This is part 2 in a series of posts. Part 1, where I had travelled and lived out of a camper van, can be found here.

Houseboat

Next up was the houseboat. I had seen them in various shapes and sizes during previous trips to Hamburg and Amsterdam and was intrigued.

The plan

Travel onwards from a work-related trip to cut the travel distance in half. Get on the boat. Enjoy life.

This time, as it was closer to the summer, the temperatures to expect were in a more comfortable range. But this time I was there to experience a different kind of weather. The insight I was most interested in was whether I could stomach the constant jostling by the waves. And if I was lucky to experience a thunderstorm on the water¹

Work

As there was a permanent power source from the marina, I could just open up my notebook and start working without worrying about battery charges throughout the day.

After the roaming quota of my main card was used up, I got an eSIM from a local provider² (which cost me approx. 6€ to set up including 45GB of traffic, plus another 7€ for a week of unlimited traffic). Apart from a few minor hickups the connectivity was quite stable and reliable.

Life

The boat had a huge fresh water tank, fixed power line and did “dispose” of the waste water straight into the marina³. There was a proper full-sized water boiler with radiators in every room. It even had a small dishwashing machine, which allowed me to enjoy the Polish cuisine for a change, instead spending my time maintaining the boat!

Résumé

I didn’t seem to like living in a van but I did like living on the boat. It is uncertain whether that was due to the boat being more spacious, because of the increase in comfort (fixed powerline, dishwasher, …), or because of the proximity to the water. This needs to be determined in further travels.

Next experiments

Sleeper train

Trains are not feasible for long term living and will likely not bring any new insights into this, but I always wanted to do that. So that’s what I’ll do!

Tiny house

Tiny house on land (preferably near a mountain to climb) to see whether it was the reduction to the essential possessions and smart use available space while still living comfortably, that appealed to me on the houseboat.

I do not yet have a concrete destination or timeline, but I got a recommendation to check out Austria as they seem to be more relaxed with permits and approvals for tiny houses and therefore have more of them in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.

Lakeside house

To see whether the positive experience was caused by me watching the sun set on the porch almost every day.

Same as with the tiny house, I don’t have any concrete plans or a timeframe yet, but it will probably be a house by the lake in some scandinavian country 🤷‍♂️.