2020 - A Year Living in a Van in a Global Pandemic

If you're new here, I'm Ben, this is The Combi. Welcome to Combi Life. Around here we do things a little differently. Rather than live in a conventional house, we opted to transform this 1973 Volkswagen bus, which we picked up in the Arizona desert, into a tiny home on wheels so that we could break away from the traditional lifestyle and instead adopt minimalism and adventure, living and working off-grid and on the move. That was the plan until 2020 laughed in the face of, well, pretty much all of our plans. So I thought it'd be fun to look back over the year and see how it panned out when you choose to do things a little bit differently. At the start of 2020, myself, Alaska and Leah were doing our best to pretend that winter doesn't exist by exploring the incredible North African country of Morocco. Even before the pandemic balled up life as we know it, we were already practicing social distancing with more camels and goats in our lives than actual humans. But to remedy that, we invited Leah's sister Jordan to fly in from Australia to join us for human Tetris style experiments in our tiny home. Did you take your undies off? Yeah, don't tell anyone. Ben! You never thought you'd be this close to being naked. Oh my god. We took a wrong turn down a wormhole and ended up on an entirely different planet where we discovered an ancient troglodyte dwelling. That doesn't happen every day. Still, later that day we picked up a random hitchhiker in the middle of the desert who gave us a tour of his super remote abandoned village which had been shaped from the earth itself. We were invited into his home to learn a little bit more about Moroccan culture and of course the chance to barter for one of their beautiful Berber rugs. We're getting this rug by the look of it. We decided to make the Sahara Desert our home for the next couple of nights where we experienced all the things you might hope to if you're willing to drive this far like sunrise across the dunes, Berber drummers under a full moon and even a little sandboarding to get the heart pumping. Well, when in the Sahara. I've got to be honest 2020 was shaping up to be our best year yet but that was all about to change. Yep, you know what's coming. Across the sketchy Atlas mountains we pushed our trusty vintage steed and arriving back in Marrakesh we kicked out Jordan just in time for her flight to Australia. That was back when Australia actually allowed people to fly into their country. As if the universe knew what was coming up we were thrown together with some other traveling YouTubers but together we enjoyed our last stress-free adventures of 2020 before embracing the news of the impending crisis. COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic. Panic buying gripped the world so we did our weekly shop whilst we still could and prepared for battle which basically involves sitting around wondering what the fudge was going on. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the country of Morocco recently closed its borders with no grace period or warning to allow travelers to return home. For many people the initial confusion and subsequent chaos was worse than the pandemic itself and we watched closely as all of this played out at frightening speed right in front of our eyes. Most smart people left to return home whilst they could but with no way out of Africa we did not have that luxury so we checked out of our tiny home and hunkered down in a rented apartment to face the pandemic with the Moroccans. Luckily just before cannibalism became a lifestyle choice one of us was given permission from the local government to leave the house and find food and the local fishermen also brought their catch to our door so despite being under one of the strictest lockdowns in the world we didn't starve. Yay! We watched on from behind the glass as wild boars replaced tourists in the village and packs of rabid dogs took ownership of the dusty streets. After 10 weeks of lockdown and almost being murdered by a rabid puppy we got news of a rescue ferry to get us out of Africa. Yay! Well let's not celebrate just yet. Navigating through the red tape to convince the authorities that we should be allowed to leave is easier said than done in these parts plus we still needed to get our vintage van through one of the hottest deserts on the planet. That was an adventure. Still despite more setbacks than any one of us could have imagined we triumphed and escaped the continent making it back to Spain in Europe. We would love to have been able to enjoy the empty Spanish Mediterranean coast but we were told by the authorities to get out of Spain as fast as we could. Look at that speed! We were clearly doing our best but unfortunately on the way out I ended up in hospital not once but twice. Incidentally neither time for coronavirus which we so far had luckily managed to avoid. A couple of minor surgeries later and we were pushing north through the Pyrenees mountains where we hid ourselves off grid at this stunning riverside camp until we literally ran out of food and the border finally opened with France. With Europe now opening its internal borders for the first time since this pandemic palaver began we crossed all of France in a hurry but still couldn't get a boat back to my home island of Jersey. If you've been to France you'll know it's not the worst place in the world to be stuck so we explored Brittany whilst waiting for a boat to finally get home. It took a whopping 126 days to get home to Jersey since the pandemic started and what a welcome home it was. That's it, well done. Still no family hugs for me as we went to quarantine for another mini lockdown this time in a 70s time capsule. To my surprise our Covid test came back negative so after a quick hug we said goodbye again and headed back to Europe. Hold up you might be thinking he's got home that's the end of the story surely? Uh-uh. Sometimes life gives you lemons and in 2020 I think we all got lemons. But one thing Combi Life has taught me is how to make lemonade. Like that time in 2015 when our Combi broke down in Alaska but we ended up living on a sailboat for two months. Or that time when we rose from the ashes after our Combi mysteriously burnt down only to build up stronger than ever before and go on to realizing our dream of reaching the Arctic. Life is all about making lemonade so let's see what 2020's lemonade tastes like. Heading across Europe we were in pursuit of that slim window of adventure also known as summer 2020. The rough plan was to not die in the process. We immediately discovered a couple of things. One travel is not as fun as it used to be but it's still heaps better than doing nothing. Having our own van meant we could still travel whilst airlines cancelled their flights. We could work from home in the most incredible places. We could prepare our own meals when restaurants were closed or worse packed with covid candidates and we could find free places to stay so we didn't rely on potentially unsafe hotels and airbnbs. Van life is awesome. What you still haven't bought a van? Okay. Life did get a little uncomfortable in the Combi during the annual European heat wave. 37 degrees celsius 99 degrees fahrenheit. But we were well prepared for it and we showed you how we keep cool in our Combi whilst living off grid. We also taught an old dog new tricks. It goes under and comes up with the sea. We were the last ones over this bridge in the Netherlands and scored a solo drive on this unforgettable road with the ocean on both sides and surprisingly lots and lots of bugs too. For sure in 2020 we couldn't travel like we wanted to but we still found a way to explore the cities and keep socially distanced and the people we met did a great job of ensuring that we didn't leave without sampling some local delicacies. 10 percent it's practically wine. Shout out to Marcel for that Dutch care package. We made it to Germany and celebrated this milestone of successfully relocating our Combi back from the USA to his country of birth. But we had plans to travel further so we drove to the middle of nowhere and met up with a couple of German travelers who had already driven to Asia. There we brushed up on the skills we'd need for the next section of our around the world adventure and we also played with kites. That was fun. We met up with an eccentric barefoot German beekeeper who helped us face our fears and inspired our first ever animation. Did you know that honey is actually bee puke? Yummy. We thought it would be a good idea to head east into the Czech Republic where we worked off-grid for a week hunting wild mushrooms for our dinner. Alaska helped but was mainly interested in eating berries. We met up with a local Viktor and his family for a mini road trip and discovered some strange not always delicious local foods. We were loving exploring Czechia and we wanted to stay longer in places like this but we had to change plans in a hurry because at this point the pandemic was starting to get out of control. So we left but not before tackling a mini wildfire that broke out from our neighbor's discarded cigarette. Remember amigos put it out right out. It was an adventure in itself just getting out of the Czech Republic and we found ourselves back in Germany but that was fine by us because Germany is amazing. We met up with these guys Brad and Simone. The last time we saw them was eight years earlier when we had been traveling through South America and the Amazon together. Those guys are legends. By this point the second wave was definitely coming and we knew Europe would eventually close down around us so we put our foot down on Germany's autobahn to make up some ground and to see just how fast this combi would go. Yes I did have to pull over at the first exit and change my underwear. That was supposed to be it for our 2020 travels until we met these guys and spent the day drinking schnapps in a distillery where somehow they managed to convince us to drive across the Alps into Italy. Going up the mountains was fine, coming down not so fine but all the trouble was worth it by the time we got to the staggering Dolomites. October is a slow time of year anyway but with fewer tourists flying in we practically had the whole place to ourselves. We tried Via Ferrata for the first time and well totally fell in love with it. Look at this place wouldn't you? In those mountains I pushed well past my comfort zone and that's because everything great I've ever achieved in life has been when I stepped outside of my comfort zone. That was some advice I was given as a teenager and I've lived by it ever since. Real growth happens at the edge of your comfort zone. Nervously we headed into the crowded city of Venice but with no tourists it was practically deserted. We got to explore the empty canals by a stand-up puddle so it turns out there is a silver lining of 2020 if you know where to look. We made it down as far as Tuscany in pursuit of 16th century Roman baths and stayed just long enough for it to take our breath away. With the pandemic now seriously closing in around us we had to make tracks out of Italy, stopping only to meet this legend and learn a little about local Italian culture. He took us climbing which I've since fallen madly in love with and he also taught us a little bit of Italian van life cooking. I like it, a fast fork! So with five days left to get out of the EU we had to cross all of Europe in a hurry, so the perfect time for our combi to not be able to start then. Try as I might I was not able to fix it so for five days and over 1000 miles we bump started across the European continent. Yep, at every single time we had to stop. We almost got beaten by a small child on a bicycle, took a wrong turn and ended up driving over the Alps mountains in zero visibility but we engaged rally mode and made it out safely. It's probably a miracle that we managed to reach the boat to get out of the EU but we kind of wished we hadn't. It was a little embarrassing on the boat but we've definitely done worse and we were just happy to be on dry land and have things shoved up our nose again. There is always room for more embarrassment at passport control. She doesn't count the first two years. You're just friends with me. Friends with benefits count. So with one final push we were through customs and immigration and we were out of the EU and back to my home island of Jersey. Now what? You probably think with all of that travel and moving around that we would have contracted Covid but to my surprise our test results came back negative once again and I think that's because we had the van and we were able to spend our time off grid and away from people, more socially distanced than most. That said, as much of an adventure as 2020 was, it wasn't the best of years. I spent quarter of the time inside not being able to go out. When I did go out I got harassed by police. I've had all of my collaborations, work projects and contracts cancelled. Most of our income has entirely vanished and right now Leah and I are separated on opposite sides of the planet. Oh yeah and we've both just basically lost our jobs. So 2020 has been a challenging year. I'm sharing this story with you not purely for entertainment purposes but also because I wanted to share with you my philosophy of trying to find the silver lining. None of us know what this next year will bring. You can guarantee that there will be ups and downs. My proposal to you is that we all make lemonade and we do it together. If you guys need some inspiration you can watch our travel series up here and if you're interested in getting into van life for your own adventures this playlist over here will be very interesting for you. Guys whatever the next year brings I wish you all the best health and happy travels.