A week in a motorhome can feel like either a dream or like you’ve somehow agreed to live in a cupboard with another person. The difference usually comes down to how well you plan it.
You don’t need to spend the week surviving on instant noodles, sleeping badly and wearing the same jumper because everything else is slightly damp. Pick the right motorhome, stay somewhere nice and bring the things that actually make you comfortable at home.
Here’s how we’d do it.
Look For Luxury Motorhome Hire
If you’re only going away for a night, you can probably tolerate quite a basic motorhome. For a full week, we’d be a bit fussier. Luxury motorhome hire is by far the better option.
Luxury doesn’t necessarily mean champagne glasses and leather everything. Well, it can definitely mean the champagne, who would we be to deny you that?
It means having enough room to live without constantly moving one bag because it’s blocking the cupboard you need.
We’d look for things like:
- A proper fixed bed
- Heating
- Hot water
- A shower and toilet
- Fridge and freezer space
- A decent kitchen
- Plenty of storage
- Comfortable seating
- USB and plug sockets
- Enough space for everyone travelling
A fixed bed is probably one of the biggest luxuries. Making and unmaking your bed every morning and night doesn’t sound particularly annoying until you’ve done it seven days in a row. And that’s exactly what our luxury motorhomes at Ariescape have: fixed, premium, hotel-like beds for the most comfortable sleep. The same goes for a proper bathroom. Yes, campsite showers exist, but having your own when it’s cold outside at 7am is definitely nicer.
Stay in The Nicer Motorhome and Campsites
Sometimes a good campsite makes the whole week much more comfortable.
Look for somewhere with electric hook-up, proper shower blocks, toilets, fresh water and somewhere to empty your waste. Laundry facilities are useful if you’re going for a full week, especially if the weather decides everything you own should get wet at the same time.
We’d also look at what’s nearby.
Having a pub, shop, café or restaurant within walking distance is an unbelievable luxury when you don’t fancy cooking.
Hardstanding pitches can also be useful during wetter months because spending your first morning trying to get a motorhome out of a field probably isn’t the relaxing holiday you imagined.
You can look on The Caravan and Motorhome Club to find the best campsites in Scotland.
Pack All The Goodies to Make You Feel Good
This is where we’d completely ignore anybody telling you to pack as lightly as physically possible. Obviously, don’t bring your entire house. But bring the things that make sitting inside the motorhome at night actually enjoyable.
That might include:
- Your favourite pillows
- Extra blankets
- Slippers
- A dressing gown
- Good coffee
- Hot chocolate
- Books
- Cards or board games
- A tablet for films
- A small speaker
- Snacks you actually like
And don’t underestimate comfortable clothes.
Nobody gets back from a freezing walk and thinks, ‘I really wish I’d packed fewer oversized jumpers.’
The nice thing about motorhome travel is that you can bring more than you would on a normal flight, so use the space.
How to Cook Comfortably in a Motorhome
Motorhome kitchens are small, even in luxury models, but you can still eat properly.
We’d avoid planning meals that need five pans, twelve ingredients and half the kitchen worktop you have at home.
Things like pasta, curries, stir-fries, fajitas, soups and one-pot meals work really well because you can cook them without destroying the kitchen.
Before leaving, you could also prepare:
- Chopped vegetables
- Sauces
- Marinated meat
- Pre-cooked rice or grains
- Breakfast portions
- Snacks for driving days
Then you’re mostly assembling things rather than starting dinner from scratch every night.
The thing is that you do have to think about washing up after. In a normal kitchen, leaving a pan beside the sink until later doesn’t really matter. In a motorhome, that pan has just taken up about 40% of your available workspace.
But you also don’t have to cook every single meal. Go for breakfast somewhere. Find a pub for dinner. Order something if you’re staying somewhere that makes it possible. A motorhome holiday isn’t a test of how many meals you can make on two gas rings.
Living comfortably for a week is really about making the motorhome feel like a tiny temporary home. Get a good one, stay somewhere with proper facilities, pack the things you know you’ll miss and don’t make life unnecessarily difficult for yourself.