When COVID gives you lemons -

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What do you do when COVID gives you lemons and takes away your dreams for the next two years? Last year Emily decided she wanted to push herself out of her comfort zone. So decided to head to London on her own for 2 years. Em applied for and got her visa and purchased flights. She then booked and paid for an airbnb for the first month. The next step was to quit her job and sell her car. She was due to fly out on the 1st of April 2020 and was ready, excited and terrified! Then the whole world virtually shut down and she was forced to abandon her plans.

I’m sure there were many many people in the same situation as her. It was hard to watch her come to terms with the fact that this dream was over, at least for a while. She struggled with the thought of what was next for her. Fortunately, her boss took her back and supported her through the whole shutdown until Jobkeeper came in. This was such a generous and kind gesture so she was extremely lucky. It was a blessing that the flights were cancelled before she left. She was able to get refunds of both her accommodation and the flights. It also meant she was not stuck in London trying to get home.

When COVID gives you lemons you need a new plan

It took a while for her to get her head around the changes in her life. Em had to adapt and come up with something else that would fill that void. She decided that she would use her money and buy a van and do a conversion on it. Travelling adventures around Australia were the ultimate goal. It turns out that this is a very popular idea for a lot of young Aussies at the moment. The search for a suitable van proved difficult. It had to be automatic and in Queensland as the borders were closed between states. Eventually she found the one and his name is “Vance”.

The transformation begins

Vance was fitted with a wheelchair lift which had to be removed first. It weighed 150kg so it was no easy task. Tony and my brother in law Michael then began removing all the door and wall panels. The next step is to take Vance to an Auto Electrician to discuss the process of installing battery power.

The process to find an Auto Electrician was interesting. There were really long waits for the work to be done with the first two she spoke to. One couldn’t do it until the new year so that tells you how many young Aussies are embarking on a driving adventure!! Her third call was more fruitful and she was told her that it wouldn’t be a difficult job. She was advised to remove the high wall panels before he could start the electrical fitout process.

Tony and Michael again got in there and removed the metal panels and fed the feeder lines in to the difficult spots to save Em some money in labour. She’s a lucky girl!! So this is how Vance looks now.