Hi. Retirement plans that (maybe) include a motorhome.

stevejuk

stevejuk

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Hi there,

Complete newbie here. I'm approaching retirement and have a fantasy of motorhoming around Europe when the day comes.

There is clearly a wealth of info and support here, which I intend to consume, but I have one consideration that I haven't found being discussed (it may well be, so apologies if I've missed it).

On the bigger end of the motorhome range, I often see small cars being towed behind, or motorcycles on racks on the back. Not everyone has one of these options, so I'm curious about what you guys do about routinely getting around when you park up in a location. Is it a matter of local transport options, like buses, taxis etc. or do you largely stay within walking distance of the base? I'm sorry if this seems like a basic question, but it feels like a barrier to the whole idea, as my wife and I love exploring towns and countryside, and historically would have driven and airbnbed, so would have access to a car.

Thanks in advance for any feedback. I've got a long way to go before making a purchase decision, so am very grateful for any input you have.

Oh, and on the subject of fantasy: https://www.niesmann-bischoff.com/de/arto-reisemobil/

Steve
 
Hi Steve
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We mostly use electric bikes to get around. I used to use a motorbike but since exchanging manual cycles for electric I haven't found the need to use it as much. I find we can usually park up within a short cycle of places of interest. Depending on the size of your motorhome you will be able to find park ups near where you want to be, towns, national trust properties, other places of interest.
 
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I think the majority of folks use public transport.
Some campsites may even have a bus stop outside the gates.
Other may use bycicles, pedal or electric.
At a push they can be stored inside while travelling and securely locked to something immovable outside when not in use.

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Hi and Welcome.

We have a 7m motorhome and in Europe, just drive it to wherever we want to go. So much easier to park over there. Sometimes leave it on a campsite and use the e-bikes and very rarely use a train into a big city.
 
Bus, train or bike. We have a large garage so store 2 bikes in there.
 
We use electric bikes and buses.

Of course your question does raise the matter of should you have a motorhome or a caravan. (Yes, I know a motorhome is technically a 'Motorcaravan')

To me it depends on how you will use it and how big it is. If only stopping a couple of nights at each location, a motorhome is fine as you will be regularly moving on. If stopping for more than a week it may as well be a caravan with advantage of having the car.

A motorhome costs more than a caravan plus you have all the MOT, Road Fund, Insurance costs to consider.

With a large van it can be hard to find a parking bay in a supermarket carpark.

I am not very good at reversing a trailer so glad it is easier in a motorhome when you meet other vehicles on narrow country roads.
 
We arrived in Benidorm a couple of days ago and the Duke 390 is perfect for getting around on, previously had a gutless scooter. The carrier is an extension of the van's chassis so it's easy to reverse, park on Aires and the channel tunnel is the same price. Happy days 😎
20240629_200442.jpg


The van you're looking at is huge, and while very nice, I wouldn't want to drive it, but if you're sure 🤔😜 go for it
 
Hi Steve, welcome. I’ve got to agree with 68c, it depends what type of Motorhomer you are ….. but it’s difficult to know that before you begin.
We had towed a caravan for many years but on retirement realised we wanted to move around more and settle less hense the motorhome.
We have a 6 meter van which can park virtually anywhere. We include shopping trips as part of our route to different sites. In Europe especially you’ll often find that good visits have facilities for Motorhome, much more than the uk. We sometimes take e-bikes if we are planning to settle somewhere for more than a couple of days or if we have a specific tour in mind ( we like cycling the fantastic river “towpaths” in Europe.)
Whichever enjoy!

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Motorhomes are always a compromise. In your case you could go for a much smaller motorhome and accept the compromise of less space but easier parking closer to attractions.
I've been on here long enough to see fashions change with a lot going down that route with panel van conversions now going back to bigger A class motorhomes and other forms of transport but we're looking at a panel van for our next motorhome.
In deciding what layout to go for you are at an advantage knowing what you want to visit. Don't go for a huge motorhome with a drive away awning and lots of gear if you're not likely to sit around on a site!
 
brynric said:
Hi Steve, welcome. I’ve got to agree with 68c, it depends what type of Motorhomer you are ….. but it’s difficult to know that before you begin.
We had towed a caravan for many years but on retirement realised we wanted to move around more and settle less hense the motorhome.
We have a 6 meter van which can park virtually anywhere. We include shopping trips as part of our route to different sites. In Europe especially you’ll often find that good visits have facilities for Motorhome, much more than the uk. We sometimes take e-bikes if we are planning to settle somewhere for more than a couple of days or if we have a specific tour in mind ( we like cycling the fantastic river “towpaths” in Europe.)
Whichever enjoy!
Click to expand...
We had just the same and will go for similar again!
 
We are now with a 6.4m panel van which can be parked in many places, although parking can still be an issue. Even park & rides can have height barriers!! We also use small mobility scooters and public transport.
 
stevejuk said:
Hi there,

Complete newbie here. I'm approaching retirement and have a fantasy of motorhoming around Europe when the day comes.

There is clearly a wealth of info and support here, which I intend to consume, but I have one consideration that I haven't found being discussed (it may well be, so apologies if I've missed it).

On the bigger end of the motorhome range, I often see small cars being towed behind, or motorcycles on racks on the back. Not everyone has one of these options, so I'm curious about what you guys do about routinely getting around when you park up in a location. Is it a matter of local transport options, like buses, taxis etc. or do you largely stay within walking distance of the base? I'm sorry if this seems like a basic question, but it feels like a barrier to the whole idea, as my wife and I love exploring towns and countryside, and historically would have driven and airbnbed, so would have access to a car.

Thanks in advance for any feedback. I've got a long way to go before making a purchase decision, so am very grateful for any input you have.

Oh, and on the subject of fantasy: https://www.niesmann-bischoff.com/de/arto-reisemobil/

Steve
Click to expand...
Welcome. Personally (at the risk of outraging all TOAD afficionados) I think if you need a TOAD you might as well have a caravan. Public transport in most areas of Europe is much more convenient than it is here and choosing your parking spots carefully will normally give you convenient options in that respect. E-bikes, as others have mentioned, are a good option and occasional car hire would probably work out cheaper than taxing and insuring a TOAD. You might be able to afford a couple of wheels for your dream machine with the savings . . . :)
 
Hi Steve, welcome :welcome3:

We have been through this loop. For quite some time we towed a small car (a 'toad' as its known) behind our A Class on an A frame. However, you can only use an A Frame legally in the UK, so you would need to put it on a trailer to go abroad. Some people do this, but its a lot of faff, and pitches abroad are generally a lot smaller than in the UK. So abroad we chose campsites that were close to good walking or good public transport connections. You will find that campsite owners are used to helping out with information on buses etc.

After a while we tired of towing, so downsized to a van conversion, which we have now. Being smaller (and narrower), we find this is a perfect 'take out for the day' vehicle, so no need for any other forms of transport. However, I detect from your message that you are not at this stage, and are looking for something bigger.

One question you need to answer which will help to determine your choices is: what sort of motorhomer will you be? Some go to a site and stay for a week or more, or will you be a genuine 'tourer', moving on every 2-3 days? A good example is Norway. We have just come back from 7 weeks there, where you move on most days because the place is so vast, the roads are slow, and there is so much to see. The van conversion was perfect for this, and never felt small. I do appreciate however, that you will get plenty of other views on this.

Good luck with your decisions!

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Welcome...we use our motorhome as our means of transport and somewhere to eat and sleep..many other use a motorhome as their hobby....visiting places as they pass...their are groups of good people on here that use a MH to get to their final destination and stay in one place for months on end...like winter on the Costas...
How will you use your MH and the incredible amount of time you find you now have..is up to you..
Most folk including ourselves may have had a motorbike or scooter...even a car being towed..,(not us)...but now 2 eBikes are used daily...and store in the garage for traveling and security...
European touring is so easy with a MH..we are currently doing just that....and may return home sometime in October...maybe...
Do your research...many folk rarely get it right first time and learn on the go...that includes ourselves...but to be honest after 35 years motorhoming..we would like to think that what we do suits us well....Enjoy...🇪🇦
 
:hiya:
Brize said:
One question you need to answer which will help to determine your choices is: what sort of motorhomer will you be? Some go to a site and stay for a week or more, or will you be a genuine 'tourer', moving on every 2-3 days? A good example is Norway. We have just come back from 7 weeks there, where you move on most days because the place is so vast, the roads are slow, and there is so much to see. The van conversion was perfect for this, and never felt small. I do appreciate however, that you will get plenty of other views on this.
Click to expand...
I agree with this. We are tourers not site stayers so a small van suits us for the travelling and aire type stops in towns where we can cycle or walk. Of course, once parked up somehow having a Tardis would be great but a small van is perfectly liveable in whereas a large one cannot always be driven or parked where we want to go.
 
Our motorhome has the large garage at the back that enables E bikes and/or Motorbike (weight limit 150 kgs for the floor of the garage) which suits our way of motorhoming.

I will soon be uprating our new van with semi air so it may be possible to take both motorbike and E bikes but whether we do or not will depend on how long we are away and where and what the things are we want to do.

Last holiday was in Austria where we stayed in Carinthia for 5 weeks on 3 campsites (unheard for me!) but we travelled on our motorbike up to all the mountains so better to take it.

This time will be Provence where it is a toss up as to motorbike or E bikes as we have done many of the disused railway lines on a n E bike and we want to do some Balcony roads in the Mercantour. Weight is a limiting factor for us as the motorhome is rated at 3500 kgs so the wife is just going to have to cycle up some hills with electricity and moan about it later.

Motorbike or E bike has to be a personal decision based on what you like to do for that holiday.

The problems that an E bike cause are recharging the batteries, Lithium battery would be better, but then you have to upgrade the solar and the wires and the B2B and you cant do all that and not have an app to persistently monitor the amount of solar you are getting and love the state of charge of your battery every 30 minutes. Whereas a motorbike has to be able to get in and out and its an extra insurance and will take up most of, if not all of your back axle weight and max floor allowance or it will weigh very heavily on the back of the motor.

It can all be worked out on the back of a fag packet but after a year or 2 of motorhoming you will have seen numerous others doing something that you like even more or you prefer a rear lounge and campsites.

Best of luck

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There’s a massive difference in terms of accessibility between the UK sites (not so good) and the continent (very good).

Ian
 
Welcome, as this is at the moment a dream, try hiring a van in the uk, you may discover the life is not for you, a wet cold few days in a spot where you will need to travel for food/drink/entertainment sightseeing should focus the mind.😉
Did this with my partner before we retired, as he was new to the idea.
On our third van, and no it was not a case of it takes to the third to get it right, over the years our needs changed, at first we carried bikes mine electric, then we went to a garage van with a KTM duke 690 then 790, then downsized to a 6M auto Duke on an easylifter, but also have a bike rack, we have used public transport which, abroad on thew whole is cheap and efficient.
Have for the first time this year gone out for the day in our 6M coachbuilt.
Don't know if it has been suggested but Jim does a very good guide to buying a motorhome, free to paid up members. The fee is well worth it has saved us a fortune
 
When we tour in the EU we find that you can always find a great stop near something you want to do. Sightseeing, exercising, eating, drinking. Big cities are best done by train from an aire near a station about 1/2-1hr out of the city centre. UK you need a house not a motorhome. It's not that easy to tour unless you are very dedicated, which we aren't

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scotzsue said:
Welcome, as this is at the moment a dream, try hiring a van in the uk, you may discover the life is not for you, a wet cold few days in a spot where you will need to travel for food/drink/entertainment sightseeing should focus the mind.😉
Did this with my partner before we retired, as he was new to the idea.
On our third van, and no it was not a case of it takes to the third to get it right, over the years our needs changed, at first we carried bikes mine electric, then we went to a garage van with a KTM duke 690 then 790, then downsized to a 6M auto Duke on an easylifter, but also have a bike rack, we have used public transport which, abroad on thew whole is cheap and efficient.
Have for the first time this year gone out for the day in our 6M coachbuilt.
Don't know if it has been suggested but Jim does a very good guide to buying a motorhome, free to paid up members. The fee is well worth it has saved us a fortune
Click to expand...
We hired twice before buying, and went away in bad weather, we settled for a 6.3 van conversion, which is not laid out like either of our hired units. It's worth the extra bit of expense in our opinion..
 
stevejuk said:
Hi there,

Complete newbie here. I'm approaching retirement and have a fantasy of motorhoming around Europe when the day comes.

There is clearly a wealth of info and support here, which I intend to consume, but I have one consideration that I haven't found being discussed (it may well be, so apologies if I've missed it).

On the bigger end of the motorhome range, I often see small cars being towed behind, or motorcycles on racks on the back. Not everyone has one of these options, so I'm curious about what you guys do about routinely getting around when you park up in a location. Is it a matter of local transport options, like buses, taxis etc. or do you largely stay within walking distance of the base? I'm sorry if this seems like a basic question, but it feels like a barrier to the whole idea, as my wife and I love exploring towns and countryside, and historically would have driven and airbnbed, so would have access to a car.

Thanks in advance for any feedback. I've got a long way to go before making a purchase decision, so am very grateful for any input you have.

Oh, and on the subject of fantasy: https://www.niesmann-bischoff.com/de/arto-reisemobil/

Steve
Click to expand...

w2f

That's a pretty big motorhome you have in your sights.

I used to have a big van with a motorbike on a rack.

Have now downsized to a 6m panel van conversion. Can get a lot closer to many attractions, and have electric bikes for use if we need them.
 
What ever strategy to you decide on, you need to accept that it will likely need to evolve. Needs changes, tolerance increase (or in some cases decreases) etc etc. It’s not that any approach is wrong it’s just that you need to be adaptable and there’s no perfect solution all the time.

Start with something and then suck it and see kind of thing, you can always add a tow bracket, trailer or rear mounted scooter rack. But having a garage in a van is something that either is or isn’t there…

So like many would say layout is key, even for your last mile strategy.

There are days when i just can’t ar$ed moving the van to go shopping and then there are days when the grey water tank says moving the van is a good thing😉
 
:hiya: w2f We have a Frankia and now tow a small car on an A frame it depends where we are going. We used to pick sites near to amenities but that does limit the places you can go. Or you can pick sites near to bus stops or trains. Must admit when we take the car we can go anywhere and we love that. When we first started out we picked some rubbish sites in the middle of nowhere but we didn't have MH fun to get advice from in those days. Go for it, it's a brilliant way to travel:giggle:(y)
 
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