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European Van Trip 2022European Van Trip 2022
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European Van Trip 2022

July - November 2022
A 117-day adventure by Lucy & Chris Read more
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  • 183footprints
  • 19countries
  • 117days
  • 1.5kphotos
  • 89videos
  • 8.1kmiles
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  • European Van Trip 2022
    Day 115

    Leogang Bikepark

    October 30, 2022 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Final bikepark of the trip!

  • European Van Trip 2022
    Day 114

    Lennon in London

    October 29, 2022 in England ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    We made it to London, 5 days with Auntie George, 4 nights without Daddy or Ringo, 3 play gyms, 2 new shoes, more than 1 drink 😂 and some matching PJs 🥰🤣🤗

  • European Van Trip 2022
    Day 113

    Lennon on a plane

    October 28, 2022 in Romania ⋅ 🌬 17 °C

    Everything was delayed at both ends, I couldn't take us both and our baggage into the toilet in the airport and I was boiling from going through security with 20 layers of clothes to avoid having to check and collect a big bag 😂 but Lennon could not have been better behaved the entire flight (which was disappointing due to being sat by a rude, arrogant, water and crisps stealing idiot) 😂

    He made a million friends in the airport, on the plane and on the trains and tubes to meet Georgina in London.

    If it weren't for him being so heavy and me having all our belongings in hand luggage I'd do it again... But I think my back is broken 🙈🤣 so he needs to walk before I'll take him solo on a flight again!    Read more

  • European Van Trip 2022
    Day 112

    Therme - Last Day together in Bucharest

    October 27, 2022 in Romania ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    For our last day before the journey home we spent an entire day in the Therme. Lennon napped in the clam shell beds and Brace got to go and see the same crazy towel waving dance I got to see last time we visited 😂 I took a full walk around video of this crazy place but its over ten minutes long 🤣 so maybe if I ever get round to editing it down I'll pop it upRead more

  • European Van Trip 2022
    Day 111

    BBQ at Matthews House

    October 26, 2022 in Romania ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    What was initially a cup of tea at our Romanian besties house, ended up being a bbq followed by a bonfire with his parents and sister too, who could not have been more lovely.

    His Dad was obsessed with Lennon who was as usual lapping up the attention. Sadly we didn't get many pictures but I really wanted to make sure we remembered those chicken skewers 😂 they live next door to a church, in the centre of Bucharest, so we had choir singing all night which we thought was nice, but they hated because it's all evening every evening... And can feature rap and other unusual religious music 🤣Read more

  • European Van Trip 2022
    Day 108

    More Wine!

    October 23, 2022 in Moldova ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Well Lennon napped, and then woke up, Mrs Winery came back, time went on... It started to get dark and we began to wonder if they had forgotten all about us.

    After a few hours we decided to go back in, have some more rose and pay up.

    Liulea and her family were still in there, minus the parents so we ended up talking to them for ages (well her) and then they left and we got some wine and intended just that and to go home. Mrs Winery brought us some crouton snacks. A few minutes later Mr Winery came with a huge platter of meat and roast vegetables (we had already told them we didn't want dinner 😂)

    Maybe it was the wine but it tasted like the best food of our lives 😂 when we eventually finished (Lennon ate so much sausage I'm surprised he's not still full the next day) and tried to pay again, Mrs Winery had disappeared again so we were just hanging around with Mr Winery. I couldn't work out much, but I know he speaks Romanian, Russian, Turkish & German, his daughter is names Liza short for Elizabeth (like 'King' Elizabeth 😂😂😂) he gave the bottle of wine to Liulea for us on the house and he loves wine 🍷😂🤣🥳    Read more

  • European Van Trip 2022
    Day 108

    Winery Tour & Museum

    October 23, 2022 in Moldova ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    ...then in came a family of 6. Lennon had just began to get quite shouty and climby, a little tired and a little bored. This family we had seen be taken on the tour we'd expected to go on, and on their way into the restaurant one of the girls came over and laughed and said "if you need anything, you can ask me I speak English"

    The winery owner had told her obviously that we couldn't understand and joked about her translating, the rest of her family didn't speak English but she was super friendly and we found out they lived close by but had never been to the winery before. Despite being full and expecting to leave soon, they kept bringing us more food and wines and the Moldovan girl at the next table would jump up and explain what it was to us each time 🤣

    We asked her to ask the owner, if we could possibly go to look round the winery anyway even if we didn't get the explanation, she did, he said yes and she then insisted on coming with us to translate 🤣 leaving her family meal and she was so lovely and chatty we all ended up having a good laugh. At the end Lennon was sooo tired he was trying to cover his face to sleep so we said we must take him home and asked to pay for lunch and the wines we had chosen to buy, we bought Liulea (the girl) a bottle too to say thanks for her tour 😂 but we were unable to pay as his wife has gone out and he wasn't able to do it 🤣
    So given we were camping outside, he said he would send his wife out with the wine and for us to pay once she got back    Read more

  • European Van Trip 2022
    Day 108

    KaraGani Winery

    October 23, 2022 in Moldova ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    I had been talking to the owners of KaraGani Winery for about a week via WhatsApp, and we had booked to come here for a tour of the winery, and a wine tasting lunch at 1pm.

    When we arrived, we couldn't find anyone, just cats everywhere lazing about in the sun in silence...

    We knocked on various doors and waited around, eventually we found a door that was open with a table laid for 2 people we assumed must be us 🤣 so we waited some more and then the friendliest man ever appeared. He didn't speak a word of English which was surprising after the WhatsApp conversation... But he was just the most jolly, positive man we've ever met 😆

    His wife spoke no English either so we weren't exactly sure what to do. We'd come expecting a tour followed by lunch but we were signalled to sit down so we did. Occasionally the lady came over and spoke into her phone in Romanian for it to translate to us...

    "what are you having for lunch?" she asked us 🤔😆 which amused us greatly, we of course didn't know, we asked for a menu, there was none 😆 I said "anything!" (we later half suspected she thought I meant everything 🤣)
    Well they kept coming and pouring us new wines, and bringing more and more food 😆 we made peace with the fact we were never going to get a tour because we simply couldn't communicate at all. We didn't mind, the food was all incredible, the place itself was lovely,relaxed and comfortable but just fancy enough to feel special, and the wines were great so we felt like we had had a fantastic Moldovan experience regardless of the fact it was different to what we'd planned...    Read more

  • European Van Trip 2022
    Day 108

    Driving in Moldova 🇲🇩

    October 23, 2022 in Moldova ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Well going into Moldova was an experience in many many ways

    After almost missing Moldova out of our European tour due to it being so small we just didn't notice it on the map 🙈 luckily we noticed in time to make a quick one day trip there!

    Crossing the border we met the funniest border control man ever, making jokes about Victorias Secret and when we declared no drugs or guns he said "oh really why!?want to buy some!?" 🤣

    We were chuckling all the way into Moldova, we thought, until we were met by the Moldovan security (the first guy was just the Romanian exit guard we realised) who was much less friendly and much more thorough... We eventually got through, and began the short drive to the winery we were booked at, the road quality made a short drive take a lot longer.

    We pulled over to make breakfast, and it wasn't until Braces was already frying himself garlic and tomatoes (he normally only has porridge) and the smell wafting out of the window, that we looked out and realised it was wafting straight into a huge refugee camp 😭 the border we entered was the point between Romania, Moldova and Ukraine, so there was a huge area of tents and toilets (with police, fire and ambulance people too), all with Turkish flags and AFAD on, which I looked up and found out is a crisis prevention and intervention organisation from Turkey. This particular camp was home to of course women and children who have fled Ukraine, though around 95% of the 250,000 refugees here in Moldova are in fact housed in family homes.
    When you see how poor Moldova is, and how modest the homes are, it really makes you realise how much impact this would have on your average Moldovian family.

    The video of us driving, is on one of the main roads... So think the m62 🤣

    Aside from the refugee camp and lots of small one storey houses, we mainly saw a lot of nothing and animals as most the road to the winery was through countryside.    Read more

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