When I was much younger, I used to remember my grandparents picking me up in their camper van for a weekend trip to the Peak District. Camping with an amazing view, being able to take walks in nature and having life go into slow-motion. Of course younger me just really enjoyed spending time with my grandparents and hearing about their life experiences, in reflection it was so much more.

Fast forward many many years, we purchased a camping bus to replace our retiring car, with the promise of reducing our fights city hopping across Europe. One year into ownership and over 20,000km on the clock, I can see we reduced our flights to zero and gained so much more. Traveling and exploring Germany, Denmark, Luxembourg, Northern England and Scotland.

What camping really forces you to do is to think minimal, what is the minimal food and drink do I need to live? What is the minimal amount of tech do I need? What is the minimal amount of luxuries do I need with me? Spending 2.5 weeks living in the camping bus in Northern Scotland in very remote areas really enabled a sense of freedom and a really great understanding of what do I really need in life?

This way of traveling, also makes the journey an added adventure on its own and really makes you appreciate distance and time. It also enables you the freedom to change your plans, we did this on a trip to South-Western Germany and Luxembourg, we really made on the fly decisions how long we wanted to stay in places and enabled us to make the most of different weather conditions and also our own energy levels.

Sometimes, taking the longer path in life is good for our mental health, in a very instant gratification world. The journey to our destination is equally important as the destination, and depending on the bare minimum helps to break away from consumerism and makes you appreciate the luxuries with new perspectives.