5 days of bad luck ...... but we made the best of it.

Our 5 days of bad luck went like this:

Day 1, Monday - we left Steph and Mark's at 1pm headed for the airport for our 4.50pm flight to Ljubljana to collect our Kombi. There was a crash on the M25 on the way to Gatwick airport so we were stuck. Instead of sitting in the gridlocked traffic we decided to take our chances with a country route. We had to go so far to even get off the motorway then we weaved our way back to Gatwick. At least we felt like we were trying, we had sat in the traffic jam for an hour and hadn't moved more than a few hundred metres. We found out later that the M25 was closed due to a fatality so most people missed their flights that afternoon. 

We arrived at Gatwick airport with 10 minutes before bag check in closed. Daniel dropped the kids and I at the entrance and raced to return the hire car. We ran inside and were confronted with absolute chaos, there were people running everywhere and insane queues. My desperation must have been visible as I managed to get some help from the EasyJet staff who got me to the bag check-in straight away. We got Daniel's bag checked in then as I put mine up to get weighed, and Daniel's got whisked away, the check in closed automatically. No matter what the assistant did there was nothing that could be done. We had missed our flight by seconds. Now for the fun part. We had to get Daniel's bag off the flight and organise another fight. We are very grateful that they waived the £80 per person fee and got us on a flight for early Wednesday morning. We decided the easiest thing was to stay at the airport, which turned out to be the right decision as Daniel did not get his bag back until 9pm, once the chaos had settled.

Day 2, Tuesday - a day of filling in time and keeping the kids entertained! We had a very long breakfast at the hotel, watched hours of cartoons, looked in every airport shop and even caught the shuttle between terminals to keep us entertained. The kids enjoyed their day but we were just upset at having to waste a day of our trip. We got over our annoyance knowing tomorrow we would be in the Kombi enjoying the Slovenian countryside.

Day 3, Wednesday, Daniel's birthday - Up early to catch our flight, it didn't start well when we were delayed by huge queues in security and had to nearly run to our flight. We boarded but sat in the terminal for another half hour. Arrived in Slovenia and had superb coffee whilst we awaited the arrival of our vehicle, and home, for the next 4 weeks. Unfortunately the guy delivering it got held up so we spent 2 hours at the airport, by this time we were really getting sick of airports! We finally got Dugme at about 12.30 and after an hour of explanations we were on the road! Hooray! We knew where we were headed and had expected to spend the evening celebrating Daniel's birthday beside one of the picturesque lakes in Northern Slovenia. Less than 10 minutes down the road we stopped at a supermarket for supplies. What was meant to be a quick stop turned into 4 hours after the gearbox decided to give up. Thankfully the staff let us use their toilet and we entertained the kids with endless walks around the Aldi style supermarket to keep cool (it was over 30 deg so very hot in the carpark). Certainly not a nice way for Daniel to spend his birthday. We tried to make it better with ice cream, though even the best ice cream doesn't taste as nice when you're sitting in a carpark. We ended up with a replacement van, with a promise that Dugme would be repaired and delivered to us asap. We left at 6pm headed to the lake. All was going well and we stopped for a delicious dinner on the way. We got to the camp area in the dark but in good spirits. Alas it was not to last. The campground was full! We ended up staying in the carpark as it as already 9pm and the thought of trying to find somewhere else was too much to bear. It certainly was not the overseas birthday celebration I had wanted for Daniel.

Day 4, Thursday - we left our illegal carpark campsite early and had breakfast and coffee on the side of the misty lake, enjoying the serenity. We explored the nearby town of Rivcev Laz and endured some photos and laughs from English speaking tourists when they saw our bright red and blue van, emblazoned with work 'Cockta' in yellow. Apparently it is a drink in Slovenia but it was still a bit embarrassing. Anyway we headed back to the campsite to get a spot for the night. Everyone was checking-out so there were heaps to choose from. As Daniel went to move the van from the carpark we both looked at each other in disbelief as the van didn't start. The battery had chosen today to die. After emails back and forth a new battery was driven up to us and installed....after another 2 hours in a carpark! At least we had the lake nearby for a swim. By the time we got the van started the camp area was quite full so we moved to another camp area further down the river. It was just as beautiful and we enjoyed a late afternoon swim.

Day 5, Friday - we awoke to rain and some serious storm clouds. We drove to the town of Bled, where we were to swap our van and get Dugme back. While we waited we hoped to visit a nearby gorge. Alas the weather had other plans and the storms got worse. We wandered around town trying to stay dry whilst finding wifi. I finally got wifi only to find Dugme had been dropped off already! We very happily moved our belongings over to Dugme and headed south, away from Bled and the stormy weather, positive our luck had just changed.

A nice view out our hotel window at Gatwick airport!

Getting Dugme.....we were all so excited.

Not long after, stuck in a carpark (eating ice cream to stay cool).

Our first destination in Slovenia! At least the mountains provided a promise of what was to come.

Daniel finally enjoying a meal for his birthday.

Looking over Lake Bohinj and the surrounding mountains.

Admiring the stunning Slovenian landscape.

While we waited for a replacement battery the kids made the most of a homemade raft they found.

Our temporary van...with the amusing name.

Enjoying a nudie swim in front of our campsite.

Our lovely camp on the river....but the storm clouds were rolling in.

After finally getting Dugme back the kids made themselves comfortable and we properly began our adventure.