Rambling Nan

I’m not much of a one for retail therapy. In fact I hate shopping with a vengeance. But, If I’m going to do this camper van thing, I’m going to need a van, and then I’m going to need ‘stuff’.

Van first. I love my time away with just dogs and AirBNB make it easy to find suitable, fully equipped accommodation. Getting there is sometimes not easy though – at least not when I’m travelling alone with pooches. It’s thoroughly irresponsible to leave dogs alone in a car and I won’t do it…..but when I’m on the road, I can’t take them into service station toilets, which means I have to find somewhere for a sneaky wild wee. So far I’ve never been caught – but that day will surely come. And to be honest, I’m too old for baring my ar*e in random places. If my vehicle had some sort of a loo, It’d be a dream. And so the idea of transitioning from cottage holidays to a camper van started to form in my head.

But what sort of van? And what would it cost?

From age 55 I’ve been able to access my pension pot. It’s not a huge pot, but it would set me up with a camper. 

First up, the van itself. My pals J and P love van life. Along with their pup, they’re away most weekends visiting all sorts of wonderful places and sometimes, heading out to somewhere they can just ‘be’. I love the idea of having that sort of freedom and flexibility – even though I still need to think about who will look after my pets if I can’t take them with me, who will water the plants when I’m not at home etc etc etc

What would I need from a camper van? In an ideal world it would be a home from home with every on board facility I could ever need. Toilet, shower, wifi, winter heating, air conditioning, full kitchen – a mobile Air BNB. But it would also need to be mechanically sound – I’m not able to fix engines and don’t fancy getting stranded anywhere remote.

My research took me to an overwhelming variety of vehicles from vintage VW’s to converted transit vans, ‘proper’ motor homes, to mini motor homes to goodness knows what else. Too much choice!

Working as a copywriter gives me an insight into different thought processes in different industries. Most of my clients are involved in designing and building gardens. So I took my thought process from the garden design principals of establishing functionality before styling. What do I actually want to do in/with this vehicle? And therefore what features are essential and what features are definitely unwanted?

• First up, I need somewhere to sleep.
• Somewhere for grandchildren to sleep.
• Daytime seating in case the weather doesn’t allow sitting outdoors
• A basic kitchen for storing ingredients and cooking simple meals
• A vehicle I can drive and park with ease. Particularly for travelling on smaller roads in the UK – because that’s where the exciting places tend to be.
• Affordable fuel consumption
• Room for a passenger – I do like 1-2-1 time away with the grandchildren
• Dog friendly. ie with seat belts for travelling, easy to jump in and out of, dog can be tethered.
• Reliable – super important!
• Onboard facilities of some kind or other
• Easy to insure (no quibbles over conversions etc)
• Fun.

J & P have a Bumble camper van. They love it. It’s a manageable size, and although it has no onboard loo and the most basic of cooking facilities, they can live in it for days at a time.

Our hired Bumble camper van. A lovely Toyota with a roof tent for J

I decided to hone my research by hiring a Bumble to first of all confirm that I actually do want to spend my pension pot on a camper van. But also to discover whether Bumble simplicity provided ME with everything I need to enjoy being a rambling Nan. More on that adventure later. But suffice to say, Milo the dog, J the grandson and I had a great time. J slept in a roof tent, which meant that Milo and I were in the cabin. Cooking was on a portable BBQ and a gas stove. And whilst there were a couple of things I didn’t like about that particular Bumble – I did get to figure out what I need and don’t need in a camper.

Milo enjoyed the accessiblity of the rear kitchen a bit too much!

Added to my list above were a pop top – I’m too old to get dressed without being able to stand up. And a layout so that dogs don’t have too high to jump into the vehicle. At 29 Kg, Milo is too heavy for me to lift from the floor onto a bed which takes up the entire back of the vehicle and sits at my hip height from the ground.

As for grandchildren sleeping space, J was clear that he quite liked having a completely separate sleeping compartment and that a pup tent would suit him perfectly.

Toiletting wasn’t actually an issue. OK, so the Bumble didn’t have an onboard loo or shower, but I managed OK. Going forward, I’d need room for a portable loo of some sort. J was with me and could dog sit while I wandered across to the toilet block. Alternatively, the site we chose was happy for dogs to go into the loos with their people. 

Best of all, I loved that I could drive and park the vehicle with confidence down little lanes, on motorways, into supermarket car parks – anywhere I wanted too. I was hooked. A Bumble it would be.

As soon as we returned our hired Bumble to it’s base, I cut a deal with the very amenable James and set a date to collect my lovely camper.

Next job was to decide what to put in it – that’s for another post I think.