Great story, great perspective. Be open minded and open hearted. If we ever see you on the road we'll say high. However, unlike Hans I will always have the same lady with me,I think snobbery does exist, but that is due to snobs owning motorhomes and no different to anything else. British society is full of them. We talk to anyone who will talk to us
24 years ago we had a VW Type 2 motorhome, it was amazing, we went everywhere in her. We stopped one night on the beach along the coast from Brighton (good olde days when you could do this) when we parked up we were the only ones on the beach. On opening the curtains in the morning we were surprised to find another 3 motorhomes. One was nothing short of a complete bucket, held together with tape and string, another was a Talbot Highlander and a nice new Hymer. The door opened on the "bucket" and an oriental lady came out and headed down to the water, she nodded as she passed, a few minutes later a man came out of the van who came across and said, "good morning" he commented on how nice a spot it was and how he camped here a few times. he was originally from the area but owned a few premises in Hamburg, we eventually, through conversation established he owned a number of brothels in Hamburg. We were soon joined by the owners of the Talbot who were two guys visiting Brighton and who appeared to be a couple, followed by the owners of the nice new shiny Hymer who were keen to engage in conversation, turned out he was a Church of England Priest from Birmingham.
We spent a good hour all chatting when the Priests' wife appeared with a pot of tea and coffee and hot toast asking if anyone would join them for breakfast. We spent the morning together and we said we were heading off and starting the trip back up North. We were asked if we could not stay another night as the two guys were planning a BBQ on the beach that night. We thought about it and enjoyed the company so much we stayed and what a night we had. We sat on the beach until the early hours of the morning. The conversation was as diverse as the company, we had an amazing time.
On leaving the next day we made an agreement that we would meet next year at the same place and same date. We exchanged contact details and sure enough the following year we all met up. The only exception being Hans, the Hamburg Businessman, he brought a different lady friend!
We have all continued this tradition and this year will be the 25th year that we have all met up. We can no longer meet on the original location, but we meet at Brighton Caravan Club Site. Unfortunately, Elizabeth, the Priests' wife passed away a few years ago, but he still attends. Also Hans' has never in 24 years brought the same guest with him twice.
So yes, there is snobbery in the motorhome community, just like everywhere else in British society. However, there is also a great sense of community, regardless of any of the social barriers we see, people just want to enjoy the pastime and have a passion to help others who have the same passion.
