Most people are shocked to hear that we get three months of vacation each year. If they can suppress their jealousy, they start to ask questions like, "What's it like being gone for three months?" Or they say, "I can't imagine what it would be like to be gone from home for so long..."
It was a little hard for us to imagine the first time, but after three summers of three months off, we're getting used to it. To show you a little of what it's like, the next few posts will be about the kind of things that we came home to.
Exhibit 1: Our Car. It's a 2009 Volvo S80. It's dark gray - not that you can tell that from this picture. Here is what it looks like after we get back. You can see that I've wiped off the windows so that it's drivable, but a substantial coat of fine sand covers the car. We have covered parking outside our villa, but not a garage, so this is one of the things that we come home to.
We were fortunate that we didn't need a new battery after letting the car sit for three months in the heat. During the summer, the low temperatures are about 90F and the highs are between 110 and 120F. So it's pretty common to come back to a dead battery. It's rare for anyone to have a battery last two years (regardless of the quality of the battery).
Also, if one of your tires happens to lose air - and then sits flat for three months - you're going to need a new tire. Tires here usually only last 3 years (regardless of the warrantied mileage) because of the heat.
Here's a neighbor's car - just so you can see what one looks like untouched for three months. On the positive side, the sand that you see coating the car doesn't scratch the paint. This may sound strange (especially to our readers from West Texas), but it's true. The sand wipes off easily and does not scratch the paint. I've been told that the sand doesn't scratch because the chemical composition of the sand here makes the grains of sand round - while the chemical composition of the dirt in West Texas makes the grains more like tiny cubes (with relatively sharp edges) [disclaimer: this is what I've been told, but I am not a geologist and have no idea if this is true - if you're reading this and you are a geologist, let us know if this is right].
OK - so there's our first example of something we come home to [after three months]. More to come later in the week and early next week.
It was a little hard for us to imagine the first time, but after three summers of three months off, we're getting used to it. To show you a little of what it's like, the next few posts will be about the kind of things that we came home to.
Exhibit 1: Our Car. It's a 2009 Volvo S80. It's dark gray - not that you can tell that from this picture. Here is what it looks like after we get back. You can see that I've wiped off the windows so that it's drivable, but a substantial coat of fine sand covers the car. We have covered parking outside our villa, but not a garage, so this is one of the things that we come home to.
Also, if one of your tires happens to lose air - and then sits flat for three months - you're going to need a new tire. Tires here usually only last 3 years (regardless of the warrantied mileage) because of the heat.
Here's a neighbor's car - just so you can see what one looks like untouched for three months. On the positive side, the sand that you see coating the car doesn't scratch the paint. This may sound strange (especially to our readers from West Texas), but it's true. The sand wipes off easily and does not scratch the paint. I've been told that the sand doesn't scratch because the chemical composition of the sand here makes the grains of sand round - while the chemical composition of the dirt in West Texas makes the grains more like tiny cubes (with relatively sharp edges) [disclaimer: this is what I've been told, but I am not a geologist and have no idea if this is true - if you're reading this and you are a geologist, let us know if this is right].
OK - so there's our first example of something we come home to [after three months]. More to come later in the week and early next week.
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