In these last two years I have never been more grateful for owning a camper van….
Chris and I were lucky enough to get away for another long weekend in the camper van. This time we went to a completely different country, and went to Wales! We were mainly in the Brecon Beacons area, and then spending time on the English border in the Wye Valley. The scenery was absolutely beautiful, so I hope you enjoy watching…
The freedom of being able to get away whenever you want to is the epitome of van life. If someone who enjoys luxury hotels, apartments by the pool or air bnbs in a fashionable city, asks why someone would choose a camper van as a holiday; I’m betting the word ‘freedom’ comes up in the answer. You don’t necessarily need to book anywhere to stay; you don’t need to be on anyone else’s schedule – you can arrive when you want and leave when you want and travel anywhere you want! Without having somewhere to get back to every evening, you’re also much more likely to explore further afield and discover new places.
You have everything you need with you ALL the time! Can you imagine how useful that is? Never again will you go off somewhere for the day and realise you left the sun cream, or the umbrella in the hotel room. As long as you remembered to pack it in the first place, it will always be there with you.
If you have access to electricity via solar panels or batteries, and can power a small fridge, then you can also have your food with you whenever you want it! On every trip in the van we park up somewhere with a lovely view and make ourselves a meal. And this feels like such a luxury. It’s a time when you slow down, stop exploring and relax for a few minutes and take in your surroundings while you eat. We have almost every lunch or dinner looking out at countryside or a seascape, and that makes me so happy!
The space is a huge advantage as well. Changing in and out of a wetsuit in the privacy of your own van is a hell of a lot easier than trying to keep your dignity with just a towel for protection! And the space with a family is wonderful. In an ideal summer, we’d be eating picnics with our kids in the great outdoors, but I live in England, and that really can’t be relied upon! So when we were on holiday in the camper van with the kids, it was lovely to actually sit and face each other while we had lunch in the pouring rain, rather than passing them sandwiches to the back seats of the car.
And I mentioned the wetsuit changing, but as you probably know, I’m often changing outfits for photo shoots, whether that’s for my clothing business, Threads of a Fairytale, or for Instagram or this blog; my goodness, that’s a whole lot easier in a van! So that’s another plus point for me.
Of course I’m not saying there’s anything at all wrong with other kinds of holidays, I’m just trying to explain it if you’re wondering why camper van holidays are so popular! There are disadvantages too of course; sometimes not knowing where you’re going to be sleeping that night can be stressful; and we still haven’t sorted a heated shower yet! That will be coming though. At least, Chris better get that sorted soon!
Although we’d popped over the border briefly before, this was our first proper trip to Wales, and we’ll definitely be going back. The views were stunning, and we loved the rivers and waterfalls. We’ve also heard the west coast is lovely, so when we have a bit more time, we’ll go further and explore that area too.
I’ve got several videos of our camper van trips, but here’s the one from last week, exploring the Brecon Beacons area of Wales and the Wye Valley:
