The Motorhome Routine

Versiunea in romana mai jos.

[EN] I don’t even know if to call it a routine, as every day is different. But there are certain things that need to be done while traveling in a motorhome and I wanted to share our experience so far so that you get a better idea of what’s happening.

Before I start though, I have to mention that although our motorhome is old, it has everything we need: shower, WC, a little oven in the kitchen area. So for those who go traveling in a van, all the respect for you, don’t know how you do it!

Going back to my list, there are few important things that you need to think about, and they mainly are:

• Supply of water (drinking and washing)
• Emptying the dirty water
• Supply of power
• Gas for cooking, boiler etc
• Diesel
• Finding where to recycle your rubbish and general waste
• Emptying the toilet (sorry!)

And obviously food. And booze at times (chuckles :)) )

Mark researched a lot before we started to travel and he is also planning where are we going to stay next. And in Europe there are a lot of places where you can park for free (some countries don’t so please check beforehand, for example Slovenia). So before going to the next stop we need to sort out all the points listed above. Mark either uses his app (park4night) that gives you the service points as well, or we just check for signs that look like this:

A lot of places are free or very cheap (services with 2€). If you choose to or need to go into a campsite it gets more expensive, but luckily until now we only used campsites a couple of times.

For electricity, we have a solar panel so we can charge phones and tablets just by staying in sunny countries. We did have an instance when we completely ran out of battery. Oh boy, couldn’t even turn the tap on! Learned our lesson now, trying to turn off the 12V while driving and keeping our devices on battery saving mode. In fact, I would recommend this for anyone, I mean how many apps can we use at one time?

Anyway.

We fill in the tank with water (120l) and about 40l of drinking water (we have separate containers that we refill from the tap).

We have to check every time if the water is “potable”, so pay attention to that. We bought bottled water only a couple of times as we weren’t sure about the tap one and we bought 5l bottles to avoid using too much plastic (the 6 bottles wraps omg too much!).

Service points usually have water and facilities to empty the dirty water and the toilets. We even found services in a supermarket parking! Clever tactic to make you do your shopping in there!

You will also find that a lot of supermarkets have washing machines outside. Or you can find places to wash your clothes in little towns.

I wash by hand anything that is easy to wash.

Mark empties the toilet, I sort out the bins. We try to use as much as we can public toilets. Or the woods (Schhhhh!) but please, oh please, DO NOT LEAVE WET TISSUES IN NATURE! You should avoid using them anyway, they are made of plastic.

For rubbish, there are plenty of spots or you can sort it out and you can usually see them as you drive.

Mark does most of the cooking, I do most of the cleaning (motorhomes gets dusty very quickly haha)

We buy a lot of tinned food and fresh fruit and Mark can make wonders with cheap ingredients! So we don’t spend too much on food and we realised we can even go out from time to time for lunch (cheaper than dinner!). We have a strict budget and I keep spreadsheets and updating it regularly.

We get diesel once a week or 10-14 days (depending on how long we stay in one place). Gas once a month.

Once we empty and refill everything else, this usually keeps us going for about 7-10 days and after we need to do it all over again.

We try to be very calculated about the water and gas that we use, and that includes taking quick showers and only boil as much water as we need for drinks or we store the hot water in our magic One bottle from root7, it keeps the hot water for 20hrs! (Not an advert, I truly love their products).

I boil a kettle separately to wash my hair. Good training from my student years living in a small room at Mecanica Fina campus with other girls and when the showers (that were accessible for the whole floor!) didn’t have hot water, we had to get creative and wash as we could. Hi girls by the way! Miss you X

Also, every time before we move we have to store and lock everything in cupboards otherwise it will be a disaster as you can imagine!

We usually go for long walks every day (you can find walking trails on WikiLoc or Komoot).

Plans change pretty much every day, but that’s the beauty of this lifestyle 🙂

Let me know if you have any questions and I will answer as quick as I can.

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[RO] Nici nu stiu daca sa o numesc rutina, asa cum fiecare zi e diferita, dar trebuie sa ai grija cam de aceleasi lucruri in mod repetitiv, lucruri pe care le voi enumera mai jos din experienta noastra de pana acum.

Inainte sa incep insa, tin sa mentionez ca rulota noastra, desi destul de veche, are tot ce ne trebuie: dus, WC, cuptor in bucatarie. Asa ca, pentru cei care merg sa calatoreasca intr-un microbuz: tot respectul! Nu stiu cum reusiti!

Deci, sa revenim la lista noastra. Lucrurile cele mai importante sunt:

• Sa gasesti apa (potabila si pentru spalat)
• Sa gasesti unde sa arunci apa murdara
• Sa gasesti electricitate
• Gaz pentru gatit si pentru incalzire/apa calda
• Diesel
• Urne pentru reciclare si pentru gunoi general
• Sa gasesti unde sa arunci continutul WC-ului (scuze!)

Si desigur produse alimentare. Si alcool cateodata (haha!)

Mark s-a documentat mult inainte sa pornim la drum si el este cel care planuieste unde mergem si unde vom sta la urmatorul popas. In Franta exista multe locuri unde poti parca gratis.

Inainte sa mergem in urmatorul punct, trebuie sa avem grija de toate lucrurile expuse mai sus. Mark foloseste o aplicatie care se mumeste park4night si acolo gasesti informatie despre unde poti parca, dar si unde poti gasi servicii pentru rulota. Pe drum uneori vedem semn de genul si ne oprim:

Multe locuri sunt foarte ieftine sau gratis. Practic cu 2€ ai acces la serviciile principale. Daca alegi sau trebuie sa stai intr-un loc special de camping, preturile sunt mult mai mari. Din fericire, pana acum am stat in majoritatea locurilor gratis si am gasit servicii foarte ieftine.

Pentru electricitate, avem panouri solare si incarcam toate aparatele de la soare, noroc ca am avut soare din plin in majoritatea tarilor vizitate. Ba chiar cam mult (azi cand scriu articolul s-au inregistrat temperaturi record in Franta). Insa am ramas o data fara baterie complet si nu puteam nici porni robinetul cu apa (pompa are nevoie de electricitate) asa ca ne-am invatat minte sa deconectam tot cand nu folosim si sa setam toate aparatele sa economiseasca baterie (battery saving mode), ceea ce va recomand sa faceti si voi pentru ca nu putem folosi toate aplicatiile in acelasi timp si asa nu va trebui sa incarcati atat de des telefonul.

In fine.

Pentru apa de spalat, umplem reservorul cu 120l. Avem sticle pentru apa potabila pe care le umplem separat (din acelasi robinet daca e apa potabila) si luam cam 40l (2 X 15l si 2x 5l).

Este important sa verificati daca apa e potabila (in majoritatea locurilor e potabila). Am fost nevoiti sa cumparam apa doar de 2 ori si atunci am cumparat sticle de 5l (mai putin plastic decat 6 sticle impachetate) si am pastrat sticlele, le spalam si le umplem cu apa de la robinet.

Locurile cu servicii pentru rulota au de obicei: apa (potabila de obicei sau au 2 robinete separate), facilitati pentru a arunca apa murdara si continutul toaletei. Uneori au si prize cu electricitate, dar noi nu prea folosim pentru ca avem panouri solare.

Am gasit servicii de genul pana si in parcarea unui supermarket, buna tactica de a te face sa cumperi la ei, da? (Daca esti cu rulota):))

Apropo, multe supermarket-uri au masini de spalat rufe afara. Sau exista si locuri speciale in diverse localitati.

Eu spal ce e usor de spalat de mana si restul merge la masina de spalat.

Mark se ocupa de WC si eu de gunoi. Ne straduim sa folosim cat de mult posibil toalete publice. Sau mergem in padure (schhhhh!) Numai ca VA ROG NU LASATI SERVETELE UMEDE IN NATURA!!!!!!!!! Si in general, evitati sa folositi servetele umede, ele sunt facute din plastic.

Gunoiul de obicei il separam in gunoi general si restul de reciclat si cand gasim urne mari speciale (sunt destul de des, le vezi din rulota), deja separ sticla de carton etc.

Mark de obicei pregateste mancare si eu fac curat (rulotele se prafuiesc foarte repede!).

Cumparam foarte multe conserve de tot felul si Mark gateste extraordinar cu ingrediente ieftine si am realizat ca ne permitem sa mancam din cand in cand la restaurant (la pranz pentru ca e mai ieftin). Avem un buget strict si price cheltuiala o scriu intr-un tabel excel pe care l-am creat.

Cumparam diesel o data pe saptamana sau o data la 10-12 zile in dependenta de cat stam intr-un loc si gaz o data pe luna.

Incercam sa fim foarte calculati in privinta consumului de apa si gaz, de aceea folosim strict ce avem nevoie.

Pentru a-mi spala parul, fierb un ceainic de apa separat. Practica din studentie de la caminul Mecanica Fina cand nu aveam apa calda in dusurile comune, gaseam iesiri din situatii haha. Apropo, salutare fetelor de la Mecanica Fina! Mi-e dor de voi!

De asemenea, de fiecare data cand trebuie sa (ne) pornim undeva (“expresie” cu dedicatie pentru Laura si Raluca😁), punem toate lucrurile in dulapuri.

Si planurile se schimba in fiecare zi, dar asta e farmecul acestui stil de viata.

Daca aveti intrebari, scrieti-mi un mesaj si voi raspunde cat de repede pot.