I had a dream to buy an abandoned farm in Portugal and restore it into a working farm. I bought the farm in June 2020, and because of Covid, could only move there in June 2021. After 5 years of living on the farm and investing all my money into it, Portuguese immigration authority finally declined my residency and gave me 20 days to leave the country. They had taken almost 4 years to process my application!
Shock, sadness, disbelief, anxiety followed as I paid a very expensive lawyer to help sort it out. My good friend Luise contacted me to commiserate. "What next?" she asked, "Remember we always used to speak about a road trip."
And so that throw away comment turned into an idea, a new dream. The dream of living on the farm until they carried me out in a wooden box was over. New adventures waited. I sold all my animals, put the farm on the market and sold it very quickly. I was going to go back to South Africa. The more I thought about it, the more I realised we could combine my returning to South Africa with a road trip.
"We can do a road trip through South Africa," I informed Luise. "It'll be fun."
"I'm game," Luise added, "We can camp and sleep in rooftop tents!"
I grimaced. "You can sleep in a rooftop tent. I'll sleep in a hut or bungalow."
Luise looked shocked. "But sleeping on the roof will be an adventure!"
I shook my head wisely. "In Africa there are wild animals, especially baboons that can jump up into the tent. Also, there are sometimes not so friendly humans around who might want to take advantage of two old ladies."
"I still like the idea of a tent." Luise was adamant.
The next morning, Luise had a rethink. "I've been thinking about the rooftop tent idea. I think you may be right. We both get up several times during the night to pee. How are we going to manage that in a rooftop tent?"
I nodded with a smile. And the rooftop tent idea was history.
