Houseboat life and washing machine chaos

Now we are home in Stockholm and living the houseboat life. Wonderful! But of course, there is always something that goes wrong, and when you live in a houseboat it becomes a little extra complicated ... This week there has been washing machine chaos. Because what do you do when the washing machine breaks down and the stairs are too narrow to lift it out?

Houseboat life

We haven't been home in the houseboat much this year because we've been travelling so much. So it's extra nice to be here now. In addition, we have had several nice days with blue skies, sun and small boats chugging by in true holiday spirit.

Personally, we've been far from on holiday - we've been busy - but it's still great when you can work with the windows wide open.

More often than not, something happens outside the windows. If it's not a boat chugging by, it's a canoe or a family of swans.

It has also been nice to meet the neighbours on the bridge again.

And it's great to see all the people on the restaurant's outdoor terrace.

Meetings with family and friends

We also met with family and friends this week. When you have been away for a long time, there are many people you want to meet. The same day that we came home, our blog colleague Christian, from Food and travel blog, a meeting for travel bloggers, which was incredibly nice. He was also the one who offered this beautiful and delicious hummus board - very good!

One day we also met my (Helena's) mum and another day we visited a Lebanese restaurant with both Peter's son Robin and his wife Alexandra, as well as our friends Lennart and Beata. We didn't take many photos - sometimes it's almost like a "holiday" to just hang out and not take so many photos.

Getting a broken washing machine out of a houseboat ...

But coming home has not just has been gold and green forests. Suddenly our washing machine on the lower deck broke down. We contacted a repairman, but the answer was that there was no point in fixing it. So what do you do? Well, you buy a new one of course. The only problem was that it was impossible to get it out ...

When we got the washing machine, many years ago, we still had an opening from the lower deck straight out. This was the only opening big enough for the washing machine, and here the we celebrated down it with rope ... Then we closed the opening and prayed that the washing machine would never break. But of course it did in the end ...

So the staircase down to the lower deck is too narrow and we had two choices: demolish the staircase or dismantle the washing machine in pieces. We chose the latter ... How do you dismantle a washing machine? We had no idea. It was just screwing, banging and sweating ...

Finally, the former washing machine was in pieces on a trolley. The advantage? We were able to dispose of it at the dump: metal among metal, plastic among plastic, and electronics among electronics... Now we've ordered a new washing machine, which is narrower. Happy Friday!

Preparing for Elmia

As I said, we don't just work on DIY. Right now we have full up (to say the least!) with preparations for the fair Elmia Caravan Motorhome 2023. We are a partner of "Destination Square" - a hall with about 20 exhibitors, about 15 lecturers as well as award ceremonies, raffles, selfie corner and a lot of other happenings ... Sometimes we wonder what we got ourselves into, but ... this will be really fun! Hope to see you!!!

Best this week

Best this week? Well, it feels hectic, but it has been fun to meet family and friends, and it feels very fun that it is getting closer to Elmia. And we're happy that we got the washing machine out, of course! Your turn ... what has been the best part of your week?

The week ahead

During the coming week there will be full focus on the Elmia fair. We work with preparations every day, and then we go down a few days in advance, to build stands and other things. On freedomtravel.se, there will be a few more reports from northern Sweden, and then we will try to report a little from the exhibition.

Did you miss the last Happy Friday? Read the Home again - after "Gulf of Bothnia" by camper van