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A Life Less Ordinary

Category: Nomad Life (page 1 of 19)

Another Month of Vario Projects in Much, Germany (And Our October 2026 Expenses)

November 5, 2026 / / 7 Comments

In October, Mark and I – in the company of Maya – continued our Mercedes T2 (pre-Vario) camper build at Premiumcamper in Much, Germany. The truck is parked in front of Mirko’s workshop, where we can use his tools and expertise. Our live-in camper, Duke, is parked on the street, two minutes away by foot.

(As always, hover over or click on photos in galleries to read their captions.)

Our Vario moved into the garage for underbody work.
Mark using Mirko’s workshop
Mirko is extremely generous in letting us use his space and equipment. Sometimes we take him up on his offer to borrow the keys.

When I leave Maya at home, she gets in trouble (breaking into the trash can, spreading the contents, and eating everything “edible” or chewing through our pants pockets to reach treats) and when I take her to the Vario/T2, she is uncomfortable (and now cold) outside or in the way inside. It’s been tricky. But not nearly as tricky as all the projects we accomplished – or tried to accomplish.

Maya waits patiently, when she is allowed in our new camper.
Maya eying the trash can, which is located at doggie height
Maya got into the trash can!
Maya curled up in Duke
Maya already feels at home in our dinette area.

We sold our old alternator and the fridge and table that came with the Vario to make up a little bit for our expenses, and donated an extra 100W solar panel to Mirko, our builder.

It took many after-work hours to discuss, draw, and detail our dinette and bed area. But that job was done by mid-October. Producing the pieces of wood with the CNC machine followed.

Mirko’s drawings are taking shape.
The drawings are getting more detailed.
Tons of hours went into the design and development of our dinette/sleeping area.
The CNC machine cuts the wood and side rails for our bed system out of birch ply.
The CNC machine is cutting our furniture out of queen ply.
Making more progress with the intricate design of our living space
These pieces will become our dinette and bed.
More machine cutting for our dinette layout

Mark and I installed a fan in the ceiling of the bathroom (but we had Darius cut that first giant hole in the roof) and an air conditioning unit in the living area. Those were big projects. We also added another junction box, lights, USB-charging ports, and other electronics in our living quarters. 

Darius cuts the roof hole for the bathroom vent – our first big hole
Hello Mark!
Running a cable between two rooms, without seeing anything!
The bathroom fan is installed. The toilet still needs securing.
Our air conditioner from the US arrived!
Mark is cutting this hole in the roof – scary!
Liesbet and Mark on top of their Vario
Mirko brings us the AC on his forklift.
Installing the 12V air conditioning unit on our roof

The two water tanks needed cleaning, fittings, and connecting. And after one failed attempt, laminate siding appeared on the widened partition that separates our dinette area from the kitchen.

Connecting and testing the bottom fitting of the freshwater tanks
Fitting the water tanks in their designated area
Template to make the entrance to the living area wider
A wider entrance to the back area
Laminate was attached to the side boards in the dinette area.

During the first half of October, we also put a magnetic doorstop in the bathroom, cut a protective rubber mat to size (this would be glued to our existing chassis rails as a buffer for the extra frame rails), figured out the positions for our backup camera and grab bar, dry-fitted our bathroom sink, ran more wires, and started working on the bathroom plumbing.

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A Month of Vario Projects in Germany (And Our September 2026 Expenses)

October 5, 2026 / / 30 Comments

Vario/T2 Work in Wettenberg

In September, Mark, Maya, and I stayed another ten days at our friends Sandie and Karsten’s property in Wettenberg, Germany, to continue Vario truck maintenance.

(As always, hover over or click on the photos to read their captions.)

Greasing the 21 nipples of the truck is messy work.
Figuring out the fuses in the truck
Painting a part behind the bumper
Maya keeps an eye on the works

Projects included: sanding, taping, and painting behind the removed bumper, greasing the nipples underneath, changing oils and other fluids in the engine, replacing the fuel filters and coolant, installing an RPM gauge in the dash, dealing with air leaks, cleaning the cockpit, replacing air system gaskets, and disposing of old oil, torn-down wood, and metal pieces.

Replacing the coolant in the engine
Cleaning the cab of the truck
Adding an RPM gauge on the dash – before
Adding an RPM gauge on the dash – after
Cleaning the dusty cab of the truck

The biggest task was removing the radiator to replace the 33-year-old original belts and the alternator with a bigger one for camper charging reasons. We had to move pulleys for this job and, while the engine was taken apart, I decided to treat existing rust spots with primer and paint.

Collecting fluids from the engine
Taking the radiator out and protecting all the hoses and inlets with plastic baggies
Replacing the belts
Swapping the alternator with a new one, but keeping the pulleys
Installing the new alternator in the engine
The radiator is ready to go back in, before it rains…
Still supervising…

Breaking out the dinette area was another enormous – and sad – task. Who likes to destroy a perfectly built interior and cause damage while at it? But this had to happen as the existing space was assembled for a single person and wouldn’t work as a seating and sleeping area for two (three).

Breaking out the existing dinette area
Mark spent a couple of days in his cubby hole for the demolition works.
Tearing down the dinette
Breaking out and damaging some of the dinette area

Mark and I have had numerous layout discussions over the past months. We knew this would be the trickiest part of buying this half-built camper. How do we fit a two-person bed in a defined space that is technically too narrow?

For the longest time, we came up with ideas for an adjustable and adjusted lifting bed. But this system would take up too much space under the ceiling, so we’d lose headspace in the kitchen, or it would have to be an intricate design with a bed that had to be pulled out and converted as well as lowered down.

Because removing existing furniture was to be kept at a minimum to prevent more damage to the inside of the fiberglass box, we seemed to be out of options. We needed to keep the existing upper cabinets. My one rule of not having to make the bed before going to sleep had to be revisited no matter what. In a space that’s only 120cm wide, an always made-up 140cm bed would NOT fit.

Being able to park both campers next to each other saved us the time and hassle of having to move and commute every day. We developed a daily routine of using the bathroom at the nearby cemetery, filling a 10l jug of potable water there, taking Maya for hour-long forest walks, distributing our trash over different garbage bins around town, and cooking dinner at home.

So much to do to turn this vehicle into our next home!
Adding 10 liters of water to Duke every day, to keep us going

Once a week, we hunted down facilities to empty our cassette toilet, which would be the day to run other errands that were only possible by car. A decent grocery store – and our friends’ house to pick up packages – was only a ten-minute walk away. Our trio was quite happy in Wettenburg. 

Taking Duke somewhere to dump the grey tank, fill with fresh water, empty the cassette toilet, and get rid of the garbage
The services are hidden behind this door; we almost missed it

A highlight was the visit of our American friends Heather and Jon, who also took advantage of our communal friends’ property to do truck maintenance. The scene reminded me of past boatyard stays – hard days of work with social times in the evening – but this setting was more comfortable than a mosquito-ridden tropical boatyard without facilities.

Duke and our Vario in the good company of VermonsterRV
Heather and Jon have arrived!
Truck maintenance for our friends
Discussing a potential issue with the undercarriage
There is a lot going on in the habitat box of the Vario…

Of course, while fun, having company made the days longer and the nights shorter, which was exhausting. It was nice to share the space and be in work mode, though. We treated ourselves to one pizza dinner out together and when Sandie and Karsten returned from their camping trip, the six of us had an amazing last dinner and evening together in our “yard.”

Dinner out in Wettenberg with Heather and Jon
Seafood pizza in Wettenberg
Fabulous pasta meal, bread, and a salad with our friends
Who’s hungry?
Happy hour in the work yard

After Heather and Jon’s departure, we focused on household tasks, socializing with our hosts, and wrapping up our time on their property. Since the dinette area was now empty, we had to block the water tank, battery, and inverter with tools and parts, so nothing would slide on the ride. It was a live game of Tetris!

Tetris in the back of the habitat box, to make sure nothing slides or flips on the drive to Much
Last happy hour together – or so we thought!
An appetizer platter that turned into dinner on the last night with Sandie and Karsten

Quik Stop in Freudenberg

On our drive back to Much, where our builder Mirko’s workshop and company Premiumcamper is located, we decided to stop in Freudenberg for the weekend. It was nice to take a little break from Vario work, but we kept mulling over our potential dinette/sleeping area for hours and hours. We needed a plan before meeting Mirko on Monday.

Visit to Freudenberg
This is the closest concentration of half-timbered homes in Germany
Walking down towards the village
The church sits at the top of the hill.
A flea market was taking place in Freudenberg when we were there.
Intricate facades
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From Girl Time in Belgium to Vario Time in Germany & Our August 2026 Expenses 

September 4, 2026 / / 36 Comments

Girl time with Maya

On the last day of July, Mark left for his annual visit to Massachusetts, USA, leaving Maya and me behind in Belgium for two weeks. When you live together 24/7 with your partner, it’s nice to have some me-time once in a while. Maya and I enjoyed this special time and bonded with lots of cuddles, attention, and walks.

Mark on the train to the Brussels Airport
Maya is a bit sad at first
The goslings along our walk are getting big!

(As always, hover over or click on photos in galleries to read their captions.)

That time apart also allowed me to meet up with four different girlfriends, which allowed us to talk in Flemish and foster our relationships without any hurry. One of my friends, Rosy, had just obtained an 8-week-old puppy, Bonnie, who joined her for our day together. Maya was the perfect oma.

Meeting my long-time friend Hilde in Lokeren to catch up
Maya and Bonnie
Liesbet and Bonnie
Maya and Bonnie curled up under the table
Going for a walk with Rosy and Bonnie

I also cooked a lot, wrote a bunch, ran errands, did research, studied German, saw my parents frequently, called Mark daily, cleaned Duke’s interior, had long nights of sleep, witnessed the partial solar eclipse, visited my nephew for his twelfth birthday, and sweated a lot during more heat waves.

A healthy couscous salad for dinner
Vegetarian pasta bolognese
Another vegetarian dinner at home
A comfy spot during the partial eclipse
The partial solar eclipse seen through my dad’s welding glasses
Maya in the dimmed light
There were some hot days in August in Belgium

I finally met a famous overlanding couple when they passed through Belgium. I’d been online friends with Geneva (and her husband, Mike) from “It’s Not a Slow Car, It’s a Fast House” for at least six years, but we never managed to meet up before, despite coming close. Our morning together was a bit rushed, but it was still special. And they had brought a dissolvant product for us from the UK, which is not available in Europe. The Vario T2 remained front and center in our lives even while we were apart.

Meeting Geneva and Mike – and their two dogs – in Maldegem, Belgium
Geneva and Mike’s famous stickers seen on campers all over the world.

Another highlight for this reggae lover was watching the Wailers (yes, from Bob Marley fame) through a fence during the Fonnefeesten in Lokeren. Why through a fence during this free concert? Because, unbeknownst to everyone, event security didn’t allow dogs on the premises anymore. Two years ago, Maya joined Mark and me without any problems…

Our spot outside the fence
Watching the concert through the fence
The Wailers in Lokeren
Photo of some of the band members
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The Romantic Road in Bavaria, Germany – Medieval Towns, Castles & Surprises

August 12, 2026 / / 22 Comments

Not too many people seem to have heard of – or been to – the Romantic Road (Romantische Straße) in Germany. When Mark, Maya, and I found ourselves at the southern end of it while visiting friends, it was a no-brainer that we would explore the area during our four days off. We actually had six days left before we needed to be back in Belgium, but the drive itself took two.

One of the Romantic Street signs
That way to the Romantic Road!

After little research and talking to Sabine and Michael in Murnau am Staffelsee, I created a short-list of the seven towns along this route that sounded most appealing. As always, we never researched much ahead of time or looked at photos. Actually, Mark had no idea whatsoever where we were going or how long we’d stay. So, the surprise and wow-factor were genuine for both of us.

The most picturesque view in Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Schongau

Our first stop was only an hour or so away from our friends, whom we left in the afternoon. It was a quick drive and an easy, short visit since the town was small and we were camped at a free parking lot on the edge of the town walls.

(As always, click on or hover over photos in galleries to read their captions.)

Our parking spot for the night in Schongau
Walking outside the wall in Schongau
Entering this small town via one of the gates
A colorful downtown
The center of town had the best concentration of historic buildings.
Reflection of the colorful downtown

Landsberg am Lech

The following morning, a short drive and a lucky break secured us the last spot on a free parking lot about 15 minutes by foot from the historic center.

Approaching the city center of Landsberg am Lech
I liked the canal through town
Colorful buildings here as well

Once we crossed the bridge into the heart of Landsberg am Lech, we were drawn to the watery ways and the colorful buildings. We splurged on a pastry while taking in the market area and its surrounding structures and gates.

Bavarian church with its typical dome
Market square with some elegant buildings
The heart of Landsberg am Lech
Interesting-looking tower on the outskirts of town

Harburg Castle

On this trip, I wanted to visit one castle. Harburg it would be!

Approaching Harburg Castle by camper

To our surprise, the dedicated RV parking spots alongside the popular river were open, so we doubled back and picked a spot. After our lunch with a view, we crossed into town and climbed a narrow trail towards the top of the hill. There, Harburg Castle awaited.

Our RV-dedicated parking spot in Harburg
View of Harburg from where we were parked
Harburg Castle – our destination by foot
Map of the Romantic Street

We paid our entrance fees, which I thought included access to the interior spaces. Maya was allowed on the grounds and – understandably – not inside the buildings. We could work around that, taking turns.

Hiking towards the castle
Entrance gate to Harburg Castle
On the grounds of Harburg Castle
Maya is standing guard!

But our tickets only allowed us to visit the exterior areas. For the rooms, towers, and walkways, a guided tour was required. Unfortunately, we just missed the 2pm tour, and exploring the grounds took less than an hour, so I didn’t get my inside-the-castle look.

Within the castle walls
Part of Harburg Castle
View over the river and the bridge we’d crossed earlier
The walls had a covered walkway, but it was only accessible on a guided tour.
Leaving the medieval castle through the gate

The actual village of Harburg looked cozy and picturesque as well, but we decided to move on since we didn’t have much time for this driving route and needed some relaxation as well.

Crossing the cute bridge into and out of Harburg town
View of Harburg from the bridge
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A Chock-full July – Our Vario Inspection, Visiting Friends, and Being Tourists in Germany (And Our July 2026 Expenses)

August 6, 2026 / / 28 Comments

July was one of the busiest months we’ve had in years. Mark and I barely had a moment to breathe. In my last (Vario) post, I mentioned that we finally managed to buy our future overlanding vehicle in the Netherlands.

We are a two-car family!

Our Vario progress

Unfortunately, it wasn’t and won’t be the easiest transition between campers for us, because we found ourselves in a complicated mess here in Europe. In the US, as US residents, the process has always been straightforward for us. We purchased a camper, registered it in one of the states, bought insurance, and were good to go.

Not so in Europe. But we knew this ahead of time, had researched solutions for every curve ball that might come our way (or so we thought!), and set out on our mission to legalize and personalize our 4×4 Mercedes Vario (technically a T2) from the moment we obtained it on July 1st.

First, we bought temporary export plates and insurance in the Netherlands. These would be valid for exactly 14 days. It started the clock and raised our stress levels immediately. Since we wanted to import and register this Vario in Germany—a country notorious for its rules and regulations but the only one where non-European residents can “easily” do this—we had no time to lose. Yet, I still thought we could take care of the entire process within a week and spend the rest of the month visiting friends and sightseeing in Germany. Ha!

Second, after buying motor oil with Duke and getting cash for the next step, the Vario was jump-started and we drove both vehicles to a battery shop, where Mark replaced the two starter batteries. The truck had sat unused for six years in a garage so lots of maintenance was due! Still, we had to prioritize because of our time constraints.

Third, Mark and I drove in tandem to a DIY garage, still in Zeeland, the Netherlands, to change the oil. Since it was our first time working on this truck, things didn’t go exactly as planned, but we did get the job done within our two-hour lift rental.

Driving the Vario on a tight lift in this garage was challenging.
The first time we changed the oil took a bit longer than expected. Many firsts now!
Filling the reservoir with oil, while Maya patiently waits on the floor.

We did all that on the same day, falling asleep exhausted at a free camping spot in an industrial zone. This would become the norm. Since the Vario box didn’t have locks yet, we parked both campers facing each other’s doors. Not that there was anything to steal yet in our six-year-old-brand-new habitat box.

Our first night with the Vario, which didn’t have locks yet.

The following day, Mark, Maya, and I drove in convoy to Much, Germany, which would become our base for the time being. With lots of traffic and everything being new to us (including a fuel gauge showing “empty” which was confirmed), it was another stressful day. We had to discuss a few things with our builder, Mirko, and he was leaving at 1pm. Needless to say, we felt rushed.

Filling up with diesel on the drive to Germany.
The Vario is parked in front of Mirko’s workshop for the time being.

I won’t report in too much detail what happened next, but suffice it to say that preparing our Vario to pass the German TÜV inspection—which, fortunately, was located across the street from Mirko’s workshop—did not take five days. We had to cancel seeing our first set of friends and delay visiting our second set.

Mirko was super helpful and generous, letting us borrow all his tools, giving us the keys to his workshop after hours, and allowing us to use electricity, potable water, and the bathroom facilities whenever we needed. What an angel!

Shopping at the Obi hardware store
Our TUV garage
Living in Duke while working on the Vario
Cooking our meals in Duke every evening
Sleeping in the industrial zone was impossible due to the noise of passing trucks and buses all night. Not sure why…
Using Mirko’s workshop whenever we needed
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Our 4X4 Mercedes Vario Search – The Journey, the Setbacks, and the Outcome

July 22, 2026 / / 38 Comments

Warning: This is a long, defining, and ironic story with a twist!

About a year and a half ago, our Vario episode started. A new quest. I don’t quite remember how it happened, but Mark discovered his ideal vehicle, our next home on wheels. It was autumn in the southern hemisphere, spring in the northern one. We were somewhere in Argentina in Thirsty Bella and had vaguely started talking about our next chapter, most likely in Europe.

One evening, Mark showed me a few photos and ads of different built-out Mercedes Vario 4×4 campers in Germany and warmed me up to this new idea. But they were expensive and it was too early to commit to anything yet anyway.

Example of a cool Vario converted into an overland camper

Vario vans are reliable, basic (without modern electronics or complicated diesel systems), can get fixed everywhere in the world, and last forever. They can take some abuse and offer a spacious living area—smaller than in giant overlanding trucks (which I vetoed as a new camper) and roomier than in Sprinter vans (which Mark thought were too small for a couple and a dog, despite us living in one for four years, namely Zesty). Roomy Bella spoiled us! We were adamant about 4WD and high clearance as this would be required for the adventures we have in mind.

And here I thought we would fly to Europe in the spring of 2026, buy a decent European camper, and hit the road again before the summer. Ha! That illusion soon crumbled when the Vario idea took root…

First, there was the empty Vario van in Peru with some of the components already present but not installed. It had been an abandoned dream, as there are many. Weeks of communication and research taught us it would be impossible to export this van to a different country, like Chile, to register and convert it.

The 4×4 Vario in Peru that started our interest in building out our own van
Back side of the empty Peru Vario
Parts included with the Peru Vario
Insulation that came with the Peru Vario
Roof fan included with the Peru Vario purchase

(As always, click on or hover over photos in galleries to read their captions.)

Many months later, after other failed attempts, we even revisited this “still-for-sale” Vario in Peru, had our friend Jeff (who happened to be in Cusco, Peru) check it out in person while we were on a video call, and contacted customs agents to confirm that we really couldn’t export the vehicle as non-residents. We were getting desperate, but to no avail. This one remained a loss.

There was the built-out Vario campervan in Bahrain—yes, we seriously considered exporting it by boat to the US to register it there (since it was over 25 years old) and shipping it to Europe. After many weeks and conversations, we bailed on this one since the insulation used was too thin.

There was the built-out one in northern Chile that looked nicely done and that a Chilean acquaintance was supposed to have a look at. But this one was also marked off due to the insufficient insulation. Since that step is one of the first conversions in an empty van, it is impossible to improve it without tearing out the entire interior.

And the most promising 4×4 Vario was the one in Pichilemu, Chile. The conversion was very crappy and unprofessional and initially we weren’t interested, but then we had the genius idea to rip out the interior and start over.

The first Vario van that was supposed to become ours was located in Pichilemu, Chile.

This Vario took months of thinking, planning, researching, contacting van builders in Santiago and in Paraguay, being emotionally invested, and asking the owner a lot of questions, since we were located in Paraguay at the time. According to the owner, “everything was perfect.” The photos he texted us didn’t raise any flags.

We had a plan in place, skipped a bunch of destinations, drove across northern Argentina in one week, and sent a so-called mechanic over for a report. You can read that story here. Spoiler alert: it all turned out to be a waste of time. The vehicle had been misrepresented. The rust and mechanical issues (there was even a hole in the transmission) would cost many thousands of dollars to fix, so the price we offered for it was unacceptable to the seller. He will be sitting on that van for many more years of neglect.

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An Eventful Second Month in Belgium (And Our June 2026 Expenses)

July 7, 2026 / / 28 Comments

While May had a handful of quiet days, in June we could barely breathe – literally and figuratively.

This was our second month staying in the little house of my parents, in Berlare, Belgium. I mentioned in a previous post that we had to consider Plan B as June approached, and that’s what we did. Not finding – or better, not buying and owning – a 4×4 Vario, the vehicle we’d been pursuing for a long while, put us in a bind. We needed to be mobile again. And when a prospective Vario deal fell through (more about that soon), it was time to take action.

So, the main priority (other than continuing our search for our “forever camper”) was to… buy, register, insure, equip, and load another camper. I wrote about that process here. Duke was to become our temporary home.

Ready for new adventures in Duke!

It took about a week to search online for the right vehicle – potential cars, campers in Germany, vans in Belgium – before we settled on the Fiat Ducato Bürstner. During that busy first weekend of June, Mark, Maya, and I also used my mom’s car to check out another Vario chassis truck in the middle of Germany.

It went something like this: get up at 6am, split six hours of driving between the two of us, scrutinize a rust bucket for an hour, declare it a lost cause, turn around, drive the six hours back to Berlare, and be home in time for bed. All while dealing with an anxious dog in the back, who doesn’t like car rides anymore. Yeah… The amount of time, energy, and money invested in this search has been adding up.

(As always, hover over or click on photos in galleries to read their captions.)

A rusty orange Vario chassis truck in Germany
It didn’t take long to figure out that this one was too rusty to convert.

Week two contained a lot of research and figuring out logistics related to RVing in Europe and owning a European campervan. The international propane filling situation is a headache in itself; every country has different bottles, adapters, and/or rules!

These gas cylinders are super expensive, so wouldn’t work for us.
Comparing gas bottles and their prices – These are swappable ones, but only in Belgium…

The best thing to come out of our efforts to plan the next chapter of our lives that week was a friendly neighbor allowing us to park our future camper on his empty plot next to the little house. Really great news! And there was an ironic twist, which caused us extra stress, but that’s for later as well. The weather was cold and rainy, and once, I got soaked while biking home from my parents.

Mark is underneath Duke to remove the tow hitch. The van is parked next door.
Removing the heavy hitch to save weight

Of course, we had to stay on top of some chores as well.

Cutting the nettles across the street from our driveway in order to make the turn with my mom’s car. Nobody lives there anymore.
Washing and vacuuming the car of my parents on Father’s Day
One of the chores we have at the little house is getting potable water from a spigot two blocks away. With two jugs of 5 liters each, we only have to fill them every two days.

June’s third week was taken up by all the administrative tasks and logistics of picking up the camper’s paperwork after its second-hand inspection, dealing with the insurance, registration, and license plates, picking up our new home on wheels, making some changes, and taking it to a weighing inspection.

Following Mark and the camper with my parents’ car, after we picked it up
Getting a second license plate made
Filling the Burstner up with diesel for the first time in Dendermonde
Waiting in line at the inspection station to get he weighing done. We later discovered we actually didn’t have to wait for this routine check.
Ready for the campervan to get weighed

Mark put in a better battery and converted a few more things to make living in the Bürstner (which we called Duke) a bit easier without staying in expensive campgrounds. We would use most of this gear in our future Vario. More online shopping to equip the van also had to happen, since we left most of our belongings in Thirsty Bella, which we sold in Chile. We had to start from scratch.

Mark replaced the battery with a lithium one and changed some other electronics.
Tools and gear at the ready to make some adjustments in Duke
My job was to clean the interior of Duke before we left in it.

By then, the heatwave had arrived. It would last ten days and made equipping, cleaning, and organizing our new camper harder and sweatier than it should have been. We had to limit those tasks to the early hours of the day because, even at night, the temperature didn’t drop much.

Tiles are great for a hot dog in summer!

One night, a massive storm brought hurricane-force winds, hail, and rain, which damaged properties and trees. No Belgian around us had ever experienced something like this before. (Mark and I sat through a couple of hurricanes before.) The last part of June brought sleepless nights.

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Meet Duke, Our Temporary Camper in Europe

June 29, 2026 / / 38 Comments

Surprise!

Ready for new adventures in Duke!

No, this is not a Vario. But it will be our home until we find one – and build it out!

When you don’t have a residency anywhere and you’re in between travel chapters, life can get tricky. Especially when you sold your last camper in South America after a three-year journey. We never planned to ship Thirsty Bella to Europe – where we intend to spend the next few years exploring – because it would be too expensive and it was not the right vehicle for that continent.

Thirsty Bella, the camper most of you are familiar with

As many of you know by now, Mark and I are looking for a particular camper, van, or chassis truck to turn into our “forever” overlanding vehicle. Indirectly and directly, we have been looking for this 4×4 Mercedes Vario truck for over a year, first in Chile, then worldwide, and now in Europe. We never thought it would take this long to find anything suitable.

And there was a very unfortunate turn of events during our search, which made us lose a lot of time and develop Plan B. But more about that in a future blog.

Another intricate matter is Mark’s immigration status. He can only stay in my home country of Belgium (where we arrived at the end of April) for 90 out of every 180 days. His annual health check-ups in the US take place in early August and Brussels would be the best city for him to fly out of, because I want to stay in my parents’ little house in Belgium with Maya during his absence. This meant that we needed a decent buffer out of those 90 days for him to return to Belgium. Therefore, we needed to leave the country for a few weeks in July.

Can you still follow?

But, how to leave Belgium and stay away for a while without a vehicle? Traveling by train with a dog and our belongings wasn’t the easiest of solutions, as we’d experienced in Portugal, Spain, and France this past winter. But, more importantly, how could we keep checking out potential Varios throughout Europe without our own transport?

So, in early June – since we needed time for all the red tape concerning vehicle purchases in Belgium – we had to start our search. Should we purchase a car (easier, more convenient, cheaper in gas, and the most affordable solution, but we’d need to rent homes again for who knew how many months) or a temporary camper (a hassle to purchase, expensive, poorer fuel economy and pricier diesel, and using funds needed for our Vario, but we’d have a home again and could hopefully save money on accommodation)? Which option would you pick?

That discussion didn’t take too long for us and soon we found ourselves scouring the web for second-hand campervans. I had always thought we’d go for something small and not too expensive. We did jump on an ad about a grey Fiat Ducato Chausson, borrowed my parents’ car for the hour-long drive, and checked out this low-quality build with a rusty engine block. Mark couldn’t stand upright in the van and the living space felt super tight. Yup, we got pretty spoiled with our roomy, well-prepared, and “condo-like” Bella in South America.

(As always, hover over or click on the photos in galleries to read their captions.)

A small Fiat Ducato we checked out a few weeks ago
Mark checking the mechanics of this small van
It was a bit tight inside.

We looked for something slightly bigger and I contacted an owner during our 12-hour wasted drive to Germany the following day, to check out another rusty Vario chassis. My questions were answered by 9pm that night and I found out there was urgency to looking at this van. A phone call was in order at 9:30pm, exhausted as I was from the long car journey that day.

Non-European residents can’t buy, register, and insure a European car, except in Germany. This will be the route we take with our phantom Vario, but for this temporary solution, we involved my dad to deal with the Belgian logistics.

So, that Sunday evening, you can imagine the look on the sellers’ faces when, at their front door, appeared a woman, her husband who didn’t speak Dutch, a big dog who was addressed in English, and a dad… ready to look at their camper.

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Our First Month Back in Belgium – Dog Walks, Family Time, and Research (And Our May 2026 Expenses)

June 11, 2026 / / 32 Comments

To say Mark, Maya, and I were exhausted after three months of high-intensity sightseeing and traveling in Southwestern Europe is an understatement. When living in our past campers and sailboats, we’d usually do something “interesting” once a week, but during our time in Southwestern Europe this winter, our pace was much higher and we visited sites and attractions about every other day.

Entering Belgium from France

We arrived in Belgium on April 26th, but couldn’t rest yet. My generous cousin lent us her car for a week and after one day of settling into “the little house” of my parents, our trio set off for Germany. The idea had been to check out two empty 4×4 Vario vans, hopefully commit to one, and visit with a van builder. We’d been planning and anticipating this trip for weeks.

(As always, click on or hover over photos in galleries to read their captions.)

My cousin’s car was ours to use for a week. Nice!
Maya on her back seat

I’ll provide more details in the future, but suffice it to say that this effort was a disappointment. The first van (white) was too rusty and in poor shape, the owner of the second van (yellow) was abroad and couldn’t see us, and our chat with the builder was brief because he was super busy after a long weekend. Eventually, someone else beat us to the yellow Vario and bought it on the spot. We found out on our anniversary, which ruined the special evening I had planned.

The rusty Vario in Germany
Mark checks the engine bay
Just one detailed photo

When we returned to Belgium, it rained for two weeks straight and it felt like winter had come back. We even had to turn the heat on! We do have plenty of computer, admin, and research work to keep us busy, though. And the occasional translation job for me. Plus, as you might have noticed, I’m determined to catch up on all my blog writing.

The front of the “little house” – The entrance door is to the right.
The dining and kitchen area of the “little house”
Looking towards the living room of the “little house”
Our bedroom for the time being
Based on the size of the house, this bathroom is huge.

A nice perk about living in this little house by the lake is our daily walks. Mark’s ankle has been sore and swollen, so I took Maya by myself every morning. We try to go for a steady, one-hour walk before breakfast, which is great exercise.

Walking Maya along one of the lakes near us
Pretty swan
Taking Maya for a short afternoon walk
Canadian geese and their chicks a month ago – the babies are much bigger now!
Maya keeping an eye on two resting swans by our lake
Another walk along the main lake
Ducks and their ducklings
Walk along the bike path when it’s not busy
Rainbow on one of our main routes
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Three Months of Rentals in Southwestern Europe – Thoughts and Conclusions

June 4, 2026 / / 35 Comments

If you’ve followed our blog for a while, you know that Mark and I (and our respective dogs) have always lived and traveled in campers and sailboats, with a three-year hiatus of house and pet sitting. We’ve been doing this worldwide as “digital nomads” for 23 years.

After selling our last truck camper in Chile, South America, we were homeless again. Or better, “in between” travel chapters. We wound down our three-year adventure on that continent with a few weeks in an Airbnb apartment in Santiago de Chile, before visiting Mark’s friends and family – and celebrating his mom’s 90th birthday – in icy Massachusetts, USA. That’s where and how we started 2026.

Without a home on wheels or any prospects, and not being fans of the cold, we came up with a plan, which was a twist on our usual lifestyle since we had few belongings left and no moving home. We booked a rental car in Portugal for two months, arranged two-week rentals throughout the southern Iberian Peninsula, fitted in a couple of city trips, traveled by train with our dog to get to Southern France, and rented three lodgings in that country as well. For the last stretch to Belgium, my cousins gave us a ride.

Entering Spain
Our rental car at the gas station – Fuel is cheaper in Spain than in Portugal
Driving through the countryside in Spain.
Maya was often panting and uncomfortable in the car.
Maya on her back seat
Returning to Portugal

(As always, click on or hover over the photos in the galleries to read their captions.)

How did we fare? Did we like this kind of traveling? Was it costly? What were our favorite parts? Would we do it again? How about missing our own home on wheels?

Maya learned to stick her head out of the window. This was never possible in our campers before.
One of the train rides to France
Last train ride to meet up with my cousin and her husband
Maya ready for another train ride
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