Meet URVAN our first campervan

In March 2017 we hired an old Toyota Hiace (and named her 'Toni') to travel the South Island of New Zealand for 2 weeks. This was a test for me to see how I copied with campervan life compared to caravan life. AND I BLOODY LOVED IT! You can read all about our NZ adventure here.

So, on 17th May 2017 we bought our first campervan.

And we named him, Urvan. You can find him on instagram under #urvanthecamper

Urvan is a 30+ year old Nissan, (Japanese) import and was registered as a 'motor caravan'. (It's important to know what you're vehicle is registered as because this can often affect the price of insurance. More in this here.)

Due to Urvan being a converted, modified, imported vehicle, parts and info are hard to find. For example, when you search his number plate we always get 'vehicle not found' which is fun!

However, after a few phone calls, we got him insured with a company called '2gether insurance' for just below £300 for the year and we were able to take him home.

Urvan has everything we need and more for our first campervan! He is the perfect size for me to feel comfortable driving him too and it definitely, helps that he's an automatic giving me one less thing to worry about! You can read more about the size of vans and what to bear in mind here. Bun in short - for us, Urvan is perfect as we can drive him just like an ordinary vehicle, and have no issues stoping off or parking whilst sightseeing.

The conversation all looks professionally done from the 'outside'. There's an 'L' shaped unit, that runs down the far side and behind the cab seats. This comprises of an oven grill, fridge, 2 stove gas burner, sink, onboard water tank, wardrobe and plenty of other cupboards for storage. There is more storage underneath the rock and roll bed, a small pop-top so we can stand up fully, hot water, a propex gas heater, taps for shower add-ons and not forgetting a satellite TV aerial that has also been added! All be it never used! (Thank you Netflix).

When we first got him home we realised there was a few electrical issues and certain things weren't working - like the fridge, but luckily for us, my dad's an electrician so he came out and 're-wired him up best we could - but fair to say under the surface there was some very confusing mod coned customisation going on! Never the less he worked!!

And, all this kit definitely helped make the transition from caravan to campervan easier as I will admit I was worried about storage and having to cook in the rain, whereas Dave would have been happy with a van with a mattress in the back! I've wrote a feature on what to take into consideration if you are thinking of swapping which you can find here.

Note there is no toilet! But this ok as we have a portaloo and toilet tent that we take with us! And I'd rather sacrifice a toilet to be able to have a smaller van any day - again - more on the here.

For our first trip out we decided somewhere local and invited my folks to join us in their 5* caravan in case we'd forgotten anything or needed any help. You can read more about that here.

PACKING: CLOTHES FOR EVERY OCCASION

By When We Wander • June 11, 2022

MY MUST HAVE ITEMS FOR EVERY OCCASION! This obviously depends on how long you're going for, where you're going and what you're planning on doing whilst there – but as I'm an overthinker I always tend to pack for almost every occasion possible. And because I'm small, and my clothes are small - I can usually do this without taking up too much space... So below is a list of the clothes I tend to always pack and why... and by always I mean, whatever trip we go on, whatever the season, UK or abroad, 2 nights or 10nights - you can guarantee I'll have the below with me as long as space allows, along with some top tips too!

LOCAL WALK TIPS

By Freddie Pf • February 27, 2022

There are lots of various apps available to download that can help suggest, direct, and track routes. However - do bear in mind that some apps/maps will be useless when you lose signal, or run out of battery. Therefore, if you are venturing a long way from home we always recommend downloading any maps you may need and taking phone battery charges with you - or even better - go old school and take an actual paper map! Some of the apps we use are: OS maps – as this is really good at showing footpaths and routes that aren't clear on google Google maps Kamoot and All Trails. These last two apps work by you putting in your location - or the location you are intending to start from, and it brings up walks in that area. They are also 'user based' apps - which means some routes are 'official walks' where as others are random submissions from fellow walkers. This means you can find some right gems that you possibly wouldn't of found otherwise - however, some routes are also better than others. We have recently set up an account on All Trails, just search for "When We Wander' and our walks will come up.