Frankie Dean: the dream phase

So here I am, an adventure-loving, story-loving mother, dreaming up the Frankie Dean adventure!

I have often thought that the anticipation of a trip – the planning, the dreaming, the wonder – is as much fun as the adventure itself. I am in that space now and I love it! I wake in the night and think ‘Frankie Dean’ – because every campervan deserves to have a name – ‘my Jayco Fiat Ducato’, and I smile and go back to sleep.

It’s like a new love – full of potential, fascination and rainbows. I stare at photos of Frankie Dean on the internet. I gaze at the brochure I picked up at the Adelaide caravan and camping show when I met Frankie Dean for the very first time (I slept with that brochure under my pillow for a week!), and I obsess over the floor plan. I’ve highlighted what features it comes with; I think about the swivel seats and the indicators on the chunky side mirrors. It truly is love.

I’m calling this the ‘dream phase’ and I’m revelling in it. I see campervans and motorhomes wherever I go, and I get butterflies knowing that it will soon be us! I’m thinking about linen and crockery and cutlery and bikes and fairy lights. I know the reality phase is coming soon, and I will have to organise insurance and learn to manoeuvre Frankie Dean and somehow pack up for our big adventure, but for now I am loving the dream phase, and I eagerly await the arrival of our new great love … our very own Frankie Dean.