This VAN LIFE DISASTER Was LIFE CHANGING! // S01E07

Welcome back to Conway Life where we have been stuck in the Spanish desert for the best part of a month and it has been cold. How cold? Cold enough for there to be ice on the inside of our windows. Cold enough for the dog's water bowl to freeze. Agua? Heck, cold enough for the olive oil to freeze. J32, the olive oil is frozen. Nobody's kitchen should be so cold the olive oil freezes. But we've been doing our best to keep our spirits up even if we have been going a little bit crazy in the process. In this episode we're facing our biggest challenge yet, trying to figure out a self-rescue plan as we attempt to finally escape the desert. High five to the Kombi Crew. If you like what we do please join the Kombi Crew on Patreon and YouTube channel members. It's the best way to keep Kombi Life videos rolling. So you'll remember the reason we're still stuck here. Four weeks and counting is because Spanish customs keep rejecting the much-needed part for our steering. Twice it's bounced back to the UK and now this. Update day 26. It's been roughly a week since our package was sent for the third time however unfortunately there's been a cyber incident which is being described as a Russian hack on the Royal Mail postal service. So our package seems to have disappeared and is untraceable at the moment so we don't know where it is or if it'll turn up. But stay tuned because I'm sure there'll be an update on that at some point. Day 28. It snowed in the desert. What the actual... It's so beautiful as you can see but I think it's going to be If you're wondering what we did in the desert for a month whilst waiting for a delivery the answer is quite a lot. Certainly more than just playing cards but we did that too. Just found a new room in the Kombi. It's the card room. Never actually played cards in this Kombi before but by shuffling a few things around, taking the cabinet top from over there and putting it in the kitchen, we got ourselves a little table we didn't even know we had. Do you reckon we could eat at this? Yeah I was about to say that it's a pretty good dinner table. We should try that sometime. You even mentioned this. Little candle holder. Don't look at my cards. Someone's got a hand like a foot as well. A pretty little shark this one. Can you guess what we're playing? If you know, comment below. I like this little guy. Put him in the porch. Replant him. There we go. That's good. That's exactly what we want. Keep him happy with as many roots as possible. Propagate him. We're going to have a little mobile garden. We've got thyme, rosemary and what is that? It's pretty. Is it edible? I don't know. Seed ball. Seed ball! Oh hang on what? You're still not subscribed? Hit that red button. There's so many vultures flying around here. It's actually really incredible. They're just soaring above the hills and it's one of the largest birds in the world. It's almost as big as the condors in the Andes. They have a wingspan of almost three meters. So interesting to see them just soaring up there. They're all circling. We decided to hike up one of the surrounding limestone peaks to see if we could get a better look at these incredible vultures. Absolutely incredible being on this spot here. Huge vultures flying past us. You can hear them going past can't you? You can hear the wings flapping and the noises as well. Absolutely ginormous. They're literally right there. We could count their feathers from here. Spain has one of the biggest colonies of griffin vultures in all of Europe. Weighing in at 10.5 kilograms or 22 pounds with a wingspan of 2.8 meters or 9.2 feet. Wow. They're right above us. Should we be concerned that vultures are above our heads? It's incredible. That's so cool. They're massive. What a magical spot this is. Wow. How epic are those vultures? I bet they've got a good signal up there. We certainly didn't have good signal in the desert but that is mainly due to the limitations of our roaming provider. But now we have a new solution. Airlo is the world's first eSIM store. Helping you solve the problem of high roaming data bills and helps you stay connected whilst you travel in over 200 countries. And Airlo are kindly sponsoring today's video. You see an eSIM is a pre-installed SIM card but it works 100% digitally. It's way more convenient than having to call your carrier to arrange roaming or find and purchase multiple local SIM cards as you travel. Which believe me is inconvenient, expensive and frustrating. The last thing you want to be doing when you arrive is queuing at an airport to buy a SIM card. eSIMs are smarter and more convenient. For my next trip I've already downloaded the plan. It's installed on my device. All I've got to do is activate it when I arrive. Having data already sorted helps me stay connected with the people that I love, find restaurants and accommodation whilst I travel and navigate on foreign roads. The Airlo SIMless experience is very user-friendly and you can get connected to multiple countries with one eSIM with their global and regional eSIMs. And it's all managed in a single app. You can even receive calls and texts on your original home number. Pretty sweet. Airlo really is a must-have app for international travellers. It's worth downloading anyway and keeping it on your phone so you have a data solution sorted no matter where you go. I will link it below. You can use the code COMBILIFE3 to get $3 off your next eSIM plan. Thanks to Airlo and thanks to you guys. Now I think you're going to like how this story unfolds. So let's get back to it. Mechanics. I can smell. Welcome to Combilife. Watch your camera yeah? Yeah. That's impressive. One of the major advantages of being stuck in this location, as inhospitable as it is at times, is that we're surrounded by these beautiful limestone cliffs which is the main reason we were headed to this region in the first place. And it does mean that we get to go climbing, which is what we're going to do today. And I think, to be honest with you, we absolutely deserve it. Look at some of the animals that you can find here. Box. Servet. Pig. What's that? I think that's a bobcat. To be honest we really haven't seen very much in the way of animals at all. On the insect scale we've got spiders, butterflies, and snake, snake, snake. This is what we're going up. For the past week or so I've had a foot infection which has been really inconvenient. So I've not been able to actually put on climbing shoes, even though we've been in paradise. So I've barely been able to walk anywhere. Today I think we're going to get to play on these rocks and start with some nice easy ones. I feel so grateful for the fact that we have this on our doorstep right now. Like this really is the best place in the world that we could possibly be stranded. Not complaining at all. Yeah, you've got that. Yeah, enjoy. Look at this old piton. Can I clip that? How old and rusty is that? I wouldn't tie my horse to that. Little daffodils. So beautiful aren't they? They're so cute and little. Look. I think these are daffodils, right? Yeah, they're baby daffodils. They're like tiny little baby daffodils coming out of this rock here. And to be honest with you, other than like a few little flowering herbs that we've seen, we haven't seen any flowers in the desert at all. No, no. We were just talking about that. I think keyword being desert. Yeah, it's the first sign spring is here. There is life. It's warming up. Thank God the sun's come back. Thank God. By the time we'd been in the desert for a month, we'd explored pretty much every corner of our backyard. Everywhere except for through the tunnel. We're going to cross the tunnel. We're going to go to the other side of the cliffs, the mountains that have contained us here in Chodesh. It's a timeless ride and hopefully no trains come. Come on, let's go. If the train comes, I'll pick up the dog. I think if the train comes, we're going to be in the tunnel with it. It's cool, isn't it? I heard there's some caves somewhere around here. The only way to get across is to go across this bridge. It looks a little bit narrow to get people and a train through there. So if the train comes, we're more than halfway. We run to the end. If we're less than halfway, we run back. Yeah. Deal? Deal. I'll carry the dog. Okay. Nice cookie. Areva. Did you see that? Once she jumps up when I tell her to go Areva. A little hop. Areva. As it turns out, the other side of the tunnel was essentially exactly the same. Who'd have thought? After a month of waiting in the desert with still not a sign of our lost steering box, we had definitely noticed signs of craziness creeping in at Kombi Camp. There was day 27, henceforth known as Human Ladder Day. Oh no, don't go forward. That was not good. That was not good. Yeah, that was about to be a disaster. Oi. It's right in my face. That's my mouth open. I'm going to drop you on your butt. Oh, that's fun. Yeah. Yeah. Look at the frozen patch there. It's still in the shadow. Everything else is sunny and lovely, baby. The sun's back. Oh yeah. We got solar power, baby. You sure you're only 50 kilos? Actually, 49 and a half. Maybe once I fart. Hold on. Good teamwork, though. Yeah. Is it too hot? It's quite hot. And that's you done. That's it? That's it. All right, where's your towel? Oh, I didn't think that far ahead. Day 28 was Water Ration Experiment Day. I've been convinced that during water ration times that this is the solution to washing your hair in between washing your hair. And that laugh is making me feel a little bit like... This is a practical joke here. Come on, hit me. This is the new dry shampoo. It's the cheap, poor person's dry shampoo. Is it working? I mean, I smell clean, I guess. I smell like a baby. I just smell like a baby. Baby wipes, baby powder, whilst looking like Ace Ventura. Excuse me. Like a glove. Part of the mirror. Oh my God, what have you done to me? It's like a bird is peeing on my head. Get me out of this desert. On day 29, we found the only round rock in the desert. Oh, smell it. It's not a really, really round rock. Yes, it's come to that. We're noticing different shaped rocks in the desert. Three, two, one. It's just the invincible stone. We can't seem to smash it open no matter what we try. Everything we drop on it just breaks around it. That whole thing just smashed around it. Let's see the damage. There is no damage. It's like a little chip. Any geologists watching, what is this? Why is it invincible? I'm guessing a dragon's egg. Later that day, the dragon hatched. What are you actually doing? I'm keeping your side of the net. You don't deserve this if you're with me. And on day 30, this happened. Come on. Finally. No, I'm fine. We finally got our steering box. I can't believe it. Today is actually day 30. Day 30? No. We've been here a month. Honestly, what a relief. It should never have taken this long. It should never have been this difficult. But I've got to say a huge thanks to Just Campers for not only getting us a really good quality part, but making sure we got it. Especially Sean at Just Campers. Those guys have really gone above and beyond, haven't they? Yeah, three times. Yeah, just kept on bouncing back from Spanish Customs and they're like, no, no, we will find a way. Like, thanks guys. We really, really appreciate it. You've gotten us out of a big sticky situation. I just want to add that Just Campers have long been our go-to for vintage V-dub parts. The service is clearly excellent and they've always had everything we've needed. If you're part of the V-dub family, keep them in your thoughts because chances are they'll probably have what you need too. Now it's over to us to do what should technically be the hardest part is installing this thing, which is not an easy job to do, but we've acquired the tools that we need. We have the part that we need. I forgot what it's like to go road tripping. Come on. Day 31. It's basically 77 kilometre an hour gusts of wind at the moment and temperatures that are just about hovering above freezing. So with the wind chill, it is absolutely barbaric out there. There's no way that we can work in these conditions. So unfortunately, we're going to have to wait until we can fit this part. Well, yeah, we've got 30 days of patience experience. 31. 31 now, yeah. So we can build upon that and fit it tomorrow maybe. The weather's better. Please be the right part. I mean, can you imagine 30 odd days and it's not the right part? Surely not. I think that's the right part. Yeah, that goes that way. Left hand drive. 1973. That is brand new. You wouldn't think this is 50 years old. Oh, perfect. It's not high enough. We can't lift it high enough. Our jack is broken. It's just decided to fail. Luckily, Tamela has a solution. Well, hopefully. OK, there's the other one to figure out. Next job was to get the front wheels pointing perfectly straight ahead. We didn't have a straight edge long enough, nor a laser-guided alignment machine. So we improvised with some string. Walk to the front of the car. Theory, we should be able to hold these together and see when the wheels are straight. Isn't that about straight? We're about to tackle the part which is supposed to be really, really difficult and the bit that I'm most worried about. I'm going to take off the drop arm to be able to get the old steering box out. I think we've done it. Seriously? A little bit disturbing how loose that was. I think this might come off now. OK, one thing's going right today. I'm going to try this little puzzle piece. It's a ball joint splitter. You want to get a nice, neat cut there. Damn. Are you OK? Yeah, I don't think that was a fart. Is that it? That's it. Yeah, if you're wondering why, ladies and gentlemen, whilst Tamela is undoing this last part of the bolt, it's because the Kombi is now sinking on the jack stands. And Ben doesn't want to be under it. No, you're smaller than me. If the Kombi comes down, you'll probably be fine. Probably. I need you to swap this for a size 17 socket and ratchet, please. Attached, por favor. I just know what I want. Good. This is the life you've chosen. Oh, yes. Oh, yes, that's very good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I feel like I'm removing a tumour. All that trouble for this little thing. I just had a moment of realisation. Now that we've got it out, does that mean it's lunchtime? Yes, it definitely means it's lunchtime. You know, I suspected that this experience would be make or break for our relationship and I was right. This looks good. This looks better. Did you prefer that one? Yeah. I prefer this one. It's good? Yeah. All right, here we go. 75 foot pounds, sounds about right. Easy peasy. Set me up. All right, rolling. Oh! The wind, the wind, the wind, the wind, the wind. We're good, we're good, we're good. You get the pleasure of doing the last bolt. Righty tighty. Righty tighty, darling. Welcome back, boomerang. With our steering installed, our wheels back on the ground, and us finally being able to leave the desert, you probably think that this is the moment to celebrate. And of course, it is. But regaining our freedom is not the real triumph of this saga. It's weird to move the steering wheel when it actually goes in that direction. We're moving, come on, we're moving. You're steering right and the vehicle's going right, it could all come loose next to your mask. You see, being stuck here in the desert like this for a month is obviously the last thing we would have wanted for Tamara's first experience of van life. Is this the van life you were hoping for? Especially as this make-or-break experience has been stressful and often extremely uncomfortable. I mean, I was genuinely worried that she would just get up and leave. Most people would, but Tamara is not most people. Never seen somebody stroke a bee. Where's my honey? There you go, oh yeah. Just take a minute, buddy. We were meant to be here, I truly believe that. We were meant to be here. Life told us to slow down a little bit, especially with this van life. Take it in, enjoy it. Can we just take a moment for this view? Wow, that echo. What a day. But we've learned so much and it's really magical here I'm ever so grateful for actually having broken down here. The world was clearly telling us this is where we had to stop and slow down. Wow, is that Ibex? You ever get that feeling you're being watched? This remote corner of Spain at first look seemed so inhospitable to us but gradually it revealed itself to be truly magical. It might not have provided what we came here looking for but as often life does, it did deliver exactly what we needed. Because when life throws you a challenge like this it's either going to drive you apart or bring you together. And the three of us left here with so much love, gratitude and a truly unbreakable bond. I've never actually heard a howl like that before. What? I didn't know you could do that Alaska. With special thanks to our saviours Frank, Roberto, Marisa and of course the team at Just Campers. We couldn't have done this without you guys. Muchisimos gracias amigos. Now finally we are back on the open road. Compass pointing south and chasing the sun. We have no idea what will happen next but we do know we're in good company and in the end that's all that really matters. Until next time, thanks for watching and happy travels.