A year worth reflecting on
We’re not normally ones for making any sort of ‘New Year, New Me’ resolutions or recapping the last 12 months. This year, however, we thought it would be cool to reflect as it was such a big year for us! So here’s the first half of our 2019 rewind
- Sold our house
- Quit our jobs
- Moved in to a motorhome full time
- Took our 3 cats with us
- Haven’t looked back!
As I (Tash) sit here now in January 2020 reflecting on the past 12 months, January 2019 feels like it was a lifetime ago! We were on the cusp of doing something super scary but we were in limbo (and had way too much time to think!) because we hadn’t had any offers on our house and the viewings had slowed down in to the New Year. Everything else was pretty much in place, or at least in motion, and so the house sale would be the final piece of the puzzle. Whilst the slow in pace was to be expected, it suddenly felt like our whole plan could fall apart, hinged on one aspect with so many others riding on it.
Then in Mid January, we had another viewing and this one seemed different. The previous viewings had all been over in 15 minutes and they didn’t really engage much with the house. This time, however, felt good and we didn’t want to get our hopes up but the couple seemed genuinely interested in the property, taking the time to ask us questions. They also spent a considerable amount of time fussing over the cats which instantly gave us the good ‘feels’!
That same afternoon, we got the call
The same afternoon, we got the call. They wanted to make an offer! We were absolutely over the moon and after short negotiations we accepted. That was it, it was done. We had an offer on our house and pending all paperwork and smooth legal proceedings, our house was going to sell and we were going to be moving out of it and in to a motorhome full time.
February
February went by in a flash as it was all systems go again. We had our completion date for the end of March and as we started to get rid of furniture and the house became more empty, things started to get really real. We were full of excitement and nerves as moving day neared.
March
Jon had not handed his notice in at work (we wanted to be sure so we waited until the contracts were exchanged) and so he was working all through the chaos. In fact he had one day off to move out, that was it! We did all the moving ourselves, starting at 7am and calling it a day at 10pm with a little still to do the next morning – completion day, no pressure.
Moving the girls in to the van 
Downsizing our wardrobes 
locking up for the final time!
April
This was it! We were officially living full time in our motorhome. We lived in our Adria for the first couple of weeks as the Dethleffs Pulse was not quite ready and we had a short break away planned with our Niece.
We took her to Graffham for a wonderful few days. It was her first trip away in a motorhome and she absolutely loved it! We had the best time, going for little walks around the woodland campsite and exploring the local village. We visited Petworth house as well and this was where we decided to sign up for a National Trust membership, a decision we later realised was instrumental to our travels as it opened up so many amazing places for us to explore.
The Pulse was now ready but unfortunately, from the day we picked it up we discovered it had a fault. When you flushed the toilet, the whole control panel would short out. These things happen! We both worked in the motor trade previously and we have known cars to arrive fresh off of the transporter with a fault so we followed the procedure to get it booked in. As we were waiting for Jon to finish out his notice period, we were going to be in Hampshire still anyway and better to get it sorted before we headed off.
May
This meant we started our UK adventures from our home county but actually, we ended up finding gems we had never been to! In between repairs and local sightseeing, we set off to South Wales for a few days and did our first stint of wild camping with our lovely friends Kat & Jay (AKA Wandering Bird Adventures!). It was certainly memorable; the first night we pulled up and there was police tape everywhere (which turned out to be for a cycling event happening). The second night we had boy racers for company who didn’t take kindly to their fly tipping being pointed out to them. All in all, we had a wicked time though and it fuelled our hunger to get travelling.
June
Now we were ready to set off and instead of our original idea to head West and make our way round, we just headed straight back to Wales, via a stopover near Bristol. By the time we got to Wales we were both giddy and wasted no time investigating each place we stopped. Luckily, as summer was approaching there was no shortage of sites in Wales and we didn’t find it hard finding places to stay. We were only more excited when we realised the depth history from Roman through to Tudor and how it all linked.
Once again though, our travels were interrupted and we ended up back in Hampshire for a week at the end of June. Our Adria Sonic was due its annual service and habitation check and we made the decision to have it done to keep it all up together, seeing as this was our only home now. Plus, after the repairs needed on the Pulse at the start, we felt better having the Sonic ready to go if we needed it. (The Pulse was absolutely fine after its repairs by the way! It just made us think about back up plans, especially with the cats)
In the second half
- Jon’s minor back surgery
- Back to Wales…and then Hampshire again
- Benidorm
- Meeting fellow Van dwellers
- Do read it as we go to more places than just Wales ;o)