Our Vanlife Journey so far

This is our DIY Van Sooty. She is a 2015 Ford Transit AWD.

We took 7 months to build her in our home town in Stavanger Norway .

We did not have so much experience with fitting out vans but with a little help from YouTube and a few friends old Sooty turned out marvellous.

In May last year my self and Nina hit the road for one year to travel Europe and North Africa. I quit my job and Nina manged to get one year sabbatical to give us the freedom of seeing the world.

I am Australian and have been living in Norway for 15 years which i now call home. Nina is a Local girl from a small town called Sandnes.

We have been on the road now for 9 months we have seen some amazing places and met some very interesting people along the way.

I do not have a European passport so we have had to juggle ourself in and out of the European Schengen.

We drove from Norway direct to the UK to leave the Schengen for 2 months.

We made a bee line for the Cornwall coast to meet some Norwegian friends of ours in their van.

We made our way up to Wales and North to Scotland where the midges ate us alive. From the Isle of Sky to the Cairngorm mountains Scotland was glowing in beauty.

It rained for weeks on end, so we made the executive decision to head back to England.

I met my long lost cousins in East Bergholt where we spent 3 fantastic weeks with them.

The Turbo on Sooty blew up and we had to get a new one and get it fitted. A costly exercise but we got to spend more time with Cousins. Funny how things work out some times.

After to exciting months in the UK we boarded the ferry a Dover to hit the ground running in France.

Normandy, cider and wine with some amazing summer weather really gave us a great feeling in the land of the frogs and snails.

We followed the coast line down to Bordeaux, found some amazing beaches and great surf along the way.

We didn't realise how busy it would be in the middle of August . Apparently the whole of France was on holiday and the crowds were out of control.

We had to make an executive decision so we headed for the Pyrenees to escape the mass population of France .

These mountains delivered on all levels and we were literally blown away by the nature.

We followed a Tour De France route up to a mountain top were we spent a few nights enjoying the epic scenery, you have never heard silence like it in these vast mountains.

We ducked into the Spanish side of the range for a few days and enjoyed the cheaper prices.

After a few magnificent weeks in the mountains we headed East down to the Mediterranean coast where we lapped up the sun and the wonderful colour of the sea.

Italy was our next desire , so we set course and arrived there at the tail end of the summer. A different language smells and food.

A few weeks in the North with great parks ups, coffee and Italian Pizza which was rite up my alley.

Tuscany delivered on all levels but we kept heading south to a small town called Terracina. We spent over 2 weeks living on a free park and lapped up the atmosphere of this quaint little town. A stray cat moved into the van we called it PUS .

This was the longest we had stayed in one place since we left Norway in May.

My 90 days in the Schengen was coming to a rapid end. We had to be out of Europe by the end of October. We made our way north to Genova and boarded the ferry to Morocco.

A 3 day voyage and we landed in Tangier.

I had all of my camera gear i did not realise the restrictions on drones in Morocco. The drone was immediately confiscated by customs.

We had no idea what to expect here in Africa as it is very different from Europe.

Our insurance on the van was not valid here so we bought a 3rd party insurance for 90 days.

After a heavy welcome we headed south to Asilah and found an amazing campsite and spent 3 days here to settle in after the long boat trip. I celebrated my birthday and consumed a next level sword fish tagine at a lovely restaurant. The owner even sang happy birthday along with Nina.

We passed through many towns along the West Atlantic coast until we stumbled across a small village named Sidi Kaouki. We fell in love with this place and stayed for 10 days. Surfing eating amazing food whilst soaking up the local Moroccan culture.

Next stop was Awir where we got some work done on the van. Experienced a Hamam a local wash slash steam room for the local folk.

From here we headed inland to meet the desert and mountains i have never seen landscape like it.

We got as far south as TanTan where the alternator blew up on the van. We were literally stuck in the desert and had to wild camp in the middle of no were before we could make it back the the nearest town the following day.

Being stuck in the desert was a wake up call and Sooty was not to be trusted on remote driving.

An executive decision was made and we started moving north again. After driving for some days we really wanted to go back to Sidi Kaouki, we ended up staying for 2 more weeks.

Our time in Morocco was drawing to and end we winded our way north through the middle of Morocco, seeing water falls the blue city and finally arriving back in Tangier.

A quick ferry to Spain where we now have been for 7 days. Sunshine and Waves with great food. We are enjoying being back in Europe.

April is the end of our trip as we need to be back in Norway . One years travel has flown by.

You can follow us on YouTube as we post a video each Saturday with our van life adventures.