The pandemic era has changed all of our traveling trends as well as our life. A retired couple in Turkey, the Tektaş family, decided to set out across Turkey with a caravan converted from a midibus that they call "gadabout."
They continue their lives in the trailer they parked on the coast of Turkey's northwestern Tekirdağ.
So far, the couple has traveled to Denizli, Muğla, Izmir and Kırklareli. Their next destination is the Black Sea, they told an Anadolu Agency (AA) reporter.
Dursun Tektaş explained that he first convinced his wife to start the adventure with the caravan: "Because this is not a decision that I can take by myself. After my wife said that she could cope with this process and support me, we searched for options. Then we decided to buy the caravan that we are using and started to hit the roads. After wandering around the Aegean coasts, we came to Tekirdağ," he said.
Tektaş stated that their small environment embodies lots of happiness.
"Everywhere we go, we meet very nice people. We love nature, people and animals. Wherever we go, we try to live without polluting and harming our environment. For me, this is the basic philosophy of this adventure, loving people and nature, and being content with what you encounter," he added.
Noting that they spend most of their time fishing in Tekirdağ, he said: "Most of the time, we share our breakfast with others. It's not enough for me to do these things alone. The important thing is to share, we prefer to share a slice of bread with people. It's like we've been living in a caravan for 40 years. That's how much we've embraced caravan life."
Gülümser Tektaş, his wife, noted that it was difficult at first to get used to, but later she loved it.
Stating that her ideas were quite the opposite of her husband's, she said: "I was saying that I couldn't live in it. At first, it was a little strange. I thought I couldn't live in it in winter. After that, I got used to it. It is very different from home. We never get bored here. We set up our table right away. We make our tea and coffee."
