Terra Firma Travels

Aerophobic Adventures in Europe and North America

Not sure if campervanning is for you?

• Not sure if campervanning is for you?
• Are you sceptical about how much fun can be had holidaying in one of these classically designed vehicles?

Steve Roach, the author of Terra Firma Travels - Aerophobic Adventures in Europe and North America was one such person, but after taking our Monty on a 2500 mile trip through 7 countries around Europe last Autumn, is now planning another trip in 2011.

In this totally frank, funny and a bit fruity (the language) book, Steve gives a first hand account on what it is really like to head off into the sunset (well rather, the rain unfortunately in his case), armed with little more than our instruction manual and a brief practice drive.

So if you have never tried campervanning and want the honest truth - warts and all or simply fancy a good old chuckle whilst you sympathise and stir up your own memories, this travel book (of three trips - one of which was in a VW Camper) is a great read.

Written by someone who describes himself as a "moaning idiot" and "miserable bastard" there is more than an ounce of hilarity and pleasure at the author's discomfort and ineptitude - a misery that should definitely have the opportunity to be enjoyed by others in our opinion!

 

Extract from Terra Firma Travels - Aerophobic Adventures in Europe and North America

" There are some advantages to having a morbid terror of flying. The first, obviously, is never being in the position of plunging from the sky whilst trapped in a metal tube full of screaming people. The second is that you get to go on some unusual holidays that involve long stretches of getting to your destination by various forms of land and sea based vehicles. In some instances, the travelling actually becomes the holiday.

Earlier this year, I dashed any hopes my girlfriend Steph might have harboured of a traditional holiday and informed her that this would be another year we wouldn't be going to lie down on a beach somewhere sunny. Instead, I told her, we would be hiring a campervan and going on a Grand Tour of Europe.

I never necessarily liked VW campervans. That's not the most appropriate admission to make to a VW campervan magazine but that's the way it was. The fact that there's a lot more of this article after this paragraph correctly implies that I came around to liking them, but it required a lot of effort.

The van - Monty, as christened by Carl and Pippa of VW Retro Rentals - was a 2006 Brazilian import, a classic Type 2 design. I would have thought that more than forty years of building these things would have seen some improvements utilising modern technologies. Power steering, maybe. A water-based cooling system. Air conditioning. For a trip covering 2,400 miles, these absences took their toll. Add the constant need for stooping, the endless condensation, the complete lack of warp speed on the autobahns, and, worst of all, the atrocious gear system, and the attraction of spending a fortnight in Monty waned to a critical level. But we stuck with it, and learned to live with most of the flaws. Towards the end of the trip, once the good things about touring in a campervan had come to light, things balanced out a little..."

"...And that was that. Two weeks, 7 countries (8 if you count a brief 20 minute detour into a corner of Holland), 2400 miles. After initially hating the van and thinking the whole trip was a huge mistake, I actually got used to all the flaws and started seeing Monty in a more positive light. So it's on the small side and on the slow side, but so what? How many vehicles are there that you can drive to the top of a mountain pass and pull over to make hot drinks in? Or have their own sofas? Their own beds? By the end of the trip, I was aware of the freedom offered by this kind of vehicle, and had actually come to enjoy it.

How ironic to come to this conclusion as we're just about to hand the van back over to the hirer. Still, it had given us the idea to do the same kind of trip again next year, only this time heading north into Denmark, Sweden and Norway. From hating the van to hiring it again - I never expected that. In its own quiet way, the thing won me over. Not enough to consider buying one - this isn't a love story with a soppy ending, but enough to start thinking about a reunion."

You can read the full article in the March Issue of VW Camper and Bus Magazine - click here to visit website.

Or visit www.steveroach.co.uk for more details and and to buy the book - Terra Firma Travels - Aerophobic Adventures in Europe and North America.