Day 320 / 2016 - Full Time on the Road Life So Far Part 2

Continuing with our living on the road full time we talk more about our experences of full time travelling.

Health and Well Being. If you don't have good health while not impossible it really cramps your travelling lifestyle. It dictates where you can go and for how long and what activities you can participate in. We like to climb the hills, swim the lakes and oceans and take long walks through scrub and rainforests. Anne likes to shop till she drops (or the credit card expires). We like to change our schedule or go off the grid for a while.

If your health is poor you can't do some of the strenuous activities. If you have a pre-diagnosed condition you maybe visiting specialists and have to be there at certain times or you may not be able to stray to far from a hospital or pharmacy. Indeed some drugs are not available in all areas and re-filling  or renewing some prescriptions can only be done in your home town or state.

Our advice if you want to get out there especially to some of the more remote locations or want to live full time on the road do it sooner rather than later. Having said the above we have met many people in their seventies and eighties still enjoying the extended caravanning trips. In the end it all boils down to what you want out of travelling.

The Happy Hour I couldn't go on with out a special mention of The Happy Hour. Now I can only speak from our perspective this is not a blanket observation. When you are on a trip or holiday happy hour becomes one of the highlights and ends up a ritual of your trip. A chance to meet new people over a glass of wine and nibbles what a way to end the day. The only problem is those nibbles and glasses of wine start to migrate down to our waist no to mention what a little over consumption of wine does to the brain cells.

We have had some cracker happy hour's where a just going for an hour at 5pm turns into "is it 11pm aready... I think we have missed tea again." We tried all sorts of formulas. Only have happy hour after dinner, Set a timer, pre cook dinner. Some couples are really well organised where one partner (usually the wife) will go off and prepare then call the other half at the appropriate time. My wife  really enjoys the interaction with others and likes to be part of the fun (and why shouldn't she) so neither of us are that well organised.

Now when were are at home we wouldn't even consider having happy hour every night of our lives so being full time on the road why would things be any different. So we chose not to crash every happy hour in every place we went. Or if we were invited we would walk over with soda water or a cuppa tea only. While we didn't always want to participate in the drinks and nibbles we still loved to meet and interact with other people.

Family. When we tell people we are on the road full time and that we have kids and grandkids the ask how can you stay away for so long. The short answer is sometimes its difficuilt and is proberbly the only real downside of this type of lifestyle. But technology helps a bit with communication applications like facetime or Skype. Flying home for Xmas each year has also helped but each time we leave it has become increasingly difficult to go. We are lucky the kids are very independent and live their own lives fully but are very supportive of us travelling.

Over the years we have discovered that while we enjoy this lifestyle we couldn't do this indefinitely (especially for Oma) so the time has come to plan our return home and perhaps do much shorter trips from now on. Between you and me and the fencepost I recon it will just be our luck we return home and all the kids will take off for all quarters of the country.

Friends we Haven't Met. One thing I can guarantee is if you are willing you will meet some great friends on the road. All the people we have met so far have been friendly. Some we only meet once and most likely never cross paths again, some we have met and bump into time and time again others have become ones we keep in contact with and plan to meet as we all criss cross the country. We have met new friends in remote locations on the other side of the country only to find out they live in the next suburb in our home town.

Friends We Leave Behind. These are the ones we have left at home. They are part of our inner circle who we use to see on a regular basis and we still keep contact with them as best we can. We have tried at various opportunities to coerce them to travel. Some have caught up with us in various locations we have stayed at while others have been unable travel due to circumstance.

Can we and do we want to see everything. No... The more you see the more you realise what is still left to be seen. Having said that a lot of attractions are duplicated after all how many Crocodile parks do you need to visit before you can say you've seen a crocodile in a park. In saying that if a similar attraction offers something we haven't seen before then we will take the time to have a look. A good example was Australia Zoo. We had visited Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo so another zoo wasn't on the cards. I guess the attraction for Australia Zoo was the Steve Irwin thing and the fact they do these great wildlife shows in their central arena.

Another factor is the expense of attractions. If we tried to visit every crocodile park in Australia well I think we would have blow our whole budget just on crocodiles (unless Crocs are your thing then its money well spent). Our experience if you are circumventing the country choose youre attractions carefully by doing a bit of research especially the expensive ones and don't be scared to go past something if it doesn't work in your favour. Beside the expensive attractions normally have more than one way tourist can get to them. You could proberbly fly back as a stand alone holiday once you have finished being a road worrier. The phrase Linger Longer also a great mantra give yourself plenty of time to soak up the attraction or natural wonder especially if it cost you nothing to be there. Slowing down helps prevent all attractions becoming a blur we've all experienced the now where was that attraction again?

Daily Kilometres. When we started towing a caravan 500km a day was not uncommon now we are lucky if we do 50km a day. This really helps with the fuel bill and maintenance schedule. As a full time on the road rule we try not to drive the car more than 20,000 km in a year.

We also try to centralise ourselves by parking the van in one spot then do day trips from there. Less strain on us and less strain on the car.

Up time and down time. Believe it or not travelling makes you tired. I here you say you're out there make the most of it. But we have found you really need to pace yourself otherwise everything becomes a blur and you wear yourself out. We have found mixing days out doing activities with quiet days around the van either watching tv, hobbies, reading or just sitting quietly in a chair admiring the scenery.

Relationship. Living in a small space and being together almost all the time does put pressure on your relationship. Over the last 3 years we have done quite well I think. Anne is a very understanding person and while we still have our disagreements we have learned how to diffuse tense situation (yes dear works well). Anne does it way better than me but I still manage to keep reasonably contained we most of the time. When you are at home you have a number friends you can visit to unload, vent, sob to, complain to, (especially if its about your other half). When you a travelling you partner becomes all these.

Hobbies and other persuites. We need them especially when in between activities. Anne did Kntting, Cross Stitch, Long Stitch, reading, Jigsaws, plays Solitare on the computer or her latest one is jigsaws on the computer. Mine are keeping the computer skills polished, reading and learning to play the Guitar. 

Unforseen opportunities. These are the things that pop up during travels. This could be a chance to work or volunteering. One that comes to mind for us is house sitting. We had a chance to house sit on the Tablelands in Northern Queensland. For free rent we look after the house make sure the garden stays alive and keep te bugs at bay. The worked well for as it gave us a chance to save some money which help funded a trip to New Zealand.

Unforseen Problems. These are those pesky little problems that crop up from time to time. Loosing our awning was most definitely an unforseen problem and while it didn't stop us from carrying on it did force us to change some plans and create a bit of extra stress and work. 

Money. A necessary evil. How much you need depends on what you want to do. We couldn't escape the fact we need to work to a budget and this ment choosing the things oyu wanted to do and somethings you just had to miss out on. We have learned to live within our means and at times it can be a little frustrating watching the pennies but I am sure no matter how well off you are you still need to live within a budget. 

A Permanent Address. We found this important especially for government services, voting in elections, etc... If you are not keeping your home address as your permanent place of residence use an address of one of your family members such as one of the kids. We did get stuck with this once Neither Myself or Annes has ever been called for Jury duty in our lives but you guessed it as soon as we hit the road and one the other side of the country Anne was called up for Jury duty in our home town.

What a rigmarole to get it sorted out it seems you just can't excuse yourself so we had to fill in and send forms. It seems jury duty call up is taken from the electoral role and we should have had ours flagged in transit. I wasn't keen on doing this as we wanted to use the tax benifit working away from home.

Communications and The Internet. There is really only one communication and internet provider you can use while on the road and thats Telstra. They are the only ones with the most coverage of Australia. Its up to you what combination of devices you use. We have one mobile iphone and one Bigpond mobile broadband dongle. We also have a prepaid cheapie mobile phone we only activate when I am working. If you have the room it is worth getting a cheapie printer / scanner combo for those print, sign and resend documents that crop up from time to time.

Any Regrets. Do we have any regrets absolutely not. I would be lying if I said we had no misgivings, never made a mistake or enjoyed all of our choices but regrets no. It has all good and bad become part of the exprience. After all how can you know Happiness if you have not felt sadness, Joy if you have not felt sorrow, Know how smart you are if you haven't experienced how dumb you did something, how good you have it if you haven't experience how bad it can get.. sorry started to dribble on a bit there. Travel has its highs and lows but at least we can say we have experienced it which quite frankly not everyone gets the chance. You should not wait untill you meet a milestone in your life but when the opportunity arises get out there and just do it.