Packing

Packing

It's not just about clothes!

Packing for a three-month trip in a motorhome might seem easy - 'just shove in some clothes' someone said, but there are several things to consider:

Climate

Activities

Communication

Availability of shopping and laundry facilities

If snow conditions allow, our main activity will be skiing and so yes just shove in our skiwear, boots and skis - job done. But we have had to consider what equipment we'll need to live in a mountainous environment where we could be in temperatures of -12*C ⛄, in the daytime!  We've packed: snow shovel, thermal silver screen for the windows, a telescopic ladder, spare duvets to shove down the footwells for night-time insulation, a sledge, long hot water bottle, long pj's(!).  Homer has also has snow chains and winter tyres fitted.

Clothing needs to be thought about carefully, winter clothes take up a lot of room and we need regular clothes as well as activewear.  How often will we be able to launder clothes?  Do we need spares for this reason? Can I stand wearing the same outfits for three months?  Aaaarggggh 😱!!

That's just my stuff! 😂

When we're not skiing what will we do?  Well, I'll continue to deliver online English lessons and have had to adapt to online lesson planning instead of printing everything out- I don't want reams of paper clogging up the van.  Using online materials instead of text books is great for freeing up space allowing us to take reading books wth us.  

Choosing books to take has been tricky, both Chris and I prefer actual books but we do have a Kindle to fall back on once we've exhausted our little library.📚 You find you end up reading almost anything as you run out of your own materials!

Chris of course is taking his ukelele and I might take my tin whistle and rekindle playing, but there's only so much high-pitched tooting anyone can bear!

I've also packed art and craft stuff - acrylic paints, pencils and calligraphy pens for those dark, cold nights, or indeed bad weather days. I do like a bit of rock painting!


There's also cards, pen and paper games, Backgammon and Bananagrams to keep the brains ticking over.

Both of us have packed walking gear, the environment of the Alps is so beautiful, we plan to get out and hike some days to get a slower look at the nature around us.

Being into regular yoga practise, we're also packing a mat, yoga socks and incense sticks.  There won't be much room in the van to practise, save some static poses and balances, but maybe in the spring we can practise a bit outside.  I've also seen outdoor yoga-walks are available in Sameons, the first village we're staying in.

The Amazon Firestick is also going in - some days you just wanna blob out and watch TV!

A big consideration for us has been how to stay in contact with Rose, Zoe, Tom, Mum, family and friends.  You don't realise how much data you use everyday when you rely on that instead of your house or work WiFi.  Last year we invested in fitting WiFi and an inverter to power our sockets from the solar panels in the van.  This means we can power the TV, our laptops, charge phones and communicate with or without electric hook-up.  We want to be able to see people's faces not just hear them!  And of course setting up this blog and a youTube channel with links in our Facebook and Instagram profiles.

Food and drink is not such an issue as obviously we'll buy that in France. We both like to try new things and mooch about in French stores and markets. However, there are some 'musts' that have been packed: Marmite, Vimto, peanut butter, brown sauce and herbal tea blends I'm not sure I can get abroad.  Definitely no need to take any booze - it's better and cheaper in France!

We're 6 days away from the off and now it's just a case of cleaning the house, doing some last bits of preparation and saying goodbyes to family and friends.  Eeeek!  It's finally becoming real to us!

Vid of me packing here: https://youtube.com/@chrismellehomerontour5157

 


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