In this weeks blog we have the lovely surprise of finding one of our travel articles featuring in a VW magazine, we hit he heady heights of 100 YouTube subscribers on our creative journey and get stuck into a load of admin that life inevitably pushes our way.
VW Bus magazine
We were delighted to find that our travel adventures were once again featured in the latest edition of VW Bus magazine that came out earlier this week…and it was a mammoth 6 page spread. It is a timely piece for this time of year on visiting Cornwall in the low season to avoid the crowds. As always, we are really proud to see our words and pictures in print, hopefully motivating and inspiring people to get out and explore our wonderful country.
What has become clear is that people have Campervans for a range of different reasons. We have Nelson to get out and explore, making sure that he meets our practical and wild camping needs at all times. Others are attracted to the VW scene by making their vans as beautiful and pimped as possible, rarely venturing beyond formal campsites. Both very different motives for owning a van, but bringing joy to each individual owner however they choose to use it.
Jackie and I have never really got the whole VW pimped scene, preferring the more understated and used look for Nelson. We would much prefer to spend our pennies on adventures rather than glossy add ons to enhance Nelson’s already good looks. Nelson is a van at heart, and we love him for that- he doesn’t need to dress up as anything else.
A week of admin and “normality”
We took a week out of our travels this week for a variety of very mundane reasons. Nelson needed a little check-up at our local garage, we needed time to sort out a range of paperwork that we kept at Jackie’s Mums house and we needed to have a bit of a clear up after the last month living in the van. It is hard to believe that we moved out of our house 10 weeks ago and since then have been houseless not homeless.
Nelson was well looked after at the garage and we cleared almost all the admin that we needed to do in the week. Pleasingly, we also seem to have brought the completion of my brothers probate to a close and are ready to close that very sad chapter of our lives. It has been something that has been hanging over me for quite some time and I am glad to see the back of this particular task as it painfully served as a regular reminder as to how much I miss Mark.
We have enjoyed our week in Cheshire, living a simple life of doing what needs to be done and then taking time out to explore the beautiful countryside that surrounds us.
Youtube subscription 100
We finally made our first YouTube milestone of 100 subscribers. It is quite a strange journey that we are on, but it’s not as bad as we first perceived. We have been watching our subscribers slowly tick upwards, as well as all of the other analysis stats that Jackie loves to peruse, but the 100 milestone was one we were keen to pass sooner rather than later. The closer we got, the more regularly we monitored it. The more we watched, the more it froze and frustrated us. Day by day, it crept through the 80’s and 90’s and obviously hit the 100 mark as we slept on Wednesday night.
It’s not a significant milestone for YouTube or anyone else, but it is for us. Knowing that people are interested in our story and adventures, and they take time out of their day to watch our videos just fries our brains.
Anyway, onwards and upwards. Our next personal target is 250 subscribers. The adventure continues!
The week ahead
It's a very strange week ahead as we relocate to Jackie’s sisters house for a week of dog sitting whilst they are away for the half term break. Yes…Cali the van dog is back in our lives! Unlike the summer she will not be so much of a van dog, as we are taking the softer option of dog sitting her in her own house. As the weather becomes more inclement, the prospect of a wet dog sharing our van space for the week was not that appealing.
So we will have another week of being housebound. We are planning to use the time productively to prepare and bake the cake(s) and mincemeat for Christmas.
We also hope to have some quality time to plan the logistics of our winter trip to Phoenix in the US early next year. More of that in future blogs.
Have a fantastic week...don't forget, Christmas is coming!
Richard & Jackie
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