Alone In My Van in Greece

I've been living alone in my van for six months now, traveling from the highlands of Scotland all the way down to Greece. I still vividly remember the excitement of first setting off on my own, wanting to see all the places and do all the things, and over time that energy has gradually softened into a delicious slowness, and these days I'm learning to stay a little longer and savor every place I visit. Like nature, we move through seasons in life, and I really love the contrast of the action-packed summer months and the quiet slowness of winter, spending rainy days inside and, if I'm lucky, camping beside a hot spring for a few days. If you're new here, I'm Jessica, and I travel full-time around Europe in my campervan Frodo with my puppy Heidi. A few years ago I decided to leave everything behind instead of working all day just to pay the bills, and since then I've been living nomadically and in rhythm with the seasons. Join me for this next chapter in my adventures, where I reconnect with nature and grow roots in the wild. After a few weeks here in Greece, I can really see why people thought that the gods live here, with steaming hot springs surrounded by snowy mountains, thunderstorms shaking the earth at night, and a landscape that feels impossibly old and deeply alive at the same time. Hey guys, I've been spending the last few days at the hot springs here in central Greece, and I haven't been sleeping at the hot springs actually because a few locals warned me that a lot of vans get broken into there, and it's something I didn't want to have to worry about. So every morning I've been driving to the hot springs and coming back to this park up by the sea in the evening, which is only 10 minutes away, so it's been a really lovely routine. However, I think I'm going to have to leave imminently because there's a cold front coming and there's going to be a lot of rain and storms in this area, and potentially even snow. And yeah, my original plan was to spend most of my time in Greece in the north in the mountains, but I have had to realize that that's just not realistic. I was told by locals that the mountain roads are so remote that sometimes they get meters of snow and it just doesn't get cleared, so I didn't want to get stuck. So I changed my plans a little bit, and instead of the north I'm going to be exploring more of the south of Greece on this trip. If I'm completely honest with you guys, I've been in a little bit of a funk recently, and it's also the reason that I took a couple of weeks off posting, because since I arrived in Greece it's just been back-to-back storms and almost daily rain. But I'm still making the most of it, and I'm still very much enjoying my time here. Greece is just so beautiful, and wild camping is just a dream here. So yeah, tomorrow I will be traveling to an island that my friend recommended, which is connected to the mainland via a bridge, and I'm going to spend the next week there. It's still going to be rainy there, but not as bad as the mainland, so I'm very much looking forward to that. If there's one thing that living on the road full-time has taught me, it's to be adaptable. I used to get incredibly frustrated whenever I wasn't able to stick to my itinerary or planned route, but when your entire lifestyle is dependent on the weather and other external factors, it teaches you acceptance and non-attachment pretty quickly. I often get asked how I find the confidence to do this stuff and travel on my own, and honestly a lot of it is immersing myself in the culture and learning a few key phrases in the local language. At the moment I'm actually relearning Spanish for a big trip I'm planning, and for this I've been using Babbel, who are kindly sponsoring this video. Babbel is one of the top language learning apps in the world. I've tried a few different ones over the last few months, but Babbel is the one I keep coming back to and find the most effective. From the start you learn useful phrases and it trains you in real-life conversations about travel, business, and relationships. Babbel is scientifically proven to help you start speaking a new language in just three weeks, and the lessons are created by hundreds of real language experts. If you want to try Babbel you can get up to 55% off your subscription through the link in the video description, and you're also backed by Babbel's 20-day money-back guarantee. Thank you so much to Babbel for sponsoring this episode and for helping me make my next big trip a little bit less scary. The island of Lefkada lies on the western coast of Greece and is steeped in myth and legend. It's said that the god Zeus once visited the island, resting on the rock's added southernmost tip between his many love affairs. The cape is also known as a place to escape the torment of love, and according to legend, the goddess Aphrodite leapt from the cliffs after discovering that her lover Adonis had died. Lefkada was also home to a temple of the sun god Apollo, and many rituals were once performed here to honour him. One legend tells that locals would perform a sacrifice every year. A condemned person would be fitted with wings and thrown from the southern cliffs to keep evil from entering the land, and even today there are stories of water nymphs inhabiting the coast and wind spirits who bring As the wind spirits carried in the next wave of rain, I drove deep into the woods and spent the next couple of days parked beside a chain of waterfalls. It was hard to believe that I was in Greece because it was just so wet, grey and moody. I didn't leave the van much apart from my walks with Heidi and going to the big waterfall to wash, and instead I spent my days journaling, writing postcards and playing music. And honestly, I try and be grateful for days like these, because when the weather is good, I'm usually outside all day doing things. So this was a good opportunity to slow down, rest and recharge. Once the rain eased a little, I decided to cross the mountain range nearby and drive to a tiny remote beach, because while in Greece I really wanted the experience of parking just meters from the ocean. And after a few side quests through the mountains and driving down a very bumpy track, I arrived at the small stretch of pebble beach which I had all to myself. Something I started doing recently is to eat and exercise in rhythm with my cycle. So I changed my entire exercise routine to kind of work around my cycle and work with my body rather than against it, and I'm also planning my meals a little bit more to support my body with the nutrients that it needs. So for example in my menstrual phase I will eat more iron-rich foods and avoid fried or inflammatory foods, and it's actually made a big difference. Tonight I'm making a traditional Greek lentil soup called phakos. I've got some celery which needs using, and apart from that is onion, chopped tomatoes, Greek lentils and pita bread. I'm going keep it very simple. I did see some chickweed growing near the van so I might put some of that in as well. I was blessed with one day and one night at this beach before I received a new warning for heavy rain and strong winds, and I was a bit worried that the tiny gravel track might get washed away. So I decided to move on and head into a sheltered valley surrounded by mountains, which would be my final stop here in Lefkada before traveling further south. Thank you so much for watching guys. I hope you enjoyed these first adventures here in Greece despite all the rain. I've definitely fallen in love with this country despite having to drive away from multiple storms, and I can't wait to see what awaits me in southern Greece. Until next time, take good care of yourselves. Bye.