20 Years Motorhome Travel

This year saw another milestone in our vanlife history with an incredible 20 years of motorhome travel. 20 years is a long time and there’s been many changes to motorhoming over the years, but it’s still our ultimate way to travel, being utterly addictive.

Like many life changing events, we can remember where we were when we first thought about motorhoming. It was a hot summer day on a campsite in the Loire Valley. A place we’d come to in our caravan, an era when caravanning was extremely popular and motorhomes a little more unusual to see.

Tiring of caravanning

We’d been caravanning since we were teenagers, buying our first two berth Thompson Glen in 1989. Our caravans changed over the years, but the enthusiasm for caravanning remained strong.

When the children were born, it became a great way of holidaying and caravanning was a big part of family life.

But, we were tiring with the concept of caravanning and the holiday in the Loire confirmed this more than ever. After taking the car out for sightseeing and returning to the caravan site each day, it was all a bit too much of a routine.

Suddenly, we began asking ourselves “What if, we didn’t have to do that”? Maybe, a motorhome could give the flexi freedom we were craving? Surely, having the sleeping, eating and driving arrangements in one would bring such easier, spontaneous travel?

There was only one problem, we knew everything about caravans, but didn’t know anything about motorhomes.

As if by magic, we were walking around the Loire campsite, when we came across a motorhome, stopping to take a closer look. It was a big Burstner, and it was the first time we’d noticed a motorhome up close, mainly because there just weren’t many of them around then.

Researching motorhomes

This was before smart phones, when the internet was still accessed on a computer. So there was no searching for ideas, this was to be done later at home.

On our return, our weekends were spent driving up to the big motorhome dealers of the day, such as Barrons of Lancashire.

Gradually, after visiting the NEC show and talking to someone locally who had a motorhome, we began to educate ourselves. Then, the cheapest brand new motorhome was about £22,000, a coachbuilt McLouis.

Panel van conversions were more or less unheard of, with the exception of a VW and the A-Class were just in their infancy.

Selling the caravan – 20 Years Motorhome Travel

It wasn’t long before we took the plunge. Selling the caravan and taking another trip up to Barrons where a chance remark made the salesman show us a brand new Swift Bessacarr. It was a motorhome no one wanted – unbelievably because of its fixed bed!

This was a new design for British customers and it wasn’t going down well, but we loved the idea. This fixed bed layout with a garage below and over-cab bed for the children was going to be perfect for our family.

And that was it, we were the proud owners of a new motorhome, now there was no going back.

First trips motorhoming were all wrong

No sooner did we have the keys to the Swift Bessacarr and we were off exploring. Those first trips included a snowy Christmas in Scotland, plenty of weekends away and a 6-week summer trip in France.

The only problem, we were motorhoming as if we were caravanning, and it just wasn’t working.

What were we doing wrong?

Quite simply, we were booking campsites in advance, so we were having to reach a specific destination each day. Why was this such bad planning? Well, we were driving routes to reach a campsite, but it just wasn’t an organic way to travel. Instead of just journeying along at our leisure, seeing where the road took us, we were having to reach a campsite somewhere.

Along the way, we were missing the spontaneous stops, simply as we had to arrive for a campsite reservation elsewhere.

No more plans or campsite bookings

Luckily, we weren’t slow in realising the error of our motorhoming ways, soon changing the way we were travelling. So after a few days on the trip to France, we phoned the campsites to cancel each booking we’d made.

It was last time of booking campsites abroad, with the exception of a few Christmas trips. From then on our journey style was simple and basic with no planning involved.

Aire de Camping Cars

One thing learnt really quickly, was the French, who loved motorhoming, rarely used campsites.

Instead, we were noticing French motorhomes parking in dedicated areas across the country.

What were these popular parking areas which we kept coming across? Soon, we knew the answer. These were “Aires de Camping Cars” and they were part of the furniture in France.

It took us a little longer to know the full picture about Aires ( the shortened name for them) learning as we went along. In the process, we were beginning to motorhome just like the French.

The dedicated motorhome areas in France, often with a service area too, gave a whole new way of flexi travels to our trips away.

Finding these “Aires” was a little tricky though, relying on town signs and often following behind other motorhomes! Although, we managed to find a French book lisiting Aires, this was in very small print and all in French with no photo’s, it wasn’t exactly easy to read.

Eventually, there was to be a book published in the UK in English, ‘All the Aires in France’ and many years later with smart phones and then data roaming came Apps. All this hands on information made finding Aires so much easier.

Spreading our wings

With each trip abroad came a compulsion to explore more and further. Soon, we were spreading our wings, touring Germany, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia and more.

Each trip was spent trying to see as much as possible in a region, rather than “trying to see everything and ending up seeing nothing”. It’s a sort of principle we stuck to through our 20 years motorhome travel.

Along the way we were talking to fellow motorhome owners, gaining invaluable information and learning more than ever.

Although this was a time when few people had motorhomes, those who did, really knew their stuff. We met some really enthusiastic motorhomers with a knowledge of information to share and we absorbed everything, simply to help make our travels the best they could be.

Changing motorhomes – 20 Years Motorhome Travel

Through the years, our motorhomes changed with our type of travels. The Swift Bessacarr was sold and we bought an ex demonstrator A-Class Carthago in its place. Unbelievably, it was the only one available in the country at the time, from their only dealer, Lowdhams.

Although, we didn’t have a choice, it turned out to be a great family motorhome.

It was also a big motorhome, with really good winterisation, at a time when ski trips were a big part of the annual family getaway.

As the children became adults and began flying the nest, our own motorhoming travels were once again up for questioning.

The A-Class was just becoming too restrictive for us and after so many years touring, we were ready for a more adventure based van.

That’s where our 4×4 campervan came in, changing to an off road camper after 10 years of motorhoming. Today, we’ve been 10 years with the 4×4 campervan and we still love this van!

Campervaning across Australia

Some of the best van travel adventures of the last 20 years motorhome travel came to us by chance. Back in 2016, I entered a competition for Heathrow Airports 70th birthday, which was to write about a time you’d been through Heathrow.

After sending off my entry via Instagram, I forgot all about it. Then, unbelievably, I had an e-mail saying I’d won a star prize – flights for two with Qantas to Sydney and 5 nights in a luxury hotel.

By coincidence, it came at a time of finishing our motorhome hire business, which we’d had for several years. With time on our hands, we were able to extend our return flights, staying 6 months in Australia.

It was a trip that changed our lives for so many reasons, but it was simply the most intoxicating, exciting road trip we’ve ever done to this day.

It began by buying and converting a small van into a campervan in Sydney. But, after all the effort, it just didn’t work out. So, we ended up hiring a campervan in Sydney and setting out overland around Australia, on a phenomenal trip covering 23,000km.

Self-Build campervan in New Zealand

After returning from Australia, life just wasn’t the same. We’d been on a rollercoaster of excitement for 6 months, with the most incredible locations, wildlife and people on a daily basis.

By chance, not one but both of our children were separately off to New Zealand. This meant another opportunity which we hadn’t expected. We’d hired motorhomes in New Zealand back in the early 00’s, so knew it was a country where motorhoming was really popular.

With that in mind, we set about buying a van and once again converting it into a campervan. This time though, after learning many lessons from the Australia van, we stuck to a new van and had help with the conversion from some camper build professionals who we’d met by chance.

It was such a great time, spending British winter in New Zealand, touring in the campervan and coming home for Summer, where, we’d tour in Europe in our La Strada camper. Unfortunately, it was the world events of Covid-19 which ended up unexpectedly changing our vanlife journey again.

In March 2020, just as the world closed down, we took one of the last flights out of New Zealand. We had no way of knowing at the time, but this was to be our last trip.

We miss those winter trips to New Zealand, but things move on and so did we.

Such Big Changes – 20 Years Motorhome Travel

Not only have our own motorhome travels changed over the last 20 years, but the whole motorhome industry has too.

Some of the big changes are obvious. No longer are motorhomes a rare sight on the roads, but they are pretty much everywhere!

Campervans

Campervans have become so popular with numerous designs, layouts and sizes available. The panel van conversion has become one of the most visible van travel trends of recent years.

To us, the meaning in the terminology ‘campervan’ has changed, as there so many van types available. 20 years ago, a campervan was usually thought of as a small day van, without facilities or even space to stand up.

Nowadays, campervans come in all shapes and sizes, as panel van and motorhome manufacturers provide different van travel experiences to the market. There are numerous campervans available with similar facilities to a conventional motorhome.

Huge coach type motorhomes

Another big increase in the market is the opposite end of the scale to a campervan. This comes in the huge coach type motorhomes. Sometimes combining a garage for a small car and often seen on the southern coast of Spain each winter.

4×4 campervans

In 2015 when we took delivery of our new 4×4 campervan, there were only 3 manufactures building on the Mercedes Sprinter 4×4. A decade later, this has changed beyond recognition. There are literally so many manufactures now building on a 4×4, with new ones being added all the time.

Not only are there MAN and the Sprinter 4×4’s, but a whole array of overland type vehicles too.

These consist of lorries, trucks, pick up conversions and panel van conversions. There really is a 4×4 van for everyone.

Technology

Probably the biggest advantage to motorhome travel today is the advances in technology.

20 years ago, we didn’t have smart phones, let alone data roaming to use internet abroad.

To access the Internet, we had to find a tourist office or internet cafe and pay to use their public computer for a brief time.

As the years and technology have changed beyond recognition, so too have the accessories which use it.

Social Media

Social media has been such a vast change to motorhoming. We wonder, how many people have been attracted to buying a motorhome just through viewing idyllic images on social media.

As social media grew, so too did the ability to use it on smart phones with the introduction of data roaming. It’s hard to imagine a world before being able to access everything instantly on our phones.

From influencers to travel ideas, park ups and places to see, social media has been inspiring so many, helping grow a van travel trend.

Vanlife

We remember some of the early Instagram posts of the new phenomenon around something called ‘vanlife’. The days when you could only post one photo and hashtags brought the vanlife image to the world.

Vanlife has grown enormously since starting out in the US and criss-crossing around the world. This new phrase began creating a whole subject in itself and vanlife travel craze in the process.

Apps

One of the big changes to motorhome travel was the arrival of motorhome parking apps. We first began to notice these about 9 or 10 years ago, but didn’t have enough data roaming to use them properly.

Now, with more Apps to choose from and data roaming usually available to use them, they’ve become an accessory we can’t do without.

Living in on the road full-time

20 years ago, motorhomes were usually a kind of holiday home on wheels, bought for leisure, travel and parked at home or in storage in between trips.

Then, there seemed to be a real increase in people buying motorhomes and similar vehicles to live a life on the road. Soon becoming known as ‘full timers’ people were selling up their house to live in a van.

At the same time, there was a real increase in self-builds too. As a whole range of interior design crossed from the house to the van and with it, some enticing social media images of the vanlife dream.

Prices

For those fellow old-time motorhomers, you’ll know all too well of the vast increase in the price of motorhomes and campervans.

Many are today upwards of £100,000, some the price of a house. The cost of buying one of these homes on wheels has really gone through the roof!

Motorhome parking bans and no space on official areas

We usually like to keep a positive vibe, but the one big change we’ve seen over the last two decades has to be on the number of motorhome parking bans and it’s not just one country.

There were once so many places where motorhomes were able to park up, but now signs provide the grim news of no parking. Height barriers, fines and signs began appearing some years ago, especially in coastal areas, with each year seeming to bring more unwelcome news.

As motorhomes have become more popular, some regions have become over subscribed. So campsites and dedicated motorhome areas can be full for days or even weeks and bans outside these areas mean the flexi travels of yesteryear have become slightly more restrictive.

The Future

Has vanlife or motorhome travel reached a peak? This we don’t yet know. We’ve seen less campervans than usual this travel year, but maybe that’s just because of where we’ve been.

Time will tell if the van travel trend will continue, or maybe people’s travel habits will change.

For us, we just can’t see ourselves being without a campervan. This kind of travel, moving on each day, never knowing where we’ll end up and seeing places we’d just never reach otherwise has been truly magical.

Every van travel day is different, each place and sight an education. From the people we meet along the way, the weird and wonderful experiences, scenery, history, wildlife and landscapes. For us it’s been 20 unforgettable years with so much seen, yet hardly touching the surface of this incredible world we live in.

Here’s hoping to another 20 years exploring and to all of you out there on your own van journey.

thanks for reading ’20 Years Motorhome Travel’.