We've survived our first week living in the van with everything that entails. A lot happened and it flew by incredibly fast. Here's a rundown of the most interesting moments:

• On our way to Pustevny in the Beskydy Mountains – several kilometers up a pretty steep hill – the radiator fan stopped working properly and the engine overheated. We stopped just in time, with the coolant bubbling away nicely, but fortunately it only managed to melt a hole in the plastic heating system cover before we caught it. Since then we've been running the heater full blast into the cabin – what can we say? Not a bad silver lining for winter! ;) About 2 km from our destination, we had a somewhat forced dinner stop, let the van cool down, and then finished the journey.
• I caught a cold, so we spent the rest of the week taking shorter walks.
• Crossing the border into Slovakia, where we discovered that getting a gas cylinder wouldn't be as simple as we thought. They don't have the easy system we have back home, where you go to a gas station, pay a deposit for a cylinder, then just swap it when needed, and get your deposit back when you're done. Nope, here you usually have to buy your own cylinder first, and only from specialized shops. But there are exceptions. We were lucky enough to find at least one LPG station that also rents them out!
• Due to a sad family matter, we had to turn around and head back home to the Czech Republic.
• We discovered that the fridge is very sensitive to being tilted. Case in point: when you wake up after spending the night parked on a slight slope, check the fridge, and find it's heating instead of cooling :D
• We managed to somewhat tame our van's smoking habit when accelerating by tightening the diesel pump on the engine and adding additives to pretty much everything.

We spent several nights at spots we found through the park4night app, and found the rest ourselves. And where did our journey take us?

• First through Brno to the Chřiby Hills, where we stopped at Bistro U Trampa and enjoyed some excellent headcheese with vinegar. A bit further on, we climbed a small hill topped by Buchlov Castle – one of the oldest castles in the Czech Republic. Unfortunately we arrived after closing time, so we at least enjoyed the sunset views over cups of hot raspberry tea and some Kofola.

• Then we continued to the Beskydy Mountains to Pustevny and the statue of Radegast. The weather wasn't great (foggy with visibility of about 3 meters), so we didn't go further and spent the day working (gotta make money somehow!).

• Around Žilina – mostly driving between gas stations trying to find a gas cylinder
• Hradec nad Moravicí – a beautiful castle and its surroundings, castle park – autumn straight out of a fairytale!

• Jeseník and the Priessnitz Spa

• Around the village of Rejvíz, which is the highest-lying village in Silesia with log houses preserving traditional folk architecture

And our overall impressions? So far it's been great, we're not getting on each other's nerves yet. Every day we try to go somewhere and explore the area. Otherwise we're living at a normal pace – breakfast, lunch, dinner (food is important, after all!). Some work in between, and I'm working up the courage to do things like laundry and cleaning. I haven't quite gotten around to the laundry yet. The good news is that the area to clean is really small, so it's not that bad. In the evenings we gradually keep improving the van. Those little details that add a homey atmosphere (we already have planters!). And of course, we're planning where to go next :)