On the road mini-van life | part 1

Life is one great journey full of experiences, and when we travel, especially into the unknown, allowing our intuition to guide us, that’s where we have magical situations occur, unexpected encounters, learn about true culture and history, get to know ourselves even better and truly become richer, By being receptive, open to the unknown, fully having faith and trust and truly living in the moment that’s where we have experiences which mark us, we remember and bring us something for our next chapter.

Beginning September, I went out on an adventure with my dog in a self converted mini-van, traveling with no true destination, traveling long the coast of Spain and Portugal, allowing my instinct to guide my path.

Starting off from Switzerland, we made an overnight stop in France, in a small fisherman’s village near the town of Bèzieres to get to the Spanish coast.

Why a mini-van?

Instead of taking a big van where you have everything like kitchen and bathroom I wanted it more minimal because I also want to stop in different places and stay there for a while. Therefore, I opted for a mini-van which is perfectly fine to travel around and explore. Some things might be more challenging, like where to wash your hands or the height of the car inside might be a little smaller, but it has everything you need and regarding parking it’s so much more convenient as there have been quite a few restrictions of camper vans around the coast of Europe. It also makes you become even more humble, especially when having been fully immersed in western society, as you end up living with only the bare minimal, really paying attention and increasing your awareness on what your basic needs truly are. It’s a very humbling and rich experience!

Once we got to the northern part of Spain, we landed in a gorgeous village in the north of Spain called L’Escala. 

I came to discover that up in the north of Spain, there are so many ancient ruins from the Roman era. And you can find this along the beaches in the city or in specified areas which I’ve been transformed to museums, but you can feel the vibe of a majestic time up north of Spain. There are also beautiful landscapes allowing you to get lost in time. The Girona area is also where Dali Salvador drew the painting of the melting watch, as he said in this area you loose sense of time, which I can only confirm!

Dog beaches

Since I’m traveling with my dog, I only go to dog beaches, and as a sidenote, there are many beaches where dogs are allowed (which are usually the nudist beaches, but not everyone is nude there 😉 ) and if they are mainstream beaches, you can usually find an area allocated for dogs, so it’s very much respected for people who have dogs. 

In the region of Girona I stopped at two different places, the first night up at a tower with beautiful views over the whole city and ocean where I also proceeded to do morning yoga in the most magical place on top of a cliff. 

The second spot was near a beach, where there was a beautiful overview of three islands giving out magical energies. 

The beautiful thing about being so close to the ocean you have a rapidly changing climate. It can be completely foggy in the morning, giving a mystical vibe and then become super sunny within a few hours.  

I then drove a little further down the coast a little further down from Castellon de la Plana where I parked on the beach, literally 20 meters from the Sea, completely alone and enjoyed a magical moonlight as well as morning yoga on the beach!

Heading more down south, I wanted to stay near Cartagena, and drove to the 2 different locations before driving an hour past Cartagena where I found a beautiful beach.

I did come to notice that much long the coast from Valencia through Cartagena is very industrial and old – tourism, therefore not a vibe I wanted to explore. I was first in the “La Manga” area, and despite there being truly incredible rock formations, like pyramids coming out of the water, there were so many touristic hotels which seems to have been built in the 70s and never renovated and it was such a weird vibe! I stopped there though on a huge beach, but there were no people, and the water was full of mini jelly fish, it was so eery! I then looked for another location, driving past this gigantic resort and also there, I felt there was something weird in the air!

So, I continued, as on my journey I only stay at incredible locations, where the energy feels bright and uplifting. This sometimes means that I will try out different locations before finding a spot to park my car! But it’s always been worth it so far! The third location, at Isla Plana, was so magical, that I knew why my gut told me to continue driving! Once again parking so close to the Ocean, I fell asleep to the sound of waves. Isla Plana is also a small village, with much roman ruins around, beautiful to walk through and with a gorgeous dog beach.

At this location I also spoke to another Van-lifer who suggested some great spots in the area. I ended up going to one of these for my next stay, and this location was one of the most beautiful ones so far, called Playa del Aroz. The pyramid rock formations coming out from the water here, radiate a spectacular energy and can keep you staring for ages! Here too, I parked right on the beach, falling asleep to the waves and as it was full mon that night, I appreciated the view of the moon illuminating the ocean for quite a while! Truly spectacular!

The following day I drove to explore the city Malaga, which is completely different atmosphere than the coastal areas! But still very beautiful! as I do find random encounters pretty cool.

On this journey, I encounter so many people with whom I speak which I appreciate, yet I love traveling alone with my dog, as I am so much more receptive and open to new encounters and incredible experiences this way. It’s also where I can use my energy, to uplift others and in the end of the day assist in raising consciousness, which is also part of the reason for this journey. 😉 Traveling, raising energy and spreading good vibes!

It’s an incredible feeling, waking up each day, not knowing, where I will be in the afternoon, let alone where I will be sleeping that night. I do use this incredible app (Park4night) which is for van life where you can see different places to park and read reviews about them, and once I’ve decided on a place I want to head to, I check out the parking options in this app, pick one out, go there and if I don’t feel the vibe then I pick out the next and so on, until I find a place, that feels right! This means that sometimes I’ll drive for four hours get to a location and then realize I don’t like the energy there and drive for another hour until I find a place which is magical, because I let my gut and intuition choose where I will be staying at and it needs to feel magical! 

This truly is an incredible, unexpected and adventurous journey where I am living fully in the moment, doing what I do best, raising energy and spreading good vibes amongst all the places and people I encounter on my path.

I encourage you, to jump into the unknown and do something out of the norm, which sometimes might feel a little uncomfortable, but brings you such rich life experiences.

Much love,

Isa