Author: Stefan

food loving, travelling, sunchasing, wine drinking, soon daddy to be weirdo and yogi

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9 months ago I was super busy fixing our van. We were days from moving into it. And as most van dwellers I was facing major setbacks. I was stressed and couldn’t really enjoy the beautiful act of creating our future home.

It was at this time when Sabrina and I decided to take a day off. We were sitting at a lake when she put a tiny sand corn in here hand and said: “It is this size.” I asked “What’s this size?”. She replied: “Our baby”.

In this moment the only thing I felt was primal trust. I trusted that everything would be fine.

Quite soon this feeling faded away and I was filled with sadness. With fears. The following weeks were the worst in my life. I was depressed. I didn’t talk to anybody about it. I cried a lot. I was drowning in sadness. I was paralysed. I was in a point in my life where I didn’t want to have kids. Like ever. And I saw our new life at risk. My big dream was shattered.

I always thought I had an opinion on abortion. I thought it’s a good thing – I still do depending on the circumstances. But when I was in the situation where I felt this could be an option I realised I had no idea about it at all. I felt that this was not an easy decision. And I wondered how painful the thought of it must be for Sabrina. After all she felt live growing in her body.

It was still an option for me when I noticed that for Sabrina it’s not. We talked about it openly. That was important. To share our feelings. But I didn’t talk to anybody else. I thought I had to figure this out on my own. Like very often before.

The thing is when you speak to others you get a different perspective on things. And it took me a while to do so. I arranged a proper bro date with beers and burger and everything.

We had a beer. And another one. And another one. I was waiting for the right time. It was a Sunday and it got dark already. So I just put it on the table. I was scared.

The reaction of my bro was priceless. Very emotional. He was all smiles. He was so happy to hear that Sabrina was pregnant. It was like he found out he was having a baby. Wow.

Instantly I was filled with joy. With trust. With love. I thought if he was happy about it, I could be happy too. And that’s what I did. I started being happy.

We shared a few more beers. And I went home to Sabrina. I told her that I wanted the baby. She was super happy. To see me happy again.

Now I am just days from the birth of this awesome human to be. And I still shit my pants. Like A lot. But I am happy.

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Europe Roadtrip

  • 5 countries (Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain)
  • 34 days
  • 5.703 km

Expenses

In October we jumped in our car and left cold Austria. We set off to a Europe road trip. Chasing the sun.

We spent € 50,68 per day. For Food, Gas, Beers, Accommodation. For the two of us together. Our goal was not to spend more than 35 € per day. We were comfortable with this goal because we knew that worked. In summer we travelled around Slovenia and Croatia for a month and spent around 33 € a day. But the occasional visit at the mechanic and the long distance we travelled in a short time made it difficult on this trip.

We feel that spending 25 €- per person – per day – on holiday – in Europe is still great. Considering we had everything we needed.

Here is how we spent the money:

Gas 379,57 €
Toll 57,67 €
Mechanics 238,00 €
Public Transport 15,00 €
Parking 13,95 €
Restaurant 571,10 €
Party 31,00 €
Supermarket 269,16 €
Hotel 46,00 €
Other 101,50 €
Total 1.722,95 €

You want to have a more detailed look at our expenses. Open the full file here.

How we saved money

Sleep in your car. We slept in our car almost every day. Otherwise the expenses would have easily doubled. We loved it. It was cozy. We saved money. We got to wake up at the beach every morning.

Stay in one place. At the beginning of this trip we drove thousands of kilometres. We would get to a new place in the evening, get up early, agree that we saw everything that has to be seen and leave again. We spent more driving than actually enjoying places. That’s we stayed a tiny fishermen village (Las Negras) in the south of Spain. Not only did we calm down but also we spent a lot of money on gas and toll.

Bring a kitchen. We brought a box full of kitchen equipment and a gas stove. Just enough to cook our everyday breakfast. On a standard day we would have oatmeal with banana and seeds for breakfast, a cheeky tuna avocado sandwich for lunch and pasta in the evening.

Shop in big supermarkets. We don’t want anybody to follow this tip. It is sad, but you can actually save money by buying your food at huge super market chains. And also you are selling your soul.

Share a plate. When we are too lazy to cook our own meal we go to a local restaurant. Sometimes we share a dish. We figured we don’t always need a starter, a main and desert each. We are just used to it. And we are trained to find it rude if somebody does it. We think they are cheap fuxxs. I was just like that. But it is okay to actually listen to your body and give it just the right amount of food it needs.

 

 

 

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I usually hate christmas. The consumer society. People acting. Family gatherings. Everything about it.


This year I almost skipped visiting my family. But I knew I would make a few people happy just by showing up. And there would be a lot of drinking. How bad can it be?


It was good. No stress. No presents. It was super relaxed. And to my surprise I really enjoyed it. For the first time in years.

I was never much of a family person. I think they are awesome, don’t get me wrong, I just felt like a “black sheep”.

This is about to change I feel. I guess since I will be a dad in a few weeks myself – this is still very unreal to me haha – and the fact I am starting my own little family, it plays an increasing role in my life.