Sleeping in a tent is not excluded! Vera Bashmakova believes that a young mother on maternity leave should not be chained to the city or country house.
I think it will be much more lively and interesting than spending the whole summer with a baby in the city or in the country, pushing older children to camps and classes so that they do not move out of boredom, while working and trying do not go head over heels from the load.
I want to not just travel, but keep notes and post them on facebook, contact and instagram. I want to show people this country as I see it, driving through it with three children and a dog, I want to share this summer with as many people as possible.
And more. I want to show that even in conditions that are considered difficult (for most people being a mother of many children, almost a single child is something between Sisyphean labor and tantalum torments), it is possible to fulfill dreams that are considered difficult (for example, such a huge travel).
And one more thing. I want to break the stereotype about the decree as the most terrible and difficult period in life. I have seen many articles that boil down to the fact that maternity leave is hell, which can only be called a “vacation” in the format of mockery. What is unbearable when friends post photos from cool conventions or from tropical islands on social networks, and you sit on the floor, sleepy, in a bathrobe, sprinkled with felt-tip pens without caps and caps without felt-tip pens, flip through all these photos and think: “What is that smell? Again? Or does it seem to me? No, I don't think…” and you have an endless series of exactly the same days ahead of you.
Housing. We have several options
Tent. We spend the night in it in those places where it is very beautiful, and as a rule we put it near the water, so that when we wake up, we can immediately dive and swim. If there are doubts about the beauty and comfort of the surrounding places, or if we are passing through a city that we are interested in exploring, we rent urban housing - via Airbnb and Booking (this works well in large cities), or via Avito (this is in smaller towns). In city apartments, we wash the accumulated dirty clothes and generally enjoy civilization.
There were several times during the whole time that we just slept in the car. This works in extreme conditions: if we are stuck somewhere in the evening and it is more practical to wait until morning to leave; if we planned to put up a tent, but heavy rain poured down, and so on.
Food. Again, several options
We always carry a barbecue and coal with us. In dry weather, it takes about 10 minutes to build a flame so that you can cook. We buy meat, fish, potatoes, corn, greens in local markets or supermarkets and bake all this on fire while we set up the tent. We also have a gas burner, and if it’s not easy to make a fire, it helps a lot. There are also special low-power multicookers that can be powered by an inverter. I ordered one for myself, I will share my impressions, will it work. If yes, then it is very convenient: you throw cereals, potatoes or some other food into the multicooker, turn it on, jump into the car and drive, and the multicooker cooks all this for you. And when you reach the h alt, you have a pot of hot food ready. Just in case, we always have a supply of dry cereals and canned food such as fish and stew with us.
If we rent an apartment in the city, and do not put up a tent outside the city, then we just cook food in this apartment.
If we are passing through some place that is famous for its culinary traditions, or if we are too lazy to even lift a finger on a finger, but with good money, then we eat at local cafes and restaurants.
He alth
Riding alone with children in the wilderness is quite a risky thing, so I try to foresee as much as possible. Including, I have Yandex on my phone. He alth (thank you, Anna-Bogdana Shchurko!) - so that you can consult a doctor at any time. We are insured in Rosgosstrakh, as far as I understand, this insurance is valid throughout Russia - at the same time we will check. If something serious happens, we will go to the hospital. Until now, a serious thing happened only once - in Abkhazia, where my daughter was bitten by a dog, and we were vaccinated against rabies.
Cultural Life
We try to travel not just like that, but for some reason: to get to festivals, performances, concerts and so on. I also always try to read more about the places we go to, in order to discuss with the children the history of these places, and why they are the way they are, and what kind of people live there. So we traveled around the Russian north with all its wooden churches, old huts, the blind sun and mercilessly eyed inhabitants, the Crimea and the Caucasus with all their blue mountains against the backdrop of the blue sea, mountain villages, endlessly glued men and grapes, spent the night on the Kulikovo field and on the river Eel, approximately in the place where it was standing, and so on. And in the car on the way we listen to audiobooks, we already have a library for a hundred gigabytes, from Russian classics to Harry Potter and back.
Extreme situations
Over the years of traveling, this has happened to us: we got into car accidents, strange men began to climb on me, drunk or stoned, my daughter was bitten by a dog, and so on. In these cases, we try to act soberly and quickly according to the circumstances, and so far everything has ended well. For self-defense, I always carry a knife with me and I am going to buy gas cartridges for myself and the children. I hope that this will never have to be used in practice)