The question above, accompanied by at least 1 raised eyebrow, is what we got several times already when meeting new people, trying to explain what we are doing. The short and very clear answer is that no, we don’t but let’s wind back a bit:
Where to go first?
During our 127 days in between “let’s do this” and our day of departure and leaving the UK, we talked many times about where to go first, how to get there and how to get around once there. Our departure was planned for the 1st of March 2023 and the appeal to instantly jet off into the sun, somewhere far away and exotic was definitely there. But where to go? What to take? Are we overwhelming everybody by jumping head first into a different culture, language and climate?
Another option was to explore Europe further first – there are many places we think could really suit us as a place to settle. Schengen rules apply to half of the family (which consists of a New Zealander, a German, a Brit and an all-of-the-above) and although settling would be easy enough, constant travelling in the Schengen area is slightly more complicated. We eventually decided to travel 3 months through Europe first (Benelux, Germany, France, Italy, Greece) and at that point the plan was to pass our Schengen shuffle time in one of the Balkan states and/ or Turkey. While this itinerary changed a few days before we left and even was adjusted while we were on the go, the next question about this remained the same:
How to get there and around?
My long standing dream of living van life, travelling in a motor home, being always on the road seemed closer than ever before. There are many families on instagram and youtube doing exactly that very happily so why shouldn’t we?
Well, we have not ever travelled in one, have no idea what to expect, how to maintain either a van or motorhome and the different chassis, layouts, sizes and so much more is a jungle of information!
Further adding to that: If we travel in a motorhome – how do we then get around at our destinations? Surely entering cities will be extra stressful – parking is hard to find, roads are tight and there might even be rules that you can not enter at all. And we would not want to pack up from camp sites daily? We were very fast overwhelmed and there was the risk of decision fatigue kicking in.
Some research brought us to the conclusion that it would be wise to start out by renting several vehicles for short periods to get to know your wants and needs and then purchase your own. We obviously did not have the time to do that before our departure and a quick google showed us that the cost of renting several caravans or motorhomes for short periods makes financially no sense is astronomically high, especially since we ideally would want to continue our journey and not having to drive “back” to return a vehicle.
Financial reasons and too many unanswered questions aside, we had no idea how we all would cope with our move from leaving a 6-bedroom, 190square metre house so moving into a tiny home on wheels felt just too big of an additional risk – especially with a teen & a toddler in tow having very different needs. As for me personally, I was mostly wondering how I would ever be able to sleep listening to all the heavy snorers of the family at once…
Once a call to our car insurance was made, the decision was clear: We will travel through Europe first- with our own car and we will stay in a mix of holiday apartments, hostels, AirBnBs etc.
Update 27th of February 2023:
The day before the big day we had filled every nook and cranny of the car but too many things did not fit. We had to transport a bunch of stuff to Germany to keep safe with family on top of what we wanted to take, so that did not really help.
A panic attack was just about averted because Halfords was just a 2 min drive away and they luckily had a much bigger roof box than our current one not only on offer but also in stock – phew!
Update 1st of July 2023:
After about 10,000km, 4 months, 10 countries and luckily only 2 flat tires, we are happy we took the decision to drive with our car. It helped to book ferries in advance knowing what vehicle and licence plate we will have but also gave us the freedom we were after – being able to drive wherever we needed to and bringing us safely from A to B.
(No one paid us for advertising – special thanks to Otwin Hoffman Ford in Sohren, Germany for fitting us in without a booking to get us back on the road again!)
By early September, we will leave Europe and are heading to Malaysia which means we will sell our car just ahead of time. In Kuala Lumpur we aim to use public transport and Grab ( app like Uber) where needed.
We have also decided that we want to get a home on wheels of some sort once we are back to Europe to provide us with more flexibility in times, how long we stay in a place and, most importantly, to avoid the weekly packing and unpacking we are currently doing and get more a feeling of having a “home”.
How do you usually travel? Are you living the van life with kids and can share with us your journey, learnings and best tips? Are you following a family on social channels who are showing the ins and outs?
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