Take it easy

(First published in Issue 5, June 2022, alongside the article Albania) It was an unusually cold day in March 2020 when we sat in our newly restored van and cried. Those weren’t tears of joy, but tears of frustration. The last few years had been extremely demanding, both physically and mentally. Now it looked as if it had all been for nothing.

Let’s start at the beginning. We are Thomas and Regina, two mid-30-year-olds living in a van. When we matched on Tinder five years ago, we lived completely different lives: hectic, scheduled, and career-focused. Regina worked as a manager at one of the leading accounting firms, with workdays hardly ever shorter than 12 hours. Thomas worked two jobs. Besides his full-time job as a journalist and radio host for Austria’s national public broadcast, he freelanced as a professional filmmaker.

Burned out from having hardly any free time for years, we knew we couldn’t keep going like this. We both had a strong desire to change our lives and break free. So, we came up with the crazy idea to leave everything behind, move into Thomas’ old Volkswagen Vanagon “Edelweiss,” and drive as far east as possible (at least as far as India) without a fixed return date. Before that, we had to rebuild and prepare our rusty van for this long journey. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into.

After quitting our jobs, we planned four months for the entire restoration. Already exhausted, we wanted to hit the road as soon as possible. But everything turned out to be much more elaborate and complex than we had imagined. The rust removal took forever, and we had problems with the new paint. Additionally, almost every single engine part broke and had to be replaced. We had to learn everything from scratch, from car mechanics to how to build a proper onboard electrical system, carpentry, sewing, and a thousand other things. Every time we thought there was an end in sight, a new issue arose.

The four months turned into six, then 12, then 18, even though we worked day and night. Without the help of our dads and invaluable input from fellow vanlifers, we’d probably still be standing in the garage. Both being perfectionists, our daily hustle and pressure hadn’t changed compared to our previous jobs.

Then, just when we were finally ready to leave after almost two years of van-related work, the world went into lockdown. It was that freezing day in March when we realized our long-awaited journey might be over before it even began.

Looking back, the van taught us two essential lessons. Firstly, good things take time; you have to accept that they can’t be forced or rushed. Secondly, we realized that throughout our lives, we’d always worked relentlessly toward certain goals that we thought would make us happy, forgetting to enjoy the actual journey. We decided to let go of our fixed ideas and expectations and take things as they come. This van has slowed us down significantly, both figuratively and literally, as its maximum speed is only 80 km/h.

So instead of heading to India, we first explored our home country, Austria, for several months. Finally, in September 2021, when the borders reopened, we said goodbye to our loved ones and embarked on a journey into the unknown. Seven months later, we consider ourselves full-time travelers. True to our new resolution, we travel mindfully.

We’re generally more attracted to places off the beaten path and enjoy immersing ourselves in foreign cultures. That’s why we spent three months in Albania, a country not overrun by tourists. Initially, we planned just to drive through on our way to warmer regions, but we ended up staying the entire winter, impressed by the beauty of Albania’s landscape and the hospitality of its people.

Thomas, now a full-time filmmaker, produces short documentaries about our trip. We’re always on the lookout for interesting people and events along the way. You might find us helping farmers harvest olives, becoming best friends with the elders of a Greek mountain village over some “Tsipouro,” or following other travelers for several days with a camera. On Instagram, we try not only to post beautiful pictures but also to tell meaningful stories and offer a glimpse into the lives of the people we meet on our journey.

We don’t know how long or how far we’ll go, but we’ve discovered how good mindful traveling feels. Slowly but surely, we’re managing to leave the hustle and bustle behind and live more consciously. Even though it didn’t seem like it at first, this journey was the best thing that could have happened to us.

Curious about how our journey continued?

Here's a brand-new travel video we filmed while in Greece: