Our van is a commercial vehicle manufactured by Fiat which has been converted into a vehicle suitable to live in by a company called Adria which is based in Slovenia. The van is just under 6 metres long and just over 2.5 metres high. It is powered by a turbo diesel engine which is quite economical if driven carefully - about 36 mpg is a good figure to aim for.
Inside the driver's and front passenger's seats can swivel round to face backwards so if you've visitors up to four people can sit around the table.
We have satellite television which means we can get our local TV programmes anywhere in North West Europe. Elsewhere we can pick up various programmes from different satellites which can be more or less interesting.
We have two gas burners and a grill to cook with, next to a handy kitchen sink.
We also have a fridge which can run off either mains electricity, bottled gas or the van's 12 volt electrical system.
The van has a small washroom with sink, shower and toilet.
At the back of the van there is a large double bed.
Under the bed there is a large storage area which can be accessed either from inside the van or through the rear doors. The gas cylinders are stored in a separate locker here. These can be filled up at garages selling LPG or Autogas as it's often known as.
LPG is used by the van's combi boiler to supply hot water and blown air central heating. The water can also be heated by mains electricity when available.
The van has a large fresh water storage tank and also a waste water storage tank.
When we first got our van in 2008 we sort of thought that we were supposed to use campsites as we had when we were tent campers. However after a while it dawned on us that there is a clear distinction between camping and parking. Now we take the view that it is okay to stay overnight anywhere where it is legal to park and there are no specific signs banning overnight parking. Here we are in a very nice car park in North Wales last autumn.
Here we are on a large car park in Norway last summer. We actually had to pay a nominal sum to stay here!
There is also an intermediate type of place to stay, variously called an Aire (France), Stellplatz (Germany) or Camperstop which may or may not be free and may or may not have any facilities such as water, waste disposal etc. Here's one we stayed at in Artic Norway last summer.
To sum up all we need is diesel, water, LPG, some food and somewhere to park and we're fine!
