We're Chris and Marianne and we've been traveling full-time for the past three years.
We did it!
We're currently attempting to drive Trudy our home on wheels all the way around the World!
In the last episode whilst heading towards the East of Turkey,
the Turkish Government announced a new full lockdown.
After careful consideration,
we decided to drive six hours back to our friend Levents,
where we find ourselves, waking up to day 1 of lockdown.
Good morning.
First morning of lockdown and
just heading to the bin to throw the rubbish.
Just woken up,
it's pretty quiet.
It's a beautiful morning here in Dalyan.
I always wake up before Marianne,
she likes to sleep in a bit in the morning.
I tend to be a bit of an early bird!
So i'll go back and make her a coffee
Morning love, morning!
You live in a van!
I live in a van with you!
There you go my lovely.
Morning, that'll wake you up!
Day one of lockdown!
I think after we wake up a bit of breakfast,
and then i think tidy, am i allowed to tidy the van today?
I think we have to tidy the van today!
We've kind of just dumped everything because we know we don't have to drive!
It's just everywhere!
I'm actually sounding a little husky this morning,
I might need a glass of water,
I sound a bit husky, you could do tv presenting!
And today the video .......
I don't know what i'm talking about!
Oh i need another coffee!
I don't know why but my hand has reacted a bit i think it's all the hand gels
so it's got a bit bubbly and a bit itchy so i'm going to take an antihistamine.
I can swallow pills without any water i just put them in a swallow,
Marianne on the other hand hates pills!
So in the first lockdown in Istanbul,
we actually kept a prison style counter,
crossing off the days here,
which we've still got on the inside of the cupboard!
So we thought we'd start another one right here!
Good morning
Good morning,
do you want a bit of food?
We stocked up with cat food!
You got a bit on your head!
So this morning I thought i would make some menemen for us and Levent for breakfast,
and i'm going to make a little bit of extra sauce because i have a plan,
I can use it a little bit later on.
Breakfast is served!
We've got a nice view here in Dalyan,
sitting with Mr Levent,
a little bit of menemen Chris style!
All good ..... all good!
So we've got settled into our lockdown home
and we thought we would give you a very quick guided tour,
you've seen here at Christmas when we were here,
but let's just give you a quick look,
this is the street that we're on,
it's all very quiet at the moment.
There's Trudy parked up,
we got the awning out and borrowed a table from Levent.
So this is going to be our office for the next few weeks
and there's also a big hose so we can keep Trudy topped up with water whilst we're here.
We've plugged into the electric which is great, Trudy is being kept charged up.
And we've got a lovely little garden next door with some chickens,
and some lovely trees it's a nice area,
actually these are orange trees,
you can see all the little baby oranges just starting!
And they will look like that!
We're really lucky Levent has given us access to a washing machine
which is down here underneath the apartment complex,
so we're happy with that aren't we? Amazing!
There's also a little toilet and shower which is perfect!
There's the shower there, and there is the toilet.
So that's absolutely one of life's necessities, it's a great shower, it's got super power and even though it's solar it's so hot!
And then there's a washing line here to hang all the clothes up.
There's Trudy and if we go through this way it takes us into the main courtyard.
There's a little communal room in here where some of the guys play backgammon and stuff.
This is the main courtyard,
which is really pretty with the flowers starting to come out.
There are a couple of families staying here during the lockdown,
we'll introduce you to them once they're out and about and they're kind of our covid family.
Lockdown family!
And then that's Levents office but he's not in there at the moment.
And then coming back round, we're coming back to Trudy.
So there you go, that is the guided tour and we feel very lucky to have everything we need,
which during a lockdown is important to have the necessities,
when we stayed at Christmas the internet signal in Dalyan was really good!
We were able to do live chats on Youtube etc,
this time it seems a little bit slow Levent was telling us that one of the towers in Dalyan has fallen over.
And everybody in the town is complaining that the internet speed for the mobile signal is low!
So if there's anybody from Turk Telecom listening?
Can you come to Dalyan and fix the tower PLEASE!
The good thing for us is Levent has a cable system in his office.
He has said that we can go into his office to do any live chats
which is brilliant because i'm not sure it'll be fast enough to do it from the van.
So we've set up our little iboost here which boosts the wi-fi signal,
we haven't used it for a while,
so we're going to hang the little receiver outside to tap into Levent's office internet signal just to boost it in the van.
There we go, and you can see it's got a good signal,
it should have a full signal because the Levents office is right there.
That means we're all set for doing our day-to-day work here.
Hopefully they fix the cell tower.
This little shelf, we actually made up before we left the UK
and it's brilliant, it fits into the little bracket on the side of Trudy there.
Which is where the big table fits outside and it gives us a shelf while we're working,
because i hate putting drinks next to the computer
ever since i had that little mishap when we were in Spain
and I killed my Macbook by spilling a glass of juice all over it!
I won't make that mistake again!
So this is the little office that we've set up,
we've got the table outside.
Levents giving me a comfy chair to sit on,
and I'm just going to sit out here for the next few hours and edit!
It's a Saturday and Levent's come in to work,
he works too hard! So hard.
And i have a little pot, what is that? yogurt in it. Oh, yeah
It is homemade my wife made it last night. Amazing,
I know why you married your wife! she's very clever.
That will be very good with the strawberries! Yes!
Because we have some perfect local strawberries.
I can see we're going have a snack later with strawberries and yogurt, yes.
So this morning we are just catching up on work.
It's a little bit same old, same old, Already day two!
But it's really muggy today!
Very warm .... very warm!
They reckon it is about 33 degrees here,
it's cloudy but it is very warm!
I'm not sure how it happened,
but we've only been here for a couple of days and we didn't get around to tidying Trudy yesterday.
And she is officially trashed!
When you stop somewhere in a van,
because you're so used to putting everything away after you've used it and you know you're going to be static,
and you're not going to be moving so things aren't going to fall.
You just leave it out!
If you can put the cat water out!
Yeah Marianne's been sneaking cats in the van.
Look at that!
Let's put that under there,
Oh Marianne! It's just one cat, it's just one cat i let in!
Oh my lord!
One becomes two! Two becomes three!
Okay so what's the plan? Today we're just tidy, we're going to get everything away so it feels like home again!
It is trashed!
oh my lord!
It is completely trashed !
I think it's the worst it's been for a long time!
That's because we're not moving and this is real van life!
Okay so i'm just going to open the front here,
we've got all the curtains closed because it's so hot.
The sun's come out and by not having direct sunlight coming into the van,
It makes it a lot cooler.
We've got a box because we thought while we're sorting the van out while we're here,
we might be able to send some stuff that we don't use back to the UK.
Which is a very good idea.
This screen is brilliant in the windscreen,
but it is starting to tear on this corner so while we're here we'll try and tape it.
I think the first stage is to get everything tidy
and then tomorrow or over the next few days,
we'll have a good sort out of different cupboards
and show you what we've got and what we don't need
and just have a general sort out.
Oh she's bought more balls!
When we were here last time,
we had a little friend!
I think she's found us again!
I think she knows we're here and we have lots and lots of cat food!
So while we're parked up here another thing we wanted to try and do
is make a bucket to fit under the drain pipe here.
So Levent's giving us this one.
Oh it fits!
So one of the things that we are going to do every night is water the grass because the sprinkler system at the moment is being repaired.
Marianne is about to do her evening chores,
It is like the last lockdown,
gardening and you have got to keep yourself busy somehow!
These guys have made us manti but it's manti from Uzbekistan style? Yes
Is it different? I have no idea i am Russian you know.
I love it!
it looks amazing!
We'll try it and we'll tell you!
Okay,
Thank you very much! thank you! Enjoy
Look at that!
I wasn't expecting dinner tonight,
they're just so nice!
Oh this smells delicious!
They're actually a lot bigger than the manti we had in Kalkan.
How good is that?
There's something magical about manti isn't there?
They're really comforting and soothing,
and then there's actually not just the paprika on top,
but there's mint as well, can you taste all the mint?
It's lovely! And the yogurt's gone all warm and rich.
It's definitely a comfort food!
In the last video we said if you leave a question in the comments we will answer it in the next video.
We're going to do that now,
so what we thought we would do is a three minute rapid fire question session!
And we'll answer as many as we can.
Marianne's going to read the questions and we'll see how many questions we can answer in three minutes!
In no particular order!
Where were your neighbours from at the campsite? Ankara
What about the vaccine, where will you get it? Turkey
How's your Turkish language skills? Mine's not so good, Marianne's better.
A few things you've learned since lockdown what about living in a small space ?
Never lose your sense of humour and be patient!
With your van being British registered your insurance requires a British MOT how do you deal with this?
Mot is only valid for insurance in the UK and Europe, outside those countries you don't need an MOT.
Once you've travelled around the world, what are your plans after that? Are you planning on going to Africa?
We will go to Africa, we're planning to go to every country in the world,
backpacking or in the van so watch this space!
How'd you get around the MOT for the van? Same!
You didn't take my advice a long time ago about getting a ukulele!
How do you get music in the van?
We listen to youtube, but a ukulele would be good!
Trudy is absolutely lovely, but whenever i see you guys getting in and sleeping with all the windows and doors shut i feel claustrophobic! How do you feel about it?
It feels cozy, not claustrophobic, mood lighting!
If you could change 3 things in Trudy what would they be?
We did a video! watch the video on it, we said the nine things we would change!
Hello from Kentucky! Hello!
My question is: have you heard about the timetable of the vaccine? Are you considered residents? I hope you two get the vaccine as soon as the numbers come down.
We're registered for the vaccine in Turkey,
they're doing the over 55 to 60 at the moment.
We're 50 to 55.
We need to get it in the next four to five weeks, if we're going to go to Russia this year.
Do your driving licences expire again soon and what are you going to do?
The Turkish driving license expires every six months we have to go out,
it's due at the end of June, it should hopefully coincide with about the time we're leaving.
If we end up having to stay because we haven't got the vaccine,
we'll go to Georgia and then come back to Turkey.
And how did Chris propose to Marianne?
Not very well really to be fair! I drunk far too much, and then said "will you marry me?"
That's it ... Oh no hang on there's more than that Marianne!
Can you do a video on how to get driving, residency and how do you get gas etc?
We try and show that on every video, so watch the video and if you want more info just message.
After taking after seeing so many wonderful places in Turkey would you take up residence and where would you go?
I would live in Turkey, where would i live? Kas, but i'm not going to because we love travelling!
Do you have access to the vaccine? And will this affect your plans for Russia due to the lockdown?
We're registered and we need the vaccine in the next four weeks to go to Russia.
Would you ever consider doing a one-week vegan challenge? Maybe!
Oh look at that! Perfect timing!
So if you would like your question answered in the next video?
Pop a comment below starting with the word "question".
And we'll do a rapid fire next episode!
See you next time!
I'm just going to empty the drain,
Okay love.
Oh but you're still there?
It's the end of the show!
But while i've got you, i've got something to tell you!
This week it's the third anniversary of Tread the Globe!
And to thank all of you at the end of the video we're going to be shouting some of you out!
So if you want your name on this ... Oh you're still here clip?
Then pop a comment below, and we'll be doing that every episode during lockdown!
Thanks for watching and don't forget to click the subscribe button!
See you next time!