Transition from caravan to motorhome

B&B. I think people who've done both will understand your mixed feelings and it can take awhile to adjust to a slightly different holiday style, there are pluses and minuses with both. 

It's easy to find out about transport on line, in tourist offices and information rooms on site. It isn't just motorhomers that make use of bus passes either. One of the major pluses is taking a motorhome off site, you have everything with you! So much depends on the size of M/H you have chosen and how flexible it is for short and long journeys.

There are things we definitely don't miss, particularly setting up in skin drenching weather, on the other hand we sometimes miss nipping out in a car but we've adapted and both experiences have been enjoyable. Give yourself a bit more time to adjust. 

"Size of the motorhome matters. It sets the parameters for what you can and cannot do but it does not stop you enjoying motorhomes. You just have to adjust. 6.5m is my maximum length because nothing bigger will fit on our drive. Our caravans had to go in storage."

certainly agree with this, we are lucky enough to have a long drive which can accommodate two cars and our MH.

while some will cite the 'downside' of having a van close to home, the advantages outweigh this many times over.

being able to pop into the van piecemeal and add (or remove stuff.. clothes, water, bikes etc) is a boon...eg i couldnt take the bikes to a storage area (car too small) and would have to bring the van back here, waste of time if the route is in the opposite direction...

our pals dont have a drive, just a shared pull in that serves a row of houses, with little chance of bringing the van the mile or so back from their local compound.....so even this short distance sometimes means multiple trips to load/unload.

also, depending on the storage facilities and rules, it may not have ehu, or allow washing etc.....things you take for granted with the van at home.

like Alan, im sure some have packing/unpacking a caravan down to a fine art but ive seen others take best part of a day to get their large awning, mats, windbreaks, dog compounds and the like set up.

similarly, some take their awning down 'the day before' (as it takes so long) and perhaps put it up the day after arrival for a similar reason.

not much point in having an awning thats only used for three days of a five day stay...especially if repeated at the next site.

 

 

like Alan, im sure some have packing/unpacking a caravan down to a fine art but ive seen others take best part of a day to get their large awning, mats, windbreaks, dog compounds and the like set up.

Yep, when we pulled up on site mid December we arrived just after 12. Couple that took a pitch opposite me were already pitched. It was loosing light and B cold by the time that they had everything sorted but they did have Christmas lights to put up on the caravan. We pitched and was in the nearby Morrisons before 12.40 waiting for our lunch. We wanted to shop and thought that we would do our normal arrival sequence for our December stay of set up caravan, sort out inside, go do some shopping and grab a bite whilst the caravan heats up

Hi B&B, we were new to MH world last year, like so many replies, flexibility is key notched up 12 different sites, not including night stops on route, or lunch in the New Forest twice on way home, not looked back, as you have already said stick with it and enjoy ease of use.

@ BB

similarly, some take their awning down 'the day before' (as it takes so long) and perhaps put it up the day after arrival for a similar reason.

Our awning will often come down the day before, not because it takes so long, but because it's dry. The next morning it often be wet due to morning dew or at least the grass it'll be folded up on will be. 

We thought it out when we reached the age of 70 and even though we were spending most of our travelling time overseas realised that a Motorhome simply  would not work for us.

We knew we were not going to walk or cycle far in the future, and the places we enjoyed going to had next to no public transport at all. We had a list of 20 favourite campsite across Europe where we enjoyed staying - owners whom we knew, some who did meals for us, sites with swimming pools and good facilities, sites in the countryside with trees, flowers, river banks  and pleasant surroundings for us to sit out in the sun. We looked at Motorhome Aires as we travelled across Europe and said these would be the alternatives - but they simply didn't appeal. 

We didn't buy the Motorhome but downsized the big caravan and bought an Eriba instead -we could push it around like a pram, so dumped the awning and the awning furniture, and got arrivals and departures at sites down to ten minutes each. 

No regrets. 

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agreed, age/fitness/confidence etc all contribute to the decision process.

however, i dont think aires are a 'must do' alternative to sites just because one owns a MH. IMHO they are a choice thats available to those who have MH and can be used (or not) to supplement touring and to find somewhere safe to park overnight at short notice.

i guess we all have our favourite sites and we also like to swim, eat out, stroll the hills and mountains but also enjoy the wonderful countryside on our bikes.

we could just as easily visit those sites with a caravan as we do with a MH.

The difference for us is that during the travelling between sites we are never scratching around for winter stop over....so many posts here are for caravanners having to plan around a limited supply of open sites.

yes, the well trodden routes are known and plenty of great advice to be had here, but if i want to pull over a bit earlier or travel on a bit further there is still plenty of choice. for my first stop in France tomorrow i have 3 aires in mind for roughly where we want to be and will choose one depending on how we feel.

if we want to visit a town/city there will virtually always be handy parking, much of it reserved for MHs.

some MHers use aires almost exclusively, returning to a site to perhaps do a bit of washing or clean the van etc...

the choice is there, mix and match as you like, but IMHO one doesn't preclude the other.

either way, just happy to be put there doing it, whichever mode we choose.

Same with us I do all the outside bits and OH does the inside, and as we spend so many nights a year on "tour" we have in down to a fine art and can be set normally in half hour ,as with moving on,our car is the extra load that we had with a motor caravan,on longer trips we tend now to  do a max 130miles per day with overnight stays 

We changed from a caravan to a MH 3.5 years ago and made a conscious decision to not tour like we did with the caravan  but utilise the advantages of a MH.  We rarely stay on site for more than 1 (maybe 2) nights in fact over NY we were on a site for 4 nights and both of us said after 3 days we had itchy feet.

We now do a circular tour where as before like most would centre ourselves somewhere then go out daily to the point of interest/attraction and back to the van, often covering the same roads back and forth rather like a wagon wheel.  We now do a circular tour stopping of at places of interest at the end of each spoke staying overnight or visiting places on route.  We use our bikes to get out and about or walk, stop at supermarkets on the way etc.

The best thing is getting abroad and using the Aire/Stelplatz network where you only need to move a few km each day to see something new and be situated right in the village, at the Chateau or other attraction.  LAst  Autumn in Germany we did the Mosel in Germany and moved perhaps 10-20km each day visiting all the attraction en route or getting out on the bikes each day.  Even in the UK there are lots of places to stay that are not camp sites which you can use, look at search for sites for ideas.

By staying at a site all the time like a caravanner you are not using the MH as it was designed, get a SP, refillable gas and the world is your lobster.