3,2,1 let’s go. Finally, our first real road trip with Mila and baby Leo. Somewhere far away. And for as many as 5 weeks. Even though I am on maternity leave, which lasts one whole year in Slovenia, it wasn’t easy to get these 5 weeks off. When you are renovating a house, there is always something, and we are limited by the return date. Therefore, we had no other choice but to set off at the beginning of August, in the midst of the greatest crowds and heat. But we hope the climate at the destination will be a little nicer and places a little less crowded than elsewhere in Europe. So where are we actually going? And why there? I was keeping it a secret for a long time, some of you guessed it right but most of you couldn’t be more wrong.
First, let’s rewind time a little. Winter 2024, last weeks of pregnancy. I’m already a little tired of my huge belly (by the way, is it always so huge when 3rd time pregnant, or was I one of the lucky ones who had such an honor?) and thinking about summer. Will we be able to travel somewhere this year? We haven’t been far from home in a long time. Because it wasn’t the right time. Because we are renovating the house. Because of my mom’s illness. Because I got pregnant. Because because because. There’s always been something and lately we’ve been home a lot. It’s nice at home too. We really can’t complain as we live in a beautiful part of Slovenia and really feel good over here. But despite this, there’s always this itch. Our thoughts drifted to Japan. I was craving sushi and all the other goodies you can’t eat during pregnancy. I was checking out plane tickets, read blogs, borrowed some guidebooks and drooled over the food photos. An itinerary was slowly forming in my head. We would go for a good month. We would also stop at Seoul on the way . It will be quite expensive though. Especially since we generally like to experience things and don’t want to go somewhere just to tick off a new country. So it will definitely not be affordable. And we are renovating a house. Bad combo.
After some time, we realized this will just not work this year. Not because of small children, as one might think at first, but simply because of our budget. So let’s go somewhere else. We decided to go with our Defender. This eliminates the costs of plane tickets, car rental & other transports and hotels and significantly reduces costs for accommodation and eating out in restaurants. Also, it has been a long time since we have done a proper overland road trip. Our Defender was mostly used for transporting building material in the las year, but it will again become our home on wheels the coming weeks. So next question was, where to? We roughly knew that we could go sometime in August and September. We have already been to Scandinavia, several times. The Baltic countries as well. In the south of Europe it is really crowded and really hot right now. Spain and Italy are therefore out. We have already done a long trip to the Balkan countries with Mila. France is practically our second home and we visit two times a year anyway. Greece was in the game. But Greece in August? I do not know.
So we looked a little further. Towards the east. Because, I admit, I sometimes need some kind of culture shock. We had our eyes on Georgia. I knew something about it, but not a lot. There are mountains. So it won’t be so hot. Amazing roads for our car. Tasty food. Excellent wine. Well, they don’t have sushi, but they certainly have some other yummy things. But above all, wild camping is allowed. That sweet freedom that we love. We were hooked! Lets go.
This time our plan is to have no plan. Jokes aside, although there is a lot of truth in this. We haven’t been as badly prepared for a trip as we are this time in a very long time. But between the renovation of the house, maintaining the garden, a 5 month old baby and a toddler that just turned 3 in June and is not in the day care over the summer there was simply no time for detailed planning. I did read some blogs, watched some vlogs, wrote down the most important information about road tolls and currencies in each country, marked a few interesting locations on the map. So we are not totally clueless, but far from having a concrete plan. It’s a good thing that we have quite a bit of time and we won’t be in such a hurry. So we will figure out things as we go.
According to this rough plan, it will take us about one week to reach Batumi in Georgia, which is basically the first big city after the border with Turkey. We will drive rather quick through Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria and slow down after Istanbul. We have both been to Istanbul before, last year we also visited it quickly with Mila, so we have no interest in stopping there this time. We are looking forward to discover the Turkish coast of the Black Sea though. From the coast, we may also turn a little inland, we’ve heard there are some lovely tea plantations and mountains in some parts. Once in Georgia, we just want to enjoy the nature and more wild camping, as well as getting to know their excellent cuisine. We should spend 2-3 weeks in Georgia. f there’s time and will, and if it’s not too hot, we might also cross over to Armenia. The country is rather small but there seem to be some really cool spots. Our route back to Slovenia will lead through mainland Turkey, with a possible stop in Cappadocia. After that we will more or less rush it home.
We travel with our LR Defender, which has everything we need for a simple life on the road. We sleep in it, we cook in it, it takes us from A to B, and off the beaten track as well. Of course, flying to Georgia would save us a lot of time, but that’s not essential to us this time. Sometimes the path to the goal gives you more than the actual goal. If you are interested in what kind of setup we have for overland trips with a toddler and baby, read more here. Otherwise, I’ll post more on this topic when we get back. During these weeks on the way, we will mostly wild camp, but here and there we will also spend a night at a camp site. If it’s too hot, we might rent an apartment or treat ourselves to a hotel room for a night or two.
So we will return home sometime in mid-September, Mila will go back to kindergarten, works on the house will continue, and Leo and I will take advantage of the last warmer weeks before the cold winter arrives. 5 weeks might sound like a lot of time but I already know it will pass so quick and we’ll be back in everyday life in our Kranjska Gora idyll before we know it. It’s nice at home, but every now and then it’s nice somewhere else too :).
As always, you can follow our journey and adventures on social media – Instagram and Facebook.
