Guest pelmetman Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 I guess I've got past the ticking of countries stage Eddie ;-).................we want to travel in a different way now, spend time in an area ie pick a nice town pitch up for a month or so, and then move on a couple of hundred miles following the medium heat sun B-).......... I'm of to work now 8-).............being the money grabber that I am (lol) (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Robinhood - 2013-08-25 11:08 AM pelmetman - 2013-08-25 9:37 AM I would suggest the most necessary part of making a motorhome VFM is available holiday time ;-)............ ....as a serious answer, I would suggest that for some (maybe many?) people that simply isn't true. Again, this is because I approach the question from the value rather than the cost angle. Whilst working, I would often come home at weekends kn*ckered and ready to slob about doing nothing much until the Monday morning. Having a 'van on the drive gave the incentive to get up and away, with the kids, and spend precious time with them in the outdoors that would otherwise have been lost. I have distinct memories of often coming home on a Friday distinctly disinclined to head away in the (already-loaded) 'van, but being already committed. I have few, if any memories, of me having regretted it once I was away. In making the best use of our (work-limited) holiday time, we've travelled most of Europe in our 'van(s), and that's instilled a sense of adventure and independence in our kids (no conventional package holidays for them), that has rolled over into their adult life. So, limited time, but great value! With more travelling time on our hands, the pattern of use has changed (witness the Scandinavian visit which wouldn't have been viable whilst working), and we are likely to have our third essay abroad this year at the end of September (we've only managed a maximum of 2 in a year before). Does this make it better value? In pure cost terms it probably does, for every other factor, it simply makes it different. ;-) Which is all part of my original question really Robin, as to be value for money ;-)............you need a decent work life balance, whats the point of slogging your guts out to buy the latest camper, if you can't afford the time to use it...............a question I think some newbies fail to ask themselves before signing up for the 10 year finance plan 8-)........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwendolyn Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 The Oscar Wilde tag, quoted up-thread, is good. I also like this quotation from The Merry Wives Of Windsor – adapted slightly: I found [it] of more value Than stamps in gold or sums in sealed bags; And 'tis the very riches of [travel] That now I aim at. For ‘it’, read motorhome….. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 pelmetman - 2013-08-25 11:18 AM Which is all part of my original question really Robin, as to be value for money ;-)............you need a decent work life balance, whats the point of slogging your guts out to buy the latest camper, if you can't afford the time to use it...............a question I think some newbies fail to ask themselves before signing up for the 10 year finance plan 8-)........ .......I think you missed the point. :-| (Some of us (largely) enjoy(ed) work as well, so don't see it as slogging our guts out). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Robinhood - 2013-08-25 11:23 AM pelmetman - 2013-08-25 11:18 AM Which is all part of my original question really Robin, as to be value for money ;-)............you need a decent work life balance, whats the point of slogging your guts out to buy the latest camper, if you can't afford the time to use it...............a question I think some newbies fail to ask themselves before signing up for the 10 year finance plan 8-)........ .......I think you missed the point. :-| (Some of us (largely) enjoy(ed) work as well, so don't see it as slogging our guts out). I also enjoyed my work, and I thought when I semi retired nearly 10 year ago I'd reach the perfect work life balance :D...............and did until a few years ago and we had our first month away,and as you alluded to earlier the opportunity to go away for longer opens up a whole new world of motor homing B-)............ I appear to only work to pay bills for the house and the business now days................besides I'm now bored with running my own business....................Its time to do something else for a few years B-)..............and if I get bored with that........I might even start a career one day :D......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 all about work/life balance..I was always self employed and wife in education so we had the flexibility and went away for all the holidays available....I made good money, and chaps I worked with at times could not believe i was taking a month away from such lucrative employment..they were either to greedy or strapped for cash to contemplate a holiday at all.....Then yo get the born again campers who discover it in their dotage.....what have they done for 40 years! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ips Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Absolutely judge. My motto is do not put off what you can do today. Even if you are lucky enough to reach retirement you won't necessarily have the health or wealth to do anything. If i want it i get it if i want to do it i do it. Fortunate i suppose that i have the financial means to do so but you never know what's round the corner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Born again campers that's us Eddie :D.............even though I'd been semi retired since 2004, I still couldn't clear off for months at a time ;-)..................having the time to go for longer than the usual fortnight opens up a whole new type of motorhoming B-)....... Which nicely links back to my OP..................... a camper is not VFM if you can't use it much ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Absoulouly! And fortunate a good term I guess and describes most on here that have he money available for this pursuit in such cash strapped times......still believe you need the holiday time to make the most of this, and obviously young German/Dutch family's seem to get better holidays than our own citizens, as they are everywhere and any one I spoke to was having a month summer break...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeti Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Its only expensive when its parked up at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pampam Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 My kids are well travelled my granddaughter has travelled more in her 22 years than I ever have. ( a case of wanderlust) .so really when you don't want another new fitted kitchen or bathroom :: furniture and flooring is fine a flat screen in every room a car (not to ancient) house paid for: not fussy about latest fashions .not a lover of jewellery .had loads a long haul hols : what do you blow yer money on? A motorhome of course lol. Cos you can't take it with you.we were going to wait till we retired but then people we knew weren't making it to retirement so took the plunge and got one . Best thing we ever did ,if I fell on hard times tomorrow and had to sell it .id save up and buy another older "project" I think it's more about the lifestyle than the lolly!! Pp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted August 26, 2013 Share Posted August 26, 2013 In our case when we set off on our first holiday in our first motorhome knowing how many great holidays would follow In real cash terms I think when one retires and has the time and hopefully the dosh to make full use of it. Ever since we retired we have spent an average of around 120 days a year for the last six years in ours at a cost of around £18,000 all in but excluding depreciation so that's got to have been good value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave225 Posted August 26, 2013 Share Posted August 26, 2013 Everything is relative. Some people find sitting in the back garden on a sunny afternoon absolute bliss, while others feel that unless thye have travelled hundreds of miles, they are disappointed. As for value unfortunately in our current commercial world everything is reduced to a monetary value. Many people have travelled Europe using nothing more than a 2 man tent and enjoyed it, while others feel that unless they are sitting in a vehicle costing upwards of £50k, there is no satisfaction. Motorhomes are good tools, but only that. In themselves they mean nothing as without a driver they do nothing. Fuel costs these days are becoming ever more significant so the idea of a weekend in Skeggie, if you live in Devon, is not necessarily something you would consider value anymore. Plus although people rightly knock air travel and the hassles of airports, there is no getting away from the fact that if you wish to maximise your time at a destination, then that is the way to go, plus nowadays the cost are undoubtedly cheaper. You say ‘rubbish’ but consider a trip to Spain. 1500 miles each way, plus travel sites and tolls against a flight of 150 euros each. There in 3 hours and even the delay at the airport disappears in to memory. So, you need accommodation when you get there and that is up to you. Apartments here where we are in south Spain can be had for 200 euros per week including SKY tv, a/c. And 2 bedrooms and pool and parking and 20% discount for more than 7 days. Consider that against site fees of 15 euros per night, before you look at all the other cost and it is getting closer. Add that aginst depreciation, insurance, maintenance, road tax, and well, value is again something only each person can feel is true. I do not knock camping as it is a lifestyle choice for many of us. Iindeed as a tugger I feel I have managed to get costs for what we want down to a very low level indeed, but of course involves compromises along the way. I would venture that my costs are way below the AVERAGE motorhome cost but it did take time and a different approach to camping. Of course even my reduced costs will never match the guy sitting in the back garden on a sunny afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 A few scenarios, there are four of us on our village who have M/homes, one bloke uses his about 2 weeks a year, van cost around 40k..................I'm guessing he has more money than sense, or simply does not care. Another bloke changes his van every couple of years, tows a Smart car down to Italy parks it up for the duration on a site, stays around 6 weeks twice a year, then drives the van back. Me, we go over the water for a couple of 7 to 10 weeks stints a year, mainly stop on aires, or at our ex bosses house near Bordeaux, for a week or two if we are that neck of the woods,and the house is empty, so given that I always considered the money paid for the van was a one off and just disregarded. our modestly priced and relatively cheap to run PVC allows us the complete freedom to tour and see places like no other mode of travel offers, but if only focusing on "value for money" I'm guessing we get that in spades compared to some at the other end of the scale, with a 100k tag axle, but perhaps they simply don't care about VFM, I know I don't particularly as long as I can "get out there" because your a long time dead, and I'm not about to do as my late brother did stashing money away in boxes ( sorry Geoff) and deprived himself of so many pleasures in life ;-) Roll on the 4th Sept, meandering through France, then over the border down to the Bay of Roses, and Barcelona, back then in November. ;-) BUT, I do wish I could get VFM health insurance cover. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero boy Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 I reckon the VFM decision is made when we buy our vans! If we didn't believe this to be true then we wouldn't buy one would we.......? I also suspect that the ongoing question is really 'when does motor homing cease to be value for money?'. For those of us able to get out often and, sometimes for long trips, our hobby is likely to remain good value but for those where the number of trips is declining (for whatever reason) then there is likely to be inevitable pressure on the value question. For us, it has become a way of life, with approx 30 weeks a year spent away from home and it doesn't look like changing much (hopefully) for the foreseeable future. In fact, we may even decide to spend more time away and downsize our home into a small maintenance free pad! My only other point is to ask what Mike is doing posting in the middle of the night.......06:44! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 Terrible insomnia, oddly enough never get it when away in the van though ;-) and not much on the telly in the early hours apart from News24 or babestation, and I'm too old for that :D oops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowie Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 bolero boy - 2013-08-27 2:19 PM I also suspect that the ongoing question is really 'when does motor homing cease to be value for money?'. I think you are largely right Chris (balero boy) but having just used our van for the first time in about 10 months ( since our Croatia trip)! and only used for one night near Oxford, but the reason was important (to me/us) maybe not to others, I consider that if it facilitates something that improves our quality of life, then it's good value! There are too many constraints as it is, so every little helps IMVHO ( I could probably have achieved some of what we did using a courier service, but face to face usually turns out best; I find, and having the van available certainly gives options.) alan b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero boy Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 Alan, you're quite correct. The VFM call can only be made by the user. What fits one motorhomes might be way off beam for another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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