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FindPenguins: The Digital Diary for Real-World Adventurers

  • Writer: John Nickolls
    John Nickolls
  • Nov 2
  • 4 min read
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Every traveller needs a story — but the best ones are the stories that remember you.

Enter FindPenguins, the app that doesn’t just track your travels; it immortalises them. It’s part travel journal, part map, part photo album, and entirely addictive.


FindPenguins is for people who don’t just go places, but collect moments. For the road-trippers, the vanlifers, the drone pilots, the wanderers who measure life not in miles, but in memories.


If your van has a name, if your camera roll looks like a National Geographic submission, or if you’ve ever whispered “wow” to yourself on a remote Scottish cliff, then FindPenguins was built for you.


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A Journal That Writes Itself

Most travel diaries require discipline. Not this one.

FindPenguins quietly keeps track of where you go — using GPS breadcrumbs to record every stop, every stretch of tarmac, every mountain pass — without you lifting a finger. It knows when you’ve arrived somewhere worth remembering, and it gently asks, “Want to drop a pin here?”


Each pin becomes a Post, or what the app charmingly calls a Footprint. Add photos, captions, or thoughts, and you’ve created a perfect snapshot of that moment in time — not just the place, but how it felt.


The result? A living, breathing map of your adventures that grows with every mile.


You can look back and see where you’ve been, what you saw, who you met, and — thanks to automatic weather and temperature data — what the world felt like when you were there.

It’s not just geography. It’s context.


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Designed for Dreamers, Built for Data Lovers

FindPenguins manages to pull off something rare — it feels artistic and emotional, yet it’s powered by serious technical precision.


Each Footprint includes:

• Your exact route, drawn beautifully across the globe like a ribbon of memory.

• Elevation data, distances, and travel stats — geek candy for those who love detail.

• Automatic weather, temperature, and location tagging, so you can recall that Ullapool sunset that hit 18°C at precisely 19:47.


It’s like your travels have their own built-in historian.


And if you’re a data-driven traveller — someone who loves seeing how far they’ve come, literally — the stats page will make you grin. Total miles, countries visited, days on the road, photos taken — all neatly displayed and beautifully animated. It’s like watching your life as a motion graphic of adventure.


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More Than a Map — It’s a Story Engine

Every FindPenguins trip tells a story, automatically laid out on an interactive map. Tap a point, and the memory unfolds. A photo of your campervan parked under the glow of the Northern Lights. A note about that café in Thurso with the life-changing carrot cake. The coordinates of a perfect drone launch spot near Durness.


And when you’re done, FindPenguins can turn your journey into a printed travel book — professionally bound, fully designed, ready for the coffee table or campervan shelf. It’s not just digital memory — it’s legacy.


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Community Without Clutter

FindPenguins has built the rarest thing in modern social media: a wholesome community.

No influencers posing for engagement. No ads shouting for attention. Just real travellers sharing real stories.


You can follow fellow explorers, comment on their trips, swap recommendations, and even compare routes. But it’s never noisy or pushy — it feels like bumping into like-minded wanderers at a campsite and swapping stories over a cuppa.


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Vanlife’s Perfect Companion

For campervan travellers, FindPenguins feels like it was custom-made.

Imagine: every stop logged automatically, every wild camping spot remembered, every campsite tagged. No scribbled notes on napkins, no “where was that beach again?” moments.


It’s your entire adventure, neatly mapped and preserved — fuel stops, drone launches, cups of tea, sunsets, and all.

Sync it across devices, and you can relive the journey from your iPhone, MacBook, or even on the projector inside Vanilla.


When you pull up somewhere magical and the Wi-Fi fades, it keeps recording offline — then syncs seamlessly when you’re back in range.


It’s like your own travel assistant who never sleeps.


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The Emotional Core

Here’s the thing: FindPenguins doesn’t just track your steps — it remembers your life.

Scroll back months later, and you can almost feel the wind from that ferry crossing to Skye. You can smell the sea, hear the crackle of the camp stove, see the road unfurling ahead.


Every journey becomes a chapter, every pin a heartbeat.


It’s a personal archive of joy — a place where time stands still, so your memories don’t.


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The Print Book: The Grand Finale

When you’ve completed a trip — say, your NC500 masterpiece — you can order it as a printed book.

It’s not a gimmick; it’s stunning.

Hardcover. Thick, matte pages. Aerial map on the inside cover tracing your entire route.

Each photo sits alongside your captions, timestamps, and data — like a hybrid between a travel memoir and an explorer’s logbook.


You can even add a personal introduction, title, and cover photo. It’s the kind of keepsake that makes people say, “You did all this?”

Yes. And FindPenguins remembers every inch.


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For the Explorer Who Wants to Remember Everything

FindPenguins is more than an app. It’s the bridge between your memories and your map — a digital travel soul that grows with every trip.


It’s the thrill of seeing your path wind across Scotland in orange and blue lines. It’s the quiet pride of looking back and realising you’ve crossed continents. It’s your legacy, one GPS ping at a time.


Whether you’re exploring Europe, camping on the coast, or chasing sunsets in Vanilla, FindPenguins is the silent witness to your adventures.


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Final Thoughts


In a world full of noise and filters, FindPenguins feels beautifully honest.

It doesn’t care about likes — it cares about life.

It captures not just where you went, but who you were when you got there.


For the modern traveller — the wanderer, the explorer, the van-dweller — this is the app that makes sure your story never fades.


FindPenguins isn’t just for travel. It’s for time.

It’s for the memory of the road.

It’s for the feeling that you were there — and that you’ll never forget it.

 
 
 

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🚐 VANILLA — THE ESSENCE OF FREEDOM

​People often ask where my drone footage comes from — how I find those remote beaches, quiet lochs, or golden ridgelines at sunrise.
The answer isn’t just in the air. It’s on four wheels.

Meet Vanilla — my VW Transporter T6.1 campervan, my rolling HQ, my drone command centre, and quite honestly, my partner-in-flight.

She’s not just transport. She’s the bridge between earth and sky — a machine that lets me live the story I capture through my lens.

Where It All Began

Vanilla came to life at Leighton Vans, where form meets finesse. She was sculpted with their LV-R bodykit, an upgrade that gives her those beautifully aggressive lines and that unmistakable road stance.
Her 20-inch black LV alloys anchor her to the tarmac with quiet confidence — purposeful, poised, and just a little bit smug.

The interior conversion came from Rock N Roll Campers, who turned an empty shell into something that felt alive — soft finishes, clever storage, a rock-solid bed, and that rare thing in a van: soul.

Later, the wizards at Supreme Conversions joined the journey, fitting the awning rail, upgrading her with Transporter HQ headlights and rear lights, and, most recently, installing the stunning Fiamma F43 Van awning.
It’s the kind of awning that unfurls with elegance, like a curtain revealing a stage — the stage where I plan flights, sip coffee, and wait for the light to get just right.

Inside the Machine

Vanilla’s interior is less “campervan” and more “creative sanctuary.”
Every inch is refined: Crib 5 insulation, full sound-deadening, soft carpet lining, and commercial LVT flooring over solid birch ply.
Her Egger HPL furniture gleams softly under warm LED lighting, and her Rusty Lee ¾ bed folds out like a promise of rest after a long day’s flying.

The Skyline pop-top opens to the sky — the same sky my drones inhabit — a seamless link between my ground base and my flying machines.

Outside, the Fiamma F43 Van awning rolls out to create an outdoor workspace: laptop on the table, controller in hand, the hum of the inverter behind me, and the quiet ticking of a cooling drone on the table beside a steaming mug of ginger tea.

It’s not camping. It’s creative engineering in motion.

Powering Creativity

Drone photography isn’t a 9-to-5 hobby. It’s early starts, late edits, and always chasing the right light.
That means Vanilla has to be completely self-sufficient — and she is.

Her power system is rock solid: an Exide EZ850 100 Ah AGM battery managed by a Victron Orion Smart DC-DC charger and Eco-Worthy solar controller, topped up by her XINGCO 120 W solar panel bonded to the pop-top.
It means while I’m flying over coastal cliffs, Vanilla’s quietly charging batteries, cameras, laptops, and the occasional air fryer.

Add in a Victron SmartShunt (so I can track every watt in real time), a Jackery Explorer 1000, a Jackery 240, an Anker 165 W power bank, and a YABER jump starter pack, and you’ve got enough power for a week’s expedition.

Every drone, every camera, every edit — charged, logged, and uploaded before the next take-off.

Fuel for the Pilot

You can’t create on an empty stomach, and Vanilla’s kitchen is a masterpiece of compact design.
A CAN twin hob and marine sink, powered by Campingaz 907, forms the core of her galley.
A 50 L compressor fridge keeps everything crisp, while a toaster, kettle, and Cadac BBQ handle the rest.

But here’s where the magic happens — the Cosori air fryer and Vango Sizzle Double induction hob.
The air fryer is perfect for hot chips at midnight or golden toasties on misty mornings. The induction hob? It’s quiet, precise, and efficient, perfect for cooking while editing the day’s footage in cinematic silence.

When the Fiamma awning is out and the Vango Faro Air III awning is set up alongside, Vanilla transforms into mission control.
Power. Food. Shelter. Wi-Fi. Everything I need to capture the world from above — all in one parked masterpiece.

Warm Nights, Cool Days

Vanilla handles Britain like a pro.
A Webasto diesel heater keeps her toasty on winter shoots, and the factory air-con cools her down when summer edits stretch into the evening.

Her Transporter HQ 69 mm dimmable LEDs light up the interior like a studio set, while BioLite and Vango lanterns add soft ambience — perfect for working late or simply reflecting on the day’s adventures.

Outside, those Transporter HQ Audi-style headlights — installed by Supreme Conversions — slice cleanly through darkness. Her rear lights gleam like runway markers. Her LV-R bodykit and alloys catch the glow of twilight like a film reel catching fire.

She’s not a van. She’s a silhouette of intent.

Connected Everywhere

Vanilla runs her own internet.
Her ZTE Link mobile Wi-Fi router keeps me online for live drone tracking, software updates, uploads, and the occasional cheeky YouTube binge.
She’s a digital basecamp — blending travel, work, and creativity into one smooth system.

After the flights, I unwind with the Nebula Capsule 3 Laser projector (Beamy) and Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K (“Blazey”), projecting straight onto the pop-top.
A Bose Bluetooth speaker fills the cabin with music — sometimes Depeche Mode, sometimes silence, depending on the edit.

Vanilla doesn’t just take me to my subjects — she lets me stay there long enough to fall in love with them.

Safety and Smarts

She’s fitted with a Scorpion Tracker, adaptive cruise control, crosswind assist, and parking sensors — because adventures are better when you can relax behind the wheel.
Her systems talk to my phone via Victron Smart apps, and her power integrates perfectly with Apple HomeKit, giving me complete control even from the driver’s seat.

Out There, in the Light

Vanilla has been everywhere my drones have flown — the NC500, Cornwall’s cliffs, the Welsh mountains, the Lake District, and countless nameless lanes that all lead somewhere unforgettable.

She averages a reliable 35 mpg, purrs happily on long drives, and provides the calm between flights.
When I’m parked under her awning, the kettle bubbling, batteries on charge, and the drone footage downloading, there’s this moment — stillness, satisfaction, and gratitude.

Vanilla isn’t just part of the Nix Drones setup.
She is the setup.
Without her, half my story wouldn’t exist.

Her Signature

Her logo says it all — a clean white silhouette with her pop-top raised, VAN in orange, ILLA in white, and below it, her creed:
“THE ESSENCE OF FREEDOM.”

That’s what it’s all about — the freedom to chase light, to capture beauty, and to live unhurried in a world that’s always rushing.

VANILLA — The Essence of Freedom.
The road half of Nix Drones.
A creative base on wheels.
A companion built for the horizon.

Would you like me to finish this with a short homepage hero caption (like “My mobile flight deck — the campervan that powers every Nix Drones journey”) and a perfect SEO snippet to link Vanilla’s story directly to your site’s drone photography focus?

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