Digital Nomad life: Do we really need...?
Updated: Jun 1, 2022
From the 'Raise Your Game' monthly newsletter
We're in north Italy. It's 30 degree's outside. 34 degree's inside. Our 'air conditioning' consists of opening as many windows and doors as possible in the hope that a breeze drifts our way...
Chris: "WHY are you putting the kettle on?!!!"
As we slowly make our way down Italy, we're facing many challenges keeping cool in a big metal box and maybe my love of tea (and warm comforting food) is the worst!
We actually have so much tea packed in our tiny van that our resident Mathematician a.k.a Chris (who will use nothing less than trigonometry to hang a shelf), worked out that our caffeinated products take up nearly 1 whole percent of our entire 'house'... In our old 3 bed, that would have been the equivalent space of a bathtub!
Do we really need that much tea?!
We're now in Florence, soon to be heading south where it's even hotter. It's been hard putting Freya to bed when her room is 30 degrees and it's still the coolest room in the van! So while we're so grateful to be on this adventure of a lifetime...we're all grumpy, sweaty AND tired. As someone who lived in Manchester for most of my life, I've found I'm completely unequipped to deal with this!
At 6am when Freya is shouting ‘Is it play time?!’ and the puppy with the tiny bladder wants to go outside to pee... I'm still relying on my old favourite: caffeine, to get through the day. A sugary cold drink just doesn't cut it quite the same. Although i did buy 6 cans of emergency coke today.. so maybe thats changing!
But if you're thinking, what's the big deal? So you have a lot of tea in the cupboard, a lot of people do. The big deal is the constant juggling act we are doing with the space in our van which needs to swap, change, be rethought and let go of as our needs change through the seasons.
Our entire living space consists of 2.4m wide x 7m long x 2.8m high. That’s the living room, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, Freya's room, dog bed, dining room, wardrobes,17 drawers/cupboards for storage and a garage… my tea collection takes up 1/4 of our 3rd biggest cupboard, which is more storage than we dedicate to the snack drawer, which anyone with Hangry children like mine will gasp at! My child is the opposite of a gremlin sometimes, you definitely want to feed her every chance you get!
I have English breakfast, a dark earl grey, twinnings Chai (my favourite!), Klassik (German brand of black tea.. I think..), Fruit tea & chamomile, plus all our coffee.
It's not a lot compared to our old tea cupboard, but I have been told it seems like a waste of space when storage is a luxury we do not have… and maybe it is for some people. But we give importance to the space in our home to the things we use multiple times a day… and I drink a lot of tea!
It's energy when we feel drained.
Its warmth when it's cold.
It's that favourite cuppa which makes us feel better after a long day.
And it reminds me of home when I'm missing my wonderful family and friends, who I can't wait to see soon when we return!
What ridiculous thing would you find hard to let go of when travelling? Are you a tea lover too? Would you do the same in such a small space? Let me know :)