Why a Granny Flat? Early in 2024, the Victorian State Government made it easier to build Granny Flats by loosening the rules. They waived the need for a planning permit if the proposed granny flat meets certain standards. Not requiring a planning permit saves a lot of time and cost, which was enough incentive for … Continue reading Owner Builder Tips for Granny Flats
I’m writing this from a couch in an Apartment in Pula, a small city in northern Croatia. Today I woke up late and made breakfast. Two cups of instant coffee, a small bowl of muesli and some peanut butter toast. I went through my daily routine of a 30 minute seated meditation, 10 minutes of … Continue reading Taking a break from travel
We’ve well and truely finished the Pan-American now. It’s been two month since we sold our van and left Chile. Now we’re on our way to Europe to spend summer there. I thought I’d write a brief summary of the trip with tips for anyone else who might be contemplating undertaking a similar adventure. We … Continue reading Planning the Pan-American (not)
One week ago we finished the van life part of the Pan American trip. In total we took 217 days, drove 25,000km and passed through 16 different countries on the journey from Colorado to Santiago de Chile. One of my niggling concerns during the last few weeks of the trip was how we were going … Continue reading Buying a foreign registered car in Chile as a foreigner
Driving the length of the Pan American isn’t the easiest enterprise but some circumstances just make it really, really hard. We recently had that happen during our time in Peru. It all started when we crossed the border from Ecuador. We’d picked the most remote border crossing possible, high in the mountains and near a … Continue reading Escape from Peru
Last week, while in the Ecuadorian Amazon, I indulged in an Ayahuasca ceremony. It didn't go well, and afterwards I typed up a fairly straightforward account of what happened. I also managed to get my hands on the newly released ChatGPT so I had a try at seeing what it could do with the text … Continue reading Ayahuasca, with help from ChatGPT
We’re in Cartagena, Colombia and are in the process of shipping our van from Panama City. There’s no way to drive from Panama to Colombia as the Pan American Highway ends at the edge of an impassable jungle region called the Darian Gap. It’s a nasty, largely untouched rainforest used by smugglers, inhabited by native … Continue reading From Central to South America
Is the Pan American best done in a van or a car?
A week in El Salavdor on our Pan American road trip.
Baja California is that long strip of land running south of San Diego and west of mainland Mexico. Until recently I didn’t really know anything about it. Baja isn’t a place that is mentioned much in the news and it’s not somewhere full of ancient ruins or famous cities. So, we drove across the Mexican … Continue reading Baja in summer in a van
Adrian Falvey 