Why Don't We Have US-Style Accommodation?

BitterAndTwisted

A pal of mine bought an ex-Post Office van and kitted it out like a tiny studio flat, complete with shower and cooking facilities. It was like a delightful little wendy-house and I coveted it very, very much. Then the blighter drove it all the way over to Greece and lived in it and I was so jealous I could have wept. I reckon that baby must have been low enough to get it into a multi-storey car-park.

Keep dreaming, PN!

PasturesNew

.. oh - and I'm a bit older now and more aware of problems I might encounter living in a van. No worries about space or the driving, nor generally feeling vulnerable. But I do like to have little luxuries like proper running water.

Also, when you add up the cost of buying a half decent camper van (say £6-9k), insuring it, taxing it, petrol, annual safety checks for electrics/gas/water .... it does add up. And campsites aren't overly cheap per night either, even if they were in the right places.

Fire_Fox

A good motorhome is very expensive, including the many additions my parents' van must be into the tens of thousands now. :eek: They have a fancy filter system and huge water tank so they go further without a fill up, solar panels and a spare battery so they don't need to hook up to electricity!

They live in it for between a third and an entire year at a time, have driven to China and all the way around South America. I stayed with them for three weeks in Peru and Bolivia and it really was VERY civilised. They even had homemade mince pies and Christmas pudding in Argentina.

harryhound

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Land is plentiful and cheap in many part of the US and minimum wage is low. They have a whole trailer park 'class' that we really don't have here, maybe for the same reason?

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/video/Travellers-Eviction-Fight-At-Dale-Farm-Essex-Skys-Emma-Birchley-Reports/Video/200901415208491?lpos=video_Article_Related_Content_Region_4&lid=VIDEO_15208491_Travellers_Eviction_Fight_At_Dale_Farm%2C_Essex%3A_Skys_Emma_Birchley_Reports

BitterAndTwisted

No more details please Fire Fox or I'm going to have to take a mallet to the computer screen.

Fire_Fox

You too could have what they have, you just need to plan ahead and be brave. My parents did all the MSE stuff when I was a kid (camping hols, lodgers, allotment, hand me downs) and paid AVCs into their pensions for many years ... one of their on-off travelling companions sold up in the UK to afford her van. The actual running costs are really very low, they wild camp most nights, diesel is dirt cheap all over and even meals out are pennies.

BitterAndTwisted

Stop! Stop! Stop!

C_Mababejive

PasturesNew wrote: »

They're a great idea, then you realise how much it rains in the UK, how in most places campsites are nowhere near where a job would be, getting them in/around a town centre can be tricky (if you get a job in a town) and you can't get into multi storey carparks.... so I binned it as an idea.

Well you dont have to rough it you know...!

http://fleetwoodrv.com/revolutionle/

harryhound

I wonder if it is even street legal over here (400 Horse Power !) probably need a PSV licence to drive it?

movilogo

You can always buy a caravan

Britain is hopelessly expensive for housing/accommodation as we are an over populated crowded island.

Don't forget, even in USA, big cities like New York is no better than London.