Still dreaming

This old thing? Yeah. We picked it up on Autotrader.

That’s what I imagined we’d be saying by the time the pandemic was over.

I pored over Autotrader on an almost daily basis while eating my breakfast, searching for motorhomes we could afford. The grim reality was that we couldn’t afford it, of course. Show me anyone who was self-employed who could afford anything back then.

But in my head I’d convinced myself that I could buy a motorhome for under £5000 (put it on my credit card, in other words) and throw a couple of blankets over the seats and the job would be a good’n.

Fortunately for me, and the good of our relationship, John is much more realistic than I am. He’s not one to ever say no, but he does talk me down when I’m getting a bit over-excited. And I do get carried away. It’s thanks to me that he packed in a decent job, sold our house and moved lock, stock and barrel back home to Devon to take on a seaside gift shop. I’ve also been behind some of the ambitious travel we’ve enjoyed in the past—getting married in India on the beach after backpacking for two weeks, for example—so there’s no holding me back. I have a head full of ideas and I want to do all of them. Now!

So I’d find a wonderful motorhome, some twenty year old monstrosity with cardboard walls and 200,000 miles on the clock, and would fall in love because it was called Bluebell or Daisy or something.

John would take one look and turn pale.

Because the thing is, we have zero skills. Neither of us can do DIY, mechanics, electrical work, plumbing, nothing! We have five degrees between us, plus two teaching qualifications, but fixing a tap? It’s beyond us.

“It’s a bit ropy,” he’d say, and really, there’s no reply to that because how could I deny it?

Then I stumbled upon Quirky Campers.

That was a life changing moment, pure and simple.

Until then, I’d never considered a campervan. Campervans are for surfer boys, surely?

But here I was, faced with an array of campervans for sale, and some of them were extraordinary! Compact and cosy. Fitted out with love, rather than that awful bland beige melamine and plastic that motorhome manufacturers seem so fond of.

This was a whole new magical world, perfectly in keeping with both my personality, and with John’s. One of these vans would suit us down to the ground, right!? Right?!

Cue much excitement on my part.

And then, belatedly, we began to think about our dogs.