Hello Luxembourg

22 September 2009

Here we are, in Luxembourg.

We have been here for a week or so, spending time with Jonathan’s family. We’re relaxing, enjoying the GORGEOUS weather and fixing up the Wombat.

We are still having battery problems after all this time and effort (and money) spent on the Wombat. In Islamabad, we decided to buy 2 new batteries because the one we bought in India wasn’t cutting it. We thought having two identical batteries would fix our problem, but it didn’t...Well, we’re not sure if it did...This time the problem is structural. Meaning that one of the cells from our battery leaked acid all over the place. We were in Canada for one month, and so could not attend to the problem right away. Result: Bucket loads of corrosion.

Jonny has been sanding down the rust and repainting the area where the batteries go. Now we have to battery shopping...again... We were planning on reworking the electrical system in the Wombat anyway, but this is just more work that we don’t need! We’re thinking of installing a third battery. We are power hungry.

Meanwhile, I began sanding the battery racks when Jonathan’s mother interrupted me and told me that Jonathan’s dad could take them to work and sandblast them. SCORE! So I moved on. I began reorganizing the seat/single bed in the back. We are going set it so that we can half unfold the bed for our puppy. I have made a list of what we need for little Nomade, and I’m trying to recycle as much as we can. Here is the list of things we have to buy/find/make:

Buy:

2 tarp lined blankets to protect our cushions (this will be the bottom of Nomade’s area)

a kong (a rubber toy for her to gnaw on)

a rope toy

a basket (to make her a bed, I hope I can find one...)

a crate (we’ll wait until she’s a bit bigger)

a leash and collar

Find:

a couple of towels to make sure she’s comfy

an old pillow for her basket

2 doggy bowls

Make:

a doll/toy for her to love and keep her company. I will make it out of old jeans, or old bathing suits. It’ll likely be in the shape of a kitty cat.

I think that’s all we need for little Nomade to hit the road with us. I called Laurent and Amandine the other day and they said she was growing up nicely. She opened her eyes the other day, and Gitane is being a very good mother. I’m looking forward to picking her up in a few weeks. This is my first puppy ever (and Jonathan’s!) I’m sure we’ll do a good job.

Other things that need to be done in the Wombat is hardcore cleaning! I’ll wait for Jonny to be done the batteries, and I’ll empty everything out. Now emptying everything out of a car does not sounds very challenging, but this is also our house, and contains our life. (Click here to get an idea of how much stuff is in the Wombat) I will wash everything and give away what we don’t need. There’s a great recycling centre in Luxembourg where you bring the things you don’t need and people are free to take them home. We just went there to drop off a whole lot of stuff, and i picked up a few things!: a French/Italian dictionary and a red ceramic flower pot to replant our Basil plant. I plan to reorganize everything so that all we have “loose” in the wombat is our 2 suitcases and my guitar. Before we also had 2 big boxes, camera bags, computer bags, an extra car battery, a large hand torch, etc etc. I want to reduce it so that we only have to move our suitcases from the back to the front seats in the evening, and so that Nomade will have the most room possible. Also, I’m FINALLY starting to learn that in life, less is more.

When you have tons of stuff, you have tons of stuff to worry about. There’s only one thing in life that people can’t dammage/steal/ruin for you, your memories! As long as I have photos and my journals, I’m happy :) Of course there are a some things we can’t (or don’t want to) live without, but I’m doing my best to live with the bear minimum, aka à la Jonathan!

I’m having a lot of fun in Luxembourg. We are eating amazing food everyday, drinking fantastic wine, and enjoying the company of family. Some highlights: Jonny’s mom won a club golf tournament over the weekend! We are all very happy. We went to Metz with Jonny’s dad to have a look around and were quite pleased. Jonny’s brother’s girlfriend Anja brought over her pet snake Josette for us to play with (as seen in the photo above). I had a blast!

Our plans are still to head to Sicily but I’m having some visa woes. I have until November 24th to figure things out. I think I’ll find something to study down South. Either in the south of France or the South of Italy. We want to stay warm :)

So that’s all for now. Yesterday marked the one year anniversary that we left our jobs in Australia. So much has happened since then, and I’m terribly happy to live the way I do.

Marie-Claude

Un beau séjour à Paris

7 September 2009

We arrived in Paris on Thursday the 4th to be greeted by my dear friend Alex. the weather was cold, but we were jet lagged and didn’t mind staying in. We met her boyfriend and their brand new puppy. Our first few days here have been amazing, especially because the sun decided to come out yesterday.

We have stayed on Alex and Dave’s schedule, (go to bed very late and get up in the afternoon) so getting over jetlag has been a breeze. I’m still covered in black fly bites from my last days in Canada spent at Jonny’s parents’ house in Ste-Émilie-de-l’énergie. A souvenir from home I guess.

Our time in Canada was so wonderful, but short! Certain moments, like seeing my family for the first time, my sister’s wedding, meeting new babies in the family, I had been dreaming of for so long. Once they came, I wasn’t disappointed! I had so much home at home. So many card games and g&ts... I am looking forward to my next visit already!

The day before we left Canada, we got some good news from our friends Laurent and Amandine. Their dog Gitane, the one we took back to Luxembourg from Turkey for them, had a litter of puppies and there’s one with our name on it! It’s a little black female with white paws, a white tail and a spot on her back. We are very very excited to meet this little one! We’ll be picking her up in 6-8 weeks!

So, we are still in vacation mode at the moment. We are enjoying Paris (they have vélibs here! They’re like Montréal’s bixi bikes and we love them!) Next week, we will either head to Belle-Ile en mer, or Luxembourg. Depending on which ride we can get... Our plan is to fix up the Wombat in Luxembourg (we need to clean it and reorganize it), pick up our puppy in France, and then head on down South to Italy. I’ll have to get a visa, but that shouldn’t be a problem. We don’t have anything really planned out yet, nor do we have leads for any jobs, but we’re not worried. We’ll make fun things happen, we’re usually pretty good at that.

Marie-Claude

Through Eastern Europe and now safe in Munich

18 July 2009

So we’ve nearly made it!

We’ve had a busy but exciting last week!

Our friends Laurent and Amadine (who we met in India, crossed Pakistan with and hung out in Iran with) had a misfortune. Their car’s engine failed in Turkey and they were told the whole thing is kaput. They have been repatriated back to France from Trabzon, their car is being shipped back but they had one huge problem. The insurance company agreed to fly their darling dog back to France for them but Laurent and Amandine couldn’t find a proper crate to put her in for the flight. They look all over town, made phone calls and had no luck. They sent us an email telling us about the whole thing, and we agreed to take Gitane the dog back to France for them.

We drove from Cappadocce to Trabzon (on the coast of the Black sea) and picked her up. The Wombat had a HUGE birthday on the way there. He turned 400 000 kms old!

We told Laurent and Amandine we would take could care of their doggy, and they were off to France the next morning. We left for Istanbul. We didn’t make it there the first day, but nearly. The highways were great once we got closer to Istanbul, but there were traffic jams late at night because of construction. We stopped about 100 kilometres outside of Istanbul.

Crossing the bridge out of Asia and into Europe was pretty emotional. We spent many months discovering many sides of Asia, and we had to say goodbye.

We found the great parking stop near the Hagia Sophia that was recommended to us by our friend Flo. We had to pay 5 Euro a day, but it was safe, attended and at a prime location. The attendee was very sweet and loved Gitane. He quickly learned her name and ordered her around.

I took Gitane on some walks around Istanbul. I was thinking how crazy it is the amount of things that dog has seen! Still, you can give her the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, or the Hippodrome, and she won’t be impressed. Give her 4 square meters of grass and she’ll have the best time of her life for hours.

After visiting Istanbul for two days, we left and headed to Bulgaria. We had no insurance for Europe and had to deal with that. We tried at the automobile club in Istanbul but they could only sell us insurance for Europe (the green card) for 15 days for 80 Euro. We wanted to buy a policy for longer, and they told us to try in Bulgaria. Once we got to Bulgaria. We had to buy a minimum of 1 month for 130 Euro. You didn’t save by buying more months, they just multiplied 130...So we took a chance and lost 50 Euro. It’ll happen sometimes...

In Bulgaria we stayed the night on this mountain. Gitane really enjoyed it and so did we. We don’t normally buy meat when we’re on the road. We made an exception and bought some to cook so Gitane could eat the bones. I think she appreciated it.

We crossed into Romania the next day. We had some trouble there with exchanging money...they wouldn’t take my credit card anywhere, and most places didn’t accept Euro (or gave you a horrible exchange rate). We really felt like we were in a place where people have no interest in helping foreigners, it was a shame.

The next day, we crossed Hungary. Everything went well. There was even a nice stranger who was intrigued with our license plates. He offered us help, gave us some tips, and even gave us sweet corn from his farm! We only drove through Hungary, but that man left us a great impression :) The place was much less stressful that Romania because they accepted my credit card.

We spent the night at a parking stop on the highway in Austria. There were toilets, picnic tables, a water pump, and loads of forest and grass for Gitane to play in. I didn’t laundry and got help from Jonny to wash my hair under the water pump. I then used the solar shower outside in my bikini. It had been about a week, I was desperate!

The next day (yesterday) we eased into Germany without a problem. We called our dear friend Bahama Jon to get directions to meet him. I was so happy to give him a huge hug! It had been so long since we last saw each other. We met his girlfriend, Sandra, who quickly invited us in. We had beers and chatted. It was wonderful

Then we were offered to have a shower. A real nice hot shower. Sandra even offered me to use her shampoo and conditioner. She has no idea how happy that made me feel!

We spent the night drinking good beer and meeting friends of friends. It felt like I was home, which is strange because clearly I’ve never been here and do not live here. I guess seeing Bahama has brought back a part of home. It’s a little taste of what I’ll be feeling in the next month, and I love it!

Tomorrow: Luxembourg!

MC