Broken Into - Dealing With A Scary Situation - Van Life Worst Nightmare

So guys we are coming this week from Florence in Italy. This is a bit of a different video, we were going to start vlogging tomorrow. We've pulled up here, it's half eight at night for a park for night. It's a sad day when campers are getting broken into these days now. We've parked over there for the night, got set up and I was taking the dog for a walk around the car park. This camper has been broken into. These poor people have gone for a day out in Florence and they have had their camper smashed into. They've opened the door. As I was walking around a lot of bits of glass everywhere but they've actually had this, the door's been opened, left open now. They've cracked the glass, it's all there. I don't know if you can see, but yeah the window's been smashed out. Obviously I don't get too close. It's such a shame because they've gone for a day out somewhere. They're going to come back now to go to bed and it's just been absolutely smashed to smithereens. If you come over here there's more remnants now of more break-ins. Now this is, you know, you just want to park up for the night but to be fair, Italy, we don't feel safe now. We've got everyone settled, we've put the starling cow, put all our blinds up, sorted everything out and, you know, we're meant to be going to Florence tomorrow on that tram that's going over there but we just, we don't feel comfortable. It's, you know, when you have that feeling you just know something's not right and it was bizarre because we pulled in and never spotted anything. You know, we'd been recommended this place. It was only when I was walking the dog that I noticed a little bit of glass down here which is quite far away from our van and then obviously, you know, we're right next to a bus station as well. There's a lot of lights here, a lot of people about. It just seems odd that now, you know, there's some poor soul who's going to come back to their van today. It's been broken into. There's glass on the floor here. This looks like someone else has had their van or car broken into and obviously, you know, it's just not what you want. I just don't understand the society we live in where people just think it's okay to snatch and grab and thieve from cars and vans. It's like, just sort yourselves out for Christ's sake. There's people trying to earn an honest living and then you're just getting robbed left, right and centre. It's always the worst nightmare of a van lifer to come back. It's always at the back of your mind but it's not the point. You are vulnerable. We are in Europe. We do not need a smash window or anything like that or anyone invading our personal space. Those poor people now, they've come back and they're getting their space. There's more glass here. This is someone's window on the floor but these poor people are having their personal space invaded and it's just intrusive, you know. You get back to your van. We've got five children in that van and I don't feel safe here now so we are having to look at quarter to nine at night for another park up. Kimmy's already, you know, everyone's got undressed and ready for bed and now it's a case of having to re-get everyone ready again and we were all getting set up for tomorrow to go to Florence so yeah, Italy's not doing us very well. We've just been to Venice. Venice was flooded so, you know, I just really feel for these poor people who are going to come back to this van this evening. They've converted that van the same as we've converted our van. That's their home on wheels and their safety, their, you know, comfort and they're going to come back to that and that's been broken into. That's been smashed. That's their bed for the night and now they are things stolen. I can't believe people have just no remorse to do this to, you know, to people. Them poor people, they're coming back tonight and they're basically, their home has been invaded. It's just awful so, like I said, we weren't going to start this vlog like this. We were going to start it tomorrow going to Florence but this vlog has started not very nice. It's that dreaded thing where no van lifer wants to know but it's like we've got our starlink out at the moment. We got here and it was all fine. We thought, you know, this is great, a nice comfortable car park, lighting and all that and sadly it has took a turn for the worst and I don't feel comfortable here anymore and, you know, we've been all over Europe. We've been to France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland. Obviously, we're in Italy now and we've, you know, been on park for night. We've wild camped, you know, we've not, you know, we're not always on site somewhere but this is the first place where I've truly felt unsafe and I'm not particularly happy staying anywhere around here with the five children. So, now it's back to the drawing board. So, guys, you know, let us know if you've had anything like this or you know anyone that's had anything like this and obviously let us know in the comments because, you know, it's such an invasive thing and I feel my heart goes out to these people who've come back to that I can only imagine what they feel when they come back because, like I said, you know, this is your home on wheels. This is where you stay. It's your transportation and now they're going to have to get their windows fixed. So, Kimmy's been on park for night. She's found, I think, eight minutes away a secure car park. I think it's 20 euros and fingers crossed they've got somewhere for us to stay. So, we're going to head there. We'd all been set up. Luna was all set up on her bed with Aoife. She was all ready and we'd set all the beds up. Everyone's now cowering in here, aren't you guys? Everyone's a bit worried. Everyone's cowering. You just don't know what to do in these situations. Like I said, we've drove now from Venice. So, we drove three hours today. We've got here late and the worst thing you want to do is get somewhere. If it just doesn't feel right, remember to listen to your gut. Well, we listen to our gut because the proof's in the pudding here. So, I've got to put all this bed away now. Everyone's in pyjamas but we're going to head over to there. Fingers crossed they have got a spot for tonight. So, we'll bring you with us on an early entry to our vlog in, I can't speak, Florence. So, we've managed to park up. It is now 10 past 10. We have found a car, well, I say a car park. It's a block of flats over there. We went to the original car park that we spoke about. It wasn't even a car park. It looked like a dirt road. So, what park? To be fair, Park for the Night's been brilliant but that's a joke. It's not even a real car park. It looked like the Haunted Mansion front gates and there was nothing there. So, it was absolutely a load of crap and just a complete lie. So, yeah, not every single Park for the Night is a right one. So, we headed to and we reluctantly looked. There was a campsite that was 80 euros and it obviously was getting late and we're thinking, do you know what? We'll just go to this campsite. We don't want to bite the bullet and pay an 80 euro for a campsite. I don't know what they offer for 80 euros for a bloody campsite and as we were on the way there and we drove past this, like, well, it was a park but it's not a Park for the Night. It's not anywhere. It's literally like a sort of weird car park. So, there's loads of campers in here. That's what caught my eyes. I've not seen one camper in Florence where we've been. It's just all cars everywhere and bloody crazy mopeds that just drive like nutters. So, yeah, everyone's obviously set up now for bed. Everyone's tired and grouchy. Starling's gone out so we can just do a little bit of work while everyone's asleep but other than that, like I said, this was a prompt you start to our vlog this week. It was meant to start tomorrow morning in Florence to show you what Florence has to offer but it's been a bit of a whirlwind evening. Like I said, we've travelled down from Venice today, three hour drive and got here and what a bit of a nightmare. Obviously, we're the lucky ones. Our van has not been broken into. Someone else is coming back to their van tonight. Smashed the smithereens in that other car park. There's a lot of break-ins. We've been to a lot of countries and not seen anything like that. So, Italy, you have got our top spot for the most amount of break-ins in one car park. So, it's really late. We've had to move the van. We were over there. We're in such a slam. We had to move it. Don't know what's going on around here but it's now 10 to 12 at night. There seems to have been some party going on. So, it's absolutely rammed. I'm just bringing in the Starlink now from behind here. Everyone's asleep in the van. Some absolute idiot has parked the car so close to our van now that I'm trying to slide the door open. It's just been a joke to be honest with you and I don't know whether I want to go into Florence tomorrow because it's just so bad. It's just crazy. If you look in that van, there's a man asleep with his foot out the door. I don't know what the hell is going on. It seems to be a lot of strange people about. So, I'm just walking around. I don't know what the hell is going on around here. Like I said, it's now 11.52 and I don't know what's going on or where we are but Florence is not somewhere that I want to be staying anymore. The motorbike keeps coming through. So, I keep hearing a motorbike coming back through. The motorbike's going to this van here. Can you hear it? It's dropped something off to that guy there. Yeah, I can hear it here. Everyone's fast asleep in here. I keep hearing the same motorbike. A little lunar here. It's asleep. I wish I was asleep. Hopefully, I get some sleep now. Good morning people. It's not a good morning but that's the expression. It's a tired morning. As you can see by my beautiful morning face, I don't usually look this rough. I do look rough but not this rough. It was a bit of a wild night. I can't even remember what I filmed up to. It just continued. I don't know where we are or what is going on but I've never stayed in a car park up. I quite like it. So, this coffee is so needed. I don't know what went on. This is our morning fresh scenes. Just having a wee. I don't know what was going on last night. Something was being delivered to that van. Crikey Charlie. I don't know what the hell was being delivered but this bloody motorbike kept coming back and forth. A bit of a strange one really to be fair. Ever since we drove into Florence, I don't know what's going on. Like I said, a bit of a whirlwind. You know, it's gone from break-ins to driving here and we parked over there. It was just like, we literally were on such a slant. It was the worst slant so I tried to move it. Then some nutter. I just don't get it. It was like quarter to twelve and they just reversed. There were so many spaces. So many spaces in the car park and they just reversed their car so close to our car. Literally, when you opened our door, it was touching their car. I just don't get it. It was like, I don't know if it's done on purpose. I don't know if it's just there. I don't know whether because we've got a UK number plate with a big UK sticker on the side of the van that we were pinpointed out because obviously we're from England. I just don't understand what was the deal last night with somebody who thought it would be funny to basically try and block us in on the left with our door. And then obviously we had Mr Sleepy in his van getting deliveries. The thing is, we were here. It's meant to come into Florence to spend a day or two actually in Florence Centre. Florence now is about a 45 minute walk into the centre from where we're parked. There's nowhere that I can find you can park a six and a half metre vehicle around here. I'm not comfortable leaving this vehicle a few hours while we go into Florence. I'm just not comfortable doing it. And I just refused to leave the van here. So basically now I think it would be a case of we try and drive as close to Florence and find some parking and get some, get some lunch basically. And to be fair, I think we're just going to get the hell out of here and cut our losses with Florence. So we've got the process of putting the bed back. If you're new around here, we did have a look at our panoramatics and we noticed that a lot of you are from the United States of America. Hello to all you people from across the pond. Very nice to see you. We love everything to do with the USA. So yeah, thank you very much for watching everybody. Remember we have had, I think it's 80% of people watch our channel, only 20% subscribed. So if you're watching now and you're enjoying the content, please consider liking, subscribing and hitting that notification bell because obviously that helps us to create the content that you'd like to watch. Thank you very much guys, because I've been informed by our eldest daughter that it is Milan fashion week. So now she's begging to go to Milan again, because there's so many celebrities. She's reading lists off of names that I've never heard of. They sound like spaghetti. But yeah, where we're going to stay is a 30 minute walk to where all the Milan fashion week is. As you look at this, fashion is not my forte. At one point last night, Luna was barking through the night. We hadn't got a clue what she was barking at. She's actually scared to live in the daylights of all of us. I don't even think you know what you were barking at, did you Lunes? Eh? You little guard dog. You little guard dog. You're a good girl. You're a good girl. Yeah, the little guard dog there barks at people when she's scared herself. I think she's calling for backup, this dog. So we've stopped on the road to do a job that no one wants to do. The toilet needs emptying. And because we are obviously going to Milan, that is a city, there is not much places that you can dump your black water. But it's a job that is absolutely rancid. Oh, it's got out over the floor. Do not wear flip-flops for this job people, otherwise you get wet toes like I have. That is absolutely rancid. What an idiot. Oh, I've really let myself down there. Can't believe it. I've got it all over me, flip-flops. Hi, are you okay? Good, thank you. Should have worn shoes. I'm being attacked by flies. Give up the day job. So if you didn't catch that, it splashed back all over my feet. The perils of wearing flip-flops during that was not ideal. Dirty. So we just stopped then to get rid of our black waste. As you've seen there, stupidly I wore flip-flops and I've never used that machine. It was a new machine and it just splashed back on me. So I've just had to completely anti-bacterial spray and wipe my feet. I've never had done that before, so you caught that on camera. Flies that were there were bad. They've come in the van. Actually, that's the only thing with using these stops that are not on a campsite. They are dirty gerties. Some of them are really bad. Although in Disneyland Paris, when we first when we first come out into Europe, their facilities, when it was the European week's holiday and everyone from Europe descended on there, you dirty people, they left that in the worst state of black waste dump I've ever seen in my life. So we are nearly here now. Look at this cobbled road to drive on. This is what I'm saying about the roads in Italy. This is meant to be a street. We're in a three and a half ton van. It doesn't really use suspension very well and obviously you get idiot drivers like this who thinks he's in a bloody race. He's just ragged it in from the left of me on a one lane street and then pulled in here. So obviously the Italians do drive differently. I'm not trying to call out a nation, but you're crap at driving. They park up, it's just down here. There's a tram right outside where we're going. Fingers crossed. You're going to watch this now. Last time there was a guy on the front going, no more, no more. So fingers crossed that we can definitely have a spot now because we can't be bothered doing any more driving. It's not our guy here. Oh, there must be a space, further space. Yay. Oh, here we go. Hello. Are we okay to park at the end? Perfecto. On the right side. Just here or on the further down? After the campus, further down. Perfect. Thank you very much. Grazie. We made it. So we have our spot. This is what it means. He's there all night. Security, so you can leave your vehicle right by the train track here. And then it is a 20 minute walk just into the center. Over here on this side is a green space park, which is perfect. So we get a big, long space here. We get to have our camper. So we've made it here now. We are all set up. We've got Starling Clouds, Suns, training football, a bit of, it takes about half an hour, give or take, when we get somewhere to get everything. Cause we store things on the top and whatnot, and then it all comes in the front. So we store all here, all the homeschool equipment and all our stuff in there, cooler, extra water, all comes into the front then. Cause that's like a storm now. I have been outvoted tonight. What are they? Juicy lemons. This is what I've got to put on a daily. I've been outvoted this evening, right? It was meant to be curry night. So it was meant to be curry night, my favorite night, curry night, but no, everyone has outvoted me saying, I don't want curry tonight. Cause usually Kimmy does a beautiful vegetable curry. We used to get a fresh vegetable from a local store and then she puts, makes a curry. Well, everyone tonight decided they weren't in the mood for curry. So that's my favorite meal. I've been outvoted. So tonight it's going to be a, is it a lemon and pea pasta? What is it? Lemon pea? What is it? Lemon pasta with a lot of, a lot of fresh veg. What have we got here? We've got fresh basil. We've got Ricola, which is rocket in English. So for all you Americans out there, what is it you call rocket? I'm sure it's something different. I haven't got a bloody clue. Ricola? I haven't got a clue. Let us know in the comments what you call it. We've set a little table up because everywhere we go, really, it's just nice to be at a safe car park. Curety's down the end there. And then there's just nowhere to go. So we've set a little side thing up. Matilda's here. Matilda loves arts and crafts, but Tilly is currently making magnets. So these are a clever bit we got, didn't we? Where she draws on it and then you cut it out and it actually makes a fridge magnet. So it was a cool little thing. But yeah, so this is our little setup just at the side. I've parked a little bit cheekily to the left, just to give us an extra bit of space. So we've got somewhere to have our tea. So we're nice and comfortable. We're all set up for a full day in Milan tomorrow. It's obviously, it's quite late now, but we're so glad to just be out of Florence. It was absolutely crazy. As we were leaving today, there was a gentleman just taking a wee out. So the kids said, there's a man taking a wee. I thought they were joking. And they said, oh, there's a man taking a wee outside the van. And it's just a guy who'd come out of that van, just taking a wee. Just with his pants and he's just taking a wee. I'm just thinking, what is going on here? So we are so glad to be out of there. So that concludes today's vlog. We have gone all the way from Florence to Milan. We now feel more comfortable, safe. So we are going to end this vlog here. Please remember, give us a big thumbs up and a like and a subscribe. Please put those notifications on for our videos. It all helps the algorithm for our content. And thank you so much again for tuning in guys.