It should be time for a big welcome home party. Not only for my (almost) recovered green travel buddy, but today I realized there was no 'Welcome Back' party for me at all. One of the things I wanted to experience here is an intense fun and crazy festival again. I visited a few in a short time. FOMO? Festivals these days have changed, I have changed. We drove around the area today...no party. Chill for a nap then? Oh shit, that what we needed to do....no FOMO, just get some FOAM though!
Surfdude
I get this question all the time, when people see or hear about my nomad life in the van: "Do you surf?" The answer is "No". In every way, I suck with balance. Not only in life, but also in activities. It's a miracle I can ride a bike. Yes, I had a serious bike accident this year. It had nothing to do with balance, I just didn't practice my flying skills that much. Surfing would not be a good idea, and I don't like cold water. Most people start with a surf lesson first, I just bought the wetsuit first. After hours of night swimming during full moon, I started to fall in love with this cool ocean. Not with skinny dipping, but with a wetsuit. I bought a body board, so you can call me a 'Boogie Man'. Since my latest bike accident, there wasn't much time to boogie unfortunately.
In the above case I am not really a surf dude. Currently I spend more time surfing online, than being in the ocean. The other way I surfed last month was killing my back. I was couch surfing. Now I would love to be inside my travel buddy again...I know, it sounds kind of dodgy. I just try to say, I would like to be inside a nice comfy bed again. By myself (because I don't have a cute travel buddy at the the moment). I wanted to jump in the bed, and remembered there is no reason for a foam party in the back of the van. One more night of couch surfing coming up.
Getting hard
Funny how much crap I can tell since I started to write blogs on HIVE. Actually today was quite boring, making a story filled with wordplay and sarcasm makes it a bit more interesting. What did I do exactly? I went on a search for foam. Not for party, not for coffee...just to sleep on. The old pillows I slept on were way too soft. After sleeping (or whatever you do in the back of the van) for 2 days, these pillows feel fucked. Bones hitting wood. I thought to be smart and buy a less soft piece of foam in Portugal. Now I know, first to try before I buy. Just put it on the floor first and check out the hardness on the floor by doing all kind of positions on it. Of course I am a newbie and I forgot. Result: headache after one night of sleep. Waaaaay too hard. I put the soft pillows on top and a topper. Luxury bed in a van.
I visited several furniture upholsteries. Just rolling on the floor in every shop. Not because I was laughing that loud, but to test if it was not too hard. The hardest part for me was the budget. This country kills my budget. The same piece of foam costed me 76 euro's in Portugal (a European country were the VAT is even higher than in The Netherlands. The foamy stuff here costs between 200 and 300 euro's! And I am only talking about the material price, not about extra labor costs. Insane, I never spend more than 100 euro's for something under the sheets. I will spend another night on the couch to think about it and maybe it's worth some extra money for good vibes in the bed.
June sounds like a hot and sexy name, but it is not the best month to find a bed in The Netherlands. I am talking about pillows; high season, high demand, high prices. The shop in Portugal never saw nomads, the shops here deliver hardly anyone else.
The creamy stuff
Preparing a van for new adVINtures, always opens up new doors. Not only from other vans, but also from the locals around. Just carrying around some bags and people start to invite you for a drink. It's a warm and sunny day, I like to talk, why not. No beer, just coffee. What kind of coffee? Cappuccino. From a 'cup' without foam. Damn, it's still about foam today. I asked the guy if he maybe had some cream. I should be more careful with the words I pick with people I don't know yet...
It the end it was quite a funny day. I can't remember that I've tested so many mattresses and got that sweaty in one day. I did get a lot of good advice about cars and women from unknown locals. I even got some phone numbers.
My other (HIVE-)buddy @vincentnijman mentioned it today, getting through the days with a sense of humor makes life a lot easier to enjoy. It's true. No matter how boring, sad, bad or standard you day may be...just try to give it a funny twist sometimes.