Long term campervan touring/living in Europe - Any good Vlogs?

54and56

Hi all,

My wife and I plan to downsize in +/- 5 years when the kids are finished in college etc, buy a campervan and hit Europe for a couple of years at least just following our noses or perhaps a well trodden route if we come across one. We'll both be in our late 50's then

With the winter drawing in I'd like to spend some time researching and finding out how people who are currently doing what we plan to do are getting on.

There's loads of "long term RV'ing" type vlogs and documentaries on YouTube but they are almost exclusively US based.

Can anyone here recommend good sources of research for long term campervaning around Europe and in particular any good vlog's I could watch/follow?

I'd like to get a feel for:-

1. The type of campervan layout which would suit us most. It'll just be the two of us so likely a fixed rear/island bed but I need to understand the trade off between extra size internally for comfort Vs ease of driving and whether we'd need to upgrade our respective driving licences (we'd both share the driving) if the campervan was over a certain size?

2. Where to buy within a +/- €45,000 budget? Given we'll be touring Europe I'm thinking we should buy a 4-5 year old LHD in France with relatively low mileage (less than 100,000 KM's) circa November when there should be a good supply and low demand creating the best conditions to maximise value for money. Examples include http://www.bonjourcaravaning.fr/nos-vehicules/rapido/7076_df/fiat_ducato_2_3l_130cv-1199/, http://www.bonjourcaravaning.fr/nos-vehicules/rapido/990/fiat_2_3l_130cv-861/ and http://www.bonjourcaravaning.fr/nos-vehicules/pilote/explorateur_g_703_fp/mercedes_318cdi-830/

3. Winterised or not? Should we make sure whatever we buy is winterised so we have the option of touring Scandinavia or just for protection against winter temperatures in a lot of central Europe?

4. Budgeting: What are the real practical day to day costs of touring around Europe for a couple of years if you want to enjoy the experience without being either too thrifty or too Flahulach? If we were cooking breakfast/brunch ourselves and eating in local cafe/bar type places 4-5 times a week for dinner (we love sampling real local food) what would we have to budget for including diesel, tolls, food shopping, campsite/Aires etc etc?

We plan to hire a couple of different types ad size of campervan in Wales over the next 18 months for 4-5 days (long weekends) at a time to get a feel for A) whether we'd actually enjoy living in a campervan for a long period of time and what layout would work best for us.

Any links to sources of info which will inform our decision and/or direct tips/experiences are much appreciated.

Clicky

54and56

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Clicky

Thank you, looks like a great resource.

josip

Sounds like a proper adventure, I'm jealous.

I only have a few tips, no links.
Bring lots of coins for the campsite washing machines, some of them are very expensive and have to be reserved we'll in advance.

Allow plenty of time for driving. We drive to Greece every year via different routes and always underestimate the road time.

Friends of ours did 6 weeks in an RV this year and said that the size of theirs made it impractical for parking in an urban area.
They also left a laptop visible when in a Swedish campsite and it and some other things were stolen, so pack all valuables away when leaving.

killalanerr

This is also on our bucket list maybe just one year in our case, Im not sure any longer would be good for us

If you buy irish one would have come back to have the doe done every year or so depending on the age of the van, look into insurance might be some issues if your out of the country for an extended period same goes for an unattended house ,

The lay out of a van is a very personal thing what works for some would be a nightmare of others , my only advice is you don't need as much space as you think,

I have been following theses guys for a while there is a link to other blogs should keep you busy for a while http://ourtour.co.uk/home/

Fiskar

OP, nice plan, won't be far behind you as toying with Winsum and getting out of here for winters or going the motorhome route and doing touring.
The following two resources I am looking at daily
motorhomefun.co.uk (these are people who are on the road constantly or are those who head for Winsun every November and come back April)
Motorhome365.com - This is a full timers forum with very useful information and is a UK website.
http://ourbumble.com/blog/ - is a blog by a couple on the road 365 and who contribute to Motorhome fun. (They have itemised and costed their travels, being an accountant!)

I have found very useful information which leads to the following and which you should look at.
1. With the number of motorhomes heading south to Spain for winter (estimated to be 200,000) the Spainish each year change the rules in regard to where you can stop. It seems to be a growing problem and one you should research.
2. Everyone winterises their MH. I would not go without that.

Hope these help and do keep us posted!

Fiskar

Motorhome and caravan show is on in the NEC in October, would be worth looking at layouts and second hand vendors there

niloc1951

Long time fulltimers Barry and Margaret Williamson have what must be one of the most comprehensive list of travels going back over 30 years, see here http://www.magbaztravels.com/

SeamusG97

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Hi all,

My wife and I plan to downsize in +/- 5 years when the kids are finished in college etc, buy a campervan and hit Europe for a couple of years at least just following our noses or perhaps a well trodden route if we come across one. We'll both be in our late 50's then

With the winter drawing in I'd like to spend some time researching and finding out how people who are currently doing what we plan to do are getting on.

There's loads of "long term RV'ing" type vlogs and documentaries on YouTube but they are almost exclusively US based.

Can anyone here recommend good sources of research for long term campervaning around Europe and in particular any good vlog's I could watch/follow?

I'd like to get a feel for:-

1. The type of campervan layout which would suit us most. It'll just be the two of us so likely a fixed rear/island bed but I need to understand the trade off between extra size internally for comfort Vs ease of driving and whether we'd need to upgrade our respective driving licences (we'd both share the driving) if the campervan was over a certain size?

2. Where to buy within a +/- €45,000 budget? Given we'll be touring Europe I'm thinking we should buy a 4-5 year old LHD in France with relatively low mileage (less than 100,000 KM's) circa November when there should be a good supply and low demand creating the best conditions to maximise value for money. Examples include http://www.bonjourcaravaning.fr/nos-vehicules/rapido/7076_df/fiat_ducato_2_3l_130cv-1199/, http://www.bonjourcaravaning.fr/nos-vehicules/rapido/990/fiat_2_3l_130cv-861/ and http://www.bonjourcaravaning.fr/nos-vehicules/pilote/explorateur_g_703_fp/mercedes_318cdi-830/

3. Winterised or not? Should we make sure whatever we buy is winterised so we have the option of touring Scandinavia or just for protection against winter temperatures in a lot of central Europe?

4. Budgeting: What are the real practical day to day costs of touring around Europe for a couple of years if you want to enjoy the experience without being either too thrifty or too Flahulach? If we were cooking breakfast/brunch ourselves and eating in local cafe/bar type places 4-5 times a week for dinner (we love sampling real local food) what would we have to budget for including diesel, tolls, food shopping, campsite/Aires etc etc? We plan to hire a couple of different types ad size of campervan in Wales over the next 18 months for 4-5 days (long weekends) at a time to get a feel for A) whether we'd actually enjoy living in a campervan for a long period of time and what layout would work best for us.

Any links to sources of info which will inform our decision and/or direct tips/experiences are much appreciated.

Hiring a van is a great idea - motorhoming isn't for everyone and many find it stressful at the start. Don't be put off if the first trip turns out to be a disaster - ours was! Trying a variety of vans is the way to go especially of you intend spending a lot of time in one. The received wisdom is that bigger is not necessarily better.
Regarding hiring in Wales, I think that ( nice as Wales is ) it may not give you enough to go on in deciding whether to do a long term trip in Europe. It may seem a safe option but probably won't reflect the real thing.
In the UK, you would expect to stay overnight in a campsite. In my experience other options are few and far between - I may be wrong and welcome a correction as I plan to pass through there next summer. Campsites are fine but expensive and not indicative of the experience in a lot of Europe. France and Germany, for example, have thousands of Aires and stopovers that are either free or inexpensive. I would suggest renting a van at home for a few days just to get the basics sorted and then going straight to either country for the next rental. Bring a good Aires or Stellplatzen guide or online equivalent and you will get a very good picture of what you are going into. We've done six weeks every year in France/Germany/Italy/Spain/Slovenia/Austria/UK with the kids for the past eleven years and hopefully we'll be doing the same thing as you ( around the same time and for the same reasons ) when we retire.

Here's a link to whet your appetite
http://www.go-motorhoming.co.uk/index.shtml
Keep us posted on how you get on ...

SeamusG97

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Hi all,

My wife and I plan to downsize in +/- 5 years when the kids are finished in college etc, buy a campervan and hit Europe for a couple of years at least just following our noses or perhaps a well trodden route if we come across one. We'll both be in our late 50's then

With the winter drawing in I'd like to spend some time researching and finding out how people who are currently doing what we plan to do are getting on.

There's loads of "long term RV'ing" type vlogs and documentaries on YouTube but they are almost exclusively US based.

Can anyone here recommend good sources of research for long term campervaning around Europe and in particular any good vlog's I could watch/follow?

I'd like to get a feel for:-

1. The type of campervan layout which would suit us most. It'll just be the two of us so likely a fixed rear/island bed but I need to understand the trade off between extra size internally for comfort Vs ease of driving and whether we'd need to upgrade our respective driving licences (we'd both share the driving) if the campervan was over a certain size?

2. Where to buy within a +/- €45,000 budget? Given we'll be touring Europe I'm thinking we should buy a 4-5 year old LHD in France with relatively low mileage (less than 100,000 KM's) circa November when there should be a good supply and low demand creating the best conditions to maximise value for money. Examples include http://www.bonjourcaravaning.fr/nos-vehicules/rapido/7076_df/fiat_ducato_2_3l_130cv-1199/, http://www.bonjourcaravaning.fr/nos-vehicules/rapido/990/fiat_2_3l_130cv-861/ and http://www.bonjourcaravaning.fr/nos-vehicules/pilote/explorateur_g_703_fp/mercedes_318cdi-830/

3. Winterised or not? Should we make sure whatever we buy is winterised so we have the option of touring Scandinavia or just for protection against winter temperatures in a lot of central Europe?

4. Budgeting: What are the real practical day to day costs of touring around Europe for a couple of years if you want to enjoy the experience without being either too thrifty or too Flahulach? If we were cooking breakfast/brunch ourselves and eating in local cafe/bar type places 4-5 times a week for dinner (we love sampling real local food) what would we have to budget for including diesel, tolls, food shopping, campsite/Aires etc etc?

We plan to hire a couple of different types ad size of campervan in Wales over the next 18 months for 4-5 days (long weekends) at a time to get a feel for A) whether we'd actually enjoy living in a campervan for a long period of time and what layout would work best for us.

Any links to sources of info which will inform our decision and/or direct tips/experiences are much appreciated.

For comparison have a look at this site. There's an English language option selectable from the homepage. Germany has generally offered better value than elsewhere. http://www.mobile.de/
There are currently 36,253 motorhomes listed on the site. Plenty of stuff to look at and dream about...

54and56

Thanks all, great contributions and much appreciated.

Lots to research from the wonderful sources you linked to.

54and56

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

You trying to freak me out??????

Nope. It's a fit for purpose 365 day moderate use live aboard rig that'll work so well you won't have to worry about it if your are reasonably aware of it's capabilities.

A simple 100Ah battery a split charge relay and a stock battery maintainer aren't going to cut it in Europe for a couple of years unless you want to spend every 2nd or third night on a camp-site paying for a pitch and a hookup.

The Electric fridge will pay for itself in gas saved, especially if everytime you need a new bottle you have to buy one, dispose of another and fit a new regulator.

The PV pays for itself in offsetting campsite requirements and reducing battery wear by supplying power on demand. The battery pays for itself because it'll last 5 years instead of 1.

It's a modular system you can add to it as you go and as needs must.
It's designed to minimise parasitic loads and maximise system performance. You will not find a comparable stock system.

I'm not saying you need it that elaborate but that's what I would build for a free to roam 2 berth.