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Around the world on wheels
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Bitten by the travel bug, the Bodineau family has set off around the world, carrying their home and the kids' school with them in their camper. BHUMIKA K. talks to them during their pit-stop
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ON THE ROAD Benoit Bodineau: "Travelling is the best school and university in the world." Photo:V. Sreenivasa Murthy
Jade and Titouan are six-year-old twins and have probably seen and learnt more of the world than most of us would have by 60. They left home when they were five and will probably return only when they're seven. They love eating chapati and dal with their hands. Every day is their birthday with people heaping them with presents. The world is their school, their parents their teachers. They get up every morning at six and start singing, and nap in the afternoon. They love playing with their new toys — a Channapatna giant wheel, and two dolls — a dancing girl and a traditional dhoti-clad Indian man. "We can see that they are happy. That gives us immense satisfaction," say parents Isabelle and Benoit Bodineau.
Travelling family
They are one happy family from France bitten by the travel bug, voyaging with their little home-on-wheels to exotic lands. A few sets of clothes, a few trunks holding them, a few pots and pans. And their home camper — a van modified into a mini home, complete with a small cooking range, water tank, filter, shower, and bunker beds. When they feel like breakfast or lunch, the camping chairs and table are unfolded. Isabelle and Benoit had toured the world for 18 months starting in 1995, travelling in the same camper. Then they decided to return to France and reintegrate, work, and have children. But they knew they wanted to start travelling again.
Experiential learning
"Travelling is the best school and university in the world," says Benoit, basking in the warm Bangalore sun, sitting next to his camper parked in the Alliance Francaise campus. "There are so many things to learn from other cultures, and you need time," adds Isabelle. Jade is shy and quiet, Titouan curious and already fed up with people asking him to pose for photographs.
Though this is not the couple's first visit to India, they are overwhelmed by the country, and the hospitality of its people. They had been to Varanasi, Goa and Kerala earlier. "One life is not enough for India," sighs Benoit. He recalls how when he missed the turning to Nrityagram on Bangalore's outskirts, a man he asked for directions just hopped in and took them all the way to the dance school. "I can't imagine anyone in Paris doing this. People just won't make time!"
India has changed a lot since they were here last. "It has changed in some ways and not, in others. There are plenty of new things — there are more cars, more Indian middle-class people travelling, roads are better and bus drivers less crazy. The country is going ahead fast, but not for everybody."
Society in Europe is not at its best right now. "People have everything, but are still complaining all the time," says Isabelle.
"I was away from home on work most of the time and I didn't see the kids grow up... something that happens once in a lifetime," says Benoit, a marketing manager in a leading furniture firm in Europe, who quit his job to launch this travel "project" with his family. "I knew I had a good job. But if you live simply you don't need much money." They stuck to the basics, directed all savings into travel plans, so they had the moolah to match their magical dreams. "And then we chose our way."
They set out from France in May last year, hoping to come to India first and then to other neighbouring countries. But geopolitics came in the way and they started with Italy, Serbia, Croatia, Turkey, Pakistan and now India. They have been in India since November, entering through Amritsar and have been to Dharamshala, Rishikesh and large parts of Rajasthan. In fact, they celebrated Christmas in Rajasthan with friends and family flying in from home.
Later they headed for Mandu, Panchgani, camped for a month in Goa before hitting Hampi and coming to Bangalore. "Every time we checked the news, it was bad news. Nepal was unsafe in February, now Pakistan with the Danish incident is not too safe, and with Iran it was the nuclear problem," says Benoit shaking his head. "But as foreigners, we don't feel these tensions between countries."
They love the unpredictability of life when they travel. "We love this kind of life and it becomes like a drug," smiles Benoit. "It's like a virus. Once you catch it, you can't get rid of it," offers Isabelle.
In Baluchistan, safety was such a concern that they camped in front of a police station! With diplomatic relations souring between France-Iran-Pakistan, they ran into some visa complications. Otherwise, it's been a smooth ride. They arrived in Islamabad two days after the devastating earthquake. Immediately, Benoit left his wife and kids there, and volunteered with the NGO Helping Hand to help construct temporary shelters and furniture in the remote village of Bagh. That he had earlier been part of humanitarian missions in Africa and Afghanistan helped. Always wanting to be in close contact with the local people to know more about their land and culture, the family prefers to visit the countryside, pulling up by the road for daily ablutions, food, the children's "school", and rest. Education is not compulsory in France till the age of six. But the kids have already been through three years of school, and the teachers handed the parents their lesson plans. So it's one hour of study ever morning. "There's no Saturday or Sunday in this school," laughs father-teacher Benoit.
The family fills the overhead water tank at stops. Calls of nature are in the midst of nature in the countryside and in hotel rooms in cities. While the kids sleep on bunker beds at the back, the parents use a sliding wooden panel on top of the camper with the extended roofing as their bedroom.
They believe in being ecofriendly, refusing to buy mineral water because of the plastic bottles. They fill water wherever they go and use a filter and chemicals to purify water for drinking. One meal a day is cooked in the camper and another is eaten in the place they stay. If they are in a city, they ask hotels if they can put the camper in their parking space.
A different path
Both Isabelle and Benoit are unhappy when I suggest they are "lucky". That and "envy" are words they've heard from many people, coveting their free spirit and vagabond life. "Everyone can do this if they want to badly enough," protests Isabelle. "If you are not happy with your life and what you are doing, just get up and do what you want. Stop sleeping!" is how Benoit puts it.
You could visit their website www.hydrotis.com/rouletopette
Bridging the gap
Cutting across language barriers is no problem, says the Bodineau couple. Isabelle shows me a painting on the side of the camper. It shows the family in a handmade painting, indicating their map. Along their route, when anyone asks them what they are up to, they show the map and mime the rest of the actions. At present, the route map stops in India, with a question mark. So where next? "We really don't know and we don't plan. Maybe Mysore, Chennai, and Pondicherry, before we go to Nepal. Then we plan to spend the monsoon in Ladakh before shipping the camper to Thailand. Then we'll probably go to Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam... but plans could change."
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