Being pregnant on the road had its challenges, but living in a van is honestly the best way to travel when you're pregnant. 

You have a real bed anywhere you go. We left home towards the end of my first trimester, so I was still feeling pretty terrible. I was nauseous most mornings. We didn't have to check out of any hotels, and didn't have any time pressure. So every morning I slept through my nausea until 11 or 12. Yes!!! It was the best!!! Dom would go out for hours in the morning and explore, or play guitar quietly near by, before he would rustle around a bit, finally needing his "morning coffee" at noon. 

No luggage!!! In the afternoon I was fit and ready for adventure. You don't have to carry any luggage with you when you live in a van. I absolutely loved this part of vanlife. For day trips we just took a small bag along. Honestly backpacking through Europe when pregnant would be a nightmare. My stamina is pretty much non existent. A camping or backpacking trip would have been bad. We also never had to totally pack up and move, we did have to secure everything so that it wouldn't rattle and shift around, but we could even leave a few dirty dishes in the sink and drive to the next spot.

Eating on the road is great. We cooked yummy meals on the road. With my growing appetite, it was fantastic to have a kitchen with us, to warm up a soup quick or cook a fresh meal. We were in Scandinavia so eating out is super expensive on a German salary. So we didn't eat out much.  The stove in the van is honestly better than our stove at home so cooking in the van was great. I had lots of snacks and fruit along in our pantry, so I never went hungry/hangry.

I could always find a place to rest. Resting is not only super healthy when pregnant, it's unavoidable, your body can't take standing for long. You want to be horizontal most of the time. We would go on walks, and explore, but we took a lot of breaks. Our pre-pregnancy city trips involved hours of urban hiking. On this trip it was more of a walk to a cafe to sit and read, or a walk to the beach to lie down. haha.

Beautiful views from home. I got to see some of the most beautiful landscape without even leaving my bed.  Norway especially, had such wonderful places to park with the most amazing views. We didn't have to hike for hours to enjoy some of the most beautiful natural views. It's a lazy hiker and pregnant lady's dream.

Well, have I convinced you yet? If you're planning a babymoon any time soon, make it a vanventure.

I'm excited to see how traveling in a van with a tiny baby will be. More on that, when it decides to come.

Thanks for reading.

Anna

Living in a van just looks incredible, like a dream. It is, but it naturally has some challenges. I thought it's only fair if I share a few things that have not been the easiest since being on the road. 

At times picking a spot to stay the night can get a bit tedious. We always wonder whether there will be another, more beautiful spot around the corner. It has gotten easier over time. I still have a bit of anxiety about parking in villages and cities, because I don't want to inconvenience anyone or be in anyone's way.  I’m a pretty conscientious person, so not caring is hard for me at times. 

This is more of a mental one, but not knowing whether living on the road is actually a feasible way of life has been somewhat of a challenge. We are hoping to spend quite a bit of time on the road in the next year, so we’ve been brainstorming ways to make money on the road, and thinking about budgets and such. If you have any ideas please let us know! 

Dominik practices music a lot!!! He has brought 4 stringed instruments: acoustic and e-guitar, banjo, ukulele, and he creates digital music on his computer and keyboard in the evenings too. It’s inspiring and wondeful to see him practicing his craft and creating new tunes. But at times the constant bending, blues riffs can get to be a bit much. To download Dom's new EP for free click here!

As I mentioned in my last post that we love being closer to nature. It’s been so refreshing to spend so much time outdoors, but sometimes there are a few too many mosquitos, and our toes get a bit too cold for comfort. 

A bit TMI but… This is just not a pretty part of living on the road. I haven’t posted any photos of this part on instagram. haha. Dumping our little toilet tank is not a pleasant task. We’ve been trying to keep it to pee pee, to make the emptying of the toilet not so smelly. Thankfully Dom does this most of the time! ;)

Living on the road is tough at times, but what life isn’t. It's been so worth it though. 

Thanks for reading lovelies. It's been fun to share our journey with you. 

Anna

We’ve been on the road now for 4 weeks. Dominik and I moved into our Ford Transit for the summer, this is our last summer with just the two of us. We’re expecting a Little Baer in January 2017. 

We have been finding amazing places to park our van for the night. Driving a few hours a day and visiting cities and amazing scenic nature spots along the way.

We love camping and being at new beautiful places everyday. I love that it’s a home that we can take with us. I am a homebody so having a home on wheels makes living on the road for so long comfortable and homey. If we were just backpacking, I would have longed for home 3 days in. 

Life is simpler on the road. We are on vacation, we’re both arts teachers by profession, so we have to keep that in mind, but daily life on the road this summer has been wake, eat, play, drive, eat, play, eat, sleep, repeat… Just being able to focus on our basic needs, without having to tend to a lot of things, is such a relief. We are seriously considering living on the road for a few months at a time playing shows and traveling. Somehow making a living on the road. 

We’re enjoying figuring life out and fixing things up on the road. Dom has especially loved making improvements and I am all about nesting, so it has been fun to make this place more fuctional and cozy while traveling. Living in such a tiny space requires a lot of creative thinking and problem solving.

Holiday without accommodation fees. We shouldn’t forget the almost 10 thousand euros we used to buy and repair the van, but we are hoping to get our monies worth over the next few years. It’s such a luxury to be able to pay no fee to sleep anywhere. 

We love that there is no TV. We haven’t had internet most of the trip. Not watching a lot of shows and surfing the web has been a refreshing  break for us. I haven’t had so much time to think, journal, read, and play sudoku as I have the past 4 weeks. It’s been fun to give our minds a bit of a screen detox. Internet and movies then become a treat. We did download a movie the other night when we got wifi at a cafe, a few rainy days in the van gave us some serious cabin fever. 

That being said, we love the sound of the rain on the roof and being closer to nature. It’s been so refreshing to spend so much time outdoors, enjoying such scenic views, and cozying up with tea and a hot waterbottle when it gets cold. It feels so different from our little city life in Heidelberg, Germany.  

Thanks for reading lovelies,

Anna