Guest Blogger – Kat, the Wandering Bird

While we’re back home, we thought we’d bring you a guest post from a fellow motorhome blogger who is back out there travelling. Kat, who is better known by her blog name Wandering Bird, waited out the lockdown in France, and is now straight back on the road producing more informative blog posts and YouTube videos about life in a motorhome.

In November of last year, Kat asked us to complete a list of questions about motorhome life for her fantastic blog, which is jammed full of useful information about all things motorhome. We did our best to reply and you can read our ramblings on the Wandering Bird blog. She has kindly returned the favour for us, giving us an insight into what makes her tick and why she loves her life on the road!

Over to you Kat….

Hi, I’m Kat. Together with my husband and our cocker spaniel, Mac, we travel Europe in our motorhome. I quit my job in 2018 so that we could travel for longer, so now we spend 8-10 months of the year on the road.

Getting started with motorhoming

It wasn’t something we set out to do. When we bought a motorhome, we had NO intention of travelling long or full-time in it.

But we loved it. We loved the lifestyle, the adventure, the simplicity and how little it cost! We spent one summer homeschooling our teenage daughter whilst travelling around the UK and Europe and it was fantastic. It inspired us to come home, downsize our lives, live a little cheaper and find a way to travel more!

Our early introduction to living a bit differently

When we were younger, we’d decided to buy a boat to live on instead of a house (mainly because we couldn’t afford a house!) We’ve always been a little ‘outside-the-box’. Since then, we lived on boats for over 15 years, slowly doing them up with the little money we had, and then selling them to buy another (slightly bigger!) wreck.

We also worked our way up to decent positions in our jobs- so we were able to have a little more money to spend on fun things. This was when we bought motorbikes… and then decided to buy a motorhome to take them around Europe with us so we can get to places quicker (and in a little more comfort!)

Changing our lives

But we never EVER thought about living in the motorhome. Three weeks was the most we ever spent in it and we’d only been to Europe once. It was on that trip that we found ourselves at the top of a mountain in the Swiss Alps- staring up in awe at the Milky Way. The actual Milky Way.

It was then that we realised how many incredible things the world held that we’d never had the time or ability to see for ourselves- and travelling in a motorhome could help with that. If only we could find a way to not be tied to one place in the UK while we worked.

Actually, while I worked- Mr WB could do most of his work from anywhere as long as he had internet! It was my job that kept us in one place and tied down- it was almost impossible to get leave from my work in the summer, so it was very restrictive.

So, we decided to change our lives. For real- instead of just talking about it. In simple terms, we needed to downsize until we could live on my husband’s income. This was surprisingly easy to do. It turns out, we were wasting a LOT of money without even thinking about it. It’s terrifying how easy it is to fall into the trap of ‘stuff’- and buying things on Amazon. Amazon is dangerous!!

By being more conscious about what we were spending our money on, and getting rid of as many ‘extras’ as we could, we got to a point where we didn’t need my income at all within about 3 months.

Leaving my job

Initially, I was only asking for a sabbatical from work – a gap year – but we managed so well without my income and my employers were being difficult about whether I could have the year off or not, that I just decided to leave.

It was one of the most terrifying decisions I’ve ever made – you can’t just walk back into Air Traffic. There’s a LOT of training and rules/ regulations to learn, and being out of the game for even a few months can make it really hard to come back. I knew that if I left there was very little chance of me ever getting my licence back.

So it was a huge decision. Everyone thought I was nuts – including my friends and family. It’s just not normal to walk away from a secure, well-paying job which offers decent time off.

But I wasn’t happy – after 14 years I’d got as high as I wanted to get up the ladder without going into management. And I was restless – I didn’t want to do this for the next 30 years. There was so much more of the world to explore!

Leaving left some mixed emotions – elation at the freedom and sheer terror at the balance in my bank account not moving each month (or, at least, only moving downwards!) But after a couple of years, it’s become normal. We live fairly frugally and definitely within our means – and we’re so much more conscious of our spending and waste than we ever were in our ‘old’ life.

Our Motorhome

We currently have a Swift 685 motorhome. It’s our third attempt at the ‘perfect’ vehicle for us- and we may have managed it! We love that it’s under 7m and we love the rear lounge. We’ve also decided to make the bed up each night instead of using the drop down- it’s better for the dog!

We still tow two motorbikes- both Triumph Scramblers. We love them for exploring. Our dog comes on the back of the bike with us!

Some of our favourite places

Some of our favourite places so far have been Norway (despite the fact that it rained for 3 weeks!), Croatia and the Italian Dolomites. We heard about them from someone else on the road and we are so grateful we detoured- they were spectacular!

We also love exploring France and spend a lot of time there. And the UK. We enjoy seeing more of our home country (and it’s nice being able to understand the language!!)

Life on the road

Life on the road has its ups and downs. Sadly, the chores that you hated in a house are still there in a motorhome- you still have to do the washing up, cleaning, and pick up your husband’s socks! But at least the cleaning doesn’t take as long!

On the positive side, we are so much closer as a couple now. We talk more, share ideas, dream bigger. Things feel more possible than they did when we were stuck in one place. We’ve learnt to communicate better.

We’ve also got (a little!) better at not rushing. Permanently travelling can be exhausting, and we needed to learn to chill and just let things take their course. We also need to schedule in rest days every 2-3 days, instead of trying to see everything non-stop.

We still have the boat in the UK- our daughter currently lives on it. It’s nice going back to it every now and then- one thing we miss whilst travelling is the familiarity of one place. Sometimes it’s nice to just go to the local supermarket and know where everything is! And it’s lovely to return home and see family and friends- being away so much can make it hard on loved ones. Although they do enjoy the gifts we bring back! :)

Our future plans

Our goal is to build up our finances until my husband can retire. It’s not easy, although our website and ebooks provide some very helpful additional income. But we still pay into a pension, so he’ll be able to draw down on that within a few years.

Having said that, he loves to work – he wouldn’t be happy retired. So it’s a nice balance being able to travel and work from the road.

I also found that I got bored very quickly when I left work. My brain was used to being ‘on the go’ all the time. I’m grateful I discovered blogging and websites – it’s been a fantastic way for me to feel like I’m contributing to the family. That’s something I learnt about myself- I need to feel useful.

Our future plans have been changed a little by COVID, but we hope to visit Spain, Portugal and Norway (again!) in the near future. We didn’t have Mac with us when we went up there last time and I know he’ll love being able to run around the mountains like a crazy dog!

Advice for others

For anyone considering changing their lives, you won’t find anything but encouragement from us! We think more people should be brave enough to live a little crazy. Our main tips would be:

• Think everything through very carefully- especially financially. I stayed at work for an extra 4 months so that we could build up a buffer/ emergency fund- which is something we recommend everyone has… just in case!
• Accept that you will NEVER feel ready.
• You will feel scared- that doesn’t mean it’s a bad choice! And don’t listen to people if you don’t want to end up like them- find someone who’s lives you admire and listen to them instead! This is your life- right now. Don’t have any regrets.

Bio

Kathryn Bird travels Europe in a motorhome with her (slightly bewildered) husband and an over-excitable cocker spaniel puppy called Mac.

They believe that everyone can (and SHOULD!) experience the freedom of life on the road and that road trips are good for the soul.

You can find them at www.wandering-bird.com, on Youtube and Instagram.

They’ve also written 3 eBooks- How to buy your perfect motorhome, how to tour Europe and how to go wild camping. Find them all here.