Living on the road
Has anyone out there sold their property and lived for a couple of years abroad in motorhome or caravan? We are considering doing so but have many questions needing answers.
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http://motorhome365.com might be a good place to start.
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Yes, we know British expats who sold up and left South Africa because of the situation there. They bought and converted panel vans and "lived on tne road" in Australia and New Zealand for several years and were planning to tour South America when cancer and medical fees struck. One of the couple sadly died, and the other was left penniless and living with one of her children.
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A younger family friend is about to launch herself in a small M/H for a year or two, she is renting out her home and is going to do some seasonal or land based work if she finds it in the UK. She doesn't want to have a long holiday she wants to make contact with people and various venues and learn about some rural communities. If you're going off on a long tour there's a lot to consider, especially insurance and long term finances.
There are experienced full time groups on line, worth a look up?
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My brother has been on the road for 6 years in his MH. He usually spends about 8 months touring mainland Europe especially Eastern Europe and then spends the other 4 months in Sicily. Comes home every year for a couple of weeks for doctors, MOT, family visits etc.. For 4 years I’ve gone out and met up with him for a couple of weeks.
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agree with the advice above, plenty of resource form. thise who've actually done ot..
we have friends (a tad younger than us) who rent out their house for six months a year and travel through Greece, Scicily, Spain and the. rwturn to their 'half life' od art/sculpture and web site building for the rest of the year.
costs are about neutral, experiences not so....
)we only have one life and this one 'aint a rehersal' as they say...
good luck
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I take it he has got a plan for the future?
Two scenarios we have encountered when we were working
1 A couple had sold up (as the op is looking at) went on the road for five years , all over mainland Europe, but then did not have enough to live as they did beforehand they had to return to UK because one had a seriose illness
2 A couple who were elderly expats in Spain,who thought it would be easy to get any UK local council to house them,, when they could not look after themselves in Spain
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Not something I have every considered. Since we have been retired the longest we have been away is about nine weeks and usually as the period comes towards the end we are usually glad to get back to the UK. Perhaps we are not adventurous enough. I think you have to be very certain in your own mind that this is what you want to do. All that blogs and forums can do is provide you with the nuts and bolts of information as all that do it will be doing it for their own reasons. You don't say what experience you have had of long term touring, say 3/6 months at a time. Whilst I appreciate that selling your home will help finance your time away you do have to consider what happens if it doesn't work out. As some have mentioned is it not possible to rent your house out which not only gives you some income but you always have the house to fall back on? Good luck with whatever decision you make.
David
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Been there ,'done that' .As with many m/homers .For five or six months over the winter periods ,in the 80s & 90s ,Spain France ETC .VERY valuable lifestyle experiences all round ,BUT never sold up our U.K property !! Still somewhere to come back to ,somewhere to have mail & medical uses .It worked out cheaper to be away ,than stay in the U.K (at that time ) DO YOUR HOMEWORK !! BUT ENJOY ,this is no practice run ,,,this IS the real thing .If you can't do it while you're here ,,,you won't do it at all !! !! .0
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Prudence would always dictate retaining a foothold on the UK property ladder. Renting out or downsizing and then renting out are routes worth exploring. The advice in Luke 14:28 seems appropriate.
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I would not act untill after the end of this year, waiting to see if UK citizens living in the EU for more than 90 days in 180, is even an option open to you.
It is all down to what "deal" we end up with, and presently we can't have that info.
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I think that my thoughts are in line with many comments on here. When I was single some 4 years after my wife's death (I was aged 47) I had decided to retire at age 54 and go off in a caravan or motorhome. But not having property in UK was never on the cards. Downsizing was as it was my intent to come back home every year for at least 2 or 3 months to see friends and family, sort out heating services, vehicle services, medical etc.
My situation changed because I met my present OH. For me selling up completely and going was not on.
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Sunstyle, check out the YouTube channels of-Gadget John & John Virgoe, they are both full timers I believe. There is a whole community out there who meet up-camp quirky being one of the meet ups. Good luck👍🏻
PS-these people can really help you, not just give you guesses.
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He was going to consider giving up but the many acquaintances he has made over the years, many a lot older than home persuaded him that there was life in the old dog still so he’s carrying on. As he’s single he hasn’t got the worry of OH. I have no idea if he has any plans for the future. His time alone has unable him to get a third degree, this time in astro physics, so seeing the world, the solar system and getting educated
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Good advice, Rocky. There is much on the net about full timing.
Good luck with your venture, Sunstyle.
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whilst there is much good advice about 'retaining a property' or downsizing or even renting, its actually not that difficult to finance 'travelling' around europe once you have the means (MH or caravan).
we 'live' in europe 6 months a year (2x 3 mth stints) and our home living 'budget' actually goes further (by some way) than it does at home.
of course, there will be fuel costs bt this depnds on how far and how often you might move, but 'site' costs can be kept as low as desired by mixing €20 sites with free stopovers...
back home, turn off the gas, water, electric and start saving....stop the rates if away for six months.....just that lot will contribute sizeably to the travelling budget.
many who prefer long term sites have swapped larger houses for 'lock up and leave' flats that dont impact too much on neighbours or relatives and dont cause worry to those away in the van.
check all the caveats for sure but if you have a van and can afford to live in the uk, you can certainly dip your toe in for 3,6 even 9 months to check its really your thing before considering burning your bridges.
good luck
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What fantastic, helpful forum members there are out there. Really good advice and certainly much to think about. It seems we may be better all round to travel for 2 x 3month periods per annum and retain our very manageable and low maintenance bungalow here in the UK. Will visit the websites suggested over this next 10 months and do our homework. Many thanks for all your correspondence.
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HI
We lived full time in our motorhome for ten years after selling our house in 2006 and WE loved every minute well most, no mowing the lawn, no decorating and no council tax what.s not to like.
People over the years have asked for my advise about full timing and the first ting I tell them is don't go on the internet telling the world what you are doing specially concerning banking, insurance and health because if any of these bodies find out you are living off grid they will stop covering you and for instants if you are abroad for more then three months you are supposed to give up your health card and with that the E111 but no one ever does and it is the same for banking and insurance's there are time limits on how long you can be out of the country.
My advise for keeping any property would be not to and take the plunge as it does become a burden after a while away either with renters or family looking after it while you are away, we put the money in the bank till we found the right property which took ten years of touring and we now live in Spain and still have a tidy sum left for later life because property here is so cheap.
Make sure you have enough money to carry you through we worked for the CAMC part time over the ten years to put money back into our account we spent while touring so a good source of income always helps. Good luck and just go for it we wouldn't change a thing.
Phil
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The Spanish property market is nothing like the UK one. I had an apartment in Spain for fourteen years but always retained my UK property. The are numerous ex-pats who sold up and bought in Spain and who now, for various reasons, need to relocate back to the UK and are no longer able to re-enter the property market.
Explore "all' the 'what if' scenarios before making a decision.
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