About Beelzebus crew

Hi! And thank you so much for checking out our home page! We are Katja, Björn and Balthazar and we live in a bus. :) We sold our big 200 m² house and moved in to a tiny 8 m² van.
Our first “van” used to be an SUV. We took out the back seats and fitted a few storage boxes with a madrass on top of the boxes instead, and went on our first road trip to incredible Lofoten Islands. And after that experience our life was never the same. We came back to our house and jobs, but our hearts stayed in the mountains. We started taking road trips more and more often: to Norway, Swedish mainland, Germany and around Gotland, the island we are from. We didn’t know what “van life” was back then. We thought we discovered a cheaper way of traveling that finally allowed us to get outside and explore more.
After a while, we decided that we needed a bigger vehicle. It was a bit hard getting dressed in the mornings while lying with a huge wolfhound in the bed. :D We also wanted to be able to cook indoors in case it was raining or windy outside.
And this is how the idea of living in a van gradually crystallized. We tought that if the bus was big enough, we’d be able to actually live in it full-time, continue traveling and spend more time in the nature. But first we had to lower our costs and in order to do that we decided to sell the house, pay off our loans etc etc.
And so we started looking for a bus to convert. As soon as we saw a Mercedes 508D for sale here in Sweden, we knew right away that we wanted this model of the bus to become our home on wheels. We like this rounder retro look, it just feels a little bit more cozy to us somehow. And also the best part of having an older “veteran” vehicle in Sweden is that you pay very little taxes for vehicles older than 25 years, which also helps us to keep our costs down. Plus, if you buy an empty van, you get to restore it and build everything from scratch, exactly the way you like. There weren’t that many 508 busses for sale in Sweden, but eventually we found our Beelzebus right on the island where we lived! And so the process of van restoration, convertion and house renovation to prepare it for sale started.
It took us about a year to complete everything before we could move in to our new home. It was a very tough year. And now, when I look back, I wouldn’t hurry as much and maybe let this process take another year instead. We were completely exhausted after the whole year of non-stop work until late night even during weekends. But all that work made it possible for us to start traveling and experience real van life sooner before the Covid-19 wave broke out.
We got to live on the road for about 8 months before we had to return to Gotland due to family matters. We were lucky in a way to return to the island then, a month later Covid-19 started taking over the planet. Family matters took way longer than we have expected and eventually most of the countries closed their borders. And so another long year on Gotland continued. We lived in a little cabin during winter and tryed to use our Beelzebus as much as possible.
We decided to stay on Gotland a little bit longer to put some affairs in order and work on getting more stable income so we can continue traveling full-time. We live in Beelzebus most of the time but we are lucky to have a base we can come back to from time to time.
Our goal is to be back on the road some time next year, hopefully by summer. And maybe the situation in the world will be more stable by then. But until now we need to finish a couple of projects and also upgrade our bus to prepare it for our future travels. We’ll be posting more about that on our YouTube channel.

Björn

“I like fishing, playing video games, building and repairing/restoring stuff and listening to music. I consider myself a fixer. I also like beeing in nature exploring new places and wildlife. I like van life because you get to decide where to live/stay and you get to see so much more. My plan is to visit every country in Europe to begin with.”
This is what Björn says about himself. Björn is a bit of an enigma. He is a very open person who likes meeting new people or spending time with friends. But he also never talks about himself and can be very private.
Without Björn Beelzebus could never happen. I could never pull such a huge restoration project off by myself without Björn’s dedication and skills. Björn’s attitude is always positive. If other people can do it, then he can do it too. He didn’t know how to weld before we started restoring the bus. But Björn wanted to be able to restore the bus by himself, plus we couldn’t afford to hire someone to do it for us. There was just too much rust and holes that needed to be fixed. So Björn borrowed a welding machine, trained on a couple of metal pieces until he felt his welding was good enough to start working on the bus. And now other people ask him to help them with welding. This is the kind of guy he is, who always finds something positive in everything and learns as he goes. I am coveinced that there’s nothing he cannot build or fix. And there’s no project we cannot do together with him.
Björn has an interesting feature. He remembers every single lyrics he’s ever heard *usually rock or metal) and can sing along almost to any song. Sometimes I think he should have become a singer in a band, because he can forget what he had for breakfast today but he always remembers music lyrics. :D
Björn is the most considerate and selfless person I know, who is always ready to help you out no matter what kind of help you need. He always puts other people needs above his own. And I’ve never heard him complaining about it. I sometimes have to remind him that he can say “no” and he needs time for himself and his own interests too.
During one of our trips to Norway Björn discovered fishing. He finds it soothing and peaceful to be alone in nature. Every fish he catches he usually releases back. He usually says something like “It was so beautiful and had such big eyes, I just had to let it go”. Björn loves nature and gets very excited about animals, no matter if it is a little bird or an elk. He watches them with excitment and even tries to communicate with them by imitating their sounds. Many times he stopped the bus because there was a frog on the road. If he sees one on the road, he usually stops the bus to carry it to the other side of the road into safety.
We’ve been together for over 9 years soon, and even for me it is a little bit hard to write about him. One thing is for sure, I am not afraid to go anywhere or to take on any project no matter how complicated or difficult it is as long as we are together.

Katja

Hello! My name is Katja and I love photography, making videos and everything that allows me being creative. I also love traveling and being close to nature. That is why vanlife is such a good way of life for me, I guess.
My favorite movie genre is sci-fi and I am very nerdy when it comes to Star Wars. In fact, I love these movies so much that when I found out that the VII episode was coming out and that I would be able to watch it in my lifetime, I was crying every time I saw the trailer. I also start crying every time I hear Star Wars theme song. I can’t controll it. :D
It has always been my favorite saga ever since I found that VHS with the IV episode “A New Hope” in one of the boxes with all the movies we used to have at home. It blew my mind. Eventually I managed to find all the movies except for the 2nd and 3rd parts. They weren’t made back then yet, but I didn’t know that. It was before the time every kid had a mobile phone with good Internet. :) Star Wars wasn’t very popular where I am from either, so I would go by foot to each and every VHS store I knew of to ask, if they had any Star Wars movies until I found all the movies that were out back then.
Star Wars is not just a sci-fi movie for me, it actually reminds me a lot of my childhood and brings back some of the best memories I have from that time. Every time I was sick and didn’t have have to go to school, I’d wait for my father and mother to leave for work, ran to their room where the TV was, and as soon as I heard the door clicking and the fotsteps on the stairs getting further away, I started watching all the movies from the beginning. And I mean the real beginning, of course, episode IV-VI and then I-II. :D If I started watching the movies right away, as soon as my mother left, I had exactly enough time to finish watching all of them by the time she was back from work.
These memories are filled with warm sunlight pouring from the balcony window that was almost behind the TV, with a feeling of home, carelessness and warmth from my parent’s bed. I used to lie on my mother’s side, and if I climed under the blanket at once, sometimes the bed was still warm. These memories bring both my mother and my great grandmother back to me. Memories of my great grandmother are the best memories I have. She was a selfless person and she always took such a good care of the whole family. Every time I started watching my movies, she would make me very sweet tea with two spoons of sugar and a sandwich for breakfast. She always asked, if I wated tea, whenever she was making some for herself.
Somehow Star Wars movies became my personal time machine. It is not just sci-fi movies for me, it is a way for me to bring all these memories back to life, to feel the way I used to feel, when my two closest people in the world where still alive.
I’ve always dreamt to go to a galaxy far far away or even visit all of them, if I could. If I could choose, I’d love to live in the future, a few centures ahead of our time, because I think that human mind is great and will make great discoveries by then and maybe traveling in space will be no bigger deal than taking a car to work nowadays. Maybe that is why I’ve always liked exploring new places, dreamt of working with scientific expeditions and being somewhere far away like in the Arctics. But sometimes life doesn’t turn out the way you imagined. But van life is such a great way of living, it fuels my creativity and keeps my internal discoverer happy. I never felt myself as free as when I am somwhere far away doing something as simple as washing dishes with icy-cold water we brought from the nearest lake. And maybe we will never live in the future and visit other galaxies, but there are so many beatuful roads that we can take here and now.

Balthazar

Hi guys! My name is Balthazar and I am a very clumsy but also very cute Irish wolfhound. At least I am told so. I don’t think that I am clumsy, most of the times it is not my fault that I am too big and can’t fit anywhere. I am used to attention. In fact, I am a little bit of a celebrity! Every time we take a walk with my parents people stop us and ask questions about me and even want to take pictures with me. People often say that I am the biggest dog they have ever seen. To be honest, I have never seen any other dog bigger than me either, so maybe they are right.
Lately I noticed that I can get a bit grumpy because of all this attention. You know, I am 6 years old and my doctor says that I am getting old. Life of a celebrity is not as easy as it seems.
But I don’t feel old. I love running at sandy beaches and splashig around in water. I always try to find a lake, a river or any puddle to run in, so I can get all wet and drink some tasty cold water. In those moments I forget about everything and it’s only me and nature left in the whole world.
My parents take me everywhere with them. In fact, I have separation anxiety and the only place I feel safe enough to stay for a day or two without them by my side is at my grandma’s house, which is my second home. But when we travel, mom and dad always make sure I don’t have to stay alone for a long time. Sometimes they both leave at the same time to buy some groceries. Then I start howling. I howl as loud as I can, so that everybody at the parking lot knows how much I miss them, and usually I don’t stop untill they come back. Some people get worried and wait for mom and dad by the bus considering if they should call the police. But I don’t care, howling has always worked. Every time I howl, they come back! It’s simple logic, really!
I love my parents very much, but even more I love long walks and food. I really like food. If you have some food in your hand, I will be a very good boy. My daily walks and long hikes give me a different kind of joy. I get to be very serious and explore. I don’t need that much to be happy. My parents by my side, some tasty treats and soft grass or sand under my feet is all I need. And if you see me rolling around and lying with my belly up, it means that I am really enjoying my life in that moment or trying to get your attention so you can pet me.