New website

As the adventure has begun, I have a new website...

http://thesnailadventures.blogspot.com/

Adventure Day #1

August 1st is adventure day number one. We have packed the Snail and have put everything in the loft. Choosing which bikes to take and then we're off to Dover...
Here we go!!

Solar panel attached...
Speakers attached...
packing stil going on...

Bloody sponges still wet! ppfffffff

Just in case?

errmmmm...not sure where Im going to put all of this....shhhh dont tell anyone....

3 weeks left to go.

OK...things are getting serious...We've been up in the loft.
This can only mean one thing...We're moving out.

Moving home from one place to the next is a stressful event, so Ive heard. But what happens when you move from your possession to a motor home and then divide the rest of your stuff between parents house and your boyfriends?

We have 3 weeks left to go.
Its a scary thought, but also a really exciting one.

So, what have we been up to in the last few weeks?

We have washed the sponges...by the way...don't try this in a small flat, in the bath and try and dry them! Three weeks later, they are still wet!

We have bought a portable washing machine, which is brilliant, but you have to add the water and drain it yourself. Feels like going back to the 1970's.

Also we have made a blind for the Snail (Our loving nickname for the Motor home) using newspaper and radiator foil.

All in all a good few weeks, although we still have to do quite a bit!

Its too late for turning back now!

Yes...definitely too late.
I have cut off four buttons and am soaking the foam in the bath.

Deciding to upholster the Snail's cushions is a traumatic event in itself! Its either going to be a genially cheap solution or an ashamedly expensive mistake. I wont know until Ive done it. Well, it gives me something to write about!

I have read so much advice from the Internet that I have decided to go with it and find out what's going to happen!

So...I have a dirty cushion cover lying on the floor of the kitchen, patiently waiting it's turn for the 'Washing Machine' ride, and the foam soaking in the bubble bath in the bathroom. (BTW, foam is bl**dy heavy when its soaked...its like a HUGE sponge.)

I wonder whether it will be cheaper to replace the foam?

This is definitely going to be an evening job!

1 hour later....OM MY DEAR g***!!!! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH EFFORT IT TAKES TO SQUEEZE A SPONGE THE SIZE OF A SMALL PERSON!!!! I think I may have developed some muscles! Only 10 cushion covers and foam sponges left to do..

Look what we've found!

Did you know you can buy monster sewing needles?
Well you can!

We are trying to clean / renovate our Motorhome and found the 'mother of all needles' today in order to take the upholstery apart and give it a good clean.

I am looking forward to this job!

Slovenia 2010 Final Results

6th in Sports Class
30th in Seial Class
68th Open Class

Im so proud... :)

The time is ticking...

So... where are we so far?

Handed in notice...CHECK
Goldfish handed in notice...CHECK
Bought new home to live as a snail around Europe....CHECK
Cleaned it from top to toe....CHECK
Started selling surplus material items to get more money for trip....CHECK
Started collecting gear for the snail.....CHECK
Started photography course to make a possible change of career....CHECK

And that's about it, I think.

Yes, the time is ticking and we need to start getting things sorted out.

The Goldfish is flying in the British Opens in Slovenia at the moment. After 5 tasks:
74th the the open
37th in the serial
8th in the Sports

Looking good so far. One task left tomorrow and then back home to the Butterfly.

Its been a long but productive week.
Still more to do.

Now we need to plan our possible route and put things in order here.
Not much to do in 6 weeks then!
And we have a wedding to attend (not our own).

Watch this space...its going to get exciting!

The Snail has Arrived!

What do you do when you have an argument? Turn your head of course to face the other way. It ended up being the best result of an argument ever.

I'll set the scene. We're off to South Wales for the weekend because the wind direction there is great for a hot paragliding weekend.

I am trying to work out how to use the D-SLR camera. I'm two lessons into the eight week course and I am starting to know a few more things than I did before. Aperture and light metre is confusing me but I have a go. The Goldfish tries to direct me and as usual, I don't listen. Therefore he gets cross and I get frustrated. Hence the argument!

So, as I turned by head on the huge Abergavenney Roundabout, in South Wales, a 'For Sale' sign in a motor home window catches my eye. Putting aside all feelings of annoyance, I tell him and we go around the roundabout and park next to this Motor home.

This story then becomes the 'stuff of legends'. Within about 20 minutes. It was ours!!
It has 2 beds, a toilet and shower, a fridge, a TV, a kitchen hob, a grill and a sink. Two tables and a few curtains and blinds.
1991 Snail.
I love it!

Earning money

Yay!! Just made £15.00 by selling 2 books on amazon...

...now what else can I sell?

The next step to downsizing

We need sponsorship...

Wouldn't that be great! If we could get sponsorship to go on our travels, that would be just brilliant.

Failing that of course, its time to go through the things that have a place here, but are no longer needed or used.

I have thought long and hard over what things I could sell. I only buy things that are dear to my heart. Buying them and welcoming them into the home is an important event. It becomes part of a memory, part of an experience.

Once that object becomes part of my life it is an important part of the life that I have. Books are my downfall. As I am embarking my new life as a writer, it is important that I read. Good writers are good readers first.

So, the painstaking decision came to look through my bookshelves and see which books will start a new journey on someone else's bookshelf. I suppose I am excited for their new journey because I know what that feels like.

So, I have put about 30 books on amazon. Its a bit like putting a message in a bottle. You know it will take time and you hope someone will read your message and respond.

Are we there yet?

You know the toughest thing about waiting? Its the waiting part.

I am ready to go off on this Snail Adventure, but there are so many things to sort out before we leave.

I have started to put things aside to sell on ebay / car boot sales. Its taking time, but the table is slowly being filled by items that will help contribute to the trip.

We are still looking for a camper van to revamp and so that it can officially become the Slimak (Snail in Polish - because that's what its going to be going up a hill with all the stuff we are taking!)

Looking and watching and waiting is all hard, but when dreams are being planned and becoming a reality, I suppose it is what needs to be done.

I think if I make a list then that will make me feel better!

It has started

Today I gave in my notice. It was a monumental decision that started to hatch in January. Its interesting how things work out. I thought I would be in my job for ages, and now, Im the one who has decided to go.

Now its the Goldfish's turn.

One part of the story so far

What makes two people decide to go on an amazing adventure?

What happened in the there and then that changed the here and now?

The past shapes your future, only you probably didnt know it then. You probably dont really know it now. But it does. It makes, breaks and shapes the person you are to be.

If any experience we had, would have been different, perhaps we wouldnt be in this particular here and now. But all paths have led to here. And here we stand. We stand as characters in our own stories.

Let me tell you something about my there and then. Knowing this will help me to answer the questions that I will ask myself along the way.

All adventure stories start with a beginning.

But amazing adventure stories start with a prequel.

A window opening.

A door into the story.

The weaving of how many story threads are all sewn into one.

This is my thread.

This is my part of the story.

The Story of the Butterfly:

Now, before I start this story, I must warn you. This part of the story is primarily about adventure, but it is also about madness. Its about patience, its about love. Its about the sheer determination that moves people to risk it all. But most of all, this is a story about the search for happiness.

But with all stories, there must be a beginning. A beginning which started in the dark. A darkness that overwhelms, a darkness that seems impenetrable... or so it first seems.

Long ago, there was a little Butterfly.

The Butterfly had long brown wavy hair that her dad used to love to brush. She would run and laugh and play, and so she should, because she was little, and that's what you do when you are little. You create your own happiness. At five years old, she didnt have a care in the world, and why should she, she was a child. She would play on the swing in her garden and only stop when her sister came and helped her create more mischief that they could often manage.

The little Butterfly had many dreams that would take her far, far away. She would dream of a rescue, as all children do, and how she would play a part in this amazing adventure.

She would paint and create and laugh and play. That was all that she needed. Her smile dimpled her soft cheek shone like the sun when she laughed, which was often. All was well, and so it should be, for she was little, and little people tend to believe that all is well.

Now, as her young life passed from one month to the next, she grew. Not very tall mind you, but she grew. Her mind continued to expand as she read books that took her imagination farer and wider than before. Her mum would cradle her in her arms as she spoke of her vivid imagination after listening to her wide-eyed thoughts. Her ever active imagination created even more dreams of her future. She dreamt of being so many things.

She wanted to be an artist. Her Granny was an artist and would paint because it made her happy. When both her sister and she would stay over, they would paint until it filled their little hearts.

She wanted to be a photographer. She loved the day when her Dad let her borrow the family camera to go on a school trip. It was a special moment when she took the flash cube and twisted it after taking her first of many photos that day.

She wanted to be a writer. She woudl put her hands on her little dimpled cheeks whilst her classmates would read their own creations to the silent watchful class. Her only sorrow was that her handwriting was not very good and she didnt have the words to put on the page. But her thoughts continued to grow and would stay until she had the words to bring them to life.

She wanted to be an adventurer. Trying to find a way into other world by searching in her Mum's wardrobe would often be more than her Mum could take, but her imagination would not be sated.She would make wigwams out of runner bean canes and blankets from the line. She would sit and create a camp fire with a small yellow seaside bucket attached by string to a branch of the apple tree. She would stir the mixture of grass, water and pink apple blossoms hoping to make a meal to satisfy her and her sister on this wild adventure to the end of the garden.

She wanted to do many things, but time got involved, as it always does, and as the years passed, the little Butterfly grew and her dreams started to fade. Not suddenly, you understand, but gradually. She began to forget. The vivid imagination drifted into an adult world and the laughter was stifled by other thoughts. She put away her memories of when she was little and built a life for herself, or rather, time built one around her.

Her dreams, however, played on, hoping one day that they would be rediscovered and the laughter and excitement would return. Every morning, her dreams would dance in her memory trying to reignite the fire that had once burned so brightly. They would whisper of their secrets, but everytime she tried to remember, her dreams would float away like bubbles in the air until they were out of reach.

The numbness of life injected other thoughts and ideas and led her to a life she now thought she wanted. She continued to be teased by dreams which by now had no meaning, and she thought the thought that all think with time. If she could not remember her dreams, then she would hide them. And so she did, for she was an adult, and adults tend to do these things.

And in time, after being continually taunted by a myriad of dreams, and after experiencing moments which were filled with pain and sadness, she took her fragile Butterfly with dreams that could no longer be remembered and she enclosed it around a shell which would not be broken. The Coconut shell did it's job well. Nothing could get in, but worse still, the Butterfly could not get out.

Now what happens to a person who no longer has dreams? Their life becomes a delicious torment of Promethean pain. They appear to be living, but they are no longer fully alive.

Life continued and all appeared to be in order. Now, on one particular uneventful day, she had a strange feeling that she had lost something. She didnt know what it was, but the feeling would not leave her.She looked around her and searched for the missing item. Time continued but the feeling wouldnt leave her. Time passed on further still and her search became more fervent. She asked questions that remained unanswered. She searched in books, hoping that one of them would trigger something that would solve her mystery. Little did she know, that the answer was just around the corner. Little did she know that the Butterfly, whose dreams had long been forgotten was starting to stir. The adventure was being planned in the darkness of the enclosed shell. She did not know of this, but this was the start. She was waiting for an answer, and the answer had already come. It came in the shape of a Goldfish...

Part 1 : The Prequel

Before a story begins, there is always the prequel. Well this is it.

When are we so far?

Well...this amazing adventure involves two people. A Goldfish and a Butterfly.
A boy and a girl who met and realised that there is more to life than collecting material possesions and working for no pleasures in life. Well, the boy knew this already, the girl soon caught up! And so the Goldfish persuaded the Butterfly to go.

So where are we now?

We have ideas, but all we have is a printed out map of Europe and a few pen marks and dates.

A simple plan...lets see where this is going to go!