As I mentioned in my last post, after arriving in Heidelberg and spending 20 days exploring that beautiful city — its parks, castles, bridges, and stunning architecture — I wanted to do something to mark the start of our new life. So I decided to take my beloved “dogvisor” on an adventure we’d never had before. The photo I chose for this post speaks for itself. I rented a camper van for 30 days! Time for an adventure!
During that time, we got to visit incredible places, like the famous Black Forest in Germany, the beautiful town of Vitznau in Switzerland, and the wonderful city of Strasbourg in France. All of them with breathtaking scenery, including forests, mountains, rivers, lakes, castles, churches, and much more. I hardly need to say how much my furry friend loved the chance to be out in nature most days and explore it right by my side. I also got to learn how a camper van actually works, as well as the rules at the campsites we stayed at. All completely new to me up until then.
If, for some reason, you get bored or simply don’t like the spot you picked, a camper van lets you just start the engine and, almost instantly, move on to the next place on your list. A level of freedom I’d never experienced before. Amazing, right? Actually, not really…
Those were the highlights that get shared a lot on social media, but I’m not here to tell you only the pretty side of this story. Here’s how I’d sum up the experience after 30 days in a camper van: definitely not for me!
Some of you might know me, but others don’t. I’m a somewhat tall guy, and that was probably the root cause of most of the problems I ran into. From showering to moving around inside the vehicle to sleeping in the bed, everything was a real challenge for me. On top of that, dealing with all those knobs and valves to control the gas, power, water, and heating system nearly drove me crazy. The smell coming from the chemical toilet didn’t do me any favors either. The last straw was when, in the middle of the night, the heating shut off because we ran out of gas, and I nearly froze pulling out all the luggage just to swap the gas cylinder. To make matters worse, when I finished, I nearly broke my nose closing the vehicle’s rear door, because there was a bike rack there that I honestly have no idea why it was there, since I wasn’t carrying any bike.
I was probably too ambitious renting it for such a long stretch. But that’s just who I am. Over the top by nature. Maybe I should have picked a bigger vehicle. The truth is the experience was totally worth it, but, I repeat, it’s definitely something I won’t do again.
After 30 days, I felt tremendous relief handing the vehicle back at the rental office in Heidelberg. I rented a car (an actual car this time) and headed toward Munich, a city I’d always wanted to explore. We’ll spend 45 days there before crossing into Italy — or maybe not! Let’s see what this unique city has to offer us!
But what about you? Have you ever camped in a camper van? How was your experience? Share it in the comments! And speaking of which — where’s Gino hiding in the cover photo?
Thank you for your valuable company, and don’t miss the next post!