Explore europe in a campervan

We’ve been a bit quiet but that’s because we’ve been busy! No more work for us since 21/12 = time to get ourselves sorted for departure. I thought I’d better keep the record up to date…

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We plan to leave for Europe sometime after Christmas day but before New Years Eve. That gives us around 18 days until we go! I have 9 more days left at work and Lucy has untill the end of the week before we can say ‘B bye’ to the rat race. So although we have done a number of things such as buy a campervan, put the house up for rent, thrown out some clutter, researched campervan related stuff, there is still lots to do!

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If you rent out your property while you go travelling then you will be liable to pay income tax on that extra income. The damage is minimal once you factor in deductions, wear and tear allowance and any personal tax allowance…

The allowable deductions

• letting agent’s fees
• legal fees if your letting your property for less than one year, or for renewing a lease for less than fifty years
• accountant’s fees
• buildings and contents insurance
• interest on your mortgage
• any maintenance and repairs (but not improvements)
• utility bills (like gas, water, electricity)
• rent, service charges
• Council Tax
• cleaning or gardening type services
• any direct costs of letting the property, like phone calls or advertising

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Buying your first camper van is a daunting experience with many things to consider. Not only do we need to find a campervan we can live in fulltime but it also needs to be capable of withstanding the -15 degrees temperatures that we could be exposed to in the Alps!

So after hours of research here is the list of features we think the van needs to have in order to be our home from home in the alps and throughout Europe. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s not financially viable to pay for a lift pass in a different resort every single week, 200 euros a week would soon add up! So instead we need to base ourselves at one ski area for the majority of the season and then visit other resorts as we see fit. That way we can just purchase a single season pass for fewer than 1000 euros and then day passes when visiting other resorts.

So to help us decide where our base will be I have compiled a list of resorts with details of lift pass prices, size of ski area and number of terrain parks.
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In no particular order here is a list of things that need to be considered before embarking on such an adventure…
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To cut a long story short, we (Simon & Lucy) have decided to get off the conveyor! There must be more to life than work, work, work!!
So we’ve got a scheme, a plan, we’ve got it all in hand… (those of you who are familiar with Reverend and The Makers may notice the odd reference to his lyrics. I’d like to think the Reverend has played a small part in helping us to come to the decision to leave “The Machine”)

The plan is to purchase a campervan, put our lives in Bournemouth/Poole on hold and go travelling around Europe. Filling the van with kites, snowboards, landboards and shoes (Lucy!). First destination will be the Alps to snowboard and snowkite, then once the snow melts in April we will come down from the mountains and travel the rest of Europe where we will be able to kitesurf and kite-landboard to our hearts’ content.

While we are in Europe we hope to catch the Benicassim (FIB Heineken) and Lowlands festivals and then head back into the UK in time for either Reading or Leeds festival. At which point we will assess our situation and decide where we go next (back to work, back to Europe or the other side of the world!).

As we haven’t won the lottery (just yet) it’s only a matter of time before money runs out. So we are going to take our laptops and try to make some money from whatever internet ventures we can dream up. My initial idea is to create a longtail travel site (take advantage of niche markets). As far as I’m aware this hasn’t been done yet, not like in other markets such as music and books .

Let the planning commence!