Cramper: Decision

Once upon a time, I went for a walk with my wife and daughter along the beach in Bournemouth. While we were walking, I noticed the parking along the beach sidewalk was completely full of vans. This seemed odd in a country where vans are mostly commercial vehicles. The small ones, usually VW's, made sense because they could easily be a family on a day out. As we continued walking, I had the chance to glance into a couple of the vans that had the sliding door open and was amazed with what I saw: families sitting at a table drinking hot tea while they were cooking up some food! Thus was made my discovery of the campervan.

I don't like making big plans (i.e. bus to here, fly to here, take a train to there, find hotel x, figure out what to see, find it, then do it all in reverse), I don't like spending money, and I don't like super touristy sights for too long. Being an American in the UK opens the door for nearly unlimited exploration and history, plus there is easy access to greater Europe with yet more places, sights, history, and culture. I can't see myself spending a load of money to go on individual vacations to each place we'd like to see throughout Europe, especially since we want to see it all! A campervan seemed like a perfect fit. For the cost of a few family vacations, we would have unlimited access to whatever we like (albeit in exchange for time spent driving). We could spend long weekends seeing the many sights in the UK, and spend a two or three weeks each year on an adventure through Europe. I only had 2 summers left in the UK. After we go we will likely not return, so we had to seize the day.

During many of the countless hours spent researching van conversions online I learned a great many things from other builder logs. I decided to do the same. I have to admit, without Deep Red and the SBMCC I would have been much more frightened of doing this conversion and likely would have ended up kicking myself after finishing. It would not have stopped me from performing my build, but it would have been so much more difficult without the inspiration and the immense knowledge of the Deep Red build and the SBMCC members. If you plan to do a conversion, I cannot recommend enough to pay the 15 quid for membership and get lost in the forums for days.