Usually, I travel a few times a year over a longer distance.
At times I went by plane but more frequently by car. The reason is for meeting my children, arranging things, and meeting friends (their home or mine). By now it's eight years later and the number of friends I meet decreased. I still have contact with them but it feels it's kind of pointless to me visiting them if I am exhausted after a long drive while they cannot even find the time to drive a few kilometers to my direction.
With my next visit coming up, I decided not to tell them I will be in the neighborhood. I have many things to arrange before I leave and once arrived I am busy and need sleep. It's not that I drive 1800 kilometers in one piece and arrive in great shape ready to party. I have no time for such things to me every minute counts.
Before I leave I need to take care of the house, a huge garden, and the wolves.
So far we managed to have water again, did the laundry and in between, we mow, mow and mow.
Several times I drove to town and filled bottles with water at the city tap. The water out of my well might look good but it's unsure if it is drink water quality. It's good enough for doing the dishes, the laundry, flush the toilet, and shower.
The wolves stay behind.
I have five and they need food and enough water. It finally started raining which means water is no longer such a huge problem. Today I managed to buy twenty bones with meat. They all had one today and three will be fed on the moment I leave.
The washing machine still has problems.
I hoped it would be solved once the water ran again but it didn't. I still need to pour bottles of water in it when it runs. The water hose turned out to be clean, today I bought some new rubber rings and my kid cleaned the water supply of the machine. I sprayed vinegar inside and let it soak. Hopefully, the problem is solved.
The garden is problematic.
Just a bit of rain makes weed growing faster than I can mow. I paid someone to do the back part while we did the rest but two till three days later it's knee-high again. I am afraid the gardening job will never end. Just like everywhere, we have burglars too and that is why I have wolves willing to bite and defend what is theirs.
My car needs its annual test.
Because of the lockdown, I couldn't leave earlier. The new date is August 3, 2020. After this date, I can no longer drive. The car I have is a great city car but not if you have to drive up and down a dirt road 8 times a day. My plan now is to switch cars. This means my daughter and I search for a different one. She has to do most of the searching because my connection is too slow.
How does this work? Before I leave I need to have some options. Once arrived I make a test drive, if okay I buy the car and leave the present one behind. It depends on the test results that happen with it. I might give it to my daughter so she has one in case of need or during the winter or I sell it.
Searching for a car isn't easy. If it comes to it no car is good enough, no car stays in one piece for long on this dirt road. The jeep of an acquaintance had a hard time and because it's heavy during rainfall it sinks deeper and damages the road only more.
This Sunday coming up the oil will be changed again. I count on it the car will take me safely where I need to be.
I always travel light.
As a single mom I traveled with children, babies included. We only take what we can carry. My children now it and by now they are masters in packing backs, small bags. They never understand why people drag around with big suitcases if they only leave for a week or two.
No matter where I go I only take a backpack with me, a small one!
My grandpa said: "all you need is a wallet, passport, and toothbrush", I need a bit more and different things: ID, wallet, medication, food, water, and juice on the way, the car's paper plus second key, my phone and its adaptor, sunglasses, some extra socks and one set of clothes.
In my car, I already have wipes, gloves, face masks, plastic bags, and toilet paper.
My intention is to drive the whole distance without spending the night somewhere.
Usually, I do in Germany but I read about an outbreak and have no idea how the situation is by now.
I stop at the gas stations where I always stop, take a toilet break, and if I feel the need to sleep I stop the car too. I assume the borders are no longer open again (not that I ever met an open border during the past 12 years I drove up and down.).
I couldn't figure out if there are still restrictions related to the coronavirus but I assume I can drive. No matter into which direction I go I'm going home and will not stay in a country to celebrate the summer holidays. For the time being vacations abroad are over. Not because of the lockdown (which is ended for the biggest part in Europe), not because I am scared of catching a virus (I did last year as I stayed in hospital), not because I cannot afford it (a holiday can be as expensive as you want it to be) but because of the wolves. The maximum amount of days I once stayed away was 4 days.
Hopefully, I make it within 24 hours. It depends on the traffic and I'm afraid the traffic jams will be worse (please, people go to France, Spain, and Italy).
After my arrival I clean, do what I need to do, go shopping, for a car, etc.
There are some birthdays we couldn't celebrate together and we missed Eastern. After one or two "nights" I drive back. My visit will actually not be more than a quick stop, sleeping, cooking for my children, taking a shower and that's it. My children have more time. The youngest sleeps in the car while I drive. They will be happy they can finally meet again, they will talk, watch films and play games. My youngest won a computer but my daughter needs to give a hand to help to install it. A17-year-old laptop runs on Linux now thanks to my kid but we have no idea if it can access the internet.
Lists are made with all the things we need to do, have to arrange and not much time is left to visit friends. Friends who cannot understand why I feel tired after driving a long distance and arranging so many things to be able to leave at all. Every step I take is for a certain reason and it has to be done at exactly the right time. I'm even manipulating my biorhythm and set the clock each morning 30 minutes earlier so I won't feel too tired at the moment I should leave.
Lists I made:
- cleaning and checking the car, summer tires
- shopping list(wolves and food on the way)
- garden (most essential things to do)
- Needed papers (personal + car)
- Repairings which need to be done before I leave.
- Preparations for the wolves (new collars, food, bones including quarantine time once back)
- garbage taken away
- shopping-/things to-do list after my arrival
- ordering shoppings online
একা মার পক্ষে এরকম করা অনেক কঠিন একজন মা আর সহযোদ্ধা সমান