I never thought I’d say that, but I do love it. I can’t believe I would find travelling around in a bus so liberating; having few possessions, no shower, everything on hand, five steps from car seat to kitchen to bed, travelling with everything under one roof so you don’t ever have to think about what you might have forgotten. Hey, if you fancy a lie down in bed whilst cooking supper what’s to stop you – you can still keep an eye on the food!
Best thing is that it allows us to visit friends without having to worry about whether they have room and we are totally self sufficient although we’ve been so spoilt by everyone that we’ve not had to ‘use’ our self sufficiency.
The bus has also been wonderful for the family (although, yes, we do have our moments!). I’m sure a lot of people couldn’t think of anything worse than sleeping in, what is effectively, the same room as their children, but when do you really get that opportunity to be all together through the night hearing their breathing, their sleep talking and general restlessness. For them they have never slept better, perhaps because when they wake in the night they know we are close. They are so used to noise at night that we’ve had no problem watching something, chatting or listening to music whilst they sleep. In fact it can be difficult getting them up in the morning!
Surprisingly it has been much easier than I envisioned to find places to park or places to stop. I was a bit worried about getting into towns and finding a space to park the bus when we visited places, but rather than being tricky we have ended up with having the best parking spots in some areas. Coaches/buses/motorhomes seem to be generally well catered for, and in fact when we visit places such as National Trust properties the parking can end up being better than it is for cars. When we went to Chessington World of Adventures, the parking for buses etc. was free, and bang next to the entrance (we won’t talk of the emissions warning we were sent for entering the low emissions zone)! We are lucky in the fact that we fall into both ‘motorhome’ and ‘bus’ category. Well it’s worked this far!
I also love the fact that we can just pull over to the side of the road for the night and don’t have to worry about pulling out beds, shifting tables or getting bedding out as it is all permanently ready to go! The children’s beds are a Godsend. Many a day we have banished them to the back of the bus to play in their ‘pods’. They love it in there having all sorts of fun. Great for them and great for us.
I insisted on putting bunting up! I think Aubrey was less keen but it makes me feel like it’s a little more homely. We’ve had lots of people staring (I think it’s the bunting touch!) – no different to being in Ghana really! We’ve also had lots of people chatting to us about it and what we’re doing, with most if not all of them loving it!
We’d love it if anyone wanted to use her, so all friends and family out there, just give us a call and book her out for a week. We know you’ll love it too! And if any of you are wondering, she starts on a turn of the key and has never let us down…..yet!
And finally:
Bad hair day, good long sleep on the bus
Ochina! x
