Since 4 months and counting, Michel and Mirande live and travel in a oldtimer Peugeot J7 bus, which they converted into a damn fine campervan themselves.
We are Michel and Mirande, 51- and 44 years old, together for 11 years and married for 3 years. We have always been a fan of outdoor, camping and adventures.
We both recognized we have always had some kind of “unrest” in ourselves, which made us move around (literarily moving houses) a lot.
Also, we felt having tired and fed up with the “system” (rules and regulation), which often made us feel like we couldn’t live our dream.
We actually always dreamed of travelling in like 20 years from now, but it felt much more like the right time at this moment.
We always liked vintage caravanning, so we decided to upgrade for a summer and see how that feels. We were hooked from that first summer!
We drive an oldtimer Peugeot J7 bus, which is converted to a campervan. We strongly believe in “meant to be” and that’s how we found our Bzzzonderbus. Or did he find us?
Don’t really remember, but it was love at first sight! We did choose an old timer by purpose, since we feel we can do more repairing (or first aid) ourselves on the old fashion mechanic kind of motor (compared to modern computer motors).
We build everything ourselves, and we really wanted to feel like home. Which it does for us, with all kind of vintage wallpapers, decoration and colorful fabrics. Typical us!
We also kept in mind we are travelling with our 2 doggies, Frans & Freek. We wanted them to have a safe spot to travel and sleep too. We, for example, build a special doggy-bed under our bed.
Mirande works remote in online media (social media campaigns, newsletters, content writing- and management, offline- and online media planning and buying) for mainly foundations.
Michel works during our trip (volunteering or temporarily) and we own a recreational house in the forest (in the middle of nature), which we rent.
Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Swiss, France, Spain and Portugal.
We are almost on the road fulltime for 4 months now, and we want to continue as long as possible like this. We life in our bus fulltime.
We do have to return every now and then to the Netherlands in order to see kids, grandchild (who we miss so much, so happy for video calls), family and friends and also to arrange everything for our house to be rent, insurances etc.
We prefer free camping and being off grid as much as possible. Enjoy nature, landscapes, hiking and also meet people with the same mindset.
But every now and then we like to be on campsites too, mostly to have a long warm shower, clean up the bus and wash.
Mostly outside the bus with cold water, especially when temperatures are warm. When colder, we shower inside with warm water (we have a boiler onboard).
A newly build small kitchen, with a beautiful wooden counter, gas stove and enormous fridge. Really like we would like to have at home too.
Being outdoor all the time. We love to move around and to have our house with us all the time. If we don’t like the place, we move on. If do like the place, we stay longer.
Missing grandchild, children, family and friends.
Another big downside is the garbage we often find at spots. Really disappointing to be in parked in paradise in somebody elses trash. People should clean up after theirselves more!
Everything is possible, don’t be scared! Use a compost toilet instead chemicals, brings you so much more freedom. Drive safe and responsible.
Only and all the time. We have met so many great new friends on the road, incredible! And somehow, we always meet up again and stay in close contact.
