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Doing a little roadtrip this Summer. Myself and a couple of mates.
We did the same two years ago, 3 weeks in my Berlingo Multispace, Andorra, Spain, Italy, France, 3 blokes, 3 bikes, all our camping shizzle.
I built a false floor in the back and a plywood bulkhead to keep the bikes and gear separate...a bit, and even had a pull-out kitchen...sort of.
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It was tight, but great fun.
To be honest though, putting bikes and 3 lots of gear into the Blingo day after day did become a little old, so this time, we fancy having a touch more space.
Been thinking about the possibility of buying a transit-sized van, using it and selling it on when we get back. Or maybe even hiring one for 3 weeks.
Has anyone done this sort of thing? Any tips? Is it just too expensive this way?
Other option I thought of was a trailer on the Blingo for the camping stuff, bikes inside...OR, trading in my beloved Berlingo and part-exing for a bigger van.
Any experiences welcome. 🙂
If you're doing sizable milages in a transit sized van then the squeeze in the double passenger seat for your two pals will get old quickly too. Looks to me like a roofrack/box or a trailer would be a better arrangement. Or carry the bikes on the outside of the car but keep them inside it at night after you unpack.
A bigger van just means you pack more clutter too - and theres not really a way of segregating it all so finding/packing/unpacking stuff can take just as long.
I can fit three weeks supply of camping/cooking/clothing and cycling tools and spares into a 24ltr rack pack when I'm cycling in france and still get home thinking theres stuff I didn't use and shouldn't have packed. For instance I wouldn't have bothered packing those chairs in your pic - the car already has some.
A 3 week high milage European rental will be expensive. Buy/resell is what all the Aussies used to do, there was (is ?) a street in West London where they park up to sell their van to buy their ticket home. It's not so cool as a van but a people carrier (Galaxy/Sharan etc) will do that job very well, remove all but 1 of the three rear seats.
Your cheapest option is to buy a second hand set of bars and a roof box
You'll be able to sell them afterwards for almost what they cost you, and the roof box is dead handy.
Usually around 100kg weight limit but its easy to have the bulky stuff up there (sleeping bags, general camping gear, clothes)
Or get a tow bar and rack and stick the bikes out the back. Not so good for security though
A bigger van just means you pack more clutter too - and theres not really a way of segregating it all so finding/packing/unpacking stuff can take just as long.
Yeah good point really. It was a good exercise in packing light the last time.
I took one look at my mates 'vital equipment' and asked him to dump half of it at least!
😀
I phoned up for a quote for rental. Transit sized van with all insurance and wot-not for 21 days is around £1170... 😯
£1170 all in doesn't sound too bad.
You may be lucky with buying and selling for about the same amount but I would imagine insurance, tax, breakdown cover, risk of repairs or issues while away would add up with a lot more risk and hassle.
Did this unintentionally. Bought an aircooled T25 camper to move to Spain with the intention of putting it on Spanish plates once there. It wasn't straightforward to import in the end and while I was wondering what to do with it, it got towed and crushed. Gutted and relieved at the same time, I'd bought it for 1200£ and spend a few hundred more getting it ready for the journey. Wish I still had it.
You may be lucky with buying and selling for about the same amount but I would imagine insurance, tax, breakdown cover, risk of repairs or issues while away would add up with a lot more risk and hassle.
+1
Unless you plan on using it for more than the 3 weeks I'd have thought that's the sort of cost you'd be looking at to buy/run/sell a van for 3 weeks. Especialy as you can never really know why the vans being sold (why would a private business be selling it's van for any other reason than they think a new one is more reliable, i.e. this one isn't anymore!).
Assuming the berlingo can cope, I'd buy a trailer of some description. Or even better, a caravan.
We paid £100 for this in our final year at uni back in the 90s. Very first trip was to Wales with an armchair for a back seat. Then we drove it to Portugal and wild camped most nights. Fitted with 5 single beds, no sharing of doubles here. It was actually pretty comfortable (in a student kind of way). Ex British Rail van.
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Every time I look at older Transit vans like that the opening bars of the Sweeney theme tune go through my head 🙂
insurance, tax, breakdown cover, risk of repairs or issues while away would add up with a lot more risk and hassle.
insurance in particular, if you're also keeping the berlingo, as you start from scratch, no claims wise, with a second vehicle.
You mention a trailer... I'd do that! A secure box trailer, or go for a trailer tent...though not much use for wild camping if that's your plan.
only issue with a trailer is that you're restricted to 60mph on uk roads and 70 (I think) in France etc.
It'll push up tunnel/ferry fees too.
bought an RV in 2001 on ebay. mate checked it out as a runner. me and gf flew to SF and then drove it to canada, she dropped me off and met me most nights as I rode the great divide down to mexico. amazing trip. Owned it for three months and did lots of trips to famous places as I rode south. cost us about 7k usd, and then about another 1000 out on the road to keep it going. Harvey the RV. Then sold it on ebay at the end of the trip for 7250. If you compare it to hiring an RV for 3 months it was a bargain. The only downside was fuel wasnt as cheap as we'd planned and it cost a fair bit but c'est la vie.
I'd do it again.
wwaswas - most vans are subject to same limits as trailers, exception being 60/70 on mways. Duals carriageways both 60.
I phoned up for a quote for rental. Transit sized van with all insurance and wot-not for 21 days is around £1170...
So £400 each + fuel? not bad especially if you can do accommodation on the cheap. I sold my 250k transit at 13 years old for £750 which has some issues! Brand new rental and full backup sounds good. Pack some tents and stoves, gas bbq? etc and enjoy the holiday.
No not perse' but I did sell it after my 9mths travelleing in it, but I'd owned it for 3years previously.
Renault Trafic 1.9TDi SWB
+1 for the roof box and towbar mounted bike rack!