At first it seems that it is cheaper to travel by caravan, because you can, for example, do without hotels. Alas, with a calculator and a couple of hours on Google, the illusion quickly dissipates. Cheaper-Yes, but not always and not all. Renting a camper is more expensive than a car, it is inconvenient to Park in big cities, and even this service: drain the toilet, pour water. And immediately you think: what’s the point then?
Traveling by plane, bus or car has become a habit; the planning and process have long been understood. But is the same as ride/walk to work all the time the same route.
Most likely, the biggest disadvantage of motorhomes is their incomprehensibility and strangeness. Caravanning is really not suitable for everyone; it depends on your travel preferences and the purpose of the trip. But he has plenty of good sides.
Features
At the first thought of a motorhome, it immediately begins to seem that this is a huge machine that will RAM everything in its path, scratch the sides of all cars that risked Parking on a narrow street, and, of course, you with your category B rights will be thrown out of the country in disgrace for insulting the feelings of truckers.
Do I need special rights?
In fact, no one will throw you anywhere. In Europe, to control a machine weighing up to 3.5 tons, and in the United States, up to 11 tons do not need special categories. To make it clearer: in a motorhome with a weight in this limit, up to six adult caravaners can easily be placed. So if you do not plan to take a huge bus with a trailer, then, most likely, no additional rights you will not need.
Management features
There is nothing surprising in the management of the camper, the pedals are in the usual places, the seat adjusts, the steering wheel looks like a steering wheel, not a Ferris wheel. The only thing you will need to get used to dimensions is a very helpful wide windshield and large side mirrors. In addition, caravanning itself involves traveling through the open spaces, and not squeezing through the narrow streets of the city. Lisbon, Rome, San Francisco no! Wine roads, national parks, festivals Yes!
Parking
Just in big cities, most likely, will not be able to Park in the center. In order not to feel like a person who coughed loudly in the library, in a coworking or at a fashionable lecture, it is better to leave the motorhome in a convenient place, and move around the city by public transport.
Convenient places are not exactly those that are convenient for you, but those in which the camper will not block half the street: paid outdoor Parking (if you try to enter the underground, you can lose the roof) or the nearest campsite. From them to the center can be reached by metro, train or bus. And plus it will be more reliable from the point of view of the safety of things.