Oh to be young and "free"!

[DiggerJon]

Van life: Durham couple's six years on the road (and counting)

After Dan Colegate nearly died, he and his partner Esther left their careers for the open road.

www.bbc.co.uk

Well, apart from having all those dogs aboard..........
In reality, I wonder if this peripatatic lifestyle may be curtailed with the imminent reality of Brexit?

 

[Northernraider]

My mum just sent me this article this morning and my first thought after reading it was .. theres someone elses life about to be buggered up after new year.

 

[KiwiKampers]

I think I’ve seen their blog on MotorhomeFun. I remember her name, Dingley, ‘cos that was my maiden name and there’s not many of us about.
I think they took a gamble setting off for a life on the road when they both suffered from depression. Living in a confined space is not always conducive to good mental health and can be a test of a relationship. It appears to have worked out well for them.

 

[bobnick]

Read one of his book's. Ok but not being into cycling found it bit boring.

 

[chaser]

Read one of his book's. Ok but not being into cycling found it bit boring.

Ok yeah I read that, didn't realize it was the same couple.

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[Jenka]

We meet loads of younger people on the road and good luck to them .

 

[Jaws]

Those pups look like a selection of clone Dillons !!!

 

[violet]

Van life: Durham couple's six years on the road (and counting)

After Dan Colegate nearly died, he and his partner Esther left their careers for the open road.

www.bbc.co.uk

Well, apart from having all those dogs aboard..........
In reality, I wonder if this peripatatic lifestyle may be curtailed with the imminent reality of Brexit?

This is irresponsible journalism. Who wrote this? "They have no plans to end their adventure anytime soon"!! The BBC really should have put a separate information piece on the end, or beginning, of this about the effect of Brexit on this type of lifestyle. People will read this and think it is an idyllic lifestyle which they could have. As Funsters know, but not everyone else, this type of travel will be severely curtailed from January 1st unless one has an EU or EEA passport and the EHIC cards will be lost to most UK citizens. I would have sent this comment to the BBC but think it entails my giving them too much personal information.
Apart that this the article makes everything sound easy and joyful. Only ups and no downs.

 

[John Barrett]

This is irresponsible journalism. Who wrote this? "They have no plans to end their adventure anytime soon"!! The BBC really should have put a separate information piece on the end, or beginning, of this about the effect of Brexit on this type of lifestyle. People will read this and think it is an idyllic lifestyle which they could have. As Funsters know, but not everyone else, this type of travel will be severely curtailed from January 1st unless one has an EU or EEA passport and the EHIC cards will be lost to most UK citizens. I would have sent this comment to the BBC but think it entails my giving them too much personal information.
Apart that this the article makes everything sound easy and joyful. Only ups and no downs.

I should imagine that this couple, with their 'numerous degrees including Oxford and Cambridge' would be quite capable of managing their life without recourse to advice from Funsters...

 

[violet]

I should imagine that this couple, with their 'numerous degrees including Oxford and Cambridge' would be quite capable of managing their life without recourse to advice from Funsters...

Thanks for reading this but really no advice is being offered to anyone. The concern is that the institution of the BBC should not be presenting people with incomplete and/or misleading information which might lead them to make lifestyle changes.

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[69473]

The world is full of misleading information
Trump and the Murdoch press spring to mind.
If the BBC referenced the pitfalls of Brexit every time it featured a European linked story criticism would no doubt follow. I can just imagine the Daily Mail and Tory funded Telegraph headlines telling the gulable what to get angry about next.
Good luck to them their lives will have been enriched by their experiences.
Given half a chance I would do the same, already had chats with our kids about doing something similar, I think more young people are dissolutioned with UK than you think, this 55yrs old is anyway!
Stay safe everyone.

 

[Scotch mist]

Yeh it really worked out for them , they live apart

 

[nicholsong]

This is irresponsible journalism. Who wrote this? "They have no plans to end their adventure anytime soon"!! The BBC really should have put a separate information piece on the end, or beginning, of this about the effect of Brexit on this type of lifestyle. People will read this and think it is an idyllic lifestyle which they could have. As Funsters know, but not everyone else, this type of travel will be severely curtailed from January 1st unless one has an EU or EEA passport and the EHIC cards will be lost to most UK citizens. I would have sent this comment to the BBC but think it entails my giving them too much personal information.
Apart that this the article makes everything sound easy and joyful. Only ups and no downs.

They have resided for a while in various countries.

I think they have probably got Residence rights in one of them, like I have. They do not need passports.

That would solve a lot of the 90/180 problems. If they then stay more than 90 days in a further country, as in more house-sitting, they could change Residence to there.

Many people are not creative enough about solving these problems, but do not assume these two are not.

Maybe the writer knew some of this about them, so now advice was needed. As for readers they can work it out for tehselves - not everyone needs to be spoon fed, anyway there are too many permutations for an article.

Geoff

 

[Helen Ariel]

This is irresponsible journalism. Who wrote this? "They have no plans to end their adventure anytime soon"!! The BBC really should have put a separate information piece on the end, or beginning, of this about the effect of Brexit on this type of lifestyle. People will read this and think it is an idyllic lifestyle which they could have. As Funsters know, but not everyone else, this type of travel will be severely curtailed from January 1st unless one has an EU or EEA passport and the EHIC cards will be lost to most UK citizens. I would have sent this comment to the BBC but think it entails my giving them too much personal information.
Apart that this the article makes everything sound easy and joyful. Only ups and no downs.

Who says they won't spend 90 days in a non eu country like Turkey or Morocco or do some time back in the UK from time to time. It's still possible to travel the world just not park yourself in Spain for 5 months and not move.

 

[Brains]

The Blog they write is here
http://www.estheranddan.com/
It's not been updated since March,

Looking at their FB page here
https://www.facebook.com/estheranddan/
It looks like they are locked down in northern Spain in the foothills of the Pyrenees.

I read most of the contents of the BBC article at least a year ago.

I suspect that BBC article was written last year, if not before, and someone at the BBC needed a human interest story to fill a space and pulled that one off the shelf.
They obviously did not expect so many hits or for it to strike so many chords with an uptick in interest in motorhomes and endless carefree travel.

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[MitchandJenny]

We met this delightful couple on the French border in the “Yellow Gilet” year and what a smashing pair of intelligent and optimistic people they were.
We wish them all the luck and happiness in the world.
Mitch.

 

[Ian Bosman]

Brexit will bring changes but there is too much doom and gloom about it. France has a lot to lose if the UK tourists are given a hard time as they are huge in numbers as tourists and purchasers of their liquid stuff. Until the day dawns as it will and we allow things to settle we may find it a bit lie my first jaunt to France in 1965 when we did get checked at borders and waved on with the minimum of fuss and on into Belgium and The Netherlands where we stayed for a week doing a house swap. I do not recall all this stuff about not being allowed in come January 1st.

 

[minesapint]

This is irresponsible journalism. Who wrote this? "They have no plans to end their adventure anytime soon"!! The BBC really should have put a separate information piece on the end, or beginning, of this about the effect of Brexit on this type of lifestyle. People will read this and think it is an idyllic lifestyle which they could have. As Funsters know, but not everyone else, this type of travel will be severely curtailed from January 1st unless one has an EU or EEA passport and the EHIC cards will be lost to most UK citizens. I would have sent this comment to the BBC but think it entails my giving them too much personal information.
Apart that this the article makes everything sound easy and joyful. Only ups and no downs.

If it is on the bbc, it is probably not true, or has a very good truth base but did not fit the bbc thought process.

 

[Jev88]

I don't have the time or money at the moment to abandon work for a long travel/expedition. When the new 90 day rules come in to effect..... What is the punishment if you deduced to visit Europe for three months and then camped up in one country for another 3 months?

 

[Garry - June]

Who says they won't spend 90 days in a non eu country like Turkey or Morocco or do some time back in the UK from time to time. It's still possible to travel the world just not park yourself in Spain for 5 months and not move.

Absolutely spot on....totally ridiculous and scare mongering post....it takes very little brain power and common sense to work around Brexit if you really want to....the only people Brexit will seriously hinder is the winter lets sit on a Spanish site for 6 or 7 months and not move crowd .....(actually technically unlawful even now ) ..

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[Garry - June]

I don't have the time or money at the moment to abandon work for a long travel/expedition. When the new 90 day rules come in to effect..... What is the punishment if you deduced to visit Europe for three months and then camped up in one country for another 3 months?

Well our American friends were found to be 3 days over their permitted 90 days.... for which they received a fine and admin charges of approx 450eu....they were also told they were extremely lucky they were not being given the usual 3 yr ban from returning....you may well sit undetected as you say...but try crossing a border with a passport check and you will be instantly discovered...try not doing that and risk your van being impounded if caught..

 

[Molly A]

So now perhaps the head in the sand crowd who asserted that everything will be ok because EU countries need our money will now realise that our freedom of movement is now gone, as of last week, as is our EHIC, with government sites now confirming that we need full on health insurance as part of our travel insurance and the prospect of outrageously expensive health insurance for next season. But I thought that there would be no down sides????

 

[Garry - June]

So now perhaps the head in the sand crowd who asserted that everything will be ok because EU countries need our money will now realise that our freedom of movement is now gone, as of last week, as is our EHIC, with government sites now confirming that we need full on health insurance as part of our travel insurance and the prospect of outrageously expensive health insurance for next season. But I thought that there would be no down sides????

Should have insurance anyway...we've been travelling for years but wouldn't do so without insurance.. the EHIC is not and never has been the be all and end all.

 

[Bucket]

This is irresponsible journalism. Who wrote this? "They have no plans to end their adventure anytime soon"!! The BBC really should have put a separate information piece on the end, or beginning, of this about the effect of Brexit on this type of lifestyle. People will read this and think it is an idyllic lifestyle which they could have. As Funsters know, but not everyone else, this type of travel will be severely curtailed from January 1st unless one has an EU or EEA passport and the EHIC cards will be lost to most UK citizens. I would have sent this comment to the BBC but think it entails my giving them too much personal information.
Apart that this the article makes everything sound easy and joyful. Only ups and no downs.

Sorry Violet, I don't read it as you see. My take is it's far from an idilic life, and they even seem to have to live apart for long stretches. It certainly didn't make me envy them. On the other hand, it is the BBC so I don't want to be seen to be defending the Woke service...

 

[Skez]

the only people Brexit will seriously hinder is the winter lets sit on a Spanish site for 6 or 7 months and not move crowd

Utter rubbish.

Surely what you mean is it doesn't impact you and your circumstances greatly.

It impacts us and our retirement plans enormously.

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[Molly A]

Should have insurance anyway...we've been travelling for years but wouldn't do so without insurance.. the EHIC is not and never has been the be all and end all.

So I take it you are happy about being restricted to 90 days in 180...and the EHIC has been invaluable to us people who have been travelling in Europe for decades. Hope youare happy to pay the hugely increased pemiums because of the withdrawal of EHIC

 

[nicholsong]

I had mistakenly thought that getting Permanent Residence in an EU country would give freedom of movement, if not for work at least for leisure travelling, but all it gives is right to stay permanently in one's host country but confined to the 90/180 rule for all other countries. Of course there are no border checks within Schengen and Residence Permits do not get stamped even if a check is imposed, so there is the chance to ignore the 90/180 and risk not getting caught.

The big advantage is getting free healthcare in one's host country if a UK State Pensioner, and an EHIC card valid in all EU, although bizarrely still issued by UK not the host country - figure that out.

Geoff

 

[Molly A]

Brexit will bring changes but there is too much doom and gloom about it. France has a lot to lose if the UK tourists are given a hard time as they are huge in numbers as tourists and purchasers of their liquid stuff. Until the day dawns as it will and we allow things to settle we may find it a bit lie my first jaunt to France in 1965 when we did get checked at borders and waved on with the minimum of fuss and on into Belgium and The Netherlands where we stayed for a week doing a house swap. I do not recall all this stuff about not being allowed in come January 1st.

Which is fine if your travelling is confined to short 'jaunts' or for those restricted to normal holidays. For those of us that want to do extensive travelling it is somewhat more problematical, with the necessity to spend extended periods of time back in the UK or another non EU country which one perhaps has no interest in visiting in order to reset the clock . The withdrawal of our right to freedom of movement is a serious reduction in our liberties and is rightly something about which to feel 'doom and gloom.

 

[Molly A]

Who says they won't spend 90 days in a non eu country like Turkey or Morocco or do some time back in the UK from time to time. It's still possible to travel the world just not park yourself in Spain for 5 months and not move.

Frankly the whole point in getting my motorhome and my boat is to get out of the UK for as much of the year as I can contrive to do.

 

[nicholsong]

Frankly the whole point in getting my motorhome and my boat is to get out of the UK for as much of the year as I can contrive to do.

Might be a bit easier to keep the days counting to 90 days to a minimum with a boat, by clearing out of a port with customs/immigration and then just hopping along the coast in bays and small ports with no coverage.

In the 'old days' before Greece was in the UK and Greece charged a tax if a boat was in the country for more than a year, most of us just nominally cleared out, disappeared for a few days and cleared back in at another port saying we had just come from, say Italy. They probably knew it was happening but the scheme worked.

Geoff

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