My Morning Routine Living In A Van In a Heat Wave

Over the last few days I've been hit with a relentless heat wave. It's been 30 degrees every day here in the mountains and even at altitude there's been no escaping it. So most of my days have been happening early in the morning looking after my body and the van so I can spend the rest of the day hiding away from the sun in a shady spot. So I've been waking up at five in the morning washing my face in the river putting my bare feet on the ground going for an early morning swim and hydrating before the heat arrives. And I just love these early hours when it's just me and the sound of the river and trees. If you're new here I'm Jessica and I've been traveling full-time in my camper van for the last three years together with my pup Heidi. At some point I got tired of spending my young years working just to survive so I got rid of all my stuff hit the road and never looked back. Join me as I spend a quiet morning here by the river and grow roots in the wild. My morning routine is sacred to me. I'm someone who really enjoys routine which is not always compatible with life on the road but I found that as long as I follow these small habits in the morning I feel grounded and organized for the rest of the day whatever happens and wherever I end up. Sometimes I get everything done by eight o'clock in the morning and sometimes it takes until midday but I feel like as long as I tick off my little morning to-do list it's going to be a good day and it makes all the bits of van life that can be unpredictable feel a lot more manageable. This particular spot in the Dolomites is one I had camped up before in the winter and I had always wondered what it would be like in the summer so naturally I ended up spending most of the week here and not really doing much to be honest. This place has a really nice cool breeze in the early morning hours almost like clockwork which is one of the reasons I chose it as my home base this week. Although I love the excitement of traveling I'm always so happy when I find a place I can spend more time in without being seen too much. Noticing lots of little details in the landscape throughout the day like the way the sun reflects off the mountains and of course the ways of the wind. There's honestly nothing better than a cold plunge followed by a hot cup of coffee. I don't want a big house I don't want luxury I just want a cold plunge and a hot cup of coffee every morning. Over the last few years I've shifted my skincare and health routine towards only using natural products which are kinder to my body and they also don't leach toxins into the nature around me. Recently I've been trying a few products from Bristol CBD they're one of the oldest CBD companies in the UK and the sponsor of this episode. They're known for their whole plant, full spectrum oils and I've been using three of their products for a couple of months now. The first is their moisturizer which I use morning and evening because I'm outside all day so my skin really needs that moisture put back in. I've also been loving their muscle rub I'm currently training for a long distance hike so I've been using it pretty much after every walk and workout on my shoulders lower back and legs and it's been really helping to ease tightness. And the third is their whole plant 10% CBD drops. I take them in the evening and they really help me wind down and sleep more deeply which is super helpful when you live a very active lifestyle like me. What I also love about Bristol CBD is that if you're not sure what products to use and what's best for you you can just call or email them and they'll talk you through it and they can also advise you on CBD for dogs which can support their health in a variety of ways. If you'd like to try Bristol CBD I'll leave a link down in the video description and you can also get 15% off your order with my code ROOTS15. I often get asked if I don't get lonely or bored being out here alone with no one to talk to and the answer is genuinely no. I had a really interesting conversation with friends the other day about the kind of places we want to live long term and while a lot of them want to be close to nature they also want the comforts and excitement of the city, lots of activities to choose from and a community to socialise with on a regular basis. And while I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting those things I've come to realise that they're simply not what I want in my life. I love my friends don't get me wrong but I feel perfectly content only seeing them in person a few times a year and the activities I enjoy the most are not the ones you would do in a group anyway. So I don't feel that being alone is any sort of compromise for me. I am happiest alone with the trees and my dog of course and while in the past I would sometimes feel that there's something wrong with me for wanting those things I can now see that there's just so much beauty in living life differently and recognising what we want as individuals irrespective of societal norms. When I first started van life I found it really tricky to find systems for keeping everything tidy and organised and at some point I started doing a 15 minute clean every morning. It's difficult to find an excuse not to do something for 15 minutes so every morning I clean the space and because it usually takes a lot less than the allocated time I also end up fixing small things like a loose screw, a cluttered drawer or a chaotic pantry. This has probably become the most important part of my mornings because having a tidy space honestly makes all the difference when you live in a small van. It's not even seven o'clock in the morning and I'm sweating. I think once the sun comes up over the mountain behind me I'm gonna have to get back into the river. A friend once told me that looking after our bodies for one hour a day is a small price to pay for being able to do what we want with the other 23 and that has really stuck with me. Recently I've also been reading a lot about how moving our bodies throughout the day actually matters a lot more than exercising once and being sedentary for the rest of it and now that it's warmer outside I've been making an effort to get better at that but while I've managed to cultivate habits that keep me on my feet for most of the day during this heat wave a couple of hours will do. I'm currently training for my first solo long distance hike so even in this heat I've had to stay consistent with daily yoga, walking with a weighted backpack and a few strength sessions every week to make sure I'm up for the challenge. I am so excited to go hiking on my own. It's something I've always been scared of but if you've been around here for a while you know that I like to push outside my comfort zone so this summer there's going to be a lot of hiking and solo tent camping but like many great adventures this one begins in the small mundane things we do every day to prepare for it. Breakfast is usually one of the last things I do in the morning because I find that my body reacts really well to fasting. In general I've found that I've become a lot more body aware since living outside probably because there's less noise and distractions and I find it a lot easier to turn inwards and listen to what I actually need. I've been reading a lot of folk stories from the dolomites recently especially in the mornings before I start the day and there are just so many amazing quirky creatures that are home to the southern area of these mountains. There is the mazarol, a gnome-like creature which appears like an old man in rent with a turquoise jacket, big hair and a black cloak in typical elegant italian fashion who wanders the woods leading people astray. He would leave a footprint on the ground and whoever stepped on that footprint was forced by a spell to follow his tracks to his cave where they drank the milk of a black goat and immediately forgot everything about themselves. Another one is the anguana, a female nymph-like figure said to live in caves, streams, lakes and rivers like the one I'm calling home right now and the rivers in this area are said to be hidden entrances to the world of shadows. In some valleys the anguana are believed to be fierce and water goddesses while others said that they were mountain spirits or the souls of suffering women to be avoided. And then of course there's the salvan, a hairy shaggy creature with a very long beard dressed in clothes made of tree bark and lichens who inhabits the local forests. He's kind of a wild man figure who knows many of nature's secrets but shuns human contact preferring solitude and honestly I can't blame him. That's nice, you're nice and cool, yeah. I do really love these kind of weeks where I'm forced to not do as much. The last few weeks have been quite action-packed. I've been driving down to Italy from the UK, hiking every day and seeing lots of different places, moving around but when it's as hot as it is right now I get really lethargic. I do my daily five kilometre walk with Heidi just as the sun starts peeking over the mountains and by the time we're back there's not really much to do but to move very slowly through the day, going between the van and the river to cool down, playing a little bit with Heidi's ball, reading a book and doing laptop work in the shade, eagerly awaiting the next cool breeze that passes through the air. Don't lose it! Okay I think it's like 10 o'clock now and I'm moving us into the shade for the rest of the day because it's boiling hot in the sun now and we are being besieged by horseflies. There's some trees on the other side of this park up so I think we're gonna seek shelter there and spend the rest of the day there really and then move back to the river in the evening. I hope you guys enjoyed seeing one of those days where not much happens really because while we do get to go on many adventures, days like this one are very much the reality too. I hope you're staying cool out there and I will see you next week. Until then, take good care of yourselves. Bye!