Hi everyone 
Julie and I are in our mid-60’s, her retired, me another two years to go
. After a couple of years of Julie casually mentioning it to me, I finally showed interest in purchasing a Motorhome in March 2020. We had an idea of the basics that we wanted and decided on a Swift Escape 674. We then found a dealer that had one that we could inspect, along with a smaller, 4 berth before we committed. The price difference and size between the two was so small that we stuck with our original choice for the extra room.
We then trawled the internet looking for one and were surprised how few there were (we still hadn’t even considered the impact of COVID at that time). Late June, we saw an advert for a choice of two Swift Escapes 674’s, one manual and one automatic. The dealer was Dolphin in Christchurch and they had their own spec that included lots of extras and trim, including solar panel, alloy wheels, winter kit, awning and upgraded engine, for a similar price of the basic model we had previously inspected - result
By the time the Motorhome was due to be ready for collection, it was a only few weeks short of September 1st, so we waited until then so as to get the new registration plate.
A bit about ourselves; for many, many years, we have loved travel. Not organised holidays but independent travel to as many places as possible. On average, we would have a couple of UK weekends, a couple of foreign city visits, and two long haul holidays. We always go somewhere different for New Years Eve. Not being rich is why we travel independently everywhere and we are masters of utilising airlines like Ryanair, EasyJet and in South East Asia (our favourite destination) Air Asia.
A few memorables:
First ever flights with a low cost airline: EasyJet (Booked two places in one go, Barcelona and Nice)
Cheapest flight ever: EasyJet, free (just paid the taxes, flew to Malaga and used car hire to drive/stay in Gibraltar)
Most visited destination: Borneo, five times (loved it 1999 - 2004 but became a bit too touristy believe it or not so stopped going).
Last most complicated itinerary: Cheap flight to Kuala Lumpur, then Air Asia flight to Siem Reap (£26) bus to Phnom Penh,
Locals boat to Ho Chi Min City (literally a narrow longboat with two rows of plastic chairs and an engine) flight to Phu Quoc island (£28) flight back to Ho Chi Min (£28) then on to Kuals Lumpur (£26) then home. For guided tours around Angkor Wat we used a local university graduate who now has his own business.
Last most memorable destination: 2019 The Galapagos. Stayed three weeks across three islands for a fraction of the cost of an organised holiday. This was a little challenging as it is quite difficult communicating with the islands in advance, very few places have email that extends beyond Ecuador. However, we could have NEVER afforded a package holiday there.
I consider myself extremely lucky that Julie is willing to give anything a go and trusts me to organise it (such as backpacking around the Scilly Isles with tent, clothes, equipment etc, roughing it in a jungle in Borneo, travelling the Mekong for 3 days in such a basic boat). She is still adventurous but now insists on a little more comfort!
So along comes COVID and last year I was suffering severe withdrawal symptoms from lack of travel and adventure.
Back to Motorhoming. September we did our first holiday in it, five sites across Devon and Cornwall. Loved it. I was on furlough this year until May, so of course, we were out in the Motorhome practically every day until then (lockdown permitting) and a few weekends since then. I never thought that I would say this but I stopped missing my foreign travels, although we will definitely start going abroad again. In actual fact, we have a log cabin with outside hot tub with our name on it in the wilds of Northern Iceland for this coming New Year (all still being well)!
So, we are now enthusiastic Motorhomers who cannot get enough and look forward to extended adventures on the continent. Not next year though as we are still making the odd ‘newbie’ mistakes and need more practice
I hope that you have enjoyed reading this protracted introduction and not dozed off half way through
We look forward to meeting some of you at future rallies and are definitely up for the Chester one next Easter.
Stay safe, have fun and remember - nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it.
Stephen & Julie
Julie and I are in our mid-60’s, her retired, me another two years to go
. After a couple of years of Julie casually mentioning it to me, I finally showed interest in purchasing a Motorhome in March 2020. We had an idea of the basics that we wanted and decided on a Swift Escape 674. We then found a dealer that had one that we could inspect, along with a smaller, 4 berth before we committed. The price difference and size between the two was so small that we stuck with our original choice for the extra room.We then trawled the internet looking for one and were surprised how few there were (we still hadn’t even considered the impact of COVID at that time). Late June, we saw an advert for a choice of two Swift Escapes 674’s, one manual and one automatic. The dealer was Dolphin in Christchurch and they had their own spec that included lots of extras and trim, including solar panel, alloy wheels, winter kit, awning and upgraded engine, for a similar price of the basic model we had previously inspected - result
By the time the Motorhome was due to be ready for collection, it was a only few weeks short of September 1st, so we waited until then so as to get the new registration plate.
A bit about ourselves; for many, many years, we have loved travel. Not organised holidays but independent travel to as many places as possible. On average, we would have a couple of UK weekends, a couple of foreign city visits, and two long haul holidays. We always go somewhere different for New Years Eve. Not being rich is why we travel independently everywhere and we are masters of utilising airlines like Ryanair, EasyJet and in South East Asia (our favourite destination) Air Asia.
A few memorables:
First ever flights with a low cost airline: EasyJet (Booked two places in one go, Barcelona and Nice)
Cheapest flight ever: EasyJet, free (just paid the taxes, flew to Malaga and used car hire to drive/stay in Gibraltar)
Most visited destination: Borneo, five times (loved it 1999 - 2004 but became a bit too touristy believe it or not so stopped going).
Last most complicated itinerary: Cheap flight to Kuala Lumpur, then Air Asia flight to Siem Reap (£26) bus to Phnom Penh,
Locals boat to Ho Chi Min City (literally a narrow longboat with two rows of plastic chairs and an engine) flight to Phu Quoc island (£28) flight back to Ho Chi Min (£28) then on to Kuals Lumpur (£26) then home. For guided tours around Angkor Wat we used a local university graduate who now has his own business.
Last most memorable destination: 2019 The Galapagos. Stayed three weeks across three islands for a fraction of the cost of an organised holiday. This was a little challenging as it is quite difficult communicating with the islands in advance, very few places have email that extends beyond Ecuador. However, we could have NEVER afforded a package holiday there.
I consider myself extremely lucky that Julie is willing to give anything a go and trusts me to organise it (such as backpacking around the Scilly Isles with tent, clothes, equipment etc, roughing it in a jungle in Borneo, travelling the Mekong for 3 days in such a basic boat). She is still adventurous but now insists on a little more comfort!
So along comes COVID and last year I was suffering severe withdrawal symptoms from lack of travel and adventure.
Back to Motorhoming. September we did our first holiday in it, five sites across Devon and Cornwall. Loved it. I was on furlough this year until May, so of course, we were out in the Motorhome practically every day until then (lockdown permitting) and a few weekends since then. I never thought that I would say this but I stopped missing my foreign travels, although we will definitely start going abroad again. In actual fact, we have a log cabin with outside hot tub with our name on it in the wilds of Northern Iceland for this coming New Year (all still being well)!
So, we are now enthusiastic Motorhomers who cannot get enough and look forward to extended adventures on the continent. Not next year though as we are still making the odd ‘newbie’ mistakes and need more practice
I hope that you have enjoyed reading this protracted introduction and not dozed off half way through
We look forward to meeting some of you at future rallies and are definitely up for the Chester one next Easter.Stay safe, have fun and remember - nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it.
Stephen & Julie
to the fun
from Merseyside
look forward to seeing you at Chester,.
You sure have been about a bit. How have you fitted it all in?
Enjoy.
. 
