candapack Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 Switched to MH 2 years ago. Currently on Côte de Azur, starting 6th week touring in Germany and France. During trip discussed changing to an A Class which seemed to be met with enthusiasm. But Mrs C now says she wants to change back. Her reasoning is sound, she prefers to stay put for a week or so and see the area, for which a car is useful. (She won't do scooters). She doesn't particularly like Aires or similar, preferring full facilities. She would rather be able to drive in to towns to go round cathedrals, museums etc, being able to leave the dog in the car for relatively short periods, rather than for long periods in the van further away. She doesn't like the palaver of moving the van every day/couple of days once sited and set up. And I realise that I'm with her on the same issues, so unless something changes in the next couple of weeks, it looks as if we'll be switching back on our return. Hey ho! Ps, like motorhomes, are Continental caravans better than British ones? Or maybe that should be another thread. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manxli Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 Hi Appreciate your predicament! My wife is slightly handicapped and we have a compact Chausson Flash 02 based on a Transit. At less than 6m length, we can park in many normal parking spaces and rarely have a problem in towns. Supermarket car parks are great as long as there is no height barrier. A friend has a 7m long Kontiki and although he has much more living space, he cannot park in towns and must rely on campsites. I think we have the best of both worlds. For a couple we have enough space. With a caravan, you can't use the many 'aires' as 'between stops' so easily and you can't really whizz along and overtake at 70+ mph as I do! We just set out our table on our spot and tell the site admin, if we decide to go on a little trip around the area. Have you considered a compact ? My wife has seen 'drive away' veranda type tents and thinks such a construction might be good. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 Seems a sensible idea to change back if you can afford it. We have done both and prefer the motorhome but if we wanted to copy your lifestyle, we would get a caravan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pampam Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 Eyup candapack i too have changed over to the dark side (motorhomes will always be my 1st choice) but dont make the mistake i made , i prefer the foreign vans personally and bought a twelve year old hymer caravan a nova 555 tb and i really love it : but my transit isnt big and heavy enough to pull it so have had to buy a bigger vehicle :) you might be very knowledgable about towing but i just thought id warn you :) i do like the hymer its not shaky when you walk about inside and doesnt look like grannys parlour despite it being 12 years old cheers pp:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek pringle Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 hi candapack, we have just switched to a caravan [april] due to not being able to get about so much when in the motorhome. We have just returned from a month in France,which is what we used to do with the motorhome, but being honest we have seen a lot more this time being able to just run out to small villages and the like. We did not realize how many times we had just driven through towns and villages without actually SEEING the places. I am also a 'blue badge' user and with a motorhome it was never possible to park in any designated bays where as now we can park closer. So far so good for us and best of luck to you . p.s I have noticed a lot of what I would call smaller to medium m/h's towing a car and trailer which appear as long as the m/h itself and I just don't see the point, but it is each to their own and what suits cheers derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 Changing over to the dark side is sensible if you prefer to stay on campsites for more than a few nights. I understand those who say a smaller motorhome can be easily driven to visit local attractions but in reality that is not always practical. It's a right fag to de-camp every time you want to go to the shops or drive to a place of interest. Winding in the awning, lifting a groundsheet, storing tables and chairs, putting everything away are all disincentives for me at least. A motorhome comes into its own if you want to tour around and stay on Aires or campsites for not much more than a single night but for long stay campers a caravan is by far the most sensible option. Weight issues prevent carrying a scooter and if I wanted to tow a trailer I might as well get a caravan. It all boils down to the individual style of camping. More and more my wife wanted to drive to a site and stay there and then the problems of shopping and visiting places reared its ugly head. At present I have no motorhome and no caravan which has meant we are holidaying in rather nice hotels, travelling in comfortable plane seats, visiting places unreachable by motorhome and going on cruises. I doubt that my wife will ever want to go back to camping type holidays. After nearly 50 years of camping together in tents, caravans and motorhomes she simply wanted a change. In order to persuade her back to camping I know that a caravan would be the only option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pampam Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 Eyup mike 88 ,my husband has only come around to a caravan cos i promised it wouldnt interfere with long haul and nice hotelshere too : his atitude is do it while we can (healthwise ) so thats what we try to do. (A bit of everything) am retiring in 17 months ill be 61 (but wont get pension until im 66 ) so the caravan will come in handy then when i have more time but less dosh lol cheers pp:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candapack Posted September 18, 2015 Author Share Posted September 18, 2015 Thanks all for replies, quite encouraging. Having thought about and discussed it for a bit longer, going back to a caravan does seem the right choice for us. At present!! On site near Cannes just now, at least 2 British car/caravan outfits here, will have a word. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 We rate Continental built Caravans above home grown, but they do tend to be a fair bit heavier. Parts used to be an issue but now that so many parts are shared with Motorhomes which are becoming more prolific it isn't an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogerC Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Best of luck whichever you decide but might I ask on behalf of those you share sites with............please don't (as your post leads one to believe you do) leave your dog in the MH/Caravan while you go off sightseeing, shopping etc. The reason I mention it is because, firstly, it is against the rules on most all sites for a good reason. Secondly your little darling might appear OK when you depart because it can still see/smell you. Once you depart it is usually a different matter altogether. Having been on the 'receiving' end of this 'leave the dog behind it will be OK' you should try relaxing, reading etc with a constant bark bark yap yap for hours on end!! The rules are there for the considered enjoyment of all so please take your little darling yap machine with you and don't leave it to wreak havoc with those staying on site wanting to relax in peace and quiet. Meant with best intentions.............Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candapack Posted October 4, 2015 Author Share Posted October 4, 2015 Well, another couple of weeks discussion, some overnights in jolly nice Aires, and getting parked no problem in various towns, and we're back on track. Phew, that was a close one, thankfully we weren't sat at home near dealers when the brainstorm hit. :-D So now thinking about changing current van, about which I will post separately as looking for some info. Coming back through Chunnel tomorrow, all sounds back to normal again, whatever that is. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero boy Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 there are compact A class vans on the market which might be able to satisfy the hankering for a different type of van, alomg with a small enough footprint to ne able to park up reasonably well... im thinking, Carthago Compactline 138, Pilote L600 (or the new 650)..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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