Celebrating two years of owning our van!

Two years ago tomorrow we took delivery of our Autosleeper Warwick XL.

We are celebrating family birthdays this weekend, so we’re not away (but we are away next weekend!).

We’ve had so many great trips and learned so much even in the past year, our recent week away in Northumberland, Yorkshire and Cumbria was fantastic and our trip to Tantallon Park was one of our best ever!

And the list of places we want to visit is still going up, even tho’ we’ve visited a couple of sites again.

Since last year, we’ve been on 24 trips, to 20 new sites, and spent 53 nights away in the van, 2024 has definitely been a bit different, we’ve only stayed on a “Club Site” once, this is part of a concerted effort to try some different places.

Club sites (we’re members of both) are nice, you know what you’re getting, but they aren’t all there is, and we’ve definitely been on some really great sites this year (as well as at least one that wasn’t up to club standards).

We keep learning, for example, last time out, Gayle realised that the roof vents can be locked open in place, which is definitely way more useful than having them flapping around in the wind.

We’ve added quite a few things to the van in the past year, the Panda mattress topper is still going great.

Some grey plastic interlockable square mats are great for stepping out into when you step out the van, especially when the weather’s not so great.

There was the “awning” last month, which was good, but we learned a lot from it, so likely will not be the final form.

I replaced my seat with a Helinox Savannah, for the height, and I bought a “Vango Shangri-La Memory Foam Pillow” recently, it’s surprisingly comfortable (as a second pillow), and it’s a lot more compact than the other pillow we used to take, space is definitely still at a premium.

A Trangia stove has (at least temporarily) replaced the Cadac we’ve been carrying for the past two years, it definitely handles breezy conditions better.

We’ve replaced some things with a GSI kitchen set, which is a lot more compact and includes a spoon, spatula, whisk and grater, and the GSI pans, which feel safer than the previous set.

Otherwise, most things are as they were, including the van.

We have been looking around at alternatives, with a few very specific requirements, “front dinette” which would let us eat better, and not have to break the bed down in the morning.

We’d also like a fixed bed, it’s hard work doing the “campervan shuffle” when moving things around, especially the Panda topper.

Also, it has to be under 7m (our driveway is only 7.4m and the garage overhangs that) and preferably less than 2.3m wide, these last two requirements are definitely highly restrictive, as 7m seems to be the sweet spot for nice fixed beds, but there are options and “compact motorhomes” are a thing.

Oh, and we don’t want to shell out lots more money.

So, while we’re celebrating two years with “The Flying Fox”, we are looking beyond to something that suits us more.

At the time we bought it, we didn’t have a huge amount of choice or experience, and we’ve learned so much since then.

We have nine nights on sites booked ahead of us (two of those on a club site), and we’re looking at things for September and beyond, so we might change the van, but our trips shouldn’t change too much.