A chosen life
We chose this life. Scylla didn’t. That means her experience of it matters at least as much as ours. Not as sentimentality. Not as a slogan. Simply because of asking another species to live inside a world largely shaped by…
Our Thid Life
Travelling, learning, living fully.
Category Nomad life
Practical and philosophical thoughts relating to our third life as retired motorhome nomads. Of interest to all ages.
How a campsite becomes a village
Temporary villages form in curious ways. Nobody plans them. No one appoints a mayor or draws a street map. Yet give people a place to stop for long enough and patterns appear that look remarkably like a settlement. Our time…
Temporary Neighbours: The quiet sociology of life on the road
For most of our time at the campsite above Lake Ohrid we have been almost alone. A handful of vans scattered across the terraces. Long stretches of quiet. The lake stretching out below us in that deep, improbable blue. And…
The Third Life imprint
Seven months into retirement and four months into our European motorhome tour, I take a philosophical look at what has changed in that time. There comes a moment when work stops. The alarm clock is no longer required. The obligations…
Instant Pot Duo Crisp Jacket Potatoes
Proof that the basics still matter Jacket potatoes punch well above their weight. There’s no Michelin star technique here, no cordon bleu training, and certainly no molecular gastronomy — just the result of doing the basics properly. Cooking a good…
The bit I’m not posting on Instagram
By the time we reached the border, I was already tired — not of travelling, but of being competent. Nothing had gone wrong. The paperwork was in order. The route made sense. We’d talked it through, checked it twice, and…
Travelling aire to aire: Living within the limits
Learning the aire way When we planned our setup, we didn’t design it around French aires. We simply didn’t know what to expect. Now that we’re here, it’s clear that this style of travel quietly rewards how we think and…
Occitanie in winter: A collision of history, heat and human feeling
Travelling across France in late November comes with certain assumptions — grey skies, damp bones, and cultural hibernation. Occitanie clearly didn’t get the memo. What we’ve found instead is sun, history, emotional contrast, and the kind of winter atmosphere that…
When the power blips: Lessons from an aire electrical spike
Motorhomes aren’t delicate flowers, but they’re not indestructible either. A few weeks into life on the road, ours met its first proper test: a sudden electrical spike at an aire. No sparks, no drama, just the quiet click of something…
Ready for life on the road
After months of rebuilding and refining our motorhome systems, Scylla’s passport cleared the final hurdle. We’re ready for a ten-month journey across Europe.