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Why I Think Couples Should At Least Try Campervaning Once In Their Lifetime
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I am no expert, but by chance, me and Francy might be the two Indonesians with the most days living in a campervan.

If we add the New Zealand trip, we might have had spend almost the length of total three weeks in this home with wheels.

And after having those many days in a van with a bed and a kitchen, we think it might be good for couples to experience them. At least once.

Why?

1. It’s different.

Even this one reason is enough.

We know the usual way of travel: book a car, book a hotel, or God-forbid, join a tour. But a lot of people is doing that. And most importantly, you have been doing that too.

Getting a van that is also your hotels and your restaurants is an experience that you will remember all your life. Trust me.

The memory of you guys shopping groceries like there’s no tomorrow and then stuffing them in your fridge in this car you’re driving is one of a kind.

And that’s just groceries.

Imagine the memory that you have about stepping out from your ‘hotel’ and find yourself in front a river. Or a mountain. Or a forest. With a warm breakfast plate in hand, that is an experience that you will never forget.

2. It’s a childhood memory that we all want to relive.

Remember how we used to play ‘rumah-rumahan’ (I don’t know any English term for that. It’s when you play make-believe houses with rooms and compartments with your matresses or bedsheets.)

This is exactly the same.

At first I don’t understand why me and Francy get all giddy about this ‘small house’. The small bed and the tiny bathroom and the limited kitchen. But now I think I understand: It’s the joy that is imprinted in our childhood memories, from the moment when we were kids and we crawled into the matresses we shaped like a small tiny room, we love snuggling in the ‘make-believe’ home.

Well, travelling in a campervan makes you remember all that.

3. You’ll taste real freedom.

I remember my first morning waking up in a campervan in New Zealand. The feeling of not having to pack, not to remember where did I put the toothbrush and just turn the ignition and go, it is almost surreal.

You can just wake up, snuggle a bit, make some coffee and then just bring your ‘everything’ anywhere you want.

Hmmm… Anywhere you want.

That is what you’ll be feeling. In an intersection, you can just stop, and choose right, or left. Don’t bother, no hotel reservations or bookings to worry about.

4. It’s a perfect playground for a lot of passions.

If you are like us, and we’ve asked and a lot of people are like us, you love travelling. You love photography. You love cooking. You love nature.

Campervaning is the perfect intersection of those things.

Driving to see the best nature has to offer, making pictures while cooking anything you want three times a day (or five times I don’t care).

Uh mountain. Click-click-click. Rib eye steak with mushroom and red wine. Coffee. Uh creeks! Click-click-click. Noodle soup with minced pork and some spring onions. Tea. O wow forests! Chicken soup with tomatoes, carrots, and baby tomatoes.

It’s just perfect 🙂

5. It’s romantic. And personal.

What more do you need? The small bed fit only for snuggling? The warm room in the middle of freezing forests? The sight of him cooking breakfast in bed for you? The sight of her waking up with sunshine and brids chirping outside the window? What?

And you could talk. Like really talk. With all the long driving and all the quiet evenings. Talk about things that are funny and silly, and talk about things that are important and real. You guys could come back knowing a lot more about each other.

Well there you have it, my top five reasons why at least try it one time. You might be not a camper, might not be an adventurer, but at least, try it once.

Of course the best time to do this is on your honeymoon. But couples with children can definetely go too. There are sorts of campervan sizes that will comfortably fit a fanily. The limited space will create a ‘warm cocoon’ for your family, and the children will learn a lot too from the experience.

We recommend: a week in New Zealand South Island.

It is one of the most scenic drives in the world you’ll ever had, with a lot of infrastructures (rental place, camping sites), and safety in mind (there’s not much wackos in New Zealand).

Well safety is one thing that got asked pretty often.

Let me put it this way: There will always be risks.

But if you’re smart, and you think positive: camping is like a national past time in New Zealand (and Canada from what I experienced so far).

So many people are doing it.

So if something were to happen to us, as my Canadian hosts would say, we would be on the first page of the national newspaper or something, since that never happened.

But you can always minimize the risks, or at least put your mind at ease. One of the best thing you can do is to go in a high season (or coming into the high season), and always camp overnight in a camping ground (with closed gates and neighbouring campers around you). It would be like spoiled kids camping: with kitchen, electricity, toilet and no bugs.

So there you go. I think you’ll love it, and you’ll get a lot of kick out of it. Would love to answer any questions you guys have, just post them in the comments section below.

Hope this helps (and inspires).

Edward+Francy in the forest north of Toronto, Canada.

PS: Here’s the link to the pictures of my previous campervan trip.

canada