This didn't go as planned

As you could see in the last vlog, I'm getting my van back in campervan mode because I'm going for a trip to Normandy with my youngest son. A trip we were highly excited about, but that didn't quite turn out the way we planned. Camping, caravan, forbidden! There's no sea view, huh? There is no sea view! It's a bit bumpy! Where's the freaking sea, baby? Plage! That way! So, here's my van. And this, to some people this may be paradise, but this is exactly why I have a van that I can put in a small forest road or anywhere where it's not big white campervan paradise. We went to Normandy to visit our friends and while we were nearly at their house, they said they were at the beach, so we decided to meet them there. And my friend said that this is the smallest actual river flowing directly into the sea. We could park our van on the property of our friends and stay in their garden, which was really nice. And they have a beautiful traditional house for this region of France, Normandy. And our friend explained to us that this type of farm was brought to Normandy by the Vikings. It's called a clos mesure. Clos means something closed or a closed piece of land. All the different buildings are not attached, so they're placed on the plot far away from each other. And this was to protect the farm from fires. And then traditionally, the land would be surrounded by hedges and trees. And then somewhere on the plot, you'd find apple trees. Because of course, Normandy is known for the apple cider. This building was traditionally the pressoir. So this was where they pressed the apples into juice. And I love learning about the traditional building styles and why they were like that. So I loved that our friend had this knowledge and explained this to us. All right, so we're finding ourselves locked. Is that the word? Trapped? In Normandy, there is something wrong with my van. We noticed, or I noticed, while we were on the highway yesterday, while we were driving here. And I didn't want to take any risks, so I went to a garage here. And they need to fix something. It's going to be a huge bill. And it also means we can't go anywhere right now. Can't really make any plans. Just have to wait until the van is fixed. We don't know when that is. And well, it's one of those things. And well, we're just not going to worry about it too much. We're here now. It was raining today. We went to the beach, which was nice. And now it doesn't rain anymore. It's actually starting to look much better. We're going to have an apéro outside. We've made lots of nice things. I baked a cake and my friends made all these nice little finger food things, like snacks. And we're just going to have a really wonderful evening. Fortunately, she can welcome us in her home. So we'll have a room to sleep. And I miss my van, though. I really like having this lifestyle of just driving somewhere and putting the van somewhere. But you know, we're having it fixed. It will all be okay. And I'll let you know what we're doing for the rest of the week. Paris! Yes, Paris. We're going to Paris. We now know that the garage needs about two to three days to get the van fixed. So we decided to take the train. Paris is really very close from here. And spend two days in Paris. Paris has always been kind of my second home. When I was back in corporate, I used to work there a lot. So I really enjoyed going back to the city this time. And Benjamin really liked it too. He got to pick where we were going. I was basically following him all the time. And I also showed him where my offices used to be. So it was overall, it was crowded and loud. But we really had a very nice time. Unfortunately, I got a call from the garage while in Paris. I'll spare you the details. But it's a whole issue now. So Benjamin and I went back to our friends. And enjoyed a last evening by the sea. And took the train back home to Burgundy the next day. Back home, we went back to our daily routines. The boys went back to school. But I will need to go back to Normandy. Because the story about the van is not finished. Of course, I'll keep you posted and take you with me. And for now, I thank you so much for being here again. Thank you for watching. And I will see you in another video.