Traveling together as a couple, whether it’s in a bus, a van, on foot or by bike, is without a doubt the greatest relationship test out there. Before we started The Nomads Bus, we had been traveling around the world for two years on a budget of 9 euros a day per person. So, when we started this bus project we thought we knew each other pretty well. But just like with traveling, every situation or different environment you step into brings out new positive and negative sides. With the bus this was the same story and in the beginning we definitely had to find our way with each other, but also with running the hostel and the bus in general. Right now I can happily say that after living in the bus for 3 years, of which 2 years with guests, we definitely found our flow on the bus. We each have our own tasks and help each other when needed… and adding a kid to this equation is challenging at times, but most of time she is a little happy bundle of energy hopping around the bus.
Love grows best in little houses, with fewer walls to separate.
Where you eat and sleep so close together, you can’t help but communicate.
And if we had more room between us, think of all we’d miss.
Love grows best in little houses like this.
Kid on the road
So many people ask us when our daughter Fenna (now three years old) has to go to school. Somehow it is always a worry to them, like it would necessarily mean the end to our adventures. However, for us Fenna going to school is the least of our worries. Besides the fact that she is only mandatory to go to school from the age of 6 and we wouldn’t mind home schooling if needed, we’re sure things will work themselves out. Almost every day she has a new backyard, like all kids she is very curious about the world and always wants to learn more. For example, thanks to our international group of different guests every week, she now speaks English just as well as her native language (Dutch), something we never thought that would happen. Ski-school has been her version of pre-school this winter and on our road trips in Norway we have different girls who come on the bus as a ‘nanny’ to play with Fenna, for a week or longer, so we have an extra helping hand and Fenna gets the attention that she deserves.
Our situation is definitely not your ‘average’ lifestyle, but we truly believe that kids will always find happiness on the road as long as they can enjoy the outdoors and have someone who listens to them and joins them on their little adventures and big discoveries in life.
Life you don’t need a holiday from
Living in the 21st century opens up a lot of opportunities, the most important one being that we are in an age where you can create your own job if you can’t find a regular occupation that brings you happiness. Work shouldn’t feel like work. Or at least you should be able to wake up with excitement to start the day. That’s exactly why we started this project, because it was the perfect recipe to combine all our passions into a business that would truly bring us joy. So our simple advice is: don’t wait until the perfect job comes along, but figure out what you love to do and persist in finding a way to turn it into sustainable income. That might mean you have to travel for a while with an open mind trying out whatever brings you closer to your goal or it could mean taking the risk to follow your dreams and dare to commit to what makes you happy, even if that means you won’t make a lot of money at the end of the day. or it doesn’t bring you to the top of the social ladder.
Reality check: a few downsides and how to cope
In our case, following our dreams has definitely not been super easy, but we also think that struggles have been a big part of the beauty of pursuing our goals. The challenges on the road can give you such a feeling of connection: the strong vibe of teamwork, the support of the online community or total strangers showing their unexpected kindness. It’s during those hard times that we were reminded of our perseverance and to never take the beautiful things for granted. We might live in home of less than 25m2 with 8 adults, a kid and a dog, and things might break down from time to time (annoyingly at the most unexpected moments) but it never weighs out on all the unforgettable moments. We experience so many days we will never forget, we get to meet different people from all over the world, like minded people, while traveling with our own home. We’re sharing our own comfort zone with everyone who dares to hop on board and be a part of our nomads family for a week or longer. It’s something you can only truly understand by being a part of our adventure. But in short: whatever we will do in life, whatever the struggles are along the way, thanks to sharing these with others, finding solutions together and most of all creating memories together there will never be anything in the world that could stop us from making crazy dreams come true.
Everything happens for a reason. Maybe it’s not the fanciest quote in the world but these are words our little family lives by. It’s by realising that things are what they are and the situation is what it is, that you enjoy every moment to the fullest and if it’s not how you like it to be, you can do something about it. Your life is in your hands.
FOOD BONUS :)
The ultimate recipe for a spicy adventure
Favorite dish on the bus
For 8 people (you never know whom might join for dinner, or you have some nice lunch the next day… )
ingredients
- 6 red peppers (the pointy sweet ones)
- 2 red onions
- 1 big can of corn
- paprika powder
- 3 red chillis
- dried chilli powder
- cumin powder
- 4 (400g) cans of chopped tomatoes
- 3 stock cubes
- 4 (400g) cans of red beans
- 3 cloves of garlic
- Worcester sauce
- basmati rice (or a rice of your choice)
- grated cheese
- creme fraiche
- tabasco
NOTES: A good amount = don’t be afraid to add too much, just add whatever makes you happy.
Val loves to make this after breakfast when everyone gets ready for their outdoor adventures, so it can soak up all the beautiful flavours all day and you can eat it straight when you come back inside at the end of the day. Basically the only thing you will have left to do is to cook some rice and reheat the pan.
- Fry the chopped onions in some oil in a cast iron (or normal) sauce pan and when they turned golden add the chopped red peppers with a good amount of Worcester sauce.
- While these are frying chop the red chilli. To keep your hands from getting chilli and rubbing it in your eyes, just chop off the green stems and chop the rest up without touching the cilli, you don’t have to take out the seeds). Add these to the pan together with a bit of chilli powder a good amount of paprika powder and cumin powder.
- When this starts to look good add the chopped garlic, the cans of tomatoes, the beans with their juices, the corn with its juices and the 3 cubes of garlic, some pepper and salt.
- Bring it to a boil and then turn down the heat and put a lid on the pan, the longer it cooks on low heat the better. Don’t forget to stir once in a while and feel free to add some water when you prefer the chilli to be more liquid.
- Whenever you are 30 minutes before serving dinner add 4 small cups of rice to a pan with 8 small cups of water. Put this on the stove with a lid on it and turn off the fire as soon as you hear the water boil. Especially basmati rice will continue to cook without the need for more heat. And as a bonus you will keep more minerals in the rice this way, and save gas in your van ;). Whenever the rice is done add a good scoop of rice with 2 scoops of chilli to a bowl for each guest and enjoy :).
- You can put some cheese, tabasco and creme fraiche on the tabel so everyone can top it up themselves for the ultimate spicy food adventure.
Ps: This post is to show that we are here to stay on Steemit. We invested a lot of money in Steem (for us) these last days to make sure we would be able to reach the trending page. And yes ofcourse we used bidbots. You have no chance to reach this page otherwise. I am on here for almost 9 months and this is just the way it needs to be done these days to get noticed. I definitely hope this will change in the future and this will be my only post that I promote so hard (unless something exceptional comes up in the future and I have more money to invest). We put a lot of work in our vlogs, blogs, photos and videos and are basically super proud of what we have achieved.
Ps: And yes, I am also a huge fan of @steemmonsters, I makes me feel like a kid again. Oh, the anticipation, so good!!
This is amazing. Earning while enjoying what you are doing is by far the best things in life. Lots of people are earning good amount of income but not have a joy doing it, the worst case some are commiting suicide. If only you I can meet you in person, I would be happy to share some of a time of my life to experience what it feels inside living in a bus. Everyday is a great adventure!
Hi, thanks! You are welcome to join us whenever you are in Europe. Cheers
Come to me, I have many interesting recipes) @ukraine.food
You got a 45.29% upvote from @bid4joy courtesy of @cryptonewslife!
Wow , what an amazing bus and project. Love it. will start following you guys and hopefully, we will meet! No better school for the kids than traveling.
Didi I was literally about to comment on this saying I'd met you and that one of the things you said to me was that your kids were so much healthier than when they were in school and that's his life benefits them more as humans!
Thanks, I checked out your profile and seem to be having quite an interesting life yourself :)
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that life is very peacefull and very happy. due to green area healty lifestyle
https://steemit.com/life/@ahsanul540/do-not-worry-do-not-know-what-to-do-it#comments
Hi Didi, i had great fun to watch a documentation about your life with some bitcoin on an island! Keep your dream alive! 😁👍 Nice to have you here on Steemit!
hey didi. fand die reportage über dein leben sehr interessant. du hast alles richtig gemacht. weiter so
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well done .. The traveller collects memories .. good for you
Thank you for sharing with us your adventure..
That's an unforgettable experience bro traveling with your family in a bus or any vehicle bringing with you your best toll - your camera. Its a great adventure and a learning experience while you are in a journey. its like a picnic-on-the-go bringing all stuff with you. Full of excitement!
nice post
Thats awesome, Reminds me of my old bus days. Glad to see someone not afraid to follow their dreams. 8 adults in a bus, what fun. For that.....
lol
Thanks! We are in BC right now and we'll go to Vancouver Island in a couple of days :) Checked out your website, really cool what you are doing. Respect!
Right on thx, We could do a blog of your visit having a latte at our Coffee House that is all by donation :)
Great, where is that?
102-284 Helmcken rd Victoria bc
Cool, we'll be there tomorrow :)
This is amazing, you pick the perfect day. Tomorrow is double donation day at the coffee house and what that means is we have a donor that is matching all donations up to $10,000 dollars. This is how we send kids to camp :) I'm real excited to meet you tomorrow. Safe travel's and no pressure come and enjoy a latte :)
What a great life you have! I'm new to steemit and definitely look forward to follow people like you. Great source of inspiration!
Your story kind of reminds me of the movie 'Captain fantastic'. Have you seen it?
Yes! It is our favorite movie and Fenna loves the song at the end.
cool pics u got there. thanks for sharing
I love this post sooooooo much! Cant wait to read all of this. Can definitely tell y'all put all of your heart and soul into it. Following and looking forward to the next post!!!
Very interesting experience. The life is amazing when traveling. You show that adventurous.
I read a story about a couple who rode around the world on tandem bikes with their two sons. By the time they had finished their journey the boys were nearing college age but were more well spoken, experienced and open minded than anyone I knew of that age. You are giving your daughter an incredible gift. It's only those that don't see the true value in exploring the world that worry about her development.
#upvoted
This is an insanely awesome story. The photos are absolutely stunning as well :)
It always brings a smile to my face when I see someone turn their dreams into reality. I love that you created a business opportunity that has allowed your family to do what it loves most.
Fenna is a very lucky little girl to have parents who are giving her a first person view of the world. Most kids are only lucky enough to see things on TV these days, which doesn't allow for the same life lessons that she will receive along the journey.
I wish you continued success with your business along with safe travels for your family and adventure guests!
How To Earn More Than $ 100 For Every Steemit Post
Great post thank you! Everyone is so concerned with the indoctrination factory that is modern schools it’s sad. People ask the questions all the time ‘but what about when they go to school?!’ As if it’s really any of their concern.
Keep up what you folks do! I am glad there is a platform such as Steemit where we can give you contributions in any way we can such as likes and re-Steem. Hopefully someday you will have the time to visit New England, it’s a beautiful place to go year-round.
Thanks, yeah we firmly believe in the experience approach. There is so much to learn if you get to explore and every human being has a thirst for knowledge.
wow you guys are perfect fopr steem! Keep postionga nd really you should post everyday updates on https://d.tube the youtube for steem you just login with your steem account
You remind me of some other steemians I know @monkimo
woww!!!It is really amazing trip .I wish someday i can do it with my kids too. Blessing you family keep this abundance . I really love your post.
this way of life is great for kids, it really opens their eyes up to so much variety that comes in life be it the places you go or the people you have in your bus or meet along the way. Children need a stimulating environment and you definitely provide that, they are so capable of teaching themselves all they need to know esp when that environment is in place. Thanks for sharing so more of your beautiful life with us, and yes living in a small space with kids sure has it's challenges but the bonding you do is amazing xx
Thanks guys, really beautiful comment :) It is always hard to figure out if you are doing the right thing for your little ones..
Interesting theme @toocurious, walking like nomads around the world, traveling by bus, should be exciting, sharing, disguising, is cool, happy and fun, I loved that distoria, thanks for sharing!
super cool post guys!! I really love what you do. we traveled australia 3 times already and met many parents who were traveling with their kids. we were always wondering why no one in europe is doing this. will follow you!
Amazing trip, your kids will have much real world education and good memories! I have a friend who is sometimes traveling with a bicycle in different countries. He is doing als great photography.. i must look for the link.
This is awesome what you're doing. It's definitely unique in driving around in a school bus, let alone living in it. Kuddos to you and your family!
I would too love to travel with my 3yr old but she's going to nursery school soon so that restricts us a little. Can anyone recommend any places for travel around the UK?
Hi, we have voted on your post because you have posted your article to either food, recipe, recipes, cooking or steemkitchen #tag. Steemkitchen is a brand new initiative where we want to build a community/guild focused purely on the foodie followers and lovers of the steem blockchain. Steemkitchen is out of the conceptual phase and growing each day. We would love to hear your thoughts and ideas.
We are almost ready to Launch the first Decentralized Recipe and Food Blog Website that will utilize the Steem BlockChain and its community to reward contributions by its members.
Please consider joining us at our new discord server https://discord.gg/XE5fYnk
Also please consider joining our curation trail on https://steemauto.com/ to help support each other in this community of food and recipe lovers.
Kind Regards
@steemkitchen
Ps. Please reply “No Vote” if you prefer not to receive this vote and comment in the future.
The greatest adventure i've ever heard in real life. Basically this is what we see in movies. Your post inspires me to carry on with my life the way i want it. I wanted to be an electrical engineer but the pressure put on me by my parents to become a doctor was frustrating. I nearly lost focus. Now, i believe living by passion is the key to being happy and successful. Thanks @toocurious
What a life and what a adventures trip...Life looks so easy when you have your family with you. Small small moments become so precious that you thank god everyday for giving you this life and family...
What an amazing bus.. Life is not what we see but it is what we make it. Being always with people whom we live and care makes it really fun..
Thanks for the post. It was really mesmerising to read this stuff... Its definitely worth following you.
Nice job guys! Keep on !:)
what a great story, it looks exciting to spend your days with your love ones as holidays....
Waoo @toocurious I'm honest, I had time that I did not see and read such an interesting post, I think that what they are doing is a unique life experience, spectacular, I think they are enjoying life to the fullest, with the simplest, have a connection direct with the simplest that life can give us, in the end those are the experiences and experiences that we have that really make us grow as real human beings, feel full with what we really want to do, I congratulate you and I hope you continue to enjoy it to the maximum, I leave you my vote, a hug ...
Yeah ! That's cool and you reach the trending page !!
I'm a digital nomad, and sincerely thinking on how to buy a truck and start a full nomad life !
That is cool! I am looking for digital nomads (or other nomads) to create a steemit community!
wow nice pic and a happy family...
You guys are great! Following your dreams is the best way to live. I know what you mean when you say you get to know each other better! Nine month ago we started traveling full time and still learn stuff about each other daily. Thats what makes it so hard but so rewarding! Super excited to follow you guys and hope our paths with cross someday!
this is a beautiful story..im thiniking about doing the same with my family,,im inspired. but i would love to do it on a cruise around the world>
Act upon your dreams :)
Wow , what an amazing bus and project. Love it. will start following you guys and hopefully, we will meet! No better school for the kids than traveling.
Goede morgen Nomads!!
Wat een heerlijk verhaal en wat een fantastisch leven durven jullie te leiden. Ik denk dat jullie een voorbeeld zijn voor vele die geen ballen genoeg hebben om dit ook te doen, waarvan ik er één ben! Mijn vriendin en ik reizen veel, maar gaan altijd terug naar ons kikkerlandje. Op onze reizen ontmoeten wij net als jullie veel mensen die wel de stap durven nemen. Dit blijft inspirerend om te zien hoe ouders met hun kinderen om gaan. Nederland is wat dat betreft maar een ouderwets land, waar iedereen aan een hoop verwachtingen moet doen. Jullie dochter krijgt eigenlijk dezelfde opvoeding als een kind in Finland, waar een leerling 98% buiten les krijgt. Gewoon lekker bezig zijn en ontdekken is wat een kind echt kind maakt, zonder zich zorgen te maken om een vieze broek of schoentjes.
Bedankt voor dit mooie verhaal en sinds vandaag ben ik absoluut een van je nieuwe volgers! Kom maar door met je foto's en verhalen :D
really impressive !! I wish I had fridom like this
It's amazing, I just can't imagine how you find space to park :)
We also love to travel, I'd love to travel around Europe in a motorhomw one day :)
@toocurious
Hats off to you guys.
I can't imagine the challenges you have, even reading through your post.
Your daughter, will benefit enormously through "this adventure", real schooling.
Your post inspired me to research, amongst others I found this article, not forcibly related but interesting read.
See this "Rise of the home ‘unschoolers"...article may be of interest to you guys.
Keep on posting and live in the now!
#resteem #resteemed #followed #upvote
Thats really inspiring. In the 21st century its true you dont really need to be employed, you can create employment for yourself.
Travellers life is so cool
Hello there!!!
great post, it is awesome to live and travel like you do, just imagine to be in contact with mother nature it is great, do you have the fortune to know beautiful and unique places on the earth.
thanks for sharing this with us!!!
good luck!!!
have a very safe and great day!!!!
Excellent way of life, I would love to accompany them or start my own adventure ...
good post..happy family
interesting!!!!
I really love these documentaries ☺ nice work.But I don't know the laws in Belgium, but for those that want to do something like this in the US, you need to look up the laws for your state in regards to the color. In many states its illegal to have a yellow school bus, you'd have to paint it (I assume so people can't lure in kids).
Super cool The Nomads Bus.
Very nice bus journey.Thanks for sharing .
It feels great when you can mix your work with pleasure.. Btw your doll is so cute 😊 God bless her... @toocurious
Hey, what did you cook? I mean it looks like very similar to Indian (pulao)... Btw your doll is so cute, god bless her... 😘
fabulous picture
Wow , what an amazing .
Is that your family in the picture
?..