Vanlife - A Quarter of a Century

It has been 25 years since I've had a house on wheels. And together with a little financial good fortune, Covid aftermath, and doing it before I get too old,  have given me the motivation to take the plunge and purchase a campervan. Well, at the end of July 2022 I did just that. I purchased a 2020 Fiat Ducato 2.3D L3H2 van with 75,000km on the clock. It comes with 12 month/30,000km warranty, which I hope I will not need to call on.

(c) Camperfan.es

Camperfan.es of Vinaròs (Castellón) is doing the bespoke conversion and it will be ready by 14th November.

I had a very very very long wish list, and working together with David and Nacho at Camperfan, they kept things within my budget (air-con, TV, freezer, gym, spa, and washing machine, will have to wait). Anyway, I have a 160w solar panel for powering a 150 A/h lithium leisure battery, butane gas, water tank (hot and cold water), heater, so I’ll be able to go off-grid for a good while *fingers crossed*.

Update, July 2026: Air-con is still on that wish list — but I did pick up a Shark FlexBreeze HydroGo misting fan, which closes the gap rather nicely in the meantime.

And as I intend to do a lot of off-grid camping I have been contemplating additional power from a portable power station, now that I realize that they can be charged whilst driving via auxiliary power outlet (cigarette lighter) in the cab and solar (as well as from a home wall socket or campsite hook-up). Jackery, Bluetti, and EcoFlow seem to be the market leaders. They're not cheap so I'll take my time.

A quarter of a century ago I managed to visit France, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway in my Auto-Sleeper Talisman motorhome. This time round, now that I have more time but unfortunately less money, after exploring Spain and Portugal, then Morocco, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, and Croatia are destinations on my agenda for 2023.

I'm sure my dogs will love it.

Some say they are just dogs but they are my dogs and the bespoke build conversion that Camperfan offer means I could have a layout to suit me, and my dogs. Considering they have extremely long legs to take into consideration, that was a bit if a challenge.

You can follow us on our adventures here.

Phil, Issy & Poppy.

Following images provided by Camperfan for illustration purposes only.