Radio flyers and hair dryers When me n Lou first started dubbing in our 71 Danbury we thought it was looooqxuory man , i mean it had beds and a sink and everything ,you could even get warm by lighting the cooker , jeez Louise : after slumming it in a two man tent a few times in wet Wales the Danbury was the Ritz . To be fair we never took much with us when we went out on our van trips , we had each other for warmth , bacon and eggs in the cool box and a portapotty under the buddy when we needed more than a tree to waz against , actually Lou never wazzed up a tree - i lied there ! but you get my meaning , we travelled light and made do with the local fayre , ham sandwiches and local made pork pie's seem to stick in my mind as our usual staple travel diet. our underwear got changed occasionally but the top clothes were pretty much kept on all weekend , or changed a couple of times on weekly trips ,we bathed in mountain streams come rain or shine and on occasion we used to suss out cheap campsites with showers to keep the grime down to a minimum but other than that we had no luxury's as such , we never even had chairs for outside the van, we did have a couple of car blankets that we threw on the ground for picnics or days on the beach : we even had a torch and camera but that was it - we did keep our accessorie expenditure to a minimum in those days i must admit . These days it's all leccy hook ups and hair dryers , you can get tv , t'nternet , free wifi's and all sorts , i heard of a vw owner who has a microwave , the only microwave i use is to t4 owners , Barbecues , fire pits , flushing poo boxes and everything else you can think of go into our vans these days , no wonder our fuel consumption is high . Then there's them radio flyers , the first time i heard of them i thought there was a model aircraft club nearby , but no they are those pull along tonka toys that some think look cool and others think look like you have all the gear and no idea , what the eck are they all about ehh ? I dunno , it were all different in my day - bloody hippys !
Oi!!!! Don't blame the hippies, it's all these young 'uns who want all their mod-cons. We older people just make do.
I must agree there poptop2 , it amazes me all the gadgets that can be bought , not saying that I am not planning to have a few. But radioflyers, I love radioflyers , as a kid I wanted one however ended up buying an orange pull a long trolley from debenhams , some 30 years later our kids have it and I have a nice big green pull along garden trolley , won't fit on the van though !
We don't have any 'gadgets' in the van, but do like a few comforts, so when I was loading up on Friday for our first camping trip of the year, it seemed to take forever, and I longed for the 'chuck in a bag and set off for the weekend' approach of camping! Still - now it's in there (chairs/table/awning/thermo mats/mattress topper etc etc) it'll stay in for the rest of the year, hopefully, so future trips will be a bit quicker to prepare for!
Bloody hippy here. By poptop2 your camping experiences sound like the epitome of hippiness, all that was missing was the joss sticks and centreing yer chackras. Big tongue in cheek. We have a flyer. Got it at BVF donks ago. We had an old Dachshund; Mr B who was dossing so much in the crowds that it was getting frustrating. We bought the B mobille and hit the gas. Two steps later"Ooo,your dog's so cute! Can we stroke him?" OK. Another two steps "Ooo your dog,s..." Ad infinitum. No more Mr B, and the flyers under the stairs full of parts. What gets my goat is plates and the like plastered in busses and bugs. At home my crockery aint got a picture of a 3 bedroom council house! Each to their own I suppose.
Just the world (the consumer world) things have moved on. People have everything and they want more so China invents it for us! I dont fancy the idea of dragging my daughter or anything else along in a cart at a show! Those things must weigh a bit in their own right? We travel light too in spite of my other half wanting to bring everything along with her! I keep pointing out the reason I got the Bay is because its the right size for us 3 not us 3 plus the contents of the house!!! I have not spent the past few months building my lightweight interior to then have it offset with 3 Tonnes of junk! Less is deffo more in my book!
Its partly about getting the necessities together. My van is more or less - get in and go most of the time (for me it is at least) but if were away for more than a couple of nights the women (three of em) start stressing about all sorts. They arent daft but "are we having hook up!" is always one of the first questions. Its sad but I dont look forwards to going away as a family any more. Its more stressful than enjoyable and the flexibility of having a camper is lost when it takes you an hour just to get it in a a driveable state each time you want to move it. And then theres awnings. Great for that extra space but a right royal pita!
Just got the artwork back for my new crockery range. Don't know if to go for "Council Chic" or "Elite Estate". Looks really crap, so it'll sell loads. Considering "Trailer Park Panache" and "Bed Sit Worcester"for future ranges. Really BIG tongue in cheek. I ve lived in and still do all the above.
Radio Flyers - since I got my ankle cracked by one & a torrent of expletives from said "lady" pulling it, I hate them big time..junk the lot of em I say!!
totally agree, it takes forever just to go anywhere in the modern car never mind a camping trip! Even our old friend Martin D says in his book, put all the stuff you need in the van ready to go at the drop of a hat - not forgetting Jamie Olivers books whilst you are at it ! hahahahaa
Since my youngest out grew the push chair a Flyer is the only way to get the crap from the van to the beech! When they are old enough to carry all that goes with them, then the Flyer will be passed on to the next cool dubber
yeh if youve got kids theyre great for either lugging them about if not all the bits and bobs also doublesnup as something for them to sleep in so you can carry on having a good time... i saw it put to good use this weekend with Robo and family... if i had little ones i'd probs get one too x
