It was a big and very expensive decision. Something we’d talked about for quite some time. Our shared love of the outdoors and being near water, was part of the push. We also have 2 sausage dogs, and with a growing family, the dog sitters are in short supply, as everyone is busy with their own lives. How do we do all the things we want to do, see, and pursue and include Dolly and Mabel, the sausages, with us, on the journey.
I mean, it was quite surprising when my husband first started talking about it. A lover of nice hotels and all things higher end, the van experience would be something very different. It would truly be a back to basic’s experiment. He met up with some pals who already had campervans and the way they spoke about life on the road and visiting all the places and then parking up for the night, was a game changer. He was hooked. I’m not saying there’s no place for 5-star hotels, but I’ve always enjoyed camping and that’s the type of holidays I did with my children when they were young, and I did when I was a kid.
So that was it, we were doing it. We sold my husband’s car and put the sale profits towards a new shiny blue VW Campervan. It is fair to say that the funds took a hit, but we thought in the long run, what we’ll save on hotels will maybe eventually align with some of the initial outlay. Also, I don’t know how many of you have stayed in hotels with sausage dogs……. its quite tricky, particularly if they are naughty little sisters like our two! Unless of course you have quiet angelic ones (yet to meet any quiet ones!).
Here's a little insight into our experience of where we went wrong and what was helpful!
Lesson no.1 – the outlay is a LOT. Time for some cutbacks. The good news is, it’s worth it. One of the best decisions we have made.
Everything was shiny and new looking. You can get a lot of gear in in if you pack up it right. Lots of wee cubby holes to stuff things in. In May, we embarked on our first van life adventure, me, hubby and the two sausages. We mapped out a road trip that covered Loch Lubnaig, Glencoe, Arisaig, Onich, Loch Linnhe, Fort William, Mallaig, Skye, Ben Nevis, Morvich, Applecross, Loch Carron, Loch Lochy and then home.
We planned the route specifically to incorporate my love of outdoor swimming and my husband is really on board with it now too. We stayed in the van for five nights and covered a lot of ground. Now, thankfully, the weather was amazing, sunny, and fabulous. I do think it would have been a very different first-time experience if the weather had been typically Scottish! Particularly the midges! In essence it really was idyllic.
Everything was rammed in. We also have an awning that attaches to the van, and this is a god send, as really its somewhere to put everything in some kind of order, freeing up the van for sitting, eating, sleeping in etc. Putting up the awning for the first time was a test to our patience and our relationship in general, newbies at the campsite, with their shiny van and noisy sausage dogs, narking at each other in 20-degree heat, in jeans! Always pack clothing for all eventualities.
You’ll find yourself following every van life Instagram page, oh they look all sleek and wonderful, but where’s all the stuff? It’s the reality versus the Instagram again. Most of the time, initially, ours looked like someone had broken into it and riffled through everything! Clutter central!
I thought we were really organised and turns out we weren’t.
Lesson no 2 – don’t ram everything in, in no particular order, into all the spaces, as you then have to pull everything out to find that one little thing. And of course, you will not remember where in the van that small thing is! The good news is, once you’ve done it a few times, you get better and more organised.
We spent the first night saying things like “where’s the bottle opener”, “do we have a chopping board?” “Where’s the sun cream?” “Have we only got 2 plates?” and so on. You can imagine and chat and the mood.
We quickly learned that boxes were the way to go. A box for kitchen stuff, a box for toiletries, a box for foody things, a box for bedding, pillowcases etc, separate bags for clothes. Then, the smaller boxes go in one big outdoor box, that can sit safely outside the van overnight if you don’t put the awning up.
If you are only staying in one place for a night, the big outdoor box is really useful. Putting up the awning for one night is time consuming and hardly worth it.
We find that 2 nights or more and its helpful to have the awning, particularly for the dogs to wander in. A spike for going in the ground to clip the dog’s extendable leads on is also a good idea. Unless of course your dog’s lie contently at your feet and they have wonderful recall! If only.
Putting the kettle on. Of course, we have the camping kettle that whistles when ready. A person could die of thirst waiting on that though, despite it looking the part. I suggest a small electric travel kettle, (plug sockets in the van!) particularly if you are somewhere for a few nights and have an electric hook up. You do spend quite a bit of time on your knees, to get to the fridge, to find the niggly things in the van storage at floor level.
And do pop the roof, unless it’s very windy. The obligatory banging your head off the roof (and I’m only 5’1) constantly, is a hard lesson and one that I insist on repeating, on every trip. There’s nothing like learning the hard way is there?
Comfort. Now, it’s the home from home. We got a tip off to get a decent mattress for when the back seats go down and you are making the bed up. The brand is Panda, and it rolls up nice but gives you the comfort you’d want for a decent night’s sleep on your own bed. We also bought 2 double sleeping bags, rather than take duvets and covers and all the guff that goes with it. You can fit 2 adults in the small double bed and if being up close and personal to your other half every night, then it’s for you!
Both of us like our space in the bed and I am rather partial to a diagonal special which the small double bed does not allow for, once 2 people are in it. Husband now sleeps upstairs in his wee double, and I go down with mine. The dogs sleep in their own bed and the bottom of the downstairs, until they get restless and snuggle in with me around 5am. They do not get to do this at home until after 6.30, but I convince myself they are cold at night in the van and in they come!
I did try and sleep upstairs one night to see what it was like, and it was the first and last time. It reminded me of getting an MRI scan and claustrophobia kicked in, so we quickly knew what suited us both. Look, without going into detail, romance is not dead in the van, if anything its better, no TV and in a small space together, you just have to be, well creative. I’ll leave it there.
Lesson no 3 – things we needed that made everything easier. The good news is, this is a helpful guide, but not essential as you will find what works for you.
- A driveaway awning. This means you can take the van off for the day and the awning stays up. Otherwise, if you don’t, you can’t driveaway anywhere until you’re ready to leave. It’s tricky lining it back up to reattach on return but worth the fiddle.
- A kettle, hairdryer, coffee machine (mini espresso ones are good), toaster are useful things that just stay in the van, particularly if away on a site for a few nights. Not essential, but if you take off every other weekend, you’ll be thankful, I promise.
- A panda mattress, the sleeping bags, your own pillows and cases, that stay in the van, unless need washing, then go back in the van.
- A box with 3 or 4 of everything – plates, cutlery, sharp knives, mugs, plastic glasses, chopping boards, utensils, foil, wipes, cling film etc, that after washing stay in the van.
Nothing worse than taking it all in the house when home and then trying to remember what stays in the house and what stays in the van.
- Toiletry and medical supplies in a box that stay in the van unless needing topped up or replaced. There are usually mini forms of all your favourites or travel sizes, then you just need a wee toilet bag to go back and fore to the shower blocks.
- Plenty of towels and a bag for laundry. Not everything dries well overnight, and things can feel damp, particularly out with summer (what summer?!)
- Clothes pegs and a line, if like us, you are in the water at every opportunity, its handy for wet, dripping gear.
- Couple of pans, water bottles and so on. A mini kitchen if you will. Our van has 2 gas top rings, and this is sufficient for racking up a bacon roll, heating soup or whatever you’re having.
- A small and compact gas BBQ, as not all campsites want open BBQ’s and we usually source local meat and fish, where we stay and plan our meals, if you don’t have a nearby pub or restaurant. You can get quite a bit in the fridge if you plan it well.
- A collapsible wash up basin that flat packs, cloths, tea towels, wash up liquid. No dishwashers on sites, so be prepared to crack on. We use mostly picnic plates, glasses etc so to avoid breakages.
- A foldable mat that fits on the floor of the awning as it can be sore on the knees and feet if you have a stony pitch.
I mean the list goes on and you will find your way with what you need and don’t need after a few trips. Sometimes we just go away for the day, we do this a lot. Park up, walk dogs, have a swim, or paddle board, set up the table, pop the roof and eat our prepacked lunch and cups of tea with a view! As the temps start to drop, there is a van heater to pop on and this heats up quickly for those chillier mornings. Up until now, I’ve been sleeping still in a vest and shorts with socks and not felt cold. Longer jammies and fleece needed soon, particularly for the campsite loo. Getting on to that next!
Lesson no 4. Do get a portable toilet, if you are a woman, a woman who has had kids, a woman who is menopausal and so on, or you have small children with you. Bear with, until I explain.
Literally, the first thing I thought about when embarking on the first van life adventure, was…...oh my god, the traipse to the toilet block, in my goonie, in the middle of the night, in all weathers for a wee. I know, it’s ridiculous but that is my life, up twice a night! How will I manage this. Women of a certain age and so on.
I was deranged, fixated even, I couldn’t care less about the best, most south facing sunny pitch…...are we near the toilet block?! My cousin suggested “Travel John”, mostly geared up for men, that do long haul truck driving I feel. Marvellous invention but clearly much easier for them to manage in a cramped space. (Called John for a reason. Someone needs to invent one call Travel Jane!) Right, I’ll give it a go. First attempt, quite good, rip open the bag, wee in it, seal it up and put outside, and in the bin in the morning.
Second attempt, whilst bursting (too harassed to position it right), I weed all over the van floor, all over my legs and feet and socks and jammies. Wee fail. And that was it. This is NOT going to work.
Buy me a toilet husband or you travel alone. He rolled his eyes but came up with the goods. Oh god, it’s the best thing for camping EVER!! It sits in the gap at the van door at the awning. Dogs up at 6.30, bursting for a wee, go on the toilet and jobs a good fun! Although, we have obviously agreed, no.1’s only lols. My husband loves emptying it out at the end of the trip! And he can’t moan as he uses it too! Absolute win. And totally private. It is a real stress reliever, and I don’t always go in the night while camping so it’s obviously partly psychological! But I love a back-up plan and being prepared. Best money we spent on the van was this. Closely followed by a decent coffee machine.
Lesson no 5 – do join a motorhome and caravan/camping club to get decent rated campsites. The good news is you will find this helpful when planning trips and you know what you are getting, in the main, quality, and clean and really good facilities and good locations.
Talking of facilities. It’s come a long way since I used to take the kids camping in all weathers. We used to queue up before it got dark, with the kids covered in sand and shivering in damp towels. You had to have your 20p pieces ready for the shower (a trickle of lukewarm water at best, with the shower covered in cut grass and everyone else’s hair and sand). Before you could even rinse the shampoo, the shower would cut off. Maddening. No changing rooms, not very clean, and those awful shower curtains that stick to you! Flashbacks!
I could not believe how good some of the sites have been recently. Warm heated toilet and shower blocks, hairdryers, changing cubicles, separate sinks for doing teeth etc, power showers (with doors!) mats to stand on, hooks and seats for all your stuff and so on. All cleaned and restocked daily and fabulous! Some sites have pop up bars or food stands, which is great also, if you haven’t sorted your dinner out and don’t want to drive!
Lesson no 6. Do look up campsites and pre book particularly in the summer months, they really fill up quick. The good news is you will thank me for this one. There’s something nice about not preplanning but in May through to September you’d be surprised how busy and full places are.
Nothing worse than rocking up to the chosen campsite to find its full, the WIFI is non-existent as you try and find a nearby alternative, on your phone with no service. They are cheap to pre book, and you often get a choice of pitches. Just be organised.
We’ve only had one campsite that was not suitable and didn’t realise this until we arrived, it was too near a main road and lambs running everywhere. This was not suitable for the dogs and the owners were lovely, gave us a full refund and suggested alternatives. You really do live and learn.
Lesson no 7. It can be a lot of work initially. You could easily be put off when you start out, weather crap, location not as good as you thought, pitch not the best etc. Adapting to a small living space.
The good news is your mindset shifts and you put your van life head on instead. You connect more with each other, you’re outside, you make more effort, there’s a lot of shared tasks, there’s no tv, often poor phone service, so you don’t have those unwanted distractions and I always sleep better.
Lesson no.8. This is personal for me and a work in progress. Firstly, I need to gain the confidence to drive it, so this will be a goal/challenge for me in 2025. Secondly, we have not wild camped as etc, always used a campsite. It does prove tricky with different regulations about where you are allowed to park up and stay overnight. Nothing nicer than a wash in a river or loch. Goals!
We drove to France this summer in it, and it was fabulous, stayed in a couple of French campsites along the way for a couple of nights. The dogs were amazing, and it was seamlessly easy with the flexipass through the Euro Tunnel. I highly recommend this too, if you have dogs you want to take on holiday with you. Next year we’re planning the Outer Hebrides….Lewis, Harris, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist and Barra in the Spring and looking at Holland in the summer. We, the van, and the sausages will be well travelled!
Maybe you’re considering giving it a go. I would say do it. Maybe you think it’s not proper camping, but it’s the go between from a tent to very basic self-catering, on wheels. And the beauty is you can move on whenever you want. Take what home comforts you need. For me it’s the coffee machine, decent coffee in the morning is a must. And decent wine.
We love it and I’ve done all my swim event races, bar one, this year, staying in the camper van. Hundreds of pounds saved. Absolutely brilliant. You can also hire one to try it out and I would advise talking to people that already have one and see what they say. We’ve talked to a lot of people who have them, and so far, none have said it’s a decision they regret, and I can see why. Think of all the places you’ll see without the hefty self-catering and cottage prices, and you’ll be able to get to off the beaten track places too. Trust me, you will appreciate your own bed and bath so much more, after a few nights in the van.
We know people that go all year round in their campervan and that includes in the winter and snow. I love this idea and we’ll be doing that this year. Long, cosy dark nights in the van with good books and chat and some twinkle lights! (And a toilet lols!) If you have your warm gear, you’ll be grand. So, it’s not just for the summer months and then lies dormant in your driveway.
I’d love to hear your van stories or thoughts if you are thinking about it. Maybe you’ve learned lessons too?
NEXT UP – Life with reflections and learning from Outdoor swimming events.
Add comment
Comments