James and Dawn

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James and Dawn

Married couple ditching their ‘normal’ life on a Journey of a Happy Life in a self-converted Spr

03/01/2024

Happy birthday James!!! 🥳🥳🥳

The kindest, most giving and thoughtful person I know. You just light up my life. Can’t believe you have been on this earth for 40 years now and still have all your limbs intact!!

Still act like a big kid with the biggest heart ❤️

Hope you’ve enjoyed today 🥳

Please send James a big happy birthday and make him feel like an old bu**er!! 😜

29/10/2023

We are live!!!!

So we started Jamescademy back in March of this year and it has been a journey to get to this point, but we are officially live (a bit earlier than planned) and the ebook is now available for sale.

Not that much left to say but I would welcome your comments and hope you like the ebook I have created, resulting in my 13 years of sales and marketing experience.

Comment “ebook” below 👇 and I will DM you the link.

Have a great Sunday guys, much love from the Jamescademy team 👍.

26/07/2023

What a beauty Cornwall is..

Just a few snaps from our little break away, which was great even if the weather was a bit up and down.

Some definite highlights include:

- meeting up with two of the nicest people you could have the pleasure in meeting
- getting to have a few cheeky dips in the not so warm Cornish 🌊 weather high was absolutely lovely 🥰
- finally after many years getting to visit Lands End, which has always been on my bucket 🪣 list (now need to get on the bike 🚴 and cycle all the way to John O Groats) 💪
- going to see the English version of Saint Michaels Mount, which in our opinion is far better than the French 🇫🇷 one ☝️ (joking not joking 🙃)

On top of all that we got to sleep 💤 in our newly purchased tent ⛺️, which made us feel more connected to Van Life with a little place we could leave all our junk 😂.

Will definitely be going back to Cornwall as it is an amazing place, even if the roads are a wee bit tight at times 😳😳😳!

13/07/2023

What a few weeks it has been..

And yes 👍 we are ripping off the amazing post did a few days ago talking about all the lovely people you get to meet from being in this community.

We couldn’t agree more and both of us feel truly blessed to know this many lovely 🥰 people, as put it we feel like we are slowly finding our tribe 🙌🙌🙌!
h

.sacred.traveller

We have only been back in the UK 🇬🇧 for a while but are grateful to know so many great and lovely people, here is to an amazing end of the summer ☀️

P.s apologies if we have missed anyone, we love you all 😘 x

06/07/2023

Pottering around Cornwall..

Yesterday was just about having some time together and enjoying the beautiful Cornish weather (which was absolutely amazing 🤩).

We will definitely 💯 be back to explore and was slightly relieved we came in a car rather than a campervan (some of the roads are a wee bit tight 😂).

25/06/2023

Meet our trusty new stead…

We have called her PO and hope to have many exciting adventures in our new and explore what the UK 🇬🇧 has to offer.

She is a CX-30 and our first trip is coming up this weekend to see our friends in Dorset, so excited to explore their beautiful home county with hopefully some nice weather ☀️!

06/06/2023

What the!?

We realised when we put Beut on For Sale last week, that actually we have rarely shared the van’s interior…as we rarely have taken any pictures of it..so we took some new photos yesterday and afterwards stood back and were pretty impressed!

We’ve lived in this van for 3 years, without any kind of base.

We’ve been to the Arctic and watched the Northern Lights above her, we’ve driven to Turkey and back, crossed what feels like hundreds of borders and she’s never missed a beat.

Living in a van may seem weird to some, but to us it’s been our only home these last few years but now, hopefully she can be that for someone else.

Link in the bio.

.

10/03/2023

Just a bit of fun!

As you can see Dawn loves ❤️ it when I give her a kiss 😘.

This is one of my favourite 🤩 pictures from the last few weeks in Cyprus 🇨🇾 , what do you guys think?

24/02/2023

What a moody day in Cyprus..

So we have taken time to just knuckle down and do some work on a muggy and very cloudy ☁️ day in Coral Bay.

Our solar hasn’t enjoyed the weather either so we are grateful to have our dcdc setup keeping the lights on and allowing us to do our work 🙌🙌🙌.

Hopefully the weekend will be a little bit sunnier ☀️ (fingers crossed 🤞).

20/02/2023

A few of our best shots from the Shipwreck..

No need for a description, think the pictures speak for themselves 🙌🙌🙌.

15/02/2023

What happens when your blade fuse holder breaks.

So every month I am trying to religiously go around the van checking all the connections and making sure they all tight and not loose etc. I started doing this after watching a few YouTube videos and watching some awesome social content done by Neil around getting into some good habits.

However it seems I might of got overly carried away and over tightened the positive connection of the fuse holder which caused the bolts to pop out and sheer off (which subsequently lost us half of our 12v appliances). This included our fridge which made Dawn a tad annoyed as we had fish ready to be eaten 🐟 and also our Wi-Fi to go down (which again isn’t helpful when you work full time remotely on the road) 🙄.

This then resulted in panic (mainly mine) as to what I was going to do as I don’t until now carry a spare fuse holder and where I could repair or buy a new unit in Cyprus 🇨🇾.

We spoke to our good friend Alex from who gave us some solid advice and even rang us today to make sure we were ok (sign of a true friend if we don’t say so ourselves 🙌🙌🙌).

Luckily, Dawn was on the case and found the amazing team at Tuti Mare based in Limassol, who luckily had a replacement Blue Sea Systems fuse holder in stock which we could install into Beut (which was absolutely amazing 🤩).

This massively saved us from having to stress about how we were going to fix our problem before it got dark and give us power for the majority of our 12v appliances.

If you are ever in Cyprus 🇨🇾 please give them a shout as they are super helpful and friendly and stock everything you could ever need for your campervan including stocking a number of Victron Energy components below 👇

Tel - +357 25431313
Address - 37, Promachon Eleftherias, 4103, Limassol Cyprus
Website - https://tutimare.com.cy/

Hopefully I can learn from my errors but thought this was worth sharing so someone can learn from my mistakes 🙄!

29/01/2023

Beut getting moody..

Both of us are trying to consciously take more pictures and practise on making better photos on our journey travelling around the world 🌍.

This is one we took ☝️ tonight, after seeing some thunder storms 🌩️ on the horizon, we are schedule for rain this week so better enjoy the sun ☀️ whilst it lasts 🙌.

23/01/2023

Not a bad park up for tonight.

We are just starting our journey of exploring Northern Cyprus, hopefully we get many more stunning beaches and really get to meet and engage with the locals who call this place home 🏡.

Not sure how long we will be in the North before heading South, so stay tuned as we go exploring Cyprus in all its glory 🙌🙌🙌.

22/01/2023

What an amazing view 👀..

Our first proper night in Cyprus and it certainly did not disappoint, I don’t think we have seen such a clear nights sky 🌌 since we travelled to the Nordics in February.

We hope this is the start of our adventures in Cyprus 🇨🇾 and one of many beautiful stary evenings ⭐️, whilst we are here.

What do you guys think?

16/01/2023

So this is Ozgun..

As you might of seen from our stories we had issues with Beut recently after the bonnet would not open.

We expected it was either a broken cable or potentially the catlock would need to be replaced (so had our fingers and toe crossed in equal measure 😅).

Luckily it was neither of those things and Ozgun with his team, who were some of the kindest and most helpful you could ever meet. They fixed the bonnet and also replaced the dodgy back locks 🔐 and have ordered the remaining lock to be installed when we get back from Cyprus.

So if you ever come to Turkey near Mersin, give these guys a call 📞 and they will do a fantastic job of helping you with any Mercedes Benz issues 🙌🙌🙌.

https://g.co/kgs/LNkb7h Mercedes-Benz Koluman Motorlu Araçlar Tic.San.A.Ş. Tarsus Şubesi
(0324) 651 42 42

12/01/2023

Our favourite pic so far on this trip..

This was taken at the Aquaduct next to Aspendos Theatre.

What do you think?

🇹🇷

11/01/2023

Say hello to the HGS Vignette (Yellow Sticker)…

So again our friends Kerry & Craig | Full time Adventure Explorers] told us how to do this and we spent over 2 hours in the local post office in Antalya getting this sorted yesterday.

Basically you can go to most post offices 🏤 or selected petrol stations who will be able to sort you out with your vignette sticker.

All you will need is the following info ℹ️ with you to get yours 👇

➡️ v5 document
➡️ passport

The reason you will need it, is on some of Turkeys 🇹🇷 main roads they operate some toll roads and having this vignette is a hassle free way of making sure you pay what you need to pay and remove any stress/ headache further down the road.

From what we understand if you don’t pay the relevant charges (for example some booths are unmanned) and don’t have this sticker. When you come to leave Turkey, they will not let you leave until all relevant charges are paid (including adding interest) for leaving the country.

Apparently this also applies to any speeding fines you may have picked up whilst driving around the country, which to be clear is not linked to the HGS scheme.

So you put this on your windscreen (right in the middle) beneath your centre cab mirror and every time you go through a toll road checkpoint, it will simply deduct it from your account. You then simply just top it up as/ when from selected post offices and petrol stations that have highlighted they are part of the HGS scheme in Turkey 🇹🇷.

Simples as they would say 🙌🙌🙌!

Our friends Kerry & Craig | Full time Adventure Explorers] are working on a more detailed reel about this, so keep an eye out for their content and have a great day 👍

🇹🇷

10/01/2023

Welcome to the Migros Card..

This was recommended to us by as a great way of saving some cash 💰 whilst shopping here in Turkey 🇹🇷.

We had originally come across them before but the mean cashier said they would not be useful for us (so we left it at that 😭).

However after being told by our friends that you get 2 prices when shopping at Migros 1) normal price without the card and 2) reduced price with the card it turned into a bit of a no brainier 🧠.

I hear you ask but James how much does it cost 💲! Well that is the amazing thing it only costs 2TL and you get to save some money as you buy a few beers (or not in my case) and everybody is a winner 🥇.

So if you are in Turkey 🇹🇷 pick yourself up a Migros card, you won’t regret it 🙌🙌🙌.

🇹🇷

27/10/2022

Van Electrical Upgrades ⚡️

We have now been living in the van 24/7 for over a year now and with this you start to understand what bits do and don’t work in your little tiny home on wheels.

Over 80% of the stuff we have now in the van is , which we have slowly done as bits have broken or we have wanted to upgrade our electrics to being more reliable and give us better performance on the road.

So in comes Chris from who has been a breath of fresh air and really helped us get to that magical 💯 and explained all that we needed to know and more importantly get Beut ready for her next big trip.

His website and contact details are below 👇

https://www.bspksolar.co.uk/

[email protected]

We can’t thank him enough and would highly recommend him as your 1st point of call 📞 should you need any advice regarding the electrics in your van 🚐.

Like with us he can do minor upgrades to the full monty and everything in between, plus he is a really nice guy to boot 🥾!

10/10/2022

Some of my fav pictures so far this year..

These pictures were very kindly taken by our good friends Tom and Amy from and we absolutely love ❤️ them to bits.

This post is short and sweet as we think the pictures and quality of them speak for themselves 🙌.

We truly love Vanlife 🚐 and all the amazing friendships we have made so far on this incredible journey 😘

Have a great week everyone ###

05/10/2022

A few snaps from our time in Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿.

So a few weeks ago we decided we need some time away to chill out and relax a bit after the hectic last few months meeting friends and family.

With that in mind we decided to explore a little bit of Wales and went to Llangollen to see the world famous aqueduct and canal and take Mary for some well deserved walks.

It turned out to be exactly what we needed along with finding a lovely park up at a local pub called the Sun Trevor. Basically you have to buy a meal and your Accomodation is free, the host of the pub was very accommodating and we got a cracking view to boot 🥾.

https://www.suntrevor.co.uk/

We even got to meet one of the nicest couples we have met in a long time called Sara and Mark and had a lovely night with them talking about anything and everything 😘.

After this we thought we would explore one final place and went to see Powys Castle which was absolutely beautiful, but Mary liked the Peacocks 🦚 a bit much and want to play with them (which I don’t think they appreciated 😂).

Both of us would wholeheartedly recommend Llangollen and going to Wales if you ever have a spare few days as it was absolutely amazing 🤩 and we can’t wait to go back ❤️❤️❤️!

05/10/2022

So today the key fob barely opened the van and we had to be right next to the door for anything to happen. With not wanting to be locked out we thought it would be a good idea to change the battery 🪫 before that happened. Only took a few minutes to do but was well worth it (thank you YouTube 👍).

22/09/2022

James and Dawn - Van Life | Travel shared a post on Instagram: "This weekend. We were very grateful to receive our gifted in time to be able to use it at the which will be our very last show for this year! We used the Solo Stove on two very memorable evenings, as....

30/07/2022

How NOT to Vanlife as a couple is now live on Freedom Striders YouTube channel, link below 👇

https://youtu.be/Zg7mPpqcjMk

Some of the questions we talked about on the episode include;

➡️Can a couple really live full time in a van?
➡️What problems are there?
➡️How do you resolve arguments as a couple living in a van

And MOST IMPORTANTLY....does the van rock 😂😂😂

We try and talk openly and rather bluntly talk the real nitty gritty, so please give us your feedback on whether you enjoyed the video.

Part 2 is going to be live on our channel tomorrow.

17/07/2022

So today is someone’s birthday 🥳 🎂 🎉…

Yes that’s right (even though we are a bit late ⏰) it’s Mary’s birthday today.

She is a grand old age of 3 years old so please pass on your congratulations to this lovely 🥰 little ball of fluff 🐶.

She has truly given us so much joy and love ❤️ and we can’t wait to create many more memories with her as a key part of the potter family. Truly she is one in a million, so happy birthday Mary and we hope you have had a lovely day 😘😘😘.

16/07/2022

50% SOLD OUT - only 250 Van spaces remaining! Vanlove Fest 2023 will SELL OUT 🤯 Don’t miss out on tickets, head to the link in our bio to join the ultimate meet-up 🚐❤️

14/07/2022

When you know you know..

Thank you for for introducing this amazing 🤩 game of Dobble to us and for absolutely smashing us to pieces this evening 😂😂😂.

😜

10/07/2022

Lavender, Lavender where for art thou Lavender 😂..

On our way to Verdon Gorges, we drove what felt like miles and miles of Lavender fields.

They were so beautiful and the smell 👃 of the fields as we winded down our windows was one of the nicest and lovely 🥰 things we have experienced on this trip.

If you ever have a second go see for yourself as you won’t be disappointed (we missed doing it last year), so don’t delay and go see them today 🙌🙌🙌.

02/07/2022

What a few days..

Over a week ago we were not even coming to Luxembourg never mind driving all the way over to Switzerland 🇨🇭.

If you are in Vanlife you will know plans are never truly set in stone and change on a pretty much regular basis 😂.

Oh boy I am so happy they did (when Dawn suggested not to go through the toll roads and do a slightly different route) I was not 💯 sure whether this was the right decision.

To genuinely just take life a little slower and to enjoy ourselves, is a bit alien to me but this has turned out to be an inspired decision by Dawn 🤩!

Fast forward a couple of days and coming to see our friends Steph and Julien who we met on our trip to the Nordics, was one of the best things we have done in a long time ✅ and turned out to be an absolute banger of an idea 💡.

They were not only some of the best tour guides you could possibly have. They are two of the most loveliest 🥰 and genuine people we have ever met. We drank so much wine 🍷 and beer 🍻, ate a million different types of cheese 🧀 and generally just laughed of asses 😆 off, whilst watching Mary have a blast with her old friend Roxy 🙌.

Genuinely can’t wait to see these legends again, if you have 2 minutes go check out their channel as they have travelled themselves to over 13 countries over the last 12 months and covered over 45,000 kilometres 😮!

Have a fantastic weekend everyone, much love from all here at Team James and Dawn and of course Mary 🐶!

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Please subscribe to our YouTube channel to view the full (and really awesome) version. Our European road trip series is now heading south towards Nice to the Historical town of Saint Paul De Vence. This wasn’t planned but turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip, before racing ahead (no pun intended) to the streets of Monaco, which as Formula One fans was a bit surreal especially for Beut, pretending he was Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes Benz on the straight. SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel for a new video every week – NEXT UP will be us exploring Cinque Terre and the string of centuries-old seaside villages on the rugged Italian Riviera coastline. https://youtu.be/tduv7nfiKsU Thanks, James, Dawn and little Mary too #vanlife #vanlifefrance #monaco #saintpauldevence

It’s my birthday, I am getting old 🥳 🎂 🎉 So today (this is James speaking) is my birthday and I am going to withhold my age (but it is closer to 40 than 30 put it that way 😔). We have big goals for 2022 and are very excited assuming Covid-19 doesn’t 💩 all over them that is 😂. As a birthday gift 🎁 if anyone would like to subscribe to our YouTube that would be amazing, we only have 477 to go so not that many. We love this community very much and would just like to wish everyone a fantastic 2022, hopefully you get all you want this year. Stay safe and do keep in touch ❤️ #travelcouple vanlife #vanlife #campervan #vanlifeconversion #sprinterconversion #sprintervan #tinyhome #tinyhouse #homeonwheels #vantour #vanconversion #vanlifers #campervanconversion #sprintervanconversion #vantourvanlife #vantouruk #vanlifebuild #vanlifevlog #vanlife2022 #adventuretravel #adventuretravels #vanlifetravel #vanlifetravels

Van Tour.... So are Van Tour has been live on YouTube for 2 weeks and we have been absolutely overwhelmed with the response and lovely comments from you all. Here is a short clip we have put together but if you want to watch the full version and support our channel that would be awesome, click the link below - https://youtu.be/0z6xBbLdHQE Also we love watching other peoples Van Tours for ideas and inspiration, does anyone recommend someone they think are doing an amazing job that we can go check out? #vantour #vantouruk #sprinter #vanlife #vanlifeuk #sprintervan

Fixing our electrical gremlins 👌.. Today was the start of fixing some of the electrical issues we have been experiencing in Beut, which have caused us a lot of frustration as we couldn’t fix them whilst being on the road 😫. So after reaching out to Tom @tinybuildelectrics and our friends at @beyondbatteries_uk we have started the process of getting Beut in fighting shape for our next adventure. From an electrical point of view we have realised our Sterling 60a DCDC charger is a bit poorly and not working effectively, hence why we took the decision after speaking with Tom to change this to x 2 Victron Energy Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-30A (360W) Nonisolated DC-DC Chargers 🔌. Apart from making our system a bit more bulletproof ⚡️, it will also allow us to have better visibility of the system, through the Bluetooth functionality and being able to see what it is actually going on through the Victron App. So stay tuned for more developments and we would welcome any feedback on the Victron Orion system, who currently has these beauties installed on their van 🚐. #vanlife #vanplan #vanconversions #vanlayout #campervan #campervanconversion #camperlife #vanbuild #vanlifediaries #vanlifers #plantovan #tinyhouse #tinyhome #changeyourlife #firststep #vanliving #sprintervanconversion #sprintervan #sprinterconversion #homeiswhereyouparkit #homeonwheels #vanlifeideas #vanlifeuk #vanlifemovement #vanlifemagazine #vanlifedream #projectvanlife

Hi everyone, we are now back in the UK 🇬🇧 to fix some of our Van gremlins (mainly electrical) along with fitting our Diesel Heater (we left in such a rush we never had a chance to get it installed on Beut). So lots to do over the next few weeks before we hit the road again for a big trip down south (more to follow shortly). Plus we are a sucker for Xmas 🤶🎅🎄which is both mine and Dawn’s favourite time of the year, so we are aiming to raid all the Xmas markets here in the UK. More updates to follow but hope everyone is doing well and not freezing 🥶 their little #%^* like I am at the moment 😂. Speak soon 🔜 #vanlife #vanplan #vanconversions #vanlayout #campervan #campervanconversion #camperlife #vanbuild #vanlifediaries #vanlifers #plantovan #tinyhouse #tinyhome #changeyourlife #firststep #vanliving #sprintervanconversion #sprintervan #sprinterconversion #homeiswhereyouparkit #homeonwheels #vanlifeideas #vanlifeuk #vanlifemovement #vanlifemagazine #vanlifedream #projectvanlife #uk #vanlifeuk

Beut’s Layout We have had a few requests for some internal pictures of Beut, and we are, as we speak, filming this for our YouTube channel(coming soon). But in the meantime we thought we would share the layout as seen on Jimmy’s Dream Builds on Wheels @jimmysfarm Our episode is being shown on @questtv next week, but you can see it now by streaming it on @discoveryplusuk. Hope you enjoy it, but this was filmed a while ago so a lot of changes have been made since 😜 #vanlife #vanplan #vanconversions #vanlayout #campervan #campervanconversion #camperlife #vanbuild #vanlifediaries #vanlifers #plantovan #tinyhouse #tinyhome #changeyourlife #firststep #vanliving #sprintervanconversion #sprintervan #sprinterconversion #homeiswhereyouparkit #homeonwheels #vanlifeideas #vanlifeuk #vanlifemovement #vanlifemagazine #vanlifedream #projectvanlife #italy #vanlifeitaly

History lesson on San Gimignano, according to Dawn!!! 🤣🤣🤣

🙏🙏 Giveaway- 5 days to go🙏🙏 Thanks again to @westfield_trutrak They have provided us with one of their GPS Tracker and Dashcams to giveaway RRP £129 (which we have also had installed on Beut (free of charge), which we are incredibly grateful for. So excited for this as these work in over 100 countries worldwide. TO ENTER is easy!! 1 Entry = 🙏 Make sure you are following @joahl_uk and @westfield_trutrak 🙏Tag 3 friends who you think may also be interested in an GPS Tracker and Dashcam!! (They’ll thank you for it). Additional entry = 🙌 Share this post as a story and tag us in it!! Competition closes at 23.59 GMT on 19 April 2021 and the lucky winner will be announced the very next day!! Good luck guys and girls!!! Please note that this giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed, or administered by, or associated with Instagram. #giveawayuk #vanlife #vanplan #vanlifeuk #vansecurity #competition #gifted #vanconversions #vanlayout #campervan #campervanconversion #camperlife #vanbuild #vanlifediaries #vanlifers #plantovan #tinyhouse #tinyhome #changeyourlife #firststep #vanliving

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