In love with an icebreaker

Altough I travel a lot with my VW van. It is not always van-time.
In november I had a family thing in Stockholm and Uppsala and decided to go further north.
I don't know why but I love the north, I love ice, and that it was dark a lot also didn't affect me much.

I signed up for a 2 weeks Workaway in Luleå by an other artist.
For me it was reinventing the whole idea of artist in residence. Or organized places.
And I found a lot of things I liked about it.

I had a few hours a day I did a creative job for an other artist. So I learned a lot about her way of working.
The choices she makes. How things are going in the Swedish art world.
5 days a week I was present in her atelier a part of Kulturakuten the home of a local artist group.
With a big verity of different artists but also writers and journalists.
My host invited me to a museum presentation in Boden with other local artists.
Arranged a presentation about my work at KKV konstnarenas kollectivverkstad graphical department.
Saw several local exhibitions. met other artists and was part of an exhibition opening from one of Kulturakutens artists and the celebration in the atelier house.

                       There was plenty of opportunity to connect with other artists and their work.
While there was also time for me to explore. This time go out with my camera was the best tool.
On my early morning walks to Kulturakuten I was caught by the icebreakers in the harbor.
It became my morning routine to say hello to them and to fantasize how they would sound.
How it will look to have a ballet or graphic score done by them in that harbor.
They became the begin of a story
vinnan som förälskade sig i isbrytarna (the woman that fell in love with the icebraker or icebreakers.
Del 1 : Evigt Mörker
Part 1 eternal darkness

It ended with a long night train trip with the Arctic circle train back to Stockholm.
To me it was the perfect residence experienced organized by myself and the help of Workaway and my fantastic Swedish host.

Where the story with my icebreakers ends I don't know I think from eturnal darkness into midsummer nights sun.

We are not retired and this is not a holiday,

This  spring and summer we notice we are a little bit odd in the holiday crowd these days.
Our camper life started in september 2015 and we travel all year round.
That means that there is a long period we are mostly on our own because most people prefer to travel with sunshine.

For us the weather forecast is not an issue. We go because we have to go.
Most of the time our trips are work or visit family/friends or helping our 90+ mums related. So weather doesn't play an important role.

Camper location is also not the most important thing.
It is only for a few days. And after traveling for so long we know sometimes it is fantastic, mostly fine and sometimes it is terrible but that is not very often the case.
What is more interesting to us is variety. I have been sleeping next to a pub in the UK, on a cricket field, next to a vineyard, on the Edinburgh Fringe festival campground, natural campgrounds, in front of my mums house for Christmas, parking places and I still hope we make it in or close to a theatre stage one day. And other surprising places we are hoping to find.

This year we even noticed that only being on holiday is not what we are looking for any more.
We organised 2 volunteer projects during a longer summer travelling period.

Now is the period to explore our work and volunteer options before we leave for a year.

What do we like to do, what are the options.

Here in the Netherlands we work as an artist mono / screen printing and photography and art teacher working on a graphic score project and a theater marketeer, programmer, and also fanatic photgrapher.

After seeing the movie Demain we ended up volunteering for incredible edible Todmorden on a sunday morning this summer and a week Workaway at an eco project in Scotland.
Helping or working for some one else and having contact with people, learn about their dreams and projects in the community were we stay is far more interesting to us as being a tourist  all the time.It helps us to find places or meet people we would not meet or see otherwise.

So far our trips were very useful for our future a year on the road plan after Spring 2019.
Next step is in September and October our 2 orientation times as camping hosts on a natural campground.
 

The authentic travelers

There are a lot of travelers and wanderers on the planet these days.
But one group has caught my attention.
I don't see them often, and mostly I am to shy to ask if I can photograph them or ask their story. They are so in their own world it feels rude to interfere.
The first of this special travelers I met years and years ago.
So long ago that I made analogue photo's you put in albums.
We had to stay in Belgium for a few days because French truck drivers were blocking the road to the border.
A firm sea wind was blowing our tent nearly away when a neighbor camper installed himself. An older man with a handmade cart parked his vehicle beside our tent. It was an amazing little house. He even could sleep in it.
He had a shelf so he could create a little dinner table. He brought a beautiful porcelain plate and a crystal wine glass for his dinner. He walked around Belgium he said.
His way of traveling made a deep impression.
Last week in was in Denmark. After I set up the tent after quiet a bike trip I went to the campground kitchen.
In Denmark most campgrounds have kitchens and places to eat.
In the corner of the dinning room was a pile of bags. Some were very chic reminding me of old travelers with beautiful leather bags.
There was not a lot of kitchen equipment and the owner of the bags was looking for pots and pans. His English was not so good so conversation was simple.
The next morning I woke up very early and noticed he made a bed for himself in the dinning room.
So he had no tent or other roof over his head. Only a big inflatable mattress and a bike.
Both men were totally at ease with their own company absorbed in their own world.
They also had a lot of attention for details.
A crystal wineglass, a plate of food that looked like coming from a restaurant chef.
I love their way of traveling and their attention to all daily routines. I hope to meet more of these people on the road. May be one day I dare to ask if I can photograph them.

Home is where we are,

Not only we (my husband and I) travel a lot.
So do our children who also live in 2 other European countries.
The house we have is not their childhood house because we moved a lot.
Christmas is not always in one of the places we live in, same goes for our birthdays.
Last weekend we all met in Stockholm were our son is going to live.
We rented an airb&b house in the archipelago from Stockholm.
Such a wonderful place no one wanted to leave.
But life goes on. Daughter back to London, son staying in Stockholm and we packing the van in Rotterdam to go to Denmark.
People sometimes ask what feels home for us and that is easy to answer home is where we are.

Poste restante,

One more art-workshop day to go and then it is time to travel for a long long time.
Of course I lived for short periods of time in my van while working.
And I still will be working, my artist mind never stops. But we can stay away from home longer.

I can be blogging, face-booking, apping or emailing about my travels. To connect with my dear ones.
But to be honest the thing I like most is real mail.

A few summers ago I was in the top of Norway close to the Russian border when we met a German biker.
The weather was not so good and most of us in a small tent (that was the time I was camping in tents) were in the big kitchen from the campground a lot.
So the German announces after some food. I'am going to town to pick up my mail.
It was clear he was not talking about his computer or phone.
An hour later he returned with the biggest pile of real mail, letters and cards I have seen in years.
To be honest I was jealous.

I was thinking about the time i was a student living in a far from college outdoor summerhouse camp.
My friends and I made the most incredible letters for which was the rule. See if they sent it.

Also for traveling around people the german used the Poste Restante from cities he passed on his way. He told his folks in which direction he was going.
And took the time to respond.

Today I started one of the things I promised myself if going back on track.
I will start to sent mail again.
And who knows I can collect some mail one day in Stockholm, Lulea, Chester, Edinburgh, or were ever I go.
Curious google at poste restante or look here http://www.postoffice.co.uk/mail/poste-restante

The perfect van place

It is a well known hashtag "Home is were you park it", but little detail, in the Netherlands you can't always park your van were you like it.
From community to community and city to city the rules are different.
Of course you can hide and hope for the best. But that doesn't feel very relaxed.
We mostly look at http://www.campercontact.com and have a card for natural campsites. Ask around can also be helpful. Or sometimes employers or friends offer us a space.

I hope that we will become better and better location finders away from the "normal" places. What we see as a super van place is may be different.
We use the van all year and most of the time we are working in the area.
Only being on holiday is not so much our thing.
We can be in a museum or gallery, theatre, school or a https://www.workaway.info/workaway-account-en.html place.
To me it is no only the scenic mountain, ocean, forest view place or sitting around the campfire thing or the very well designed camper places, I love verity. 
Our van is not only a home it is also an office and my atelier evry now and then.
On stage or truck area from a theatre, in an old factory, a hidden garden or abandoned castle,  a museum area I can imagine a lot of places that are fun to stay.
I hope to find gems and surprise ourselves from now on.
                                     

Volkswagen Westfalia T4 Transporter California Club Camper History

That was quiet new. The sun came out and so did other good weather travelers.
Since we bought our van in september and used it all year, seeing so much others on the road and on the camp /camper-site is new to us.
But it helped a lot about asking us questions about our van. Questions we did not have before.
We noticed much people are staring at our VW and yes mostly we are the smallest van, we don't have a tv, we use laptops and phones more because we are not on vacation and we probably won't stay very long.
But that was not it, it had to do with our van and we started too look on the internet after questions. Like most people can't believe it is 22 years old. This is what we found:
 
The Volkswagen Westfalia T4 Transporter California Club Camper Model History
Circa 1992 the VW Westfalia T4 Transporter California Club model was introduced. The Westfalia California Club was based on the long wheel base “short nose” VW T4 Transporter (3.32m) and had a new interior layout when compared with the standard California model. The Westfalia California Club was available in a hightop roof version only.
(They only produced this type till 1994 we think)

For our travel and work situation the van is perfect and even while -8 in winter we survived with a little electric stove and some good thermo wear. To be honest I think it is quiet hot now the sun is shining.

 

Van- office / Van-atelier

This time of the year working the weekend and stay in our van is super. The bulb-fields bloom there are beautiful low Dutch skies.
We bought the van in September. used it all winter but now we can spent more time outdoor.
And as I said before working this way is very relaxed. We are even able to host some small lunches or dinners for the people who help me with my print projects.
This morning big surprise our neighbor left his caravan in suit he also went working.
While spending more times living this way you will see more people combing working and traveling if possible.
Especially now with good weather. (In winter we did not see much other workers).
Last week we made a profile on the "workaway" page. New step in the process.

                                      work meeting and lunch

                                                         the famous Dutch skies

                                              

Ask a local for her / his favorite........................

Camper places, and other places to stay might be in places you never expected to come.
So no tourist area. And that is what we like.
In Germany we wanted to hike in the camperplaces area, but we had no clue were.
So we put on our coats and looked for the first German on the street.
It was helpful we can speak a little German. (Funny enough they thought we were Scandinavian)
But a lot of people speak English too.
And asked her were we could walk and were she liked to walk.

The first lady her information led to a beautiful road going under the highway we never would have found ourselves.
Then we met a gentleman and his dog and he told us how we could make a long or smaller walk.
That was very helpful cause this trip included a small path used by locals we even would not have noticed
He was very happy to tell us about this hikes and how beautiful it was and how nice we did enjoy it too.

We liked the idea and outcome to ask locals for their favorite walks and you can apply it to many other things.

Winter camper / camping

Winter frost and sunny spring dominate the weather.
One moment you have the first outdoor lunch on a parking place next  day it is below 0.
We bought our van (21 year old VWT4) in September. I know better how it looks from the inside, never experience spring or summer when you can sit outside more.
But this was a good way to start. Cause it is not only a holiday camper we use it for work and extra home.
It made our working life way more comfortable and flexible.
This winter I was out hunting for new photo material for my graphicscore mer du glace.
Looking for a frozen sea and yes I found it.
 
In winter some campgrounds were open in our country (Netherlands)
But we noticed that in Germany way more camper vans are traveling in winter time.
And they have a lot of accommodation for campers in winter.

In the Netherlands the campgrounds and camper places were very very quiet.
I enjoy those empty campgrounds a lot.
And I am curious how that will be in spring and summer when all the campgrounds open their doors.

Our van heather broke down we only have a small electric heather. So we need to have electricity when it is very cold.
The water and dirty water tanks are still empty. For this weekend they still expect the temperature to go below 0 when we have to
take the camper out for work with plenty of time to hike and bike.

Options for vans and the diesel thing in 2016

A lot has happened since the last post.
We tried out lots of different places from winter camping at the national forest service campgrounds. In Leiden we used a small 3 campers only place in some ones driveway. Christmas night we slept on the parking places in front of my mums house and new years eve we spent on a 1 place only campground in the east part of the country. 
Rules were you park your van and spent the night are strict in the netherlands and yes you can try a not allowed spot for your camper. But if caught by the police you have a problem. 
We are preparing to go to Denmark in February 2016 but we had issues with our stove. Our 21 year old van has never been used in fall or winter but it looks like it works now.
If planning to visit cities in the Netherlands with a (camper) van or car be aware that in 2016 in some cities (like were I live in Rotterdam Netherlands ) older cars using diesel are not allowed to drive in town or (centre) any more.
That is one of the reasons we bought a van that doesn't use diesel.

 

On natural campgrounds and campgrounds from the forest service campfires are allowed

The forest service even provides free wood. But you have to buy a memberships card.

                                                 
  
     Entrance of the small 3 camperplace in Leiden small campers only.
    Below on the parkingplaces in front of my mums house in the north of the   Netherlands. We are too big and need 2 places   

 

The only one tent or camper campground is more expensive as a normal campground but you have a hudge place, firewood and fireplace a private shower and bathroom. More glamping like they call it over here. As a bonus the first sun of this year 2016 coming up.