Well if i end up at someone elses campfire circle on my way home its just more freinds ive met At camperjam one year i spent a fair few hours with club 80-90 before finding my way home and there was a lady there that made congi look like a monk The great part about owning a vw bus/van is the variety of people you meet Well it used to be
As an x tent dweller (3 years) my bus is the last word in luxuryyyyy ! >sleeping bag>stove>food>tea>radio,>solitude >luv it .for me, leastwise ,less is more.
I'm not too sure what to say about ours as other than beer,fizz,food and a few clothes everything is always in and ready to go.Though if I bought an awning I could probably hire it out as a wedding venue
You should get USB sockets installed for the leisure battery, then you can charge your phones without hookup. I've got all the relevant cables to run phones and my Macbook off leisure battery power if needed. The only other thing the leisure battery currently gets used for is lighting and the radio.
My omther has gone this way , we have been camping , in miminal juxery since I was 16 . then when I was in my 20's we stopped ( with my mother), Mick and I started again in my later 20's then stopped when Bow was born. Then my father died so my mother was free of her caring role, then the trouble started, we go camping 3 or 4 times a year , she buys anything camping related, but it has got worse since we have had Ollie, you'd be amazed at the numerous gadgets, lights, heaters ( weh ave never used), carbon monoixide detects, now a flag pool and flag............................................but the thing is i have my own cmaping equipment too, so we have two of most things ! Only child and her mother deep joy
It's very easy to fall into the trap of getting all that camping crap when you first get a van. We fell into that trap 5 years ago, but thankfully it was mostly retro 80's stuff that we got given by my inlaws. Our first camping trip we literally filled the back of the van up to the level of the windows on the sliders, and the back over the engine you couldn't see out of the back. Chairs and tables and a massive awning, this gismo, that gismo, etc. So many people see all that stuff in the camping shops and think "ooh, that'd be nice" and before you know it you're knee deep in the stuff and it takes 2 hours to break camp. We've sold a lot of our stuff, and got the packing in the van down to only those things we need. Once I've got the fridge installed, we can ditch the electric coolboxes too. You realise that you don't actually need all that crap and that camping is all about getting away from it all and the simplicity. I like @Birdy's philosophy that everything has to have 2 or more uses. If you have that in mind, then you'll take a lot less stuff and it'll take a lot less time to pack away. But then I don't understand people who buy a gismo for their house that only has one use - electric egg poachers, mini doughnut makers - they only do one thing for one meal, or one type of occasion, and the rest of the time they just clutter up your house.
You lot are weird, especially Flag dwellers hahaha - I just have my smalls flapping in the breeze! Travel lite
Beer, pot noodles and a grill off the bar B from home. Have got an awning after last summer, 10 muddy mates with beer and munchies just doesn't fit into a bus even with the poptop up. Unless you hang out with oompa loompas
Our set up varies on how long we're spending somewhere, whether it's a proper campsite or a field, whether we're camping with friends or just us, what the weather's doing, whether we'll be moving the van whilst we're there etc etc etc. We've got an awning which we use if we're somewhere more than one night and the weather looks ominous or we'll definitely be driving away and want to leave a few bits behind; a windbreak for extreme windiness, though we've hardly used it and rarely take it with us and a flag which is handy for spotting the van at a festival or just identifying ourselves (there aren't many moose flags out there!). As for gadgets - a radio, MP3 players, Kindles and once or twice a laptop to watch a DVD. Oh an electric kettle if we've got hook-up.
We only tend to take stuff that has a place to be stowed way as we often camp in laybys and carparks and back lanes. So need the space always ready without having to move stuff from here to there and back again.
If i'm on my own i travel light , Beer , Whisky, Pot noodle clean shreadys If mrs bugcatcher is along for the trip its at least 1 of everything, or what she can get away with. Bunting, ahh dont get me started. By the time bumpnudger 7 has everything set up ,his van looks like a fairy grotto. .
We don't travel light but can get set up in 30 minutes. Apart from the flagpole, the bunting, the gnome, the fairy lights.......
It all depends on whether the girls are with me!! Just me: Sun/ rain canopy up Fire pit out (have a grill to use it as a barbeque too) Chair out Beer open!! takes about 10 minutes With the girls: Park Faff about toilet break Faff about By which time i have the mountain road out and ready for a hand to stand up stand the awning up, and peg the guy ropes excuse the girls as its easier to sort on your own from there open beer nail down awning open another beer get chairs ,table,toys, carpet, into awning another beer before the girls return!!
It used to take just over a minute for me to set up. Handbrake Engine stop Put up blinds Open bottle of something. Simples! I have had to fit this lot to the camper just to carry Mrs TBR's vast hoards of unnecessary tat. And the back rack isn't even loaded yet!
