12: A Portuguese Dream

March 8 2019

Never in my life have I had freckles in February. We’ve spent the past few weeks in dreamy Portugal, mostly driving from one white sandy beach to another and watching daily summery sunsets disappear under the Atlantic ocean.

This is the #vanlife we always anticipated; endless sunshine, a cheap cost of living and existing mostly outside.

We entered Portugal accompanied by my Mum, who flew in to meet us in Vigo in Spain, and did a leg of the journey with us, ending in Porto.

She got an authentic van life experience, including daily morning yoga, wondering whether Snail was actually going to make it up mountain hills, doing a hot spring tour, and driving through a national park (and stopping every few minutes to take it all in) - all cumulating in a third wheel valentines meal and a seafront skate (with my Mum on a skateboard for 7 year olds she’d bought, coolest Mum in the world).

We got the benefit of a night in an apartment, showers and being treated to meals and drinks. Best of both worlds?

After she’d left we parked up next to a beach we came to call ‘heaven beach’ (because of its fine white sand and white hazy sky and two white doves that spent some time with us there) for a few days. After our belated valentines beach BBQ, a man came up to me as I was walking back to the van and said ‘Congratulations’.

‘For what?’

‘For making it around Europe in an LDV’.

(It is pretty crazy to think we’ve driven from London to Lisbon - 6,000 miles - in a rusty van, who turns 18 this month!!)

Following that we ended up seeing him again at a pirate-themed bar where we heard about his enthralling life, including how was an ex-LDV van-lifer. Later he invited us to his house for dinner, where we made a Portugese-British mash up roast dinner using local veg, and gravy (which my mum had brought for us from the UK because gravy doesn’t exist in Europe…) The next day he drove us around the local town to help us run some errands as our fluent tour guide. And we’re still in touch with him now :)

Since, we’ve been following the coast from Porto to Lisbon. We’ve been doing morning beach runs, showering and cooking outside, and so many times have turned to each other as our toes spread in the sand to say: ‘we live in paradise’.

‘Like, we live here.’

But I must note the pain we’ve felt spending so much time in nature and constantly being reminded of how polluted it is. There isn’t a single rural beach we’ve visited which hasn’t been plastered with plastic. On one particular beach run, we saw the impact first hand when we came across a dead dolphin amongst the scattered bottles and shards. It was a tragedy.

While staying at a sand dune paradise for a few days, I had an upsetting and sympathetic silent conversation with the ocean. I felt her pain, as if each wave were a gasping breath. I sat with her in it for a little while. Since van life and being almost exclusively immersed in nature, it’s become clear to us how connected we are to the earth like a tree’s roots to the ground. I’m in a city right now and can hear a truck reversing, metallic clunking, and white noise of traffic; it’s no wonder we forget, and feel so separate all the time.

Even being in a city for a week has already made us feel trapped. So later today we’re hitting the road and driving to the nearest forest to unwind again. Since living this lifestyle, we’ve entered a new world where we have a direct relationship with what’s alive in front of us, and seeing disregard for that feels painful and personal. Adjusting to living in society after our trip won’t be easy.

Some other highlights along the coast were stopping in Obidos, a colourful medieval town completely enclosed by a wall. We walked along narrow cobbled streets, drank shots in glasses made of chocolate and continued our love affair for Portuguese tiles. (Seriously the coolest thing ever).

We also stopped by Nazare, where the world’s biggest wave was surfed a few years ago. We couldn’t believe the power of the water as we went to dip our toes and found ourselves hip-deep and struggling to balance on the sand sinking below our feet. We stood on a cliff 80m above the waves and could feel the sea spray on our faces as we watched the crests of the waves snake through the ocean from the distant horizon.

We also witnessed one of the best sunsets of my life. Parked on a cliff edge on a peninsula, Simone gave me a haircut as we watched the sun go down (which was a first for her, using blunt paper scissors). I sat in a bin bag as the sun descended, and watched the sky paint itself pink, slowly expanding to a supernova of colour before disappearing completely.

I’ll always remember the moment of taking this photo, watching Snail watch Simone watch the sunset, in complete, priceless joy.

We also found ourselves in a ‘Buddha Eden’ - a huge, palm tree-lined outdoor art gallery of sculptures.

And we discovered a treehouse!!

(And gossip of the month: Snail fell in love. We parked opposite an installation of big bird which randomly began playing Latino music (which continued into the night) to serenade her as she stared lovingly back. Snail was very happy to find another oversized metallic animal just like her.)

Then we arrived in Lisbon, where I’m currently sat in a library writing this blog. This is the first day since Friday that I feel like a fully functioning non-hungover human after almost a week of celebrations for my 25th birthday.

We had three amazing friends fly out to see us. Simone planned the whole long weekend, and managed to keep secret both the visitors coming and organised presents for me without me realising (all while being a meter away from me most of the time).

Walking along a beach near Lisbon she told me, ‘you now have a treasure hunt to find your friends’. Thinking an open beach is an impossible hiding place, I began scanning the shore with no idea who I was looking out for. Then I saw two little heads buried in the sand.

I ran towards them to discover the faces of my friends Chloe and Will, bottle of champagne in hand.

My brother had also arrived a day before, so Snail suddenly found herself with a personal record of 5 humans inside her shell (and it was genuinely comfortable… as long as you had a set place, and didn’t move).

We spent our first day catching up, eating pizza, playing beach football and drinking games in Snail and seafront skating.

Then was a day of surfing (pretty overwhelming waves thrashing across the Atlantic ocean), where we surfed the most waves we ever have, a few with Simone and I in perfect synchronicity gliding towards the sand while locking eyes.

Following that we had a BBQ in the sunshine before driving to the centre Lisbon (naughtily with two people in the back of Snail, wearing bike helmets to make sure they didn’t get clocked on the head with a flying mug as we drove, and quickly closing the hatch every time we saw a police car).

We parked in the city centre in a carpark full of van lifers, including the only other British LDV we’ve seen on the journey so far. Snail felt very at home amongst the other quirky vehicles and the lifestyle we know unfolding alongside us; people playing music, cooking food on open fires and hanging out washing.

Then we ate lots of custard tarts before having a SNAIL PARTY which involved watermelon cocktails, sparklers and a birthday cake with candles which relit themselves after being blown out (after a few minutes of attempting while Snail filled up with smoke we decided to put out the immortal candles in a puddle as I wondered if that meant my wishes would never come true…). Before going out we turned off all the lights, plugged in our studio speakers, downloaded a strobe light app and turned Snail into a club.

I had a happy moment watching Snail wobble from the outside with lights flashing out her little windows as some of my favourite people in the world were celebrating my birthday with me.

Followed by a flash of worry hearing ‘let’s see how much we can make her move’ as I imagined pieces of her rusty body crumbling under herself.

We then jumped on our chosen mode of transport - the electric scooter - and headed for da club. En route we heard music reverberating across the city and came across a street party. Hundreds of people dressed up and partying as DJs performed in a super central city spot (the equivalent of trafalgar square in London. Go Portugal!)

We partied until 6am, scooting between clubs.

The next day we healed ourselves in a wholesome botanical garden, ate more custard tarts and headed to my brother’s rented apartment for a roast dinner and little bit of luxury. Then was my birthday day which was spent painting, sunbathing and ordering Uber eats (…we’d definitely forgotten the convenience of city life and of having address….although the next day we managed to successfully order food to Snail without one. I think ‘Snail, the beach’ is the best address I’ll ever have).

This week reminded us of the best bits of the life we used to live. A group of friends, nights out, city conveniences, a comfortable apartment. Despite our urges right now to escape the city and roll around in a forest, Simone and I agreed that we feel we’re on our slow return home now.

The next few months are going to be our grand finale of maximising every moment of this blissful lifestyle. And we will be bringing back with us not just memories and photographs, but a way of life and new perspective of the world we will always carry with us.

Love,

Becky and Simone