"Gypsy Rubber Tramps!": 2020

Our story!

For several years now I have had the urge to travel which has been a dream of mine before marriage and children. My husband was never keen on the idea until one afternoon in 2016 he said, "let's do this!" The next day I began to sell, donate and give away items from my home. He was a bit shocked when he got home from work. I immediately called a realtor and our home sold within 24 hours for more than we were asking. I had sold, donated and given away EVERYTHING so that the day we moved we didn't even need a truck. We were able to drive away with everything we had left in both our vehicles. We moved to a smaller place directly across from the beach to enjoy the sunrise and sunsets for the following year before taking off to travel full time!

11 States in 4 Months! Traveling Life

We have traveled through 11 states in the past 4 months and still LOVE this lifestyle! Each state has been vigilant with this Corona Virus pandemic and we have also been vigilant. There have not been as many visits with family and friends as we have done before. There have had to be adjustments when Covid has been involved with people we know. The wonderful thing is we usually eat at home and of course we don’t ever have to use any other bathroom facilities since we bring our own.

The weather this year has been great even though we left late in the year due to the pandemic. We are usually farther north in the summer chasing 70 degree weather. This year 70 and sometimes 50 and 60 degree weather seemed to be chasing us. Right now it is in the 50’s in West Virginia where we are camping surrounded by fall foliage.

Pretty soon we will be in Delaware with family preparing for the holidays! Can’t wait......

Traveling Life

Phipps Park Campground in Stuart, Florida

This is a county park that is well maintained and always being upgraded. We love the scenery and wildlife of this area. It is a peaceful, quiet and serene location!

St. Lucie Locks in Stuart, Florida

How We Travel To Europe!

Our favorite way to travel Europe is to leave from Miami to Lisbon, Portugal. Follow our travels at www.gypsyrubbertramps.com. We also include a travel tip at the end of our video!

Quarantine Life in Florida

We had to become creative during quarantine in Florida with our grandgirls! Fortunately, they are lovely and just enjoyed hanging out with us. We had fun together and I treasure our quaratine memories!

Florida

Lake Placid, Florida for Quarantine!

This was a beautiful place to live for three months in a home when the campgrounds closed. This was a chance for us to hit the reset button on our lives during quarantine. I was fortunate enough to be able to assist my granddaughters with online schooling and best of all to have them close enough to visit.

Bricks & Sticks for Quarantine!

On March 9th, we were in Casarabonela, Spain packing for a family trip to Paris, France. The corona virus updates were elevated so we cancelled the trip immediately and headed back to the United States. In route to the states our president spoke about closing the borders. Thankfully, we left just in time because our cheap seats were now costing $3,000 to $20,000 to those who left Europe after we did!

The Malaga airport was empty at this point because of the virus outbreaks. The Miami airport was just as empty. It only took us 7 minutes to get through customs instead of the usual 2 hours. We slept our jet lag away in one of our favorite Miami hotels. The hotel has a tasty restaurant on the property so we slept and ate for 3 days and 2 nights. It makes life easier after such a long flight across the pond.

We picked up our camper and camped near Lake Okeechobee for a 14 day quarantine. Just to be sure we did not pick up anything on our travels. After our quarantine we drove to Lake Placid for lunch with one of my dearest friends. She told us about a home that might be available for rent in the area. Within a week we were in a lovely 3 bedroom home on the lake. It was the perfect place to ride out this pandemic. Plus we had loads of room for grandgirls to visit. They loved having their own space. We had a wonderful three month stay and absolutely love that area of Florida.

Florida Campgrounds

Here are the campgrounds in Florida we have camped in these past couple of years....we put hearts next to our top 5 favorite!!!

Our 2018 Campground Destinations

Our 2019 Campground Destinations

This is a list of our traveling in 2019. We put ***** next to the campgrounds we definitely want to do again!

5 Things I Must Have To Travel Europe

These are the things I need to make traveling abroad a better experience for myself. They are simple things that are not always easy to find or just make life more pleasant!

Like the Scouts motto: Be prepared!

A Typical Travel Day in Europe!

Traveling from Portugal to Spain using all the public transportation that is available. It looks daunting but was actually very doable and economical. The flight from one country to the other is as cheap as $34. Bus rides are around $4. Taxis have cost us between $5 and $10. They are safe and very clean in both these countries and it is just easier for us not to have the hassle of our own transportation!

Hop On Hop Off Bus in Portugal

This is something we do in any large city in Europe and the United States. It is one of the best ways to learn the history and provides great service in getting around easily. We highly recommend this if you are visiting Lisbon, Portugal!

Arriving to Portugal

Third day to travel is a taxi ride to the hotel, room service and sleeping off the jet lag!

Travel Day 2 How We Travel Overseas!

Travel Day 2 to Portugal! We break it up to help with jet lag and it is less stressful not to deal with traffic of any large city where you fly internationally. Tap Portugal is our favorite airline to fly to Europe. The prices are cheaper, the food and drink is wonderful and they are very helpful!

Travel Day 1 to Europe

Everyone keeps asking how do we go from traveling in the RV to traveling overseas. We like to have 2 full days to catch an airplane in Miami. As my mother often says, just in case a circus elephant is in the road. You never know what the traffic will be like and who wants all that stress? We have learned to do this in a way that is economical and less stressful for us. Right now we have just finished a wonderful dinner and already have our pj’s on. This video recaps our first travel day!

Miami is our choice to travel overseas because we hit a few snags of cancellations when we flew from Newark. Also, the best prices we find on google flights.com are always out of Miami. We usually find round trip tickets to Europe for about $400 or less. The best time to travel there is anytime except the summer when all of Europe is also on vacation. I prefer the spring because weather is wonderful!

This video is how we travel in order to avoid severe jet lag overseas....