We started the trip in a 2005 Kia Spectra. We put two boxes on top, one for food and equipment and one for clothing. Every night for 10 days, we spent anywhere between one and a half hours and two and a half hours setting up, cooking, sleeping, cooking and packing-up before hitting the road again. We were burned out after that and treated ourselves to a couple of hotel nights. Then we stopped for a couple of weeks of woofing and when we got back to the car, it was pretty clear we needed another form of transportation if we wanted to continue the trip.
Naturally, Westfalia became our favourite option. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts at buying campers in New Brunswick and on Prince Edward Island, we decided to come back home and purchase the right vehicle for our needs.
After a couple of days, we found it: a 1999 Volkwagen Eurovan Camper (VWEVC). It took three days to finalize the purchase and a week to outfit it. We hit the road just two weeks after coming back.
We took a few weeks to get used to being on the road in our new van. Now, it works well and we are very happy with the purchase. We did get rid of two bikes and the ski box we had installed on top. It made the top heavy and impractical. We never used the bikes so we returned all this on the bus while driving through Moncton, NB. After three and a half months on the road, we are almost ready for another strip down in our possessions. This will come later though.
We joined a few newgroups of people with VWEVC (ev_update), Westfalias (Vanagon-Westfalia, wetwesties, VWVANFULLTIMERS), and other lists dedicated to people on the road (fullmoonbusclub, CampingParkingTravelling). People from these lists have been generous and an incredible source for mechanical tips and travelling hints. We have even received more than a few invites to visit and park for a while. Thank you to all.
Here are our two vehicles:
