CONNECTIVITY & WORKING FROM YOUR CAMPERVAN

You just pull the front edge down to form a sleeping pod at bedtime. Look for a well designed bed, with a flat sleeping surface. Ensure it has the right level of support for your body, especially your back and neck. A good campervan company should encourage you to lie on the bed prior to purchase. Many of our friends say that they sleep better in their campervan than at home.

Penny’s living requirements included her dogs, Harry and Jasper, who were competing around the country all year round.

DOGS NEEDBEDS TOO

She says, “I used to go to weekend ‘Heelwork to music’ dog agility and obedience events in a little VW Caddy van with my Westies Jasper and Harry. It was not relaxing setting up camp and packing it all away. Dog events involve long days waiting around and competing, and we all ended up tired. To solve the problem, first I looked at buying a big tent, but then I decided to specify a dogfriendly campervan.” Penny worked with us to design exactly what she needed. Now she has had her Volkswagen Caledonia MPV for two years and it’s made events far more comfortable. “The dogs took to the camper immediately. To get them into their crates for safer travelling, I’d encourage them with food treats. They soon jumped in.” Penny also uses her camper for holidays and to visit her friends and family.

CONNECTIVITY & WORKING FROM YOUR CAMPERVAN

Post-pandemic, flexible home working is still an option for many, and one many have decided to take hold of. A campervan can be a great location for 63

home working as it enables you to be inspired by your surroundings, find a quiet place to take calls or focus on tasks, or simply allow you to work from wherever you want. Connectivity is a big factor in a successful home-working (or camperworking!) arrangement. Finding a decent wifi connection and phone signal is essential. You can use your mobile phone as a hotspot, however this can eat through your data quite quickly if you are streaming videos or other large amounts of information. A lot of providers now offer cheap ‘unlimited data’ plans which can allow you to connect devices without a SIM card (like your Kindle or iPad) and use the data from your phone. Make sure you check your plan before using abroad as some networks charge extra for this! Another option is a WiFi dongle which acts like an internet router you’d have in your home. It looks for 3G, 4G and 5G signals and creates a hotspot for you to connect to. Some dongles will allow you to connect an antenna which can increase the performance and provide a stronger connection, however this isn’t always necessary. You’ll need to buy a separate SIM card for this and you can top it up as and when you need it, or treat it like a mobile phone contract. Of course, some places are so remote, it may be hard to get an internet connection - but that’s the beauty of campervan life, escaping the everyday, switching off and being present with your loved ones.

Working as a peripatetic NHS clinician means that Nicola spends a lot of time driving to hospitals around Kent and Sussex. On her travels she’d noticed other professionals using campervans as mobile offices and a place to bed down; a home from home. It got her thinking. Could she buy a campervan to use for both work and pleasure? She certainly didn’t fancy driving a great big motorhome around every day, but was there something more car-like that she could buy? When she visited Sussex Campervans, Storm Ophelia was about to break. In the half-light a gleaming silver Nissan NV200 CamperCar caught Nicola’s eye, and after taking it for a drive, she decided that it was exactly the right size for what she needed. Like so many campervan owners, she has given her van a name. She says, “Ophelia is really beautifully crafted and lovely to drive. We will be going to work every day round Kent and camping out to cut down my work miles. Then it’s back to Sussex at the weekend and up to Scotland for holidays.”WORKING FROM

HOME?