Camper do’s and camper dont’s

Written by Martijn

After 5 days of campering, some Camper do’s and Camper dont’s

Do:

  • Realize there is 3m of car behind the rear axle and you can knock cyclists of their bikes. Didn’t happen yet.
  • Stop for a pedestrian crossing especially in rural area’s where locals expect this courtesy behavior
  • Try to park as level as possible, or accept getting up at 4.30 to re-align Alex in his little tent
  • Eat off a paper towel to reduce dish washing
  • Buy a basilicum plant to bring to Greece
  • Bring (a) USB stick(s) with lot’s of music
  • Bring a navigation system, 2 iphones, 3 camping books and then buy a road map, just in case…
  • Respect the “toilet is full” light, when the chemical toilet in your camper is full. Also: bring some thick cleaning gloves

 

Don’t:

  • Think “there will probably be no-one behind the camper”, just before your start backing up
  • Drive around Paris on a Friday-afternoon, at 15.30. And don’t ignore the 2m-max-height signs
  • Think you will have time to slowly drive down the west-coast of France, see some of the North of Spain and perhaps, who knows, visit Portugal, before you decide to drive to the south of Italy. Within 4 weeks. With 2 small kids (3,5years and 0,5years) in the back. You will get 200km max a day, with the last 50km requiring loads of management. Moreover, the youngest will have his back moulded like a maxi cosi for the rest of his life, poor him
  • Forget to lock the drawer of the cutlery, especially when it is at head-height of your oldest daughter and you are taking a right turn
  • Say you want “vent rouge” in France, when you want to order red wine
  • Try to organize the 2 cubic meters of garage-space in the back. First 2 days you will try, after that the stroller will be on top of the ventilators, that are in the bath tub, which is on the beach stuff anyway
  • Help other members of the family to flush the chemical toilet, when the toilet was obviously full before they went in the first place.

Soon more.

Cleanliness

Ok, I know that the concept of ‘clean’ and ‘hygenic’ is very personal. And I also know most probably I need to be the one adjusting my cleanliness standards downwards rather than expecting others to do the reverse. Honestly, I have made huge steps compared to where I was once. Doing camping and having kids helped me enormously to be more reasonable.

But, there is a but. People stop putting the shoes on the table! Please! And ok, if you do me the favor, stop also putting the socks on the table. Thanks.

What I saw these days was a sad reminder of me not having advanced as much as I thought in the ‘I don’t mind dirt’ mindset. A woman yesterday was walking in the toilets and showers of the camping WITH SOCKS! Jesus! I came back telling Martijn that throwing the socks away won’t help: she needs to cut her feet.

And today we bought a french baguette in a supercute local store, the one and only of the village, that looks like this:

And for God’s sake, this is how we got it:

I mean…seriously? You are supposed to take the baguette with bare hands and carry it home like this? Ok, I give up and will be miserable for ever.

Being a man

It must be nice being a man. I have never been one, but all I can say by observing Martijn and my male colleagues is that for a man life is simple. Very. Simple. A bit binary, like yes or no and nothing in between, but simple.

So while I tidied my clothes and these of the kids in perfectly (for me) logical order in the cabin, Martijn said he doesn’t even need space. He would put clothes in the back storage in a box. So. Simple.

I admire myself and my perfectly logical system every time I need something: i know which space, corner, tower has the item I look for. And of course I expected Martijn to give up his ‘i am too cool and travel light’ idea pretty soon. No, I was wrong. He beat me big time. Cause sometimes my perfect order is not so perfect after all and I move around opening and closing cupboards in agony. And Martijn only has to open the storage door and look under the toy box (bottom right.

Sigh. I lost.

New arrivals!

We are away for 5 days now and we already got great news of baby arrivals!

Dana, welcome to this world! We love you already! Daysa, Jeroen and Ella, congratulations and enjoy this little miracle!

Hey little Εκτορα, welcome too! You surprised us a little, but these are nice surprises! Panagioti, Aggeliki, Iasona you are such a lucky family! A huge hug to Brussels!