Campervan Skiing Essentials- What to pack?
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- čas přidán 16. 06. 2024
- We are just about to depart on a 4 week ski adventure in the French Alps in our VW Campervan. Join us as we take you through our whole packing process- from what to wear on and off the slopes, to preparing the van for camping in the winter alps as well as all the paperwork and legal requirements for such a trip.
We are now 6 years into VW campervan ownership and we love where our little van takes us. We love the Alps in summer, but we have always yearned to stay for an extended time in the winter. Following our early retirement, we can now make that dream a reality.
We are Richard and Jackie and we live in the UK. We retired from teaching at the age of 51 in the summer of 2022. Our plans for early requirement include relocating to the Yorkshire Dales, developing our forever home and travelling the UK, Europe and eventually the world in our VW campervan Nelson.
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Check out our blog earlyretirementwanderlust.com
Many thanks,
Richard & Jackie
Timeline:
00:00 What to pack for a ski strip
01:11 Ski Gear & Clothing. What to pack.
09:20 How to prepare the Campervan for skiing
14:39 Living in a campervan when skiing. What to pack.
17:46 Essential paperwork. What to pack.
Fab video - as ever. Paper driving licences were abolished in 2015 and unless your paper licence was issued (and still has your current valid details) 2000 it is certainly no point keeping it with you. Great video!
🤣 we have always suspected that was the case seeings though our kids don’t even have a paper copy! They just stay in the safe like an antique relic - bit like us!
We’ve done the 4 way plug trick for years 👍
Because you drain your underslung water tank in cold weather and use an internal water container, have you ever thought about getting a usb charged, battery operated tap. They dip into the container's top opening, to beneath the water level. All you have to do is press a button to dispense water into a kettle or such like. It saves you having to pick up a heavy water container, to then open the drain tap at the bottom. They are only about £20 on line. We use one all the time with our dedicated water for drinking container.
Hi Steve, I like this idea. In the summer we have a tap that is powered from our leisure battery direct from our water tank...but it does use soooo much power when we use it! The idea of a USB powered tap from our winter water solution sounds fantastic. I will get on with the research!
Many thanks for the tip. Have a good one. R.
Good to see that you packed the most essential item - Yorkshire tea!
Always!!! 🤣
I’d definitely bring two boxes of Taylor’s of Harrogate tea, one regular and one Gold. I once made the mistake of forgetting to bring teabags to France and had to suffer horrible Lipton tea for the duration of the trip. Have a fantastic trip!
You are "nesh" in the cold. Priceless.
True Yorkshire man 🤣🤣
Some great tips here. We concur with the mits for cold hands. We do now leave our RnR bed made with a strap that we pull across then it’s ready for folding and an elastic net accross the back to keep bedding in. Works a treat 🫡👊🏼
We roll everything up in the duvalay mattress which is great as it gets all bedding out of the way, but it does take up all the space behind the RnR bed. 🚐
You are not alone - we also use the " put it all out on the spare bed" method of checking we have everything before any trip.
Enjoy your skiing - looking forward to watching the vlogs.
Ann
Thank you, we are really enjoying having a quality week of time with our children and partners - with the cheeky bonus of quieter slopes as it’s not school holidays!!
Every year before winter we practice putting the snow chains on for our mountain rescue landrovers in Scotland. Good tip is to practice with the spare tyre. Great vid as usual and enjoy the slopes. Dave n Jo
Yes definitely good advice Richard has put out a ‘how to video’ this morning as he did another practice before we leave. He wanted to check the new tyres didn’t make a difference 🚐 🛞
Great advice thanks for sharing 👍🏻
Thanks, lots of things we have picked up, many by error 🤣
Another great and informative video guys. Have a great trip and keep up the good work.
We will Thankyou 🚐⛷️
Very clear and informative blog 👍
Cheers 😊
Great advice as usual guys. Sounds like a fab trip you have planned. Enjoy. Irvine & Karen.
Cheers - we are mostly looking forward to great week with our family all together. The snow is also amazing!
We have some moisture traps from Lakeland and they are brilliant. Have a good trip.
We have put a couple in the van to see how we go. The window vac has made a HUGE difference 🚐
Enjoyable video. Hope you have a great time skiing. I’m wondering how you deal with your regular 'self care' morning routine whilst in the camper Richard? 🤔 Safe travels 😀
Morning! Keeping my regular routine is definitely a challenge when on the road. The non-physical stuff is still easy to do in the van. Finding a place to stretch and exercise is not so easy...particularly if it is raining/snowing! I intend to use the community room at the campsite as much as possible, but will have to get up early before anyone else as I am far too shy to perform in public!
Thanks for reaching out. R
Sorry to interrupt you holiday but I have a question to ask. You mention that Brentacre have stopped insuring camper vans. Having my insurance with Brentacre and due for renewal in a few weeks I went into panic mode. I have called them and they say they will renew when the time comes. As your videos are very well informed and you obviously do your research I am wondering if I have missed something here.
Happy skiing ⛷️
Our first contact from them was a letter saying that they would not be able to renew our insurance, when we rang they just said sorry! In a later phone call they suggested if we had a lower mileage - they may find cover so we just moved across to just campers in the end. Hope all turns out well for you - we wanted 20,000 miles a year cover. X
Thank you, that explains everything
Hi Richard and Jackie. I'm just looking at Google Maps for the Huttopia and it says it's about 30 minutes walk to the Funi up to Arc 1600. Are you walking that with skis every day or is there local transport (included?) you can hop onto?
Hi we have hired ski lockers in 1600 so walk unhindered - it is a nice 15-20 minute walk through the forest and by the river. The campsite has a free minibus that you put your name down for the night before (gets booked at busy times) and there is a free bus service from outside the campsite every 30 minutes. We have a vlog tomorrow showing the site and options to get to the funicular