We're all packing for a summer holiday...

We're back from a great camping holiday in Devon.

The T5 did us proud...packing in and transporting all our camping gear, cooking gear, sleeping gear, wearing gear, playing gear, 11 month old, 2.5 year old, 12 year old, 16 year old, 31 year old and 36 year old.

We had plenty of space to boot. Unlike some poor sardines travelling down a very busy M5 very early on an August Saturday morning.

We saw all sorts of packing techniques...

...kids squashed in the back amongst pillows and duvets, sweaty little heads popping out the top for air while the family terrier is spread out on it's back on mum's lap in the passenger seat upon its own personal doggy pillow.

...Ikea storage boxes rammed full of clothes strapped to roof boxes. (Really don't want to see your undies pal..even less all your dirty washing on the way back).

...Windbreaks (uh, optimistic!) getting shredded to pieces as they are tightly packed and strapped underneath bursting to the seams roof boxes.

...Brightly coloured towels and inflatable rings squashed up against the back window of boots. Buckets and spades too, inevitably cracked as harrassed parents slam and force and bounce the boots shut "You will shut. You will shut. You will shut.if.it's.the.last.thing.i.do" then "What do you mean you need to get the sun cream out for the journey down?! No. Just no!"

We had oodles of space. I comfortably sat in the back between the babies in their car seats, feet up on the cool box munching a holiday pain au chocolat. The boys sat in the front controlling the sound system.

It was a good job the toddler spotted an epic error half way down the main road on the way to the motorway. *Someone* had left one of the back doors of the van open.

Some poor souls would have been treated to our pillows and duvets, clothes and undies, wind break, towels, inflatables, buckets and spades littered all the way down the M5.

And we would have arrived at our holiday destination with more space in the van then we left with.

And before you ask. It wasn't me!

Tales from the tent

Before the VW T5 we had a T4, and before that we had a tent.

I love camping. As explained in one of my earlier posts it's in the blood. After all, I've been brought up on it from trailer tenting right through to caravanning.

In fact rather than swan off to some swish Caribbean lurve island for our honeymoon we decided to stay in the UK and tent our way along the North Cornwall and Devon coast.

I would like to say this was for environmental reasons and we wanted to keep our carbon footprint down, but I would be lying wouldn't I? I now drive a T5 as my daily commute after all.

No, we decided to camp coz we both love being under canvas. And it also meant our baby - our mad Springer Spaniel called Marley - could join us.

Now this would have been fine if it hadn't been one of the most tempestuous Septembers in years. The tent was soaked and two of our tent poles got snapped by all the violent shaking of the tent...(ahem!)

One particular stormy night in Padstow we were joined by some new neighbours in our quagmired section of the campsite. A nice, professional looking couple in a hired baby blue bay VW campervan.

Lucky buggers, we thought. Bet they will be nice and cosy in their van tonight.

After salivating over the coolness of the camper, pushing our wet faces up against the damp glass and fogging up the pane to try and get a glimpse of the interior, we donned our waterproofs to go into town for a Doom Bar (him) and a Cornish Rattler or two (me).

On our return it was plain to see the campers next to us were not happy.

Through lots of thuds, thumps and exasperated sighs came...'Oigh, get on your side! Your on my side of the bed!' Thud..thump...thud 'Seriously! How do you take up so much room!' Thud...thump...thump 'Oh my god. Will you stop moving and stay still so I can get some sleep?!'

Trying to hold in fits of giggles and guffaws of laughter (ok, we may have been a tad tipsy) we crashed out into our damp, soggy tent.

Through the howl of the wind and the slashing sound of rain on canvas we were woken up by the odd argument throughout the night about who had the most bed.

The next morning the sun made an appearance, and we were greeted by two very tired and unhappy looking campers.

'Want to swap?' We said cheerfully on the way to the showers.

Unfortunately not everyone is cut out to be a camper...whether under canvas or in a dream van.

We're not sure what happened to the couple in the cool camper. On our return from the shower blocks all that was left were tyre tracks in the mud. And our tent still standing (well, just).

Stuff memories are made of

My parents used to take me and my sisters camping as kids.

Our camping adventures began in a trailer tent. Bright orange with brown and orange flowers on the curtains. Total retro hippy cool.

After a few fun filled years under canvas we upgraded to a caravan.

We loved the caravan so much we used to beg our parents to let us sit in there and play board games on rainy days so we could pretend we were camping with the rain hammering down on the roof...ding, ding, ding, ding. It's a sound that often used to send us to sleep on holiday (well you know what the great British weather is like!)

The best holiday I remember having as a child was when we took the caravan to a field in the Gower overlooking the vast blue sea.

There were no toilet blocks, no playgrounds. Just heaps and heaps of sun and freedom.

Me and my little sister spent hours flying kites and collecting shells on deserted beaches, then at the end of the day we would have a cold alfresco shower and collapse sunburnt and exhausted in our cosy sleeping bags.

I can remember the cool, fresh dampness of early morning dew between my toes, the whistles of camp kettles getting louder and louder. The smell of bacon bubbling on camp stoves early in the morning and the tang of early evening smokey bbqs.

This is the stuff great memories are made of, and I want to create those same cracking memories for my kids.

We made a start on that this weekend, taking advantage of the stonking weather we are enjoying joining friends with kids the same age as ours at a nearby camp site.

The kids loved it and we have got some wonderful new memories to cherish as parents. Watching our baby girl crawl around in the grass just wearing her nappy covered from head to toe in chocolate biscuit, then dunking her in the washing up bowl to clean her up and cool her off.

Seeing our toddler tearing happily along the road on his little red scooter, stooping down in concentration to collect pretty duck feathers around the lake, kicking a football as hard as he could and whooping with delight as he rolled around in the grass wrestling with his friends.

The view from our breakfast table, and the van, was pretty spectacular too.

It was a weekend I will never forget, and hopefully one the kids will remember and cherish too.

My boy is already asking when is the van taking us all camping again!

Soon, son. Soon.

Getting rubbed up the wrong way

Just what is it with our darn van?

We really have a love hate relationship. We love the van, but it seems to hate us.

It just feels like every other month there is another thing that needs to be fixed or is going to cost us more money then we bargained for.

It's beginning to really rub me up the wrong way.

This month I went to get a quote for bumper colour coding and found out that the rear bumper crash bar has had a whack, buckled up and is ever so slightly making our back doors rub the bumper. This means, without being fixed, our nice new shiny red bumper would get a great big dirty scratch from the doors rubbing.

I've had enough of bloody rubbing recently.

As you may know from my previous post here, our new super size 20 inch alloys are rubbing VERY LOUDLY when on full lock.

I forgot about the full lock thing the other day when trying to execute a swift three point turn in the road to avoid some roadworks and BRRRRRRRRRRRRR. 

Wouldn't be so bad if I was on my own, but I had an audience of a gaggle of road workers hanging around on their tea break who promptly turned around to see what was making the noise.

'It's me!' I smile sheepishly through the open window. 'Ahhhh. Big wheels' one replies as he puts his hands up, gesticulating like he just caught a big fish.

This means I now can't do three point turns and instead have to make pigeon point pirouettes, which frankly makes me look like a bit of a tit.

After being delivered the bad news of the bust bumper bar at the paintwork shop I had to get out of a really tight spot surrounded by big machinery outside a work depot on the packed industrial estate. And yet again a gaggle of road workers who were yet again on their tea break.

I provided them with great entertainment inching forward and back, then forward and back, then forward and back about 16 times in what could easily have been accomplished in six turns using full lock.

I wound down the window and employed the same gesture of the previous road worker. 'I can drive, promise! Can't use full lock. BIG wheels.'

I am hoping the rubbing will stop, in all senses of the word, but we have got the dreaded MOT next week. Oh, and I swear I can smell raw diesel when sat in the passenger seat, even when the window is up.

This can mean one of two things.

1. There is something wrong with the van. Again.

2. I am pregnant. Again.

Keep your fingers crossed the van sails through its MOT. And that I won't have to upgrade the van and change the blog to T6 for 6! (The husband has mixed feelings about this).

A growing obsession

I don't know how I got into VWs.

I have just always loved them. Beetles, splittys, campervans...

Family and friends have fed my obsession over the years by giving me quirky 'n' cute VW or campervan related gifts. You can see from the bottom of the page I have a lot.

From chess board games to salt and pepper shakers and from waste paper baskets to cookie jars. I have even framed VW related birthday cards given to me to decorate the house.

And my obsession, it seems, is rubbing off on the kids.

My little sister once baby sat for our toddler and let him loose with his older nephew's box of cars. Our boy, who must have been just 18 months at the time, went through the whole box (literally hundreds of cars) and found two VW campers which he would not let go of. All day.

Even at the park he wouldn't let them go, toddling around with a VW camper in each hand in a pudgy vice like grip.

We're nurturing our boy's love of all things VW. When his little sister arrived we gave him a present. A 'Happy Land' bright orange camper play set (which very aptly came complete with a 'mummy', 'daddy' and 'meewee' aka Marley, our dog) and a die cast VW Transporter.

It took me absolutely ages to track down the Transporter, eventually coming across one Down Under. (From the comfort of my own sofa on eBay of course, as I was heavy with child and by that time too fat to fly.)

And that's the problem. There's loads of vintage VW gifts on the market, but very little Transporter related.

Luckily, Campervan Gifts is doing a bit of new product development, with the backing of VW, which I'm really excited about.

Top of our gift list would be a cuddly transporter kids toy. Our toddler often goes to bed with his die cast VW Transporter clasped in his little hand after several failed attempts from mummy and daddy to extract it.  A cuddly version would be far more comfy, and safer.

Second on our list would be a Transporter bunk bed. Came across a wooden split screen camper bunk at Busfest last year and loved it, but not so much the price tag. Found a DIY Bay Window version on the net which I am sure the talented husband can knock up though.

We've also been eyeing up pop up campervan play tents for the kids, but a Transporter tent would go down a storm here in our house. Especially if it was red, like our van.

Thinking about it, a lot of my vintage VW trinkets are bright orange or baby blue. And I desperately searched for a red Transporter die cast model for my boy, but it only came in black, blue or white. What is the best colour for Transporter trinkets?

Campervan Gifts are scouting for people's ideas on what would make great Transporter related gifts, and in what colour. (Team Red, Team Red!)

They are also looking for T4 or T5  photos to adorn said merchandise. So if you fancy your van being immortalised forever get in touch with them. Unfortunately the ugly mug of Elvis the T5 for 5 is not quite beautiful enough to grace a coffee mug, just yet!

Share your Transporter gift ideas here on the blog, via Twitter @t5for5 or get in touch with Campervan Gifts.

We are looking forward to seeing the results, and fuelling the obsession a little bit further.

What your car says about you

We all have stereotypes about what kind of person drives a Volvo or BMW, right?

Skoda have been trying for years to break down their brand's perceived image. Unfortunately even their very clever marketing in recent years has failed to make me forget the bullies in the playground yelling, 'Urgh! Your Dad drives a Skoda' when they could think of no new novel ways to taunt me for being the ginger kid. Eesh, even writing about it now brings me out in a sweat.

And just for the record, my Dad didn't drive a Skoda. He had a very tasty MG Montego. Remember those? Oh, and I am no longer ginger either. I bleach blonde for camouflage.

So what does your daily drive and even the colour of your car, say about you? This is a subject many a psychologist and car advertising guru has delved into and some studies have found:

Red - aggressive drivers who like to tear up the tarmac. Move out the way if you see me coming!

Green - hysterical tendencies. Jeez, just saying.

Silver - safe, sober drivers who are less likely to have an accident.

White - neat freaks that like cleaning. A lot. I mean why would you buy a car that gets dirty without even driving it?

Immaculate inside and out - anally retentive with an obsessive compulsive streak. And no kids.

Of course, I don't take any notice of these stereotypes. Except maybe for Volvo Estates. Bloody Sunday drivers, I told you to get out of my way!! (Sorry, there is just no suppressing the red van and hair in me!)

And I bet if you stopped and thought about it, you would have a stereotype about VW Transporter drivers too.

But you would be wrong.

This is what has really amazed me about the VW T4/T5 scene.

Everyone is welcome and everyone is friendly. From young single lads to retired couples, from hard working plumbers to creative florists, from young families like ours to busy business executives.

And I'm looking forward to getting to know more transporter owners, lovers and drivers as we convert our van.

*Disclaimer. If you drive any of the above I do not think these things specifically about you. I am just writing about image and stereotypes ok? Sheesh, now get back into your shiny big red car and get out of here.

One life, drive it.