Blue Fern Adventures

Author: Gary Redfern

As Europe opens up so we have been thinking about our route

The build-up

Our original route had us starting in July and heading to Portugal, Morocco and Spain during the first few months. As we are likely to start in October, it is looking like we will tack these countries onto the end of the European leg.

We had hoped that the Brexit transition would be extended but that has been acknowledged as not happening by both the UK and EU so we will still be doing the Schengen Shuffle from the end of March 2021.

The draft map that is now forming looks as follows:

  • October 2020 to March 2021 – France, Italy and Greece (black)
  • April to June 2021 – Turkey and eastern Europe (maybe a visit to Egypt?) (red)
  • July to September 2021 – Germany, Scandinavia and across to the UK (black)
  • October 2021 to January 2022 – UK and Ireland (quite possibly a trip back to Cayman) (red)
  • February to April 2022 – Portugal, Morocco, Spain and prepare to ship the motorhome to southern Africa (blue)

But, let’s see how the opening of Europe progresses before we get too ahead of ourselves.

As we come to the end of May

The build-up

We still in our holding pattern; some things have changed but many have not.

Before the end of the pandemic, Gary had submitted his resignation effective 31 May so he is in his last week at work. He plans to enjoy being a stay-at-home Dad before taking on his new responsibilities of chemical toilet emptier and chief chauffeur!

The production date of the motorhome has been pushed to early July as the factory had been closed for a while.

Playing in the rain
Playing in the rain

Amelia has been taking the shelter in place restrictions. Yes, there was disappointment when the complex’s pool and followed by the beaches were closed. Luckily those have re-opened. Amelia had been looking forward to being home-schooled so her education has progressed well. Her maths, writing and reading have all come along well and she has developed a sense of humour! Plus she and Daddy have been riding bikes most days so her cycling skills have improved too. Did I mention she is also an expert on Zoom (she has 3, sometimes 4, school Zoom calls a day).

We are waiting to see when Europe opens its external borders and to see how the different countries fare as they ease the lockdown restrictions. We are hoping that we can depart sometime in September or October.

We’re in a holding pattern

The build-up

Wow! How the world has changed in the last two weeks since the last update! And unfortunately the vast majority of the change has not been for the better.

The Cayman government has been very proactive. Schools were immediately closed and cruise ships were not allowed to dock. This has been followed by shutting the airport, asking people to work from home and banning gatherings to an evening curfew (which will run for 2 weeks) to a 2 1/2 day lock-down. The lock-down eases tomorrow and we will have a 10-day ‘shelter at home’ order (soft curfew).

This hammer approach appears to have worked and we have one potential local transmission of Covid-19.

The motorhome is scheduled to be built in Germany and collected from a dealership in France. Plus to fly to Paris we need to transit through the US.

So it is looking like the trip’s commencement date will be delayed. Given how fluid the situation is and how quickly things change, we are not thinking about when we will start the trip. Luckily the trip will be long enough that a few months delay isn’t the end of the world. Image if we had only decided to travel for a year.

Flightfeeder tracking
Drop in number of planes spotted is remarkable

In the attic I have a FlightFeeder , a device that listens for radio signals from ADS-B aircraft transponders and decodes them to determine aircraft positions. The global airline shutdown can be seen here in the Caribbean. The FlightFeeder recorded 439 aircraft on Saturday, 14 March (Saturdays typically record the most aircraft) to a low of 71 aircraft today! Cayman shut its airport on Sunday, 15 March, and other countries in the Caribbean and Central America shut their airports over the next week.

Let’s do our part to help the world and flatten the curve before we worry about travelling.

So much to do

The build-up

The homepage shows that we have 112 days left until we fly to France!

The to-do list has been growing but each weekend we have tackling tasks and seem to be making progress.  Over the last couple of months we have cleared out the attic (a couple of boxes at a time), sorted the bathroom cabinets, the linen closet, clothes we do not wear anymore, etc.  Progress has not be quick but it has been steady and the plan is that when the rush comes (in the last couple of weeks before we leave) we will be prepared.

Two big-ticket items have been resolved.  We have found alternative employment for our absolutely wonderful nanny, Aracely, and we have found people to rent our apartment.  While we were not stressed about these two tasks, we are relieved they are done.  

As a side note, Aracely started working for us when Amelia was six months old and we asked that she speak to Amelia in Spanish (Aracely is from Honduras).  It is amazing how well Amelia speaks Spanish through just talking to Aracely.  Her vocabulary is not as extensive as English vocabulary but she conjugates her verbs well and the pitch and cadence when she speaks changes when she speaks Spanish.

Gary stops working a month before we depart and he will be cleaning and painting the apartment.  While it sounds like he will have lots of time, we will be spending a few days on the Sister Islands, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, and are planning to move out of the apartment a week before we leave.  So the month has become 2 ½ weeks!

The to-do list also includes the preparation for our first few days in France.  We will want to ‘hit the road’ as soon as possible but also know that we will be jet-lagged and need to fit our new home.  At the moment our thinking is that, we will spend a couple of days buying homewares (we will order as many items online as is possible) and learning about the motorhome’s systems before we take delivery and drive off into the sunset.  We are thinking that we will spend the first night at a campsite and from the second night will stay on properties listed on France-Passion.

Breaking the news to my colleagues

The build-up
Breaking the news to Gary's colleagues

Gary used this world cloud art to break the news to his colleagues that he was leaving. People got close to figuring out his riddle which is impressive given we live on an island and hardly see a motorhome!

There were a lot of “Wait, what did he just say?” followed by “Can I be your porter/chef/baby-sitter/insert your role here?”

The cloud art contains details on our vehicle, and route/places we plan to visit.