh conditions. I'm learning a lot about being human ^^
But beer always helps, thanks for that! Since we're in Greece we started drinking cheap supermarket wine again, because beer is quite expensive here for some reason.
Thanks for your comment! I'm slowly catching up on your posts too, you're such a good writer, I love reading your stuff :)
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Yeah van/truck life definitely has it's ups and downs. I too love my own space and it can be hard to find park ups with no people.I haven't been on the road in quite a while now and I do miss it, I hope one day to get back out there. I really hope you get to catch up on your sleep and get to be warmer these days. Its super cold where I am at night as well.
Do you know about the clay pot and tea light candle trick, it can really warm up a small space xxxxxx
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