There is Something We've Been Keeping From You // S02E10

Welcome back to Combi Life. We are Ben and Tamara, a couple of digital nomads, living and working out of our often temperamental VW Combi called Bimarang. We are currently attempting to drive to Asia but here in Sicily we're at a major crossroads. Sometimes plans change and sometimes the world has a way of telling you things. You might even say a bump in the road. We're starting to question, is this Combi the right vehicle for us? And this one will be life-changing. But before we get into that, let us share with you what's going on in Combi Life and why Sicily was on our bucket list in the first place. This is what we came here for. This is almost always what we're searching for on our road trips. Incredible remote wild camps with ever-changing views. Of course, we do pass through cities but rarely do we stay long. Sometimes not even long enough to find parking. One of my favourite things about driving in Italy is that you can pretty much just stop wherever you want. I mean, that guy just stopped in the middle of the road. We just pulled up here because we couldn't find a parking space. Just stop the car, everyone goes around you, nobody bats an eyelid, the police don't even care. So I got cakes. He's on the hunt for tiramisu. We couldn't find it. Is that lunch? It's a lunch. How about two? Why did you buy one? I can share. Look at these. Did you know Nutella is from Italy? Nutella is from Italy. Everything has Nutella in it and everything also has pistachios. Even when we do visit incredible cities like Palermo, we still find ourselves gravitating towards the parks and natural surroundings. Is that where we are? Wow. Look at the city. I know, I really didn't realise we were that close. It's just so amongst nature that you kind of assumed it's further away. Oh, I see Bemis. I see him. Where, where is he? There. Just through the trees, there he is. Hey, buddy. Hey, Bemis. And there's Palermo. Buonasera. Yeah, look at this amazing cliff as well. Here's a massive piece of rock. Unbelievable. There's a cactus coming out all of it. So stunning here. We're off to San Vito Lo Capo. And the Serbiana is driving like a crazy chicken. I don't know what you're talking about. If I could put two seatbelts on, I would. That's so not true. Maybe those rally seatbelts, you know, where it's like a whole chest thing. Maybe it wouldn't hurt. And a roll cage. How beautiful. San Vito Lo Capo. I mean, look at it. Look at that water. So calm. So blue. It's so inviting. Would you swim? I would, even though I dipped my toes this morning. I said, oh, it's cold. I would. This side is way more inviting than the side we were on this morning. Looking for a camp for the next few days. Quite close to the beach. Very rocky, this part of Sicilia. Do we want to go down here? There's a whole place to ourselves. It's actually not bad around here, Tamara. Yeah, it's not too bad, actually. We have it to ourselves. Whether your life is about to turn upside down or not, I bet you two would like a reliable data connection. That is why we started using HoloFly to keep us connected whilst we're exploring. HoloFly have sold over 15 million eSIMs and have a 4.7 trust pilot rating with over 70,000 reviews. They cover over 200 destinations and they also offer regional and global eSIMs with flexibility from day plans to monthly subscriptions. But the best part is they have unlimited data so we can enjoy a seamless connection without any interruptions at all. The service keeps getting better, too, because HoloFly have just launched an always on feature which gives you an additional one gigabyte of data to access essential messages, bookings and maps and even the HoloFly app. Even after your plan expires. That's pretty sweet. We use HoloFly for everything from working to sharing our adventures with our family and, of course, you guys. And we can even hotspot our other devices too so we can use it for streaming TV shows. Because HoloFly is an eSIM, we select our plan before we travel and it arrives in under a minute via email or WhatsApp. So it's pre-installed and it works directly when we cross the border. There's also no more searching for Wi-Fi to activate an account nor do we have to shop for a physical SIM card. It's worth noting that we can keep our original SIM card in the phone and use data-hungry apps like YouTube with our HoloFly eSIM seamlessly without any hidden costs. All you have to do is download the HoloFly app or go to esim.holofly.com to get started. So if you want fast, reliable internet wherever the road takes you, check out HoloFly. It's one of those apps that's worth having already installed on your phone so you can quickly sort out a data connection whenever your next travel opportunity arises. I will leave a link below the like button if you use the code COMBILIFE you will get 5% off your next HoloFly eSIM or 10% off your first 12 months of HoloFly plans. Thanks so much to HoloFly and thanks to you guys. On our way to a climbing spot and where we're going to be sleeping as well. Oh god, the basil! I'm currently holding on to soup probably not the best idea we've had but this is where we're heading to. Look at how beautiful it is though. I'm not sure this is the road. This could be a hiking path. Oh god, I mean we've always known not to rely on me for sat-nav. I wonder what people think when they see us coming down like everyone's bucked their 4x4s at the trailhead and like here comes a 50 year old van. Boshing it. Let's see their faces as they go past. I'm going to try and capture them. Staring! I think people are in total disbelief. Oh, I'm not sure we can fit through that. It's tight, that is very bumpy. It's not hilly though. Not my best camera skills. Look at the basil! Oh, there goes the plate. I also have to kind of keep a foot on the drawer just in case, I don't want anything to break. I look beautiful, I definitely will. Yeah, oh my gosh, yes. This is why we do it! All of this is ours! All of it! We can't really complain because we've had sun most of the time but the problem is there's a lot of cloud today we are really low with our campsite. We can plug, have a wash, shower. It's not often that we decide to go to a campsite but it is needed now and then especially if I want to shave my legs because it just gets too cold trying to do it outside honestly and Ben has had to deal with a cactus at the moment. I'm not complaining, I'll take it how it comes. We've been going about the last two weeks just trickling between about 20 and 35 percent battery getting it in from solar, just about recovering enough but unfortunately we've gone down so long off-grid we've obviously still been managing, living off-grid and all that. There is nobody else here. Again, we are the only people in this campsite. Low season price. 25 euros. Includes electricity, includes showers, no tokens required. Still spendy but what are you going to do? I just think that the audience deserves to know the people of YouTube can see the reality of getting caught in the rain in a van. Every van should have an inside washing line. And it's genius, it's absolutely genius. Good job we were able to come to the campsite because there was one heck of a storm last night. We have loaded up with water, we have loaded up with electricity and I've managed to get some work done. That's good and Tamara's been doing this weird strange sightings going on in the van. One must do their stretches. What kind of stretches are these? These are pelvic stretches. From a Google Maps point of view, this location has been more than ideal. The beach is right there and so Ben and I every morning and every evening have been going for a walk by the beach. So tick butt and this is a pretty big butt. The toilets don't flush. It's a pretty outdated campsite. Don't have the wi-fi and yes sure we have been the only ones here but it hasn't been I guess the best experience. Very grateful that we've been able to obviously plug in and fill up and get everything done. Five, six, seven. That's 70 litres of water, 80, 90, 95. 130 litres of water is what we're leaving with. That should see us through the next few days. It's back to wild camping. What are we having a bath? That's what it feels like with all this water. We give this campsite one star, one star review. That's only because there is no option for no stars. And the water taste is salty. It's like crap. It's horrible. We only went there for electricity and water and toilets that should flush that don't. Literally every bowl had a turd in it. A lucky dip. Partially traumatising. Right this disgusting water is gone. Tune in next time for The Pool Chronicles with Ben and Tamar. Just came to this little cafe to do a little bit of work. Upload a couple of videos. Don't forget to like, share and subscribe. And they gave us some free panettone. Look at the size of the pieces. This is like a free cake with the cake that you order. What's this one called? I forgot already. It's a doughnut though. It's a doughnut yeah. He's like he came in and I was like and then he copied me. He omitted and he was like and he goes here have some. I was like oh how much is it? He was like no it's traditional like it's for tasting. I was like shut up. Yeah okay. And then he loaded two. I was expecting just one to share. We got two. One more reason to love Italy. I know. You were gonna get that one. Of course got cherry on top. Who doesn't want that? Oh that coffee. Oh ---- watch out. Jesus. He just literally knocked over the... Okay. Okay back to food. As I was saying one more reason to love Italy. Great coffee. Great cake. Great chaos. Death panettone. For the opposite of a milk moustache. You're happy that's all that matters. Wow look at this. Oh it's so soft it's like straight out of the oven. Is it still warm? They've given us the free pistachio panettone to try. Honestly they're just... I think they're just trying to... How much have we spent here in total? Like 7 euros 50 and we've had like five cakes and three coffees. Yeah basically it's ridiculously cheap. They've been open... I just spoke to the lovely lady behind the counter. They've been open since 1986. So I think they've had time to perfect the recipes. Older than you. Yeah not as old as you though. So much pistachio in Sicily. It's so good honestly. Wow. Okay I guess ladies first. Happy birthday to you. It's dripping wax all over. This is a bit dangerous actually. Don't blow too hard you're gonna scald my nipples. No seriously blow it. You literally did get me look. I blew so gently as well. You scalded me with wax. Don't drop my cake though. What is that 24? 24 plus. No just 24 and some decorations. Plus four. I baked it myself. Stop laughing at me. It's impossible not to. Stop laughing at me. Let me show everyone why I'm laughing. This is the best thing ever. Just went for an Italian haircut and got transformed into an Italian man. Very smart. I shouldn't need to get my eyebrows done. You know Italian men get their eyebrows done like a lot. It's a thing here. I won't be doing that. They spent ages like blow-drying my hair. It doesn't go like that. Well what are you gonna do? I'm combing it perfectly. When you get your hair done in a foreign country you can't explain to them what you want. You're just like a little bit more like you just you just gotta go with it. Oh god. And also I had the privilege of sitting down and watching it being done and Ben like politely being like. I'll tell you what when he got the razor blade out I didn't breathe for like two whole minutes straight. I'm glad that experience is done. Oh god. Right on with our day. Need somewhere to stay for a couple of days. So I think oh that'll do. I think this is the spot. Yeah. That's good right there. This will do nicely. Look at that. That's stunning. Do you mean this view right here? This one? Yeah this is this one. This one. I can't believe. I can't believe I stalled. I'm embarrassed. I literally never stall. Can you hear that in the back? Go and go and show them that noise. Can you hear that? Yeah that's our fan. It doesn't sound great. Fan for what? That is. What is it? That is our battery to battery fan. Well done. Yeah that's what's charging our batteries from the alternator. So the alternator is now fixed. The fan belt is fixed. The pulley is fixed. But the battery to battery charger fan has lost its bearing and now it's rattling. There's a ticking time bomb. Oh something about the combi and its bearings. We have another bearing ready to go. Yeah the sun is setting much quicker but it's awesome to be here. No rain. No snow. No heating required. Are you happy we came here? Are you kidding? Got the sea right there. I've got rock right there. And Boomer beautifully hidden in between. Oh life couldn't be better I don't think. And pretty much this whole place all to ourselves. Yeah that too. Oh look at it. Pretty grateful right now. So this ended up being our base camp for the next three weeks. We didn't want to travel too far at the moment because well I was feeling a little bit strange. For one I couldn't regulate my body temperature. I was always feeling hot. And two I needed to take a lot more naps than usual and that's not like me at all. So we spent these days slowing down. In the daytime we worked our normal jobs. I was making the travel series for you guys. And Tamara was working on her remote business admin job. And after work we spent the evenings exploring the area. Learning about the history of the region. Looks like there's some petroglyphs here as well. That's pretty cool. Whoa. And discovering the local flora and fauna. We're off exploring like we do every day after work. I've never seen anything like it in my life before but it's weird net mesh. But it's so it's just so detailed and beautiful the fact that nature can do that. That's how I feel about you when I look at you. This is not cool. I have been sticking my hands in under these rocks. And I don't know if you guys can see but right there it's a scorpion. I've never seen this in my life. Can you see that up there? It's honey. Oh yeah. Wow. Oh I love honeycomb. Oh you can't stop. What's it taste like? No I'm joking. So you can see. I have to be extra careful these days don't I? You do. You need to look after yourself. This area, San Vito Lo Capo, is blessed with incredible rock formations. And as we were parked right amongst it we were able to keep active too. With a little light exercise. Just hanging out here in a cave whilst Tamara is up there. Can you see her up there? Hi Tamara, are you okay? Loving life. And have these incredible adventures. I'm ever so grateful to Bima, to Ben, Sicily, the whole shebang. Out hiking, exploring, a little bit of climbing. It's been great. Just what we needed eh? Just what we need, yeah. The last adventure as a team. Maybe you've guessed it by now. What we kept from you. What we've been travelling with but didn't reveal. It looks like this adventure, driving to Asia, has come to a premature end. We're no longer driving east and for that we do have mixed emotions. Back to the cold. Enjoying the sunshine while we can. We wasn't expecting it at all. This wasn't exactly our plan. We had plans to continue driving east didn't we? Sometimes plans change. And sometimes the world has a way of telling you things. It's like we've got a different kind of adventure coming up. Mostly though we are grateful for everything we've experienced on the road together. The bond we've built and even the challenges we faced and overcome. Because ultimately it's brought us right here. Oh man, I love my life. I love this woman. Everything is just working out perfectly right now. I'm pretty happy right now. You should be. With everything, with you, with life. We are about to embark on the biggest adventure of our lives and we can hardly wait. But that is a story for next time. That's it. That's the funniest thing I've ever seen. It's like a dog that goes... you.