Hi All,
We cannot believe how fast his year has gone (as we are sure it has done so for you as well). We have been on the road for over 7 months now and feel like we have hardly touched the surface of Europe.
We have visited many countries, met some amazing people and have had loads of very interesting and fun adventures. We have had some wonderful guests join us along the way (thank you for your Marmite contributions) and we have Laura & Adam (our London friends) meeting us in Alicante this weekend. We have heaps of good tales and don't want to bore anyone but you will hear them eventually, if not once maybe three times over!
The longer we are on our journey, the more relaxed we have become and the harder we have found it to commit to much at all. Never quite sure if we will stop somewhere for 1 day, 1 week or 1 hour. It is very easy to just cruise and making a decision of where we are going or staying next can change in the blink of an eyelid.
With winter upon us, the weather is currently our main dictator, and we are now following the sun. We have found that Southern Spain is a warm, sunny and lovely place to be. We are currently on the Costa Blanca coast, where the days are short but there is a good window of warm sun and temps of between 18 - 21 degrees. Campsites here now are occupied with Germans, Dutch and English, all escaping the harsh winter from their homes. Interesting, we are finding sites in south of Spain are busier now than in other places in the peak of summer.
The further south we go, we are hoping the temp maybe a couple of degrees warmer. A bit like crossing the Auckland Harbour Bridge, always warmer on the right side!
We are hanging out and enjoying this area till next week, before flying to New York for Christmas. We are meeting up with Jamie & Hannah and Hannah's family and we also have our Nick coming to meet us on the 29th from Canada. As you can imagine, we are super excited to see family, friends and have our first white Christmas, it will be very special and a lot of fun.
We return on 8 January and then plan to head further south, visiting south of Spain, Morocco and Portugal (although we have been told it can be quite wet in Portugal in Jan/Feb). Eventually, we will make our way back to the UK through France. There is so much more we want to see of France however we are not sure how much we will see due to time constraints and the desire for a warm climate.
On UK Customs orders/rules, our Gypsy Girl has to be out of the EU by the beginning of June, so although we have not committed to return flights or anything yet, we will be returning to the UK probably in April to organise the shipping back to NZ.
As you read this, you will all probably be busy with Christmas festivities, Christmas shopping, work, organising Christmas day (girls only), holidays, etc - December has always been the busiest time of the year for us and know and understand how manic and crazy it can be. We are really embracing the slower pace of life this December and are very grateful for being able to have this gap year.
Tomorrow, Lorraine is having her haircut by Michele, a French man, who is staying at our camp, he used to play first division in France and says he is a hairdresser (I hope he really can cut hair), all the ladies are lining up to have their hair cut and coloured by him - perhaps we should do before and after shots?
Our best wishes to you all, have a very Merry Christmas and we think you of you all often.
Feliz Navidad,
John & Lorraine
the Kiwi Gypsies
