Why am I so nervous?
The day has finally arrived, tonight we take Zagan, our new van, for his first outing.
We’re taking advantage of the hospitality at a couple of the Britstop pubs in Derbyshire, so won’t be straying too far from home, but the weird thing is we’re both quite nervous about it.
It doesn’t seem five minutes since we were both sobbing as we drove off the ferry at the end of our adventure. During those two years Dave became part of our little family, in fact he and Jay became one as we clocked up the miles around Europe. Zagan is a different van, newer, shinier, cleaner. What if we damage him or get broken into or, or?
I know, it’s totally irrational after what we did, and I strongly suspect once we’re actually ‘back on the road again’ (we’d sing this whenever we set off from a longer stopover – longer being over a day!) and get used to Zagan’s nuances and creaks the nerves will settle down. It’s still a very strange sensation, a bit like a pair of new shoes, slightly uncomfortable at first but you know they’ll mould to you over time.
We’ve been adding our things over the last couple of weeks since we got him, but he still doesn’t feel like he’s ours yet. This shakedown trip will give us a list of what’s working for us and what we need to change. Don’t get me wrong everything on him is working (we think), it’s just some things will need to be changed to fit in with us – and no doubt a list of things we’ve forgotten and thing we can remove will develop.
Despite my best efforts his cupboards are still half empty, two of his under seat benches are totally empty. This also contributes to him feeling strange. Dave was permanently packed to the max, it became second nature to put your arm across a cupboard before you opened it to catch all the stuff spewing out, but I have no idea what we are missing to make Zagan so empty. I’ve gone through our essentials packing list (this was a list of everything we had in Dave) several times and of course we aren’t geared up for a long term trip so we have less clothes, food etc., couple that with his fantastic underfloor storage, which has taken a lot of the stuff that used to be under the benches, and I guess our challenge now is to ensure we don’t make him too heavy.
Wish us luck and if you see us over the weekend be sure to wave.
Ju x
Zagan will feel like home in no time, have a great weekend.
Good Luck with the shakedown trip and getting to know Zagan. We look forward to the updates during your next long-term tour as we prepare for our ‘gap life’ in 3 years’ time. We stopped at a very nice Britstop (523) in Derbyshire on our way back from getting El Nido’s soft furnishings sorted at Regals in Ilkeston, followed by a night on a quiet CL in the Peak District – that was our own shakedown trip – happy memories.
Paul & Cathy
We had the very same feeling in March, but we had a good time once we got settled in. Do you also feel a bit guilty, like your cheating on Dave? best of luck on you first night out
Have a great weekend, looking forward to reading about your travels again!
Hi u pair
And Charlie
Have a great time getting to know ur
New addition
Cheers scott & super sammy
Zagan is looking good! xo