Tiny House on Wheels! Vintage RV Remodel

Yay! 🚐❤️We're making progress with our Europe van life plans for our vintage camper van conversion & camper remodel stored here in Barcelona area which is no easy task in a foreign land in a different language! But we are really enjoying this Barcelona cheap apartment rental and resort which makes it all rewarding. Plus the Euro/dollar exchange is great & we love following our own top travel tips for a cheap Europe summer vacation, but we are sliding towards high season now, so more pressure is on to complete our big goals. 



Just driving around in a foreign country in a big camper van that you have not driven since 2010 ( on small streets sometimes with no names) & you do not know where anything is and it is all in Spanish or Catalan words..... truly is an adventure & a bit more challenging than when we were younger. But we are getting our "sea legs"by doing. We even got stopped/warned  & yelled at in Spanish for a minute from the police at a confusing one way area. GPS does not work as well in foreign lands, languages and in a large vehicle that does not fit everywhere on small European streets. 



Recently  we drove about 20 minutes away to meet up with interior painters who have done vans & RV's before, to get an estimate & it went well! He is from India and his main painter from Morocco, so we have an international theme going. Sadly, it does not look like this is going to work, as the communication was really bad, so we may have to do the painting by ourselves ( no easy task in a small RV) or wait until later. 



We  also drove to and met with another upholstery group for our simple, but important remodel.That seems to be working and will be done tomorrow! Again the international theme continues as he is from New Zealand and his worker is a Russian immigrant and recent escapee from Putin. They usually work on yachts which is a big business here. 






Thanks to our wonderful mechanic Jose at Cactus Garage, besides his fabulous work on the camper, we got an amazing deep clean and detailing job with his associate. 





This vintage Ford is a 1994 Rimor & the seats and interior now look like new! Wow!! For us, Ford's long time motto "“Built to Last” is no exaggeration!!



We are also making great progress with the stored treasures that are mostly extraordinary books & educational things for Heavenly's years of roadschooling that astound us ( we'd forgotten how much we did)  and special travel keepsakes. I must admit it is fun to throw away my old fat clothes and we are finding good homes for some of the books and good clothes ( but saving some forever as Heavenly's unique inheritance... as this camper will  also likely eventually be). Wouldn't it be amazing if she travels in this very camper someday with her child or children?


Really wonderful too that we have all of Heavenly's diaries and art journals from so many museums and it is fascinating reading her perspective at 5, 6, 7 etc and remember again how precocious she was then and wise for one so young. It makes even more sense in retrospect on why we did our world travel as a family and how important it was to Heavenly's education and for our family bonding. 


We found a secluded campsite at our resort here and booked it, so it is ready for us to finish up and enjoy ourselves before we are off to Bulgaria, Croatia & Montenegro starting in August and onto  fall travel plans.  In between the work, we are enjoying the beauty here everywhere on our daily walks & bike rides and I've lost 135lbs ( 61.2 kilos) now, so quite a miracle for a women over 50!! Book coming as it's been a life changing journey!




Life is a miracle & such a gift, despite the challenges, so be happy!! Sometimes it is daunting and overwhelming, but always we feel so blessed to be here and having this opportunity and trust that all is unfolding perfectly.