OUr story campervan castaways

We’re Sonia and Nigel, the mid-life crisis couple, who’ve had a life long love affair with touring by van. Our story of Campervan Castaways began over 30 years ago. Back then, as a couple of teenagers, we fell in love with each other and van travels, long before the modern phenomenon known affectionately as vanlife! 

Fast forward through various tourers, campervans and motorhomes and we still think it’s just the best form of travel and accommodation on the planet! 

Embarking on New Adventures

Married for 32 years, raising two amazing son’s, we are now free to embark on new adventures. Exploring in our Sprinter 4×4 based in Wales, where our travels take us across Europe.

We also bought a a van and converted it into a self-build campervan in New Zealand, where our Son lived until the long lockdowns there forced his return and the sale of our campervan. Although we spent some really good Winter’s in New Zealand, touring far and wide.

New Zealand North v South Island

When we used to work – Our Story Campervan Castaways

Work, yes we’ve done lots of that! Before finishing full-time work in 2016 and driving off into the sunset, we had a motorhome hire business for nearly 10 years. This is now safely relegated to the ‘that’s what we used to do’ banner! Now, we enjoy more of our own tales of travel, rather than other people’s.

Starting a Camperstop 

Alongside the business came a camperstop too. A little spot where weary owners could park up for the night at our motorhome hire base. It became a great way to meet like-minded people, all on journey’s of their own.

Our First Van

Before the motorhome travel love affair took hold, we had touring caravans (arghh….we hear your pain)….Buying our first caravan, a Thompson Glen, at 18 years old was dreamy. Unfortunately, we needed to buy a washing machine – that meant selling the caravan! Yes, times were tough back in those teenage years.

Memories to Last a lifetime

Between the various outfits we’ve travelled far and wide covering hundred’s of thousands of miles. Enjoying every minute, those amazingly surreal and beautiful places, incredible cultures and fantastic memories keep the dream of van travel alive.

Our Story Campervan Castaways – Countries

France – All regions, some several times over! OK, who doesn’t go there? With so much diversity, skiing, wine tasting, the Mediterranean, Roman ruins – it’s got the lot, quite literally.

Austria –  The Grossglockner High Alpine Road, not for the faint-hearted type; Incredible lakes, mountains and The Sound of Music – bliss.

Germany – Bliss again with all those Spa’s if you haven’t been – why not go for a good soak. Then there’s the beer, wine and some of the most amazing rivers in Europe, aswell of course, the brilliant motorhome Stellplatz system.

Netherlands – It’s cycling heaven with dreamy canals, incredible bulb fields and iconic windmills.

Belgium – Who doesn’t love Belgium chocolate? Not only does it come in a variety of unprintable shapes and sizes but it tastes great too. Then on the opposite end of the spectrum is the historic, yet heart-wrenching First World War sights, harrowing and something that stay’s with you forever.

Croatia – Despite having joined the EU in 2023, Croatia is still very unspoilt, with little in the way of major development and plenty of low-key regions to explore. Then of course, are those stunningly beautiful waters of the Adriatic.

Slovenia – Soaring in popularity are the iconic Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj, the more well known locations, but there’s so much ,more to Slovenia than these tourist hot-spots and it’s certainly a country that’s come along in leaps and bounds since our first visit in 2012.

So much more to see

Spain – Cheap as chips along the coast, but with great cities in land, exceptional Winter sunshine, lovely beaches and incredible inland regions. In fact, get away from the coast and the magic of Spain really begins to hit home.

Luxembourg – This is one small and classy country, where fuel is famously low cost and motorhome Aire’s mean strees-free travels through the really pleasant countryside.

New Zealand – One country that has to be on most peoples to go to list. Well we’ve been fortunate enough to spend many months at a time in the North and South Islands and there is absolutely something for everyone, but you need to see it for yourself to appreciate just how beautiful it is. They also have an excellent “freedom camping” system for motorhomes.

Australia – There’s no words to describe our 23,000KM, 6 month overland trip across Australia. Quite simply, there is nowhere to beat this incredible country, it is simply phenomenal and possibly so good it changed our outlook on life forever – just awesome.

The United Kingdom, that’s England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, for any non-Brits it’s not just England! As for us Welsh, we’re just slightly drawn to Snowdonia, after all, who can’t resist a hike up the 2nd highest mountain in the UK and all those castles.

Italy – Wow, it’s so friendly and reasonable with just the best of food. There’s incredible history mixed with amazing wines, dramatic mountains, long cycle paths and a great Sosta system for us campervan owners.

Liechtenstein – The 6th smallest country in the world bags masses of culture. Along with refined architecture and fabulous Alpine surroundings and it’s also super campervan friendly despite being so small.

Love writing

There’s plenty of the planet left to see, but even if we live another 30 years somehow we feel time is already running out.  So, hurry up and finish writing this – let’s get on with the journey.

By the way, I love writing! Our blog and occasional articles for UK motorhome magazine, Practical Motorhome keep me busy on the road and at home, where catching up on the travels and sharing the adventures is just a pleasure.

Life is no Rehearsal

Finally, life, as we know, is no rehearsal. We may have jumped off the merry-go-round of full-on work several years ago, but we’ve never looked back. Now, we’re living life as we want to live it, in the way we want, giving time for enjoying each other, our family and travels together for as long as we can.

There’s no rules, plans or expectations, we’re just in the moment, enjoying life, especially even more so after the 3 years of lockdowns across the world. Wow, doesn’t that loss of freedom make you realise how important freedom to travel actually is. After all, we’ve always said that travel is one of the best forms of education and every day is a learning curve.

So, welcome on board and we really hope you join us on the journey and follow your own dreams. Let’s remember it’s about living, loving and share the road together, wherever that may be.

Sonia and Nigel

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