realities of life on the road

freaky hippy's post got a bit hijacked when he said hello so i thought i'd start my own thread on the realities of the dreams that so many of you seem to share.

first thing i want to say - i am not trying to discourage anyone to live on the road. i think its a fantastic goal and you should all follow your dreams coz you only live once.

but.......

one of the biggest lessons i ever learnt was that you have to keep them realistic. chasing unrealistic dreams just ends up in disappointment. if you keep these things realistic they have more of a tendancy to actually happen. i only know this coz i wasted years chasing impractical dreams.

so - the question of buses...

first thing is, they are very very big. i know this is stating the obvious, but they are. there are many places you cant take them coz roads just arent wide enough or there are low bridges etc. there may be plenty of exciting places to go and the roads just arent wide enought to take you there. and as for finding a parking place at the supermarket you can just forget it!

they are cheap this is true. but they are cheap for a reason. exfleet vehicles are sold because the bus companies know they will not be able to carry on using them much longer before they start to break down alot. if they were still reliable vehicles then why would they be selling them? breaking down in a bus cannot be much fun. i cant say for certain coz i've never done it, but i would imagine that there are very few vehicle recovery people (AA etc) that would be willing to offer you cover.

buses also require special licences. last time i checked they were somewhere in the region of £500 - £600 to obtain. would just one of you be designated driver or could you afford for you all to take the test. and if you did, who would insure a young inexperienced driver on a huge great big bus?

buses also have big engines which means great bug fuel bills. even split between a group of you it would be alot. they also have special mots which are alot more expensive than car ones. i dont know what the tax is like, but i wouldnt imagine it is in the cheapest of brackets.

you would probably need a car anyway just for little things like running around to the shops and going places you wont be able to get the bus to go to. it would also be a good idea to have someone driving ahead to check for low bridges, tight corners etc that they have forgotten to put up signs for. personally i wouldnt like to run the risk of driving down some road and coming to an abrupt halt in a bridge that is to low to get under. the thought of reversing for miles on a narrow country road to find a turning round point wouldnt thrill me either! so thats another lot of insurance, tax, fuel, etc.

if you do decide you have your heart set on travelling in a big group then a bus is probably the way to go, if you can overcome all the obstacles, but ask yourself this......could you really handle living with the same people in a relatively confined space 24/7? i am a very sociable person, but if i had to spend all that time with the same people and no-where to escape to i would guarentee that sooner or later i would end up killing one of them! i spent 6 months living in a one bedroomed flat with 6 people and was fairly close to insanity by the end of it due to lack of privacy.



so........what about the dream then?



there are lots of other alternatives to buses.

if there is a group of you, i would recomend getting a smaller live-in vehicle each. the plus side to this idea is that you have independance and wont need to do everything the rest of the group does. you would still have a sense of community and financially things wont get complicated either.

you can get horse boxes, small lorries and larger vans which can be driven on a car licence. these are alot easier to drive than a bus and can get to alot of places that a bus wouldnt. you can buy converted ones or buy an ex commercial vehicle and do it up yourself.

there is also the option of getting a caravan. this is the one i went for. financially it is the cheapest way of doing it, (i paid £500 for a transit and £185 for a caravan) but it is only a practical soloution if you're confident about towing. it also means you have a smaller vehicle for nipping into town etc, and you dont have to leave your home parked up in the middle of town (assuming you can find a space!)

for me personally i really enjoy being part of a convoy of vehicles snaking gracefully along the country roads and holding up all the traffic!


i will finish this here. i have lots more to say but you are probably bored of reading by now! i really hope i havent come across as preachy and negative. it just seems a shame for me to have made so many mistakes in life and not share them with other people. i just hope some of this has been helpful to you!


peace and love
stardust
xxx

 

All sounds like good practical advice there, I went for the VW campervan route, mainly because its the right size/cost etc...

 

im not knocking vws atall. i had one for six years and i loved him with all my heart. it just wasnt practical for me coz i didnt want to work as hard as was neccessary to keep it on the road the whole time!!

peace and love
stardust
xxx

 

I couldn't live in my vdub ... they're far too small unless you go for something like an LT28 or bigger ... plus the fuel economy is absolute shite.

As far as I know you only need a pcv license for a bus that's been converted if you're carrying more than 4 passengers. For an HGV licence the limit is 7.5 tons unladen(depending on when you passed your test)

Yeah and you really do have to watch out for width and height restrictions ... most barriers are 7ft

 

living with ​

mother nature​

is my dream ​

with in return ​

makes me love my life​

 

thats the problem. i passed my test in 97 and am too young to drive 7.5. tons. (i discovered this when working for securicor and they wouldnt let me drive the lorries )

so that would rule out pretty much everyone who is thinking of getting on the road in the next few years. i think 3.5tons is the max for those who passed after the cut off date.

having said that though i have a friend who drives around in an old mercedes van. she's not allowed to drive it on her licence but shes been pulled over loads and has never had it questioned.

6ft 9 actually! i only know this coz i can JUST scrape my transit under them!!!

peace and love
stardust
xxx

 

Also a lot of buses are designed for shot journies so they eat fuels a lot. somat like a couple opf miles before you have to fill up or something just as silly

Me, Jaz Delorian and a few of our old band mates had a very similar idea and aftger a lot of thinking it became almost impossible to acheive without a lot of funding.

I agree with stardust, have a few smaller vehicles that way IF there is a break down, you aren't up shit creek totally

One good point about VW's is the engine space. Jaycee told me (as we were/are looking for a camper ourselfs) that VW's have a very large engine space so you could replace the engine with a greener and more efficient one if needed.

 

tis true. i replaced my vw engine when leaded petrol was phased out and got a green one. if you decide on this option it is best to go for new rather than re-con. i got a re-con one and it broke down just as much as the previous one did! problem is new engines are ridiculously expensive.

another good thing about vw engines is that they are so simple you can fix them with a limited amount of mechanical knoweledge. mine broke down just outside paris once so i went into service station, got some gaffa tape, wrapped up the bit that wasnt working and made it all the way back to the uk on it! this only applies to minor problems though. major ones can start getting pretty expensive!

peace and love
stardust
xxx

 

I've done quite a research into licencing for large vehicle with regard to a bus conversion, so I hopefully can give a good rundown of the facts.
Anyone who got their car licence after 1997 and are over 18 can drive any vehicle with up to 8 seats (any referance to number of seats or passengers includes the driver and their seat, and only refers to fixed seats that would be used whilst travelling), or a goods vehicle up to I think 3.5 tonnes without any additional tests. Its is also possible to get an upgrade to a restricted PCV licence, allowing driving of vehicles with up to 16 seats, or an LGV licence that allows you to drive a goods vehicle up to 7.5 tonnes. Their are no weight restrictions on passenger vehicles, so a double decker with 8 seats can be driven on a car licence. Those who got a car licence before 97 can drive any passenger vehicle as long as it carries less than passengers and is not used for hire or reward (basically you can't charge people to travel on it), and can drive a goods vehicle up to 7.5 tonnes. They also need the restricted PCV licence to drive a vehicle with 8 to 16 seats if more than 8 people are carried, and in that case they could charge people. Insurance and MOT standards depend on weight though, so anything over 3.5 tonnes needs special insurance and a different MOT (Catagory 4 for up to 7.5 tonnes, Catagory 5 for over). Insurance costs arn't that muh more, but a lot have a minimum age of 25, most 21, some from 18, but in general they will charge a lot more until you're 25. The MOTs arn't a lot more, and although standards are a bit tougher than a car, mainly regarding emmisions and brakes, but arn't as bad as Catagory 6, which is for a proper service bus, and includes everything from emergency exits and interior lights to first aid kits and fire extingushers.
Basically, if you wanted to convert a bus to live in, since you would be taking out most of the seats, so it ought to have less than 8, you would be fine to drive on a car licence, as long as you could find suitable insurance. It would still need to be taxed and MOTed as a large vehicle if over 3.5 tonnes, but this isn't too much more than or a car. Of cource if you wanted to go abroad with it, rules may be different, but AFAIK if anything they are more relaxed.
Me and a group seriously have our sights on a bus conversion when we finish university.

 

thanks katherine, the above information might make things a little easier than i initially thought.

to all of you thinking of doing it, whatever you chose to drive in the end, all i have to say is go for it!! its the best thing ever!

i'm off on the road again tommorrow and have no idea when i'll next be online, so if you have any questions or want a hand with anything its probably better to pm me, coz my hotmail chucks everything out after 7 days if it doesnt recognise the address.

peace and love
stardust
xxx

 

My vdub engine was put in in 1999 and has probably done 60 thousand miles plus without a major problem. I bought it from a New Zealander who went all over Europe in it ... They are actually smaller than modern engines, but being air cooled they use more fuel. Parts are relatively cheap, but some things, like changing the clutch, mean that the engine needs to come out ... So you're best to have a network of people who know what they are doing or be prepared to get greasy on a monthly basis.

Actually, the older campers, like mine, have got more leg space in them that the newer VW's because the engine being in the back means that it is tucked under the bed.

 

I love your post and sig

 

my thread got hijacked...boohoo
(i mainly wrote this because i'm really bored and have nothing else to say)

 

well it's stardusts thread now isn't it?

 

its all mine......mwahahahahahaha!!

 

little finger at the corner of her mouth, dr evil stylee this is a really helpful thread, one day when i'm not a directionless bum i too will live on the road. i'm either going to be a wandering wise man who helps people with their problems and moves on, or a crazy old geezer who local children are afraid of, i haven't quite decided yet

 

i think the wiseman is more respectd yet the nutter is fun.....

 

I have spent a lot of time travelling with my missis & 2 kids in my vw camper. (Type 2 - the old hippy type). We spend countless weekends plus 1 month a year in it travelling round europe or, this year, scotland (bliss)
Superb small van with lots of character but not big enough to live in. Big enough for us (just) as its got an unusual roof that folds out wider than the van itself and has a double and single bed in it. (plus the usual double to the back of the van)
BUT! I wouldn't go for anything big, for all the reasons pointed out by ??? who started this thread??!
The most beutifull and secluded places are often at the end of a small windy road through a farmers gate that nothing but a standard width car would get through.
If I were to live in a van it would be something of the size of a vw LT. Big enough for a cooker area, small dining area, beds, and shower/loo without having to fold away beds to sit down to eat etc.
If you were going bigger then you need to start in the category of carrying a motor bike etc.
No, an LT or similar can go virtually anywhere and can be parked up in town almost as easily as a big car.

PS. if you want to sleep in town centers, think twice about having loads of windows in your van. It makes it look like a camper.
I knew someone who was into wild camping, but he also travelled a lot and made his camper look just like a van from the outside so that in towns he could just park up and sleep without being disturbed. He called it "stealth camping"!
In europe it is far easier to park for the night, but here in the UK it is amazing how many car parking places have a "no overnight parking" sign on that you never noticed before till you tried to find somewhere to park overnight.

 

this thread is extremely helpful....thank you

 

Of course you can also go horse-drawn.

A lot of hard work and responsibility but I would recomend it.