Long Trips - What makes life comfy?

[woollen797]

the ledge in the rear body that runs above the rear wheels, spare is on bonnet or roof rack for me

[Marque]

Thank you Gentlemen for your advice. Much appreciated & born out of experience that I will heed.
Kindest regards
Mark

[AlexB]

the ledge in the rear body that runs above the rear wheels, spare is on bonnet or roof rack for me

Gotcha

That bit is full of wardrobe, kitchen or flat seats forming a bed on the Dormobile. Nice idea though

[Rangie]

A really nice pillow and matress/foam which suits your back (sounds daft but nothing quite like it for a relaxing nights sleep).
Easily accessible brewing equipment for a cuppa....

Alec

[woollen797]

we currently have a bare 109 to convert. I have a box that contains camping stove pans cups plates and utensils which gets transferred around which ever vehicle I go away in at weekend, I found with the 109 you can buy the 50 litre really useful boxes and they fill the void between the wheel arches and then I put the mattress from a bed settee over the top making a nice comfy bed. another useful item is some kind of awning for storing stuff when camped

[Jabbawocky]

Hi M

I'm interested what you mean by long trips? Are we talking a trip to the coast, three weeks touring Europe or overland to Cape Town? I ask because when I was show organiser for the Sries 2 Club, I struggled to get some members to travel more than 20 miles and they thought that was a very long trip. Your comment regarding a cab heater suggests you are staying in the UK?

We are planning two trips into Europe this year. A long weekend in Normandy and a three week summer trip over the French Alps to the Italian Lakes, then back over the Alps heading south to the Cote d'Azur and then home via the Massif Central.

You mentioned boxes in the load bed. I think that would be ok for the long weekend trip, but any longer I think you would end up killing each other.

Traveling long distance in Series Land Rovers is hard work compared with modern vehicles and if you have been traveling on minor roads all day you will be tired when you park up. You need a setup where everything you take has a home and that home doesn't move when you want to eat or want to sleep. IMHO sleeping is the most important consideration when travelling. If you do not get good nights sleep, after a few days you will all be miserable and the trip will not be fun. As mentioned above, you need a good matress, good pillows and a good sleeping bag. You also need a space to store these during the day. These are bulky items and we stick them in a roofbox well out of the way.

After storage and a good bed comes covered outdoor space. Landies are small and you will need a awning to keep the rain at bay, but even more essential when travelling in hot conditions. We have a side awning and a rear awning. These must be simple to erect as again you will be tired and the simpler your setup, the more fun you will have. Ater a couple of days shouting at each other we normally get into a routine and can get completely set up in less than 15 mins.

Once parked up and level, I normally light the BBQ with instant lighting Charcoal. then side awing, pop the roof and then erect the rear awning. While I light the BBQ Louise has normally got the table out and plced two full glasses of wine on it.

We are fortunate to have a Dormobile, which is very well thought out, but is still short of storage. As said above, you need to carry the absolute minimum and the stuff you do carry need to make you a comfy as possible. We have had the Dormobile on the road for 6 years and we are still fine tuning what we carry.

So IMHO the things that make a good trip are:
Storage for everything
Sleeping like a log
Shelter for extra space.

Robin, hang your head in shame. Sat Navs are for people who want to get 'there', but are not too worried where 'there' is. We do occasional fall out over navigation, but a map can tell you so much and part of the fun of travelling in a Land Rover is to deviate from the obvious path.

regards Mick

[overlander]

Now there speaks a man with experience! I do use an old satnav I bartered off one of the members on here on occasion but mostly for timings - I'm old school - make that 'stuck in the 70's' - and I like to use a good old fashioned map.

As for what makes life comfy, well I guess that's snuggling up to my long suffering wife

John H
Land Rover - for adventure just add fuel - lots and lots of fuel....

[RMS]

If I'm not in a hurry to get somewhere I set the sat nav (TomTom in this case) to calculate the shortest route rather than fastest.
This often takes me on lanes I wouldn't normally go on. In fact, there was one trip in North Yorks where some of us were heading from Whitby to Rudland Rigg when TomTom took us on some lanes a car would have struggled on!

Yes, paper maps are great for the overall picture, but I have the memory of a goldfish when it comes to directions.
If I look at a map to plan a route, I'll have forgotten one or two vital turns by the time I get out of the drive and Susan suffers from car sickness if she has to read anything, including maps so for me it's got to be on!

Oh, and my speedo needle waves about so much that the satnav is almost essential for speed camera areas

Cheers,
Robin.

[Marque]

Thank you Gentlemen
Just to give you a context. The Dormobile is up on blocks at the moment pending chassis / brake inspection. Thereafter chassis prep & treatment. Next year, bulkhead repairs. So whilst I am whiling away the hours with an angle grinder getting rid of old paint / underseal / skin etc I am thinking of what would make the Dormi better for Daughter & Dad trips.

Trips with be typically weekends away (to support school projects / develop a feeling for England).I will be constrained too my school holidays for more adventurous journeys. I have executed the German Alpine Road & White Wine road several times, but never in a Series. So this will be on the list. Looking at “El Faff” on Youtube suggests there is great country to explore. Alex “B”’s trips whet my appetite for France. Once again highly informative.

Series gatherings in France / Switzerland & the Czech rep do appeal. However I suspect they conflict with school holidays. Being & keeping warm are my top priorities (together with safety of course). So those considerations will lend me to remain more southerly on the Continent & typically around Germany & Austria. I just tend to feel at home around Munich.

So realising that there is a vast amount of relevant experience. I posed the question about the enhancements that make a trip more enjoyable. I really do want my daughter to catch the Series Land Rover “bug” & be an adventurer in her own right.

The PO executed an excellent mod regarding the front seats, raising the level (by fitting an extra runner underneath) to give a flat bed when flat. It is comfortable. I was wondering what else made practical sense. I appreciate “the simpler the better approach” & will adhere to that as a way to ensure trips are enjoyable.

May need some Jerry Can holders & a roof rack next year
Kindest regards
M

[woollen797]

Sat nag is good for finding spots in town centres but forward planning is much better even more so now you can use google street view to find land marks. after our camping trip last weekend I now know a carawagon stile rear awning is a must.
Please remember I only have a 109 van the boxes are from the Really Useful Box co http://www.reallyusefulproducts.co.uk/u ... etails.php 4 of the 50 litre ones plus my speaker box make the load bed level with just enough room for 2 pairs of shoes between them and rear door, one contains vehicle oils water spares etc, another has some more spares plus recovery ropes etc then the 2 clean boxes contain his and hers clothes when not in use as bed base all 4 stack on each other taking up very little space and can be used as a table meaning they are used for 3 different jobs.