Serious pyscological help needed before next year!

[Lol1]

Sounds like you need someone to tell you to give it all up, Alison.

So here goes, give it up, Alison.

Feel better now that you have a positive direction to attune to?

OK, now for the spanner in the works.

Give it up now while caravan prices are low and you will loose a small fortune. Along with trading in your car because you don't need it any more for towing, you may find you could possibly need a second job to pay off the loss.

Leave it till next year to sell and prices will be better but your caravan will be older, you loose again.

You could still give it up because traveling with a suitcase is great fun, especially at bus and train stations (picture forming yet?)and a delight through airports.

Then again, when you get to your accommodation all will be bliss. Everything will be clean and tidy with no irritations at all. All hotels/statics are like that, so I'm told. Don't forget your neighbors, if you ever meet them, six inches away from your bedroom wall. They don't put those drinking glasses in the room for nothing you know!

Who on earth calls anyone a tin-tenter? Whoever it is, all I can say is ignorance must be bliss for them, but its more likely a heavy dose of jealousy on their part.

Onto the thorny subject of awning erections (careful spelling there), as a man (be quiet Lisa) I can understand his mood. There are those that prefer to get on site, relax and put everything together after a leisurely cup of tea and a snooze, no rushing in other words. There are those that can't relax (myself included) until all the setting up has been done. With this in mind, think about the fact that hubby has just towed the caravan all the way there (Stop shouting, I know women tow as well) which to begin with, can be stressful and on top of that he then has to do battle with the awning.

So feel sorry for us, we need it. The good news is that this phase of caravaning doesn't last long and soon you will be making camp together in harmony.

You do know that you can take your caravan abroad don't you?

If what you want is sun, sea and (lets not go there) something, you can do that with the van too. Even the journey becomes part of the holiday. It need not be expensive, a little planning should aid with that and you get the best of both worlds.

Give it another year, choose your sites with care and see how you feel. If however you still feel the same, tell your husband that your having an affair with someone younger, your leaving him and he might find that he needs to visit a health clinic. After you have put him in the recovery position and he's starting to come round, he will ask if it's true? At this point you can say "No, but I fancy a change from the caravan next year, love". Works every time, apparently.....

Since when did you start wearing hats, Lisa?

 

[Chrissylizzie]

Hi Alison

This was one posting I related to as I remember feeling like this several years ago, so I have wondered since, if you found a solution. As you can see, we didn,t give up and are glad we didn't so hope you have settled your mind somehow.

 

[Ogre]

Try it this way Alison:

Work out how often you use the caravan in a season.

Add to this the cost of petrol, site fees, depreciation, and of course storage and maintenance.

Then add on the 'hassle' factor of erecting awnings, getting rid of poo, trudging to icy cold shower blocks in the rain, towing, travelling at 60mph, and being made to feel like a leper by everyone except other caravanners.

You'll probably be better off going to a Hotel for 6 or 7 weekends a year!!

I'd break it gently......he might actually LIKE losing money towing a caravan round the country!!

 

[Guest]

I think Alison must be going to the wrong sites at the wrong time.

If you decide to give it another chance Alison check out the sites available to you, you obviously donn't want a muddy field in rainy Derbyshire or Devon.

Find a site that has road ways and facilities to entertain the kids and get a grip of the Awning.

Get out there with your fella in the driveway or wherever and and sort the Awning out TOGETHER.

When its up mark the framework with coloured insulation tape. Front of van poles 1 colour centre poles another and lastly the rear set of poles and then mark ends of poles with the colours where the join the leg and roof poles sections.

If you can't get the Awning up in 15 minutes after that, go for the Toy Boy.

You can get your car and van across the channel for about

 

[illy]

I also had a not-so-happy-hubby when towing but we love staying in our drag-a-box (as he fondly called it!) so chose the best solution - site it! It's the best thing we every did. Rather than putting the van in storage (can't keep it on drive), we have sited it at a site we once stayed at in Cumbria and fell in love with. It is there all year round, come sun or snow, and when we fancy a week or two elsewhere, we just hitch up and go. The awning stays up most of the summer so less arguments with hubby, my 15 year old has made some great friends so less arguments with daughter number one and my 9 year old has an adventure park and other mates so no arguments with daughter number two - I can relax with a glass of wine and magazine whilst hubby is guffawing with neighbour with beer in hand, heaven! We are 1.5hr away from home so use it every weekend (I leave work at 4pm on a Friday and we are chilled out in van ready for Emmerdale) and most school/bank hols. I have even stayed in it on my own rather than using a hotel when working in Darlington as I find it more relaxing!

Don't give up yet - I have yet to meet anyone who, once they have got used to their van, has looked back. The name-callers, I predict, have never owned a caravan?!? Jealousy eh!?!

 

[AnnM1]

Hi Alison

I think you hit the nail right on the head!!! Not being nasty (or personal) but it could all be to do with your age!!! When I hit 40 I imagined everything would change FOR THE BETTER. Going to stay in hotels, being looked after, etc. However, having tried it, I found the confines of this 'luxury' less enjoyable and I found I much preferred our caravan holidays. No restrictions on when to get up, dash down for breakfast, get out so the rooms could be cleaned. This is in all weathers as well.

What I am trying to ay is:

If you want to get to appreciate the laid back lifestyle caravanning can offer you - try staying in a couple of hotels, before you decide to sell your lovely little cosy 'home'. Don't let the weather get to you. If you have loose laid carpets - pick them up so that the floor is easily cleaned.

I found the best thing when erecting the awning is not to rush it and to have a beer handy. Its amazing how much more relaxing hubby will find his chore.

Keep the van for another season then decide what you really want to do. Oh and don't let the name callers get to you! It is known as 'the green-eyed little monster!

Hope this helps.

Ann

 

[Arrow1]

Alison, I have read through the advice given to you so far and there are many good points raised. Some, I do not agree with, either way... a toyboy is not the answer. Sift through the advice given and select the pieces from each reply that you can look at positively and hopefully you will be encouraged to incorporate some of these into your caravanning to make it more enjoyable. If you only caravan in UK (where I find prices are somewhat extortionate - personal view only based on research done.. and having NEVER caravanned on a UK site) then maybe it's time to try the continent where the way of life is soooo chilled out. I am not sure what part of the country you are from, but my wife and I travel from South Wales for five hours to get to Dover, cross over to France and have a wonderful time in France or Belgium three or four times a year, from a week up to a forthnight a time. We have looked at package holidays in hotels abroad and even went to Spain to stay with friends for a week. That was just as expensive as our caravanning holidays so no financial saving, plus we didn't have the freedom to move on if we didn't like the place as we do with the van.

Both my two children live with their mother (divorced from wife No1) but two years ago we took them (at 12 and 10yrs old) to Normandy for 10 days, in a 2-berth (the double bed in an 18yrold Award Daystar is surprisingly big) and we all had a great time and a cheap holiday. The kids made French friends even though they were very basic in their French lingo and we didn't see much of them for the rest of the holiday.

On the subject of awnings... as one person has suggested, if you don't need the awning, then don't put it up. But, if like us, you like the convenience of having somehere to 'dump' a lot of stuff, a place to eat outside but with a bit of privacy, why not find out more about the Caravanstore Zip awnings by Fiamma. A full kit is now about