Van Life Italy Begins | Epic Sunrise Hike in The Dolomites (Facing Fear of Heights)

After a series of breakdowns along the way, we finally managed to get our little home on wheels to Italy. We made it to Italy! We're Tania and Adam and we've been living in our van Jits for over three years, travelling, filming and podcasting as we go. After Covid forced us to drive away from Italy in 2020, we're finally back and all going well. We will be travelling the country for the next two months. This is the first episode of our Van Life Italy series and we're starting in the Dolomites. Subscribe to join us on the journey. We are Jits Into The Sunset. Jits was behaving herself. The weather forecast was good and we were in the mountains. This is living in a van at its best. We started by visiting one of the most popular destinations in the Dolomites, Lake Bray. We got there early to beat the inevitable crowds. The sun was still coming up from behind the mountain as we took a walk around the lake, enjoying the peace and drinking in the view. Some of us even drinking in the lake. Beautiful little walk around the lake. It's still quite cold because we're in the shade of the mountains but it is stunning and it's taken about an hour and a half to walk around the lake and then we're going to go and rent a boat. The boat place doesn't open till 10 o'clock at this time of year. So, yeah, we've just got up early, enjoyed the peace of the lake. Renting a boat costs €25 for half an hour or €35 for the full hour. Yeah, it's so nice to be here in the Dolomites after so long. It's somewhere that's been on my bucket list for absolutely years. So it's so nice to be here, especially on a day like this. It's absolutely stunning. So yeah, guys, let us know in the comments, do you have anywhere on your bucket list? We want to hear your top three countries because we're looking for inspiration. So after this trip in Jits, before we return to van life, we want to do a backpacking series. So yeah, any inspiration is more than welcomed. We really want to go to Japan and India. So there's a few places on our list but you can never have too much travel inspiration. Let us know. Yeah, let us know. Goodbye, Triggs. Good work, Trigger. He's supervising. That afternoon, we drove slowly up the mountains towards Strait Shimae, the three peaks. Very slowly. There is a place to camp right at the top of the mountain at the foot of the hikes. It's €30 a night or €45 if you're in a bigger motorhome. However, if you arrive after 7pm, it's free until midnight. Everyone's literally just waiting around for the guy to leave his kiosk so that we can go up the mountain for free. It's so funny. There's hundreds of campers. I'm a bit worried because we're quite near the front of the queue and we're going to be one of the slowest going because... Jits. Yeah, Jits. So everyone's going to be stuck behind us. We're not the only slowies. I think we're the slowerest. No, the slowest of the slowies. The drive was particularly steep and particularly beautiful. Jits was slowly climbing but climbing nonetheless. Come on, Jits. Not first gears. Embarrassing. And as predicted, we had a mini snail trail. As we arrived at the top, we were greeted by a stunning sunset and a sea of other campers. Look, look at all these campers. We got cosy, ready for an early morning. Drake's pulling his weight. Just as we got to the top of this mountain, we had a really exciting email come through from the sponsor of this video, MyHeritage. If you don't know who MyHeritage are, they are the number one family history and DNA testing service in Europe. We're so excited because a few weeks ago, we took the DNA test and sent it off to the lab and this email is going to tell us all about our origins, which we're really excited about because it's been on our bucket list for a while. One thing to note about MyHeritage is that they take privacy really, really seriously, which means that the data that we get just belongs to us. They will never sell it to anybody else. We wouldn't have done it otherwise. Yeah, it's really important to us. Why is this exciting for you in particular? Well, because even though I consider myself Irish because that's where I've grown up, I was born in Mexico to Mexican parents, so I know that there's going to be something in there. Tanya's is going to be really, really interesting and mine's going to be really, really boring because I am English and obviously it's great to be English, but I'd love something to be a bit more exotic in there, so we'll see. I'm excited, but I'm trying to get my hopes up, but Tanya's is going to be so interesting. Oh, Scandinavian! Yes! I was secretly hoping that because I always call myself blonde and Tanya's like, you're not blonde, you're not blonde, so yeah, I've got some Scandinavian in me. Please, please, please comment down below, what colouring is Adam because he thinks he's blonde. Well, I'm more, I'm like a mousy, blondie brown. Anyway, hang on, no, no, wait, this is really interesting. Oh my gosh, Mesoamerican and Andean. North African, 7% North African. What? 2.7% Nigerian. What? 2% Eastern European. That's so cool. Yay! If you're at all interested in finding out your heritage, where you come from, where your ancestors are from, then click the link in the video description below and use the code SUNSET and you'll get free delivery. Yeah, and you'll also get a 30-day free trial for the subscription service. And if you wish to continue, you'll also get 50% off. I need to get his DNA test next. Where are you from, mate? Where do you originate? Pitchford Adventure Trigs. Triggy's saying hi to everyone. Give this video a thumbs. Good pitching, Trigs. Ready? Yes. Yes, adventure. Look at the view. It is absolutely amazing to wake up in your tiny little home at the top of the mountains in time for sunrise. Honestly, it's so cool. The air is so crisp, so fresh, and it just feels amazing to be up so early. I want to do a massive shout out to our friends Beth and Jake for the recommendation of this little hike because the main attraction is up there but we're going to copy them and go to a little more secret place first because we don't think that's where the crowds, the early morning keen beans, won't be heading there straight away so we'll hopefully have it to ourselves and then we'll just have to accept the fact that the Free Peaks is going to be a bit busy. But that's fine. And Triggy is so excited. He's buzzing, isn't he? He was asleep five minutes ago. You wouldn't be able to tell that he's an old man. Yeah. Walking in the crisp mountain air through the first light of the day gives a special feeling of freedom. It is absolutely breathtaking already. It took 20 minutes before we were surrounded by wild rugged rocks towering above us and sloping below. As we kept walking, the path seemed to get thinner and then drop further. There's a bit of a tricky bit coming up so we're putting Triggs in the bag and I think, as you can tell, he's pretty keen to get in there. He really loves it in there when he gets tired. And yeah, these edges are a bit hairy, so in my fear of heights, I'm just going to have to relax and not panic because it's pretty sketchy. I don't know if you can tell, but this bit along here, that is a very thin path and then a very big drop. So yeah, there's enough space. It's fine. But it's just one of those things that if you get too nervous and don't concentrate, then, you know, you don't want to fall. Good boy. Happy as you like. Yeah, I think so. I'm just going to go for it. I'm okay. Are you okay? I'm fine. Okay, good. Bothered me a little bit, but I'm okay. Do you want to take the camera actually? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've got it in my hands. Got it? Well done. You got this. How much of it is like this? It's just this bit that's the worst bit? Yeah, up there looks fine. Don't worry. Okay, I don't know about this. Okay, that's fine. You don't have to, you just... Okay, yeah, it helps me having two hands even though it doesn't do anything. It's okay. It helps me having two hands on the rock. Well done. For anyone who's not scared of heights, it's really hard to explain. You lose faith in your feet. You rationally know you're capable of walking the path, but equally, one foot wrong could mean slipping. It's difficult to see it on camera, but slipping off this path at the wrong place would be very, very dangerous. Nice. Well done. I can really feel my heart going after that bit. Well done. It's really sketchy. If you've watched our Slovenia film, then you'll know I spoke about my fear of heights there and I didn't climb the ice wall that Tanya did. So this is definitely something I have to like work at and face my fears, I guess. A lot of you guys in the comments said that you've got over it by facing your fears. So I'm trying to do the same. So thanks for all your comments. Thumbs up for Adam. So as it turns out, we took a wrong turn and went the more gnarly route. So I'm unnecessarily facing into my fears. I hope it doesn't get any worse from here because I'm not prepared for what's around the corner. And I know the way back is not nice, so I hope that it's nice from here and then we can go back the easier route. He's not nervous. You've got four paws and you're being carried. As we came around the corner, there was a part of the path that was even thinner. I wonder actually, Tanya, if I'm going to walk up there. You okay? Yeah. You can do it, it's okay. I think I'm going to climb up that way, it feels safer. Okay. There's even a rope there that cordons this off so people don't come here. And so I think we took a wrong turn back there and it's not roped off. And just there, it's just gravel and it's so slippy that I know that if I go on it, it's dangerous. Yeah, okay. So I'm going to climb. Well done. You're going to follow? I'll follow you up. Yeah. There is the dodgy bit. Okay, I'm basically crawling up. Yeah. Climbing off the path seemed like the safer option. We were both glad to be on the other side of the fence. Oh, well done, Trigger. Well done. How was that? Did you find that nervous? Yeah, I didn't want to say to you, but yeah. So this is the fence here behind us and that's where when you get on, when you're on this side of the fence, you're not supposed to go over there and that's where we were walking around and looking at it now, it is so dodgy. So they must have just not put a fence over there for some reason. But yeah, I'm really glad we climbed up that bit because that is so thin. It's really difficult to tell, I think, on camera but it's probably literally about that and it's all gravel and slippy. Just half your foot. Not even your whole foot. Yeah, not even your whole foot. And I was saying to Adam that I think that had we known that we had taken the wrong route and couldn't go back for any reason, we would have been so much more nervous. But at the time, you think like, well, other people do it. This is the official trail. So this fence here, when I saw the fence, I was a bit like, ah, maybe we're not supposed to be here. Maybe this is dangerous. That fence coupled with that particular bit of the track, I was like, yeah, no. So yeah, it was a bit nerve wracking, but we're here, we're on the safe side now. If you want to do this hike, we'll leave in the description of the video, we'll just leave a little link to something. To make sure that you don't make the same mistake. Basically, follow maps.me and just check before you take a turning that you're on the right turning because we just took the wrong turning. All right, let's go. Let's go. After taking the hard road, we were pleased to be back on the right track, heading to the viewpoint and we could appreciate our surroundings again. Like, when you talk about ruggedness, this is ruggedness. This is just probably the best hike I've ever done. And okay, granted that Jits did a lot of the work to get us this high, but like, it's just, it feels otherworldly and it just feels like, look at this, look at earth. The viewpoint was strikingly beautiful. The walk was short and even though the toll to drive up is expensive, it's most definitely worth it. Flying banana viewpoint. I'm not sure exactly why it's called that. I think it's maybe just because it's bananas. Because the views are incredible all around. It's absolutely stunning and even though we went the wrong way, nearly died a few times, I think it was worth it. I think it was really, really worth it and amazed that we're here with Triggy in his backpack. Although, can I just say that Triggy got a lift up in Jits and a lift up in your backpack. So credit where credit's due, but you know, he didn't do all the work, did he? Well done, Triggy. But yeah, it's amazing. Honestly, we can recommend this as a beautiful hike in the Dolomites. Like, you really feel like, okay, we are in the Dolomites. It is just stunning all around. Do you agree, Triggs? It's always times when we're on a hike or on a big walk that add them and I love to reflect and just talk about all sorts. And one of the things that we've been talking about is the fact that when we first set off on our travels, we intended to be gone for a year. That's how much money we had saved up for. And it's because of you, because you've chosen to subscribe, chosen to be on this journey and be part of our community that it's three years on and we're traveling and we're able to travel. We get to share this with you and just wanted to say a big, big thank you. I know we say it all the time, but we do not take you for granted. Yeah, it's amazing. I can't believe there's like about 60,000 of you guys. It's just amazing. So yeah, just sending you lots of love. If you haven't yet subscribed and you would like to support us, please do and always hit the thumbs up because that helps other people discover our videos. Your shoulder's getting tired, is it? If you're planning on doing this hike, guys, do not go that way. Go that way instead. Where the marker is. Yeah, but that definitely looks like a path. I mean, that is a path as well. So anyway. Saying hi to everybody. Say hello, Triggs. Tell everyone to what? Subscribe, like, subscribe. Leave us a comment. Comment. Right, guys, comment. Is Triggs cute? Is he cute or is he horrendous? Is Triggs cute or horrendous? If you don't comment saying he's cute, then we'll assume you think he's horrendous. For every view that we get where there's not a comment that says cute, Triggy will take that very personally. Come on, Triggs. Come on, mate. Let's go back to Jits, yeah? We were all pleased to be back in Jits for a short rest and something to eat before the afternoon's hike. I just can't get over how huge that is. The Three Peaks hike is also a very accessible hike with lots of trails. The peaks are nothing short of epic. It's easy to see why they are one of the most popular attractions in the Dolomites. Look at where we are. The famous Three Peaks. So this has been an absolutely beautiful walk, but we were saying on the way up here that the one we did in the morning out to the banana viewpoint, that was more special. But it might have been the fact that we got up early in the morning, hiked out there, had it to ourselves, had the beautiful light, whereas now it's obviously a bit more hazy. There's loads of people around. It's a lot more touristy. But yeah, having said it, it's an absolutely stunning hike. So we would 100% recommend it still. A lot more accessible, I think, as well as a family or if you really want to take your time because there's no danger. No danger, yeah. You don't nearly have to worry about nearly falling off one foot wrong and you won't just kill yourself. And there are also loads of trails everywhere here. So it's just like a maze of them. So you can just go off all different angles into all the different paths in the mountains. So yeah, beautiful. It's time to say goodbye to our beautiful park up and oh, what an amazing couple of days it's been up here. It's really just felt like a bedollamite, hasn't it? Yeah, it really, really has. And yeah, we've absolutely loved it. We cannot recommend it enough. And now just off to the next adventure. Subscribe and join us next time as we take on the hardest hike of our lives in an attempt to sleep at what has to be one of the most beautiful remote cabins in the world.