It is not all roses

Yes I know of folks who have holidayed in Skye.
Then moved there. Great in the summer but.....
IMO moving house on retirement is Hazardous.
Direct experience with my parents !
Even Boris has problems ?! Erm.
 
What a very poorly written article that was!

I am not and have never thought of giving up a warm home life to go and live full time in a van, but I know it suits the lifestyle and expectations of a goodly number of people, most especially those who can wild camp and not be burdened with the oft extortionate charges being levied these days by commercial campsites.
But if push came to shove, then the way I converted my van, it would be possible for both of us to live quite comfortably inside it even with our 3 beloved dogs in tow, after all we have undertaken extended tours of as much as 3 months touring Europe in temperatures varying between -17C and +40C.

As for the article, patently the woman concerned wasn't cut out for a nomadic life style nor was she gifted with a brain that didn't realise that an unconverted van would be anything other than like living in hell warmed up!
 
We use our motorhome fpr a full 5 or 6 months every summer.
We have done this since 2013. (2020 excepted)
It is not without its issues.
All liveable.
We decided the summer was ok. But never in winter.
In 2021 we used the vehicle until December...Hard work ...No AWFUL
We had little choice...
Never again...
 
This is an American story, they are not the same as us in many ways.

I was homeless for nearly two years. I was very lucky in that I had somewhere secure to wash and a very very small income.
I tried sleeping in a building that had machinery in it. Waking up and feeling so ill I was wishing I was dead.
In the end my only option left was a transit van. A sleeping bag and a double duvet wrapped around it.
The first shock was how much water a sleeping body could generate.
The vehicle had to remain a working vehicle as that sometimes was a source of income.
One winter was enough, it's no fun waking up with ice on your face and the duvet stuck to it.
The most important thing about living like this is to never let anyone know. You are more venerable than you could ever imagine.
It was very difficult to escape that life.

To live full time in a Motorhome I think you need good friends and or family. Not forgetting a big pot of cash for when things go horribly wrong.
 
I don't think $5k would get you anything short of a leaky shed on wheels that is going to break down a lot so you're not starting out very well, you also need to be quite gregarious and outgoing with a love for everything, going it alone would be hard work unless you like your own company, I've been away twice without Liz and I was bored stiff most of the time.
 
it's hard work . kitchen ,bathroom ,bedroom,toilet, living room ,cab and workshop all in one small tin box .not many could stand being cooped up like that ,sometimes for rainy weeks at a time . we did it with 4 kids and enjoyed it .
while abroad ,i worked for many ex-pats . they didn't really want foreigners working for them, and never learnt the language ,so finding work wasn't hard .
we never had any back up and were skint a lot - but a drop of diesel can move you to a different place entirely, certainly a good test of resourcefulness !
 
Last edited:
The size would never bother me, easy to keep it clean and tidy, I would just be quite lonely, I'm okay talking to people I've never met and will never meet again but the nights are long on your own even if you have plenty to occupy you.
 
jagmanx said:
Yes I know of folks who have holidayed in Skye.
Then moved there. Great in the summer but.....
IMO moving house on retirement is Hazardous.
Direct experience with my parents !
Even Boris has problems ?! Erm.
Click to expand...
Love Scotlands west coast but I would never want to live there. We thought long and hard about where we wanted to retire to didn’t let our heart rule our heads.
 
Holidaying, even for5 6 months of the year is nothing like living full time in a van! You always have the option of returning home and back to comfortable living. I have never lived in a van full time and our motorhome would be far better than a van, but I did know two people who do. One an older couple. They retired, thought travelling would be great. Sold their house and bought a gin palace of a motorhome. The first year did go well. They travelled all over the EU. Intended staying out there. They did come back to visit the kids, but then one became ill. He was the driver and had a heart attack.

The long and short of it, he couldn't drive anymore! She had no licence, never learnt and they were stuck in Spain, but with a brilliant healthcare service. All was OK for a while, but when he was forbidden to drive, one of the kids collected the motorhome and they returned to the UK. Funds depleted, they had no money for a house, so had to move in with one of the kids, eventually renting a place near them.

From a detached house, to near comparative destitution in just over a year. Van life is really a rich persons game. You really must have a fall back if the worst happens.
 
Rumour said:
Holidaying, even for5 6 months of the year is nothing like living full time in a van! You always have the option of returning home and back to comfortable living. I have never lived in a van full time and our motorhome would be far better than a van, but I did know two people who do. One an older couple. They retired, thought travelling would be great. Sold their house and bought a gin palace of a motorhome. The first year did go well. They travelled all over the EU. Intended staying out there. They did come back to visit the kids, but then one became ill. He was the driver and had a heart attack.

The long and short of it, he couldn't drive anymore! She had no licence, never learnt and they were stuck in Spain, but with a brilliant healthcare service. All was OK for a while, but when he was forbidden to drive, one of the kids collected the motorhome and they returned to the UK. Funds depleted, they had no money for a house, so had to move in with one of the kids, eventually renting a place near them.

From a detached house, to near comparative destitution in just over a year. Van life is really a rich persons game. You really must have a fall back if the worst happens.
Click to expand...
Their mistake was not giving it a go but selling their home. If they had rented It out an borrowed to buy their van things would have been different🤷‍♂️ But hindsight is a wonderful thing.
 
Rumour said:
Holidaying, even for5 6 months of the year is nothing like living full time in a van! You always have the option of returning home and back to comfortable living. I have never lived in a van full time and our motorhome would be far better than a van, but I did know two people who do. One an older couple. They retired, thought travelling would be great. Sold their house and bought a gin palace of a motorhome. The first year did go well. They travelled all over the EU. Intended staying out there. They did come back to visit the kids, but then one became ill. He was the driver and had a heart attack.

The long and short of it, he couldn't drive anymore! She had no licence, never learnt and they were stuck in Spain, but with a brilliant healthcare service. All was OK for a while, but when he was forbidden to drive, one of the kids collected the motorhome and they returned to the UK. Funds depleted, they had no money for a house, so had to move in with one of the kids, eventually renting a place near them.

From a detached house, to near comparative destitution in just over a year. Van life is really a rich persons game. You really must have a fall back if the worst happens.
Click to expand...
We always only planned "summer only"...
Then Covid happened.!
I agree with what you post..
Except ....we are not rich but yes we are comfortable financially ! (Not that you were implying that)
But we have fall back options and have used one of them.
And other means of surviving !
 
You would certainly need to have provisions in place should the brown smelly stuff hit the whirly thing, Selling up is a bad idea, rent the house out would be best, at least you still have a home and a normally appreciating asset.
 
When I retired at 55 , 23 years ago we had a tag axle Hymer new and decided we would like to live in it full time ,decided to rent out our Bungalow for 6 months to see if we liked the life, well 6 months renting the Bungalow did not work who would want to rent for just six months shorter that that really as the clock started when we drove off in the van, we were so Naïve in those days so then on we just locked the Bungalow up and set off on our travels, we enjoyed the life extensively wandering all over Europe, Morocco, Norway Greece Hungary etc etc the van was perfect for our life style and time was on our side , we could stay in Europe indefinitely those days as hundreds of others were doing , we loved the winters in Spain Portugal etc much better weather than the UK had on offer, Wild , [ FREE ] camping was easy and encouraged in most countries so we think we definitely had the best years in that respect, our income allowed us to live well , and keep our Bungalow too , when we returned to the UK between trips we just parked in our garden and continued to use the van as our home , Strange I know hee hee we also toured the UK extensively too , we never had any real problems living the life we chose, broke down in Portugal once, van needed a new clutch, breakdown insurance set us up in an Hotel for 5 nights till the van fixed and then off on our merry way again,
So the life can be good and we still spend long trips in our now smaller van 3-5 tonnes chausson still very comfortable but with ****** trips have to be curtailed some what , but we still do it, Covid also put the brakes on for a couple of years but we have all come through that,.
We are extremely thankful that we never sold our home as it is and was always a good backup plan and the property is now worth a huge amount of money [to us ] , I think folks considering selling up and taking to van life NOW should think long and hard about their decisions as interest rates , mortgage cost and house prices are spiraling out of control and going back will be very difficult if the wrong decision is made .
So think long and hard before selling up not easy to reverse that decision if bridges are burnt, we were lucky in that we both enjoyed the life and could live together in a confined space for long periods without too many fall outs hee hee.
 
IF I manage to reach retirement... I suspect both the house AND the motorhome will go and I'll return to the water again....
I miss life on my narrow boat more and more as time ticks by...
The motorhome life is similar BUT just misses the mark a bit....

And with the modern tech available now life would be a lot easier than it was last time...
I might even go electric propulsion too for silent cruising rather than the frankly bloody annoying thump thump of a lister etc.
 
I tried renting out a house we have, never ever again, was turned into a place for growing exotic plants, carpets ceilings all fooked & wiring interfered with, then there was the biz of having to evict the sh-t, he has trouble walking now, nothing to do with me osifer.😇
 
mistericeman said:
IF I manage to reach retirement... I suspect both the house AND the motorhome will go and I'll return to the water again....
I miss life on my narrow boat more and more as time ticks by...
The motorhome life is similar BUT just misses the mark a bit....

And with the modern tech available now life would be a lot easier than it was last time...
I might even go electric propulsion too for silent cruising rather than the frankly bloody annoying thump thump of a lister etc.
Click to expand...

There are some excellent fully electric wide beam barges being manufactured these days for full time living and not dependant on stopping to recharge either but fully solar recharged.

I too would go the same way if it wasn't for my wife's condition preventing her from going on boats.
 
Robmac said:
There are some excellent fully electric wide beam barges being manufactured these days for full time living and not dependant on stopping to recharge either but fully solar recharged.

I too would go the same way if it wasn't for my wife's condition preventing her from going on boats.
Click to expand...
Yes I've watched the advancements in electric propulsion over the, years....

Got some excellent options now...

Doesn't need to be hugely powerful for canals (71ft boat fully loaded used to be easily propelled by 1hp ;-))
Roof full of solar would provide plentiful power for propulsion AND habitation in summer times....
Winter a small efficient diesel generator would be handy for occasional charging.
Silent cruising barring the sound of the water...
And lacking the pfaff of keeping the bilges clean too.
Drip feed diesel stove
And wallas diesel fired cooker would be economic and cosy too.
Continuous cruising around the network (avoiding cities and built up areas obviously)
Would be a lovely largely people free pass time.
 
mistericeman said:
IF I manage to reach retirement... I suspect both the house AND the motorhome will go and I'll return to the water again....
I miss life on my narrow boat more and more as time ticks by...
The motorhome life is similar BUT just misses the mark a bit....

And with the modern tech available now life would be a lot easier than it was last time...
I might even go electric propulsion too for silent cruising rather than the frankly bloody annoying thump thump of a lister etc.
Click to expand...
When we were house hunting Liz was seriously looking at a barge, I went on one and couldn't get off fast enough it was a narrowboat and just rocked about too much for me, we went on one of the double wide ones and I was much better but I couldn't see the attraction.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Back
Top