Fulltiming in a motorhome - a blog
Discussion
Some Brit is working 6 months of the year out of a RV while travelling around the USA.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46193769
Figured this thread was worth a quick update given that in 3 months things have changed again beyond recognition.....
I'm now divorced!
I got my Decree Absolute through on Friday. It was kind of bitter-sweet but not for the reasons you might think. My girlfriend and I had a dance around the flat in Frankfurt and toasted her not going out with a married man anymore (with hindsight I realise that this affected her quite a lot) and for me the end of a marriage which with hindsight was never really supposed to be. But it was bittersweet in the sense that although I'm technically "free", the path of negotiation with my ex-wife is continually a very up & down experience and will be for the next 12 years.
But it is good to have the bit of paper and know that lawyers, paperwork and giving away money is now behind me.
I have a flat!
Now that was definitely not in the planning. House was sold on 7th September and I received a paltry £5k which helped me clear the debts I'd run up and I then moved into my Mum & Dads house. The idea was to save as much money as possible. That was turned on its head within weeks through a mixture of difficulties with seeing my daughter and the commute between bottom and top of the M11 nearly burning me out. Much to my reticence (it was my girlfriend's idea), I rented a flat right next to the station I use for London. It's very convenient for London and 15-20mins from where my daughter now lives with her Mother. It's a lovely two-bed, two-bathroom, high end flat. It's kinda nice living somewhere so modern and cool - sort of reliving a part of my life that I didn't have when I was single/younger. But it is still over £1.2k a month on rent and bills which wasn't in the plan and £4-5k to kit out with furniture etc. However, it was a superb idea and after nearly two years of living in a motorhome, it's great to have a roof over my head and not worry about filling with water, emptying my toilet and moving every 28days. My daughter loves it - her room completely kitted out with bunk bed (she's always wanted one), playmate, Lego, desk, toy box (all in pink!) and lots of fluffy toys and cushions. It's great for her, great for me and lovely for when my girlfriend comes over, that we have our own space and not hemmed in my living at my parents (even though they've been awesome).
I have a Porsche!
Shortly after selling the house and suddenly having £3k a month to spare without a mortgage and housekeeping costs, an idle conversation took place between myself and my girlfriend about how I'd always wanted a Porsche. To my surprise, her response (unlike my ex's had been for the previous 12yrs) - if you want one, go and do it! A week later, I was sitting behind the wheel of my very own MacanS (petrol.......obvs!) and 8wks later I'm absolutely loving it 
I find it very difficult to express how lucky I feel to own such a wonderful motor and have been supported to do so by my girlfriend.
So although I have no money, I did have a 530d bought and paid for and Porsche Financial Services is still wants to be my friend!
The motorhome is in Frankfurt and although she hadn't moved in 8 weeks after I initially took her over, I took her for a spin around Frankfurt autobahn network on Sunday with my girlfriend and she started first time and felt her usual imperious self on the autobahn at 100kmh. Need to decide on how to use her over the winter as I'm getting to the point where we've actually considered selling her and the VW in contemplation of buying a house in the UK at some point in the next 18-24months. Together they're worth about £100k, so a lot of wonga just to have lying around not being used much.
Germany
Well, it's not happening for the moment. The terms I was offered were rubbish and then came the commitment of the flat, so I'm still commuting backwards and forwards. I reckon I do a minimum of 6 flights per month backwards and forwards. It's not glamorous but it works for the moment. Longterm, my girlfriend will move over here, but that depends on us both getting jobs which are UK based. We're working on it.
And finally - I have a girlfriend and daughter who I love and who love me unconditionally. That is a very special feeling.
Thank you again for all your support. I've got no idea what the next 3 months is going to hold but struggle to believe it will be as enormous as the last 3!
Happy Christmas everyone and here's to 2019!
I'm now divorced!
I got my Decree Absolute through on Friday. It was kind of bitter-sweet but not for the reasons you might think. My girlfriend and I had a dance around the flat in Frankfurt and toasted her not going out with a married man anymore (with hindsight I realise that this affected her quite a lot) and for me the end of a marriage which with hindsight was never really supposed to be. But it was bittersweet in the sense that although I'm technically "free", the path of negotiation with my ex-wife is continually a very up & down experience and will be for the next 12 years.
But it is good to have the bit of paper and know that lawyers, paperwork and giving away money is now behind me.
I have a flat!
Now that was definitely not in the planning. House was sold on 7th September and I received a paltry £5k which helped me clear the debts I'd run up and I then moved into my Mum & Dads house. The idea was to save as much money as possible. That was turned on its head within weeks through a mixture of difficulties with seeing my daughter and the commute between bottom and top of the M11 nearly burning me out. Much to my reticence (it was my girlfriend's idea), I rented a flat right next to the station I use for London. It's very convenient for London and 15-20mins from where my daughter now lives with her Mother. It's a lovely two-bed, two-bathroom, high end flat. It's kinda nice living somewhere so modern and cool - sort of reliving a part of my life that I didn't have when I was single/younger. But it is still over £1.2k a month on rent and bills which wasn't in the plan and £4-5k to kit out with furniture etc. However, it was a superb idea and after nearly two years of living in a motorhome, it's great to have a roof over my head and not worry about filling with water, emptying my toilet and moving every 28days. My daughter loves it - her room completely kitted out with bunk bed (she's always wanted one), playmate, Lego, desk, toy box (all in pink!) and lots of fluffy toys and cushions. It's great for her, great for me and lovely for when my girlfriend comes over, that we have our own space and not hemmed in my living at my parents (even though they've been awesome).
I have a Porsche!
Shortly after selling the house and suddenly having £3k a month to spare without a mortgage and housekeeping costs, an idle conversation took place between myself and my girlfriend about how I'd always wanted a Porsche. To my surprise, her response (unlike my ex's had been for the previous 12yrs) - if you want one, go and do it!
A week later, I was sitting behind the wheel of my very own MacanS (petrol.......obvs!) and 8wks later I'm absolutely loving it I find it very difficult to express how lucky I feel to own such a wonderful motor and have been supported to do so by my girlfriend. So although I have no money, I did have a 530d bought and paid for and Porsche Financial Services is still wants to be my friend!
The motorhome is in Frankfurt and although she hadn't moved in 8 weeks after I initially took her over, I took her for a spin around Frankfurt autobahn network on Sunday with my girlfriend and she started first time and felt her usual imperious self on the autobahn at 100kmh. Need to decide on how to use her over the winter as I'm getting to the point where we've actually considered selling her and the VW in contemplation of buying a house in the UK at some point in the next 18-24months. Together they're worth about £100k, so a lot of wonga just to have lying around not being used much.
Germany
Well, it's not happening for the moment. The terms I was offered were rubbish and then came the commitment of the flat, so I'm still commuting backwards and forwards. I reckon I do a minimum of 6 flights per month backwards and forwards. It's not glamorous but it works for the moment. Longterm, my girlfriend will move over here, but that depends on us both getting jobs which are UK based. We're working on it.
And finally - I have a girlfriend and daughter who I love and who love me unconditionally. That is a very special feeling.
Thank you again for all your support. I've got no idea what the next 3 months is going to hold but struggle to believe it will be as enormous as the last 3!
Happy Christmas everyone and here's to 2019!
It's always great to catch up with long term threads and this is no exception. I divorced almost 4 years back, the things we went through were hidious I suppose I should have known better than to marry a family lawyer, it was never going to end well!
I pretty much just walked away with only my future pension provision (most of which I earnt prior to the marriage) but the truth is I had to go as we were toxic to each other. I to lived in a caravan for a bit during the working week and bought a flat on the Kent coast. Life started to turn around and has been good. I got together with a great girl whom I have known many years, we are great together. My kids are doing well and life is good again but then.... a call at the start of December from my ex changed everything. Sadly she had terminal cancer at 51 and passed away 2 weeks back. I have now moved back to the old family home to look after my 10 and 12 year old life will be very different..... again!!!!!
So my message to all grab it today tomorrow could be very different.
Be safe everyone
I pretty much just walked away with only my future pension provision (most of which I earnt prior to the marriage) but the truth is I had to go as we were toxic to each other. I to lived in a caravan for a bit during the working week and bought a flat on the Kent coast. Life started to turn around and has been good. I got together with a great girl whom I have known many years, we are great together. My kids are doing well and life is good again but then.... a call at the start of December from my ex changed everything. Sadly she had terminal cancer at 51 and passed away 2 weeks back. I have now moved back to the old family home to look after my 10 and 12 year old life will be very different..... again!!!!!
So my message to all grab it today tomorrow could be very different.
Be safe everyone
Roger Woods said:
It's always great to catch up with long term threads and this is no exception. I divorced almost 4 years back, the things we went through were hidious I suppose I should have known better than to marry a family lawyer, it was never going to end well!
I pretty much just walked away with only my future pension provision (most of which I earnt prior to the marriage) but the truth is I had to go as we were toxic to each other. I to lived in a caravan for a bit during the working week and bought a flat on the Kent coast. Life started to turn around and has been good. I got together with a great girl whom I have known many years, we are great together. My kids are doing well and life is good again but then.... a call at the start of December from my ex changed everything. Sadly she had terminal cancer at 51 and passed away 2 weeks back. I have now moved back to the old family home to look after my 10 and 12 year old life will be very different..... again!!!!!
So my message to all grab it today tomorrow could be very different.
Be safe everyone
Sorry to hear your sad news but credit to you for doing the right thing for your kids. I lost my wife 3 years ago, aged 47. Since then, my youngest has started a new job in London, my daughter has got engaged, had a baby, got married, started a new job, and between her and me we have bought a house and helped my son get sorted with a rented flat in London.I pretty much just walked away with only my future pension provision (most of which I earnt prior to the marriage) but the truth is I had to go as we were toxic to each other. I to lived in a caravan for a bit during the working week and bought a flat on the Kent coast. Life started to turn around and has been good. I got together with a great girl whom I have known many years, we are great together. My kids are doing well and life is good again but then.... a call at the start of December from my ex changed everything. Sadly she had terminal cancer at 51 and passed away 2 weeks back. I have now moved back to the old family home to look after my 10 and 12 year old life will be very different..... again!!!!!
So my message to all grab it today tomorrow could be very different.
Be safe everyone
It’s been tough at times but having been reminded of our own mortality, I will do whatever I can for them...
And in true Spuff style, I bought myself an SQ5 petrol - just because I could!
SQ5 nice...... Just about to fall out of bed.... but my 10 year old is cuddled in up me so another 5 mins in the warm please.... Crawley to Dover return is about 1.5 hours each way on a good day, which is not very often, 2.5 on a bad one. Kids schools have been cracking so I'm just getting on with it.
Roger Woods said:
SQ5 nice...... Just about to fall out of bed.... but my 10 year old is cuddled in up me so another 5 mins in the warm please.... Crawley to Dover return is about 1.5 hours each way on a good day, which is not very often, 2.5 on a bad one. Kids schools have been cracking so I'm just getting on with it.
Good luck, hope it goes well.I’m not really nocturnal, working in the US with a 10hour time difference!
Figured it was about time for a quick update.........so much has happened, it's even difficult for me to keep track!
I'm back in the UK - arrived this morning on the overnight ferry from Harwich. Quite a journey both in terms of distance travelled, weather encountered, missing my co-pilot (girlfriend had to stay in Frankfurt for the weekend) and most importantly; significant because this trip back is not just for the MOT, but marks the end of Carrie's tour of duty on the continent.
My girlfriend is moving to the UK to be with me and my daughter!
Although we considered at the start of the year that it would be a possibility, it all happened so quickly in February, when she was offered a job in London. When we first met, she was dead against the idea of London, but the move is tremendous career-wise and works perfectly for us and the life we want to build together. No more commuting and synchronising diaries 4months in advance. Only fly in the ointment is that I had taken out the lease on my "commuter flat" for 12 months..........now trying to squeeze two adults, plus my daughter into a 49sq m flat rather than the comfortable 120sq m we had in Frankfurt is something of a challenge! Not that big a challenge however - we've already got through me living in a motorhome, being separated but not yet divorced, house sale, divorce etc. so we can pretty much get through anything at this stage! We're both so excited and my little one to boot - she's absolutely over the moon that my girlfriend is moving in with us and early June just seems like years away to her!!
But what about the motorhome? Well, she's been put to good service since she's been over. Initially, after having taken her over in October, we didn't use her at all. Only once taking her out for a spin around the Frankfurt Autobahn network to keep her ticking over. But once into the New Year, we properly embraced her. Having a girlfriend who is bordering obsessive about snowboarding and me having slowly been taken over by it to, we decided to use her as our ski base for the season. We planned four trips - only made three. First trip was to St Anton, Austria in January. Oodles of snow and minus-20degs C lows. The van coped beautifully. Only issues were a couple of frozen lockers and one of the fridge vents popping out due to the cold contracting the bodywork. But otherwise we were toasty warm at 24degs C inside. This was a dry run for the main event - Half Term Holiday with my daughter. This time we headed for Saalbach Hinterglem - van again performed brilliantly. Bear in mind that each time we're doing a 9hr drive from Frankfurt to Austria, it's so comfortable that you can do it pretty much in just two hits (one stop for lunch). With the heated garage, the boards dried off nicely and with the heated cupboard above the boiler, the jackets dry off nicely too. Sorted!
The final trip wasn't so great - back to Saalbach, but for me it was the day after a wisdom tooth extraction so no snowboarding for me. My girlfriend - well, within the first hour out on the slopes, she comes back with a suspected torn ligament in her ankle and is taken to the hospital, returns with a cast and told not to board for the rest of the season! Heyho. Best laid plans and all that!
So, following that little escapade, Carrie has been used for odd weekends away - Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Koblenz. And then this weekend, as a mule to bring back the following to the UK: mobile aircon unit for the flat, 4 x winter wheels for the Kepler, bikes, awning for the Kepler, seats & tables for the Kepler, snowboards, pot plants, guitar - you name it, I had it on board. Good job I was on my own as I'm quite sure I was just under the 6,000kg gross limit.
But as ever, Carrie didn't miss a beat. I cruised at 90kmh all the way back across Eiffel National Park, Belgium, Zeeland (NW Holland) and then on to Hook of Holland, Harwich and back to Cambridge. Even with all that weight on board I averaged 18mpg which wasn't too bad IMO.
What next? Well, on the personal side, it's very much about trying to bed my girlfriend down in the UK. Having never lived here before she doesn't "exist" so doing all the paperwork has been "fun". It's also about getting her used to living here and I will be playing a very supportive role in making that happen and making her feel at home here. Then more of the same - daughter time (which I love) and joint future planning.
It's all looking very rosy.
I'm back in the UK - arrived this morning on the overnight ferry from Harwich. Quite a journey both in terms of distance travelled, weather encountered, missing my co-pilot (girlfriend had to stay in Frankfurt for the weekend) and most importantly; significant because this trip back is not just for the MOT, but marks the end of Carrie's tour of duty on the continent.
My girlfriend is moving to the UK to be with me and my daughter!
Although we considered at the start of the year that it would be a possibility, it all happened so quickly in February, when she was offered a job in London. When we first met, she was dead against the idea of London, but the move is tremendous career-wise and works perfectly for us and the life we want to build together. No more commuting and synchronising diaries 4months in advance. Only fly in the ointment is that I had taken out the lease on my "commuter flat" for 12 months..........now trying to squeeze two adults, plus my daughter into a 49sq m flat rather than the comfortable 120sq m we had in Frankfurt is something of a challenge! Not that big a challenge however - we've already got through me living in a motorhome, being separated but not yet divorced, house sale, divorce etc. so we can pretty much get through anything at this stage! We're both so excited and my little one to boot - she's absolutely over the moon that my girlfriend is moving in with us and early June just seems like years away to her!!
But what about the motorhome? Well, she's been put to good service since she's been over. Initially, after having taken her over in October, we didn't use her at all. Only once taking her out for a spin around the Frankfurt Autobahn network to keep her ticking over. But once into the New Year, we properly embraced her. Having a girlfriend who is bordering obsessive about snowboarding and me having slowly been taken over by it to, we decided to use her as our ski base for the season. We planned four trips - only made three. First trip was to St Anton, Austria in January. Oodles of snow and minus-20degs C lows. The van coped beautifully. Only issues were a couple of frozen lockers and one of the fridge vents popping out due to the cold contracting the bodywork. But otherwise we were toasty warm at 24degs C inside. This was a dry run for the main event - Half Term Holiday with my daughter. This time we headed for Saalbach Hinterglem - van again performed brilliantly. Bear in mind that each time we're doing a 9hr drive from Frankfurt to Austria, it's so comfortable that you can do it pretty much in just two hits (one stop for lunch). With the heated garage, the boards dried off nicely and with the heated cupboard above the boiler, the jackets dry off nicely too. Sorted!
The final trip wasn't so great - back to Saalbach, but for me it was the day after a wisdom tooth extraction so no snowboarding for me. My girlfriend - well, within the first hour out on the slopes, she comes back with a suspected torn ligament in her ankle and is taken to the hospital, returns with a cast and told not to board for the rest of the season! Heyho. Best laid plans and all that!
So, following that little escapade, Carrie has been used for odd weekends away - Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Koblenz. And then this weekend, as a mule to bring back the following to the UK: mobile aircon unit for the flat, 4 x winter wheels for the Kepler, bikes, awning for the Kepler, seats & tables for the Kepler, snowboards, pot plants, guitar - you name it, I had it on board. Good job I was on my own as I'm quite sure I was just under the 6,000kg gross limit.
But as ever, Carrie didn't miss a beat. I cruised at 90kmh all the way back across Eiffel National Park, Belgium, Zeeland (NW Holland) and then on to Hook of Holland, Harwich and back to Cambridge. Even with all that weight on board I averaged 18mpg which wasn't too bad IMO.
What next? Well, on the personal side, it's very much about trying to bed my girlfriend down in the UK. Having never lived here before she doesn't "exist" so doing all the paperwork has been "fun". It's also about getting her used to living here and I will be playing a very supportive role in making that happen and making her feel at home here. Then more of the same - daughter time (which I love) and joint future planning.
It's all looking very rosy.
Just for peace of mind, tell us this wasnt Carrie....
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-48175...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-48175...
Turn7 said:
Just for peace of mind, tell us this wasnt Carrie....
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-48175...
Nope - not mine thankfully. All safely parked up in Cambridge.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-48175...
Thanks for the best wishes.
Spuffington said:
Cool! Whereabouts did you see me? Had a whacky run through Belgium with a few GPS errors and closed roads but skirted up the NE side of the country.
Can’t remember exactly but we’re on our way back from Spa Francorchamps towing and the 700 odd miles in the last two have left many of them blurred!Gassing Station | Tents, Caravans & Motorhomes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff