IF ONLY WE KNEW THEN WHAT WE KNOW NOW..............
We had some steep learning curves in the early days on the road but with time and talking to other experienced travellers it did get easier. We look back now and can have a good old laugh, but be sure you give each family member time to adjust to full time travelling. One of our contingency plans was to book an Airbnb if we needed a break from living under each others feet, thankfully we never had to engage that plan.
If I could go back in time and give myself a little advise the below tips I have listed would have made life a lot easier from the start, so hopefully this helps you travel better and stress free.
Tip #1 - Make a checklist for moving days
Make a checklist for when you hitch up and check each other this is a big one, you wouldn’t believe how many times people want to have a chat or the kids need something right when its a vital you remember exactly what needs doing next. We have accidentally forgotten to connect the stone stomper once and caused some damage. At least it was only the stone stomper. I would hate to think if we forgot something far more serious.
Tip #2 - Wikicamps
Download the wikicamps app I use this daily and it's well worth the few dollars it costs from the App Store, but possibly saving you a lot more finding free & cheaper camps. Its extremely useful if you intend on free camping to save money as finding that all important water point to fill the tanks and let's not forget the dump point.
Tip #3 - Water Filters
Carry an extra water filter for your caravan hose. While our van has an internal filter on both the main tank and the drinking water tank We always, always put an extra filter externally when filling up our drinking tank. That means our drinking water is always triple filtered, It’s easy to do and there’s nothing worse than bad tasting water or worse getting sick..
Tip #4 - Just Go With It
Go with the flow YUP it’s a biggy. Some days stuff will just go wrong, sometimes things will break including bones yes we have had a major break and surgery while fulltime on the road.
Go with it, if I have learnt anything while travelling it’s to be patient and calm.
Unfortunately, only a month into our travels Andrew broke his ulna and radius (wrist) severely or "into a pulp", and that was the doctor’s words used not mine. This was certainly a big event which through me in the deep end, looking after little ones still running a business (our restaurant in Melbourne) and having to tow us to the next destination hitching on and off on my own yes it was rather stressful.
But just remember tomorrow will be better than today get some rest, look after yourself and every will be ok..
Tip #5 - Off Grid & Power
Portable solar blanket – Game changer seriously, spend a little to save a lot. We free camp a lot and when you have kids charging devices for school and then you have cameras, phones and the list just goes on and on. You also can’t keep moving the van to chase the sun so it’s a lot easier to have a portable blanket. It also helps pump in some series amps to top up the battery’s way quicker too.
Tip #6 - The Job No One Wants
Composting toilet we have had both and after having the composting toilet we certainly wouldn’t go back to a cassette. Reason being that when you’re a family of 5 who prefers to use your on-board toilet rather than public toilets it fills quickly. A cassette needs emptying every second day whereas the composting toilet has 2 compartments the liquids that for us is emptied easily every second day but the solids every 3 – 4 weeks. When free camping liquids are so much easier to dispose of you can empty liquids down a normal public toilet as there’s no chemicals so no blocking up a toilet and no harm to the environment if you do have to empty in a drop toilet. The solids just turn into dirt so that’s pretty easy to deal with.
Tip #7 - Internet On The Road
Get a good internet connection especially if you’re home schooling or working from your caravan. You’ll probably end up working weird hours to juggle the kids and travel. My big tip is to get an internet booster (Celfi GO) for your caravan, especially if you need a good connection for schooling or work.
Tip #8 - Cash Stash
Have a cash stash for low-cost camps. A lot of low-cost camps are at national parks and there’s no EFT available so make sure you carry some on board dedicated to cash only camping fees. It’s an absolute pain when you have a cracker spot but you have no cash on board which means no stay.
Tip #9 - Bedding
Buy dark coloured sheets for your caravan’s beds & a blanket for the main bed at least to protect it from everyone using it as a couch. I discovered quickly to save myself getting frustrated with everyone sitting on our bed with dirty feet daily was to purchase some sort of blanket to protect our linen so I purchased a picnic blanket from https://www.hendeer.com/collections/the-woven-throw-collection as its thick and keeps sand out of our bed (my big pet peeve).
Tip #9 - Washing
Use lighter towels rather than heavy traditional house towels, microfibre towels you can wash & dry easily. A family of fives towels fit in one load in a 2.5 kilo Caravan washing machine, you can save money rather than using $4 washing traditional heavy towels at the laundry.
Tip #10 - Kids & Bath Time
Kids and bath time, the little treasure’s that they are can get rather grubby playing outside most of the time. We love them to have a good old soak but to also save on water when free camping we have a collapsible laundry basket from BCF https://www.bcf.com.au/p/companion-pop-up-laundry-hamper-grey/617609.html#q=laundry&lang=en_AU&start=6 for around $80. it folds down easily when not in use and i just have a hook in the shower down low to hang it up to dry and stay out of the way.
Tip #11 - Lighten The Load
Regular culls of clutter are weight saving and great for the soul. As the old saying goes a cluttered space is a cluttered mind.
Be a minimalist its amazing how good you feel afterwards and truly we just don't need that much stuff to make us happy. Remember everything has a weight and weight adds up quickly in a van not to mention saving money when you walk into a shop and really like a particular item but you know you don't have the room to put it (my hubby loves this, damn it).
Tip #12 - Collecting the Gold
Save your $1 coins: you’ll need them for the laundromat. I can't tell you how many times I have cursed at the laundry because I just forgot to look in my wallet first for the $1 coins.
Tip #13 - Maps
Hema maps for remote travelling or when you get sick of google sending you up the garden path.
We traveled for about 4 months before we got sick of google, so we fired google and hired Hema well what a difference that made its great for trip planning especially in remote areas.