This summer, a dream came true: my partner, our two teenage sons and I took a motorhome trip through Greece in a Sun Living S 72 SP. It was a fantastic road trip, during which we even put the motorhome on the train and on the boat.
Camping is freedom. And although I have been camping all my life, I have never felt that as strongly as I did this summer. Travelling with a motorhome really gives you a feeling of freedom. We experienced this on the second day, after leaving the Netherlands the day before. After our first night, a difficult journey through Germany and a lot of traffic jams in Switzerland, we arrived in Kandersteg, Switzerland, in the afternoon. From here, we wanted to take the car train through the Lötschberg tunnel. A 20-minute ride takes you to Goppenstein, on the other side of the mountain. From there, we would continue over the Simplon Pass towards Italy. Depending on the weather, we wanted to decide whether to spend the night immediately after the mountain or take the Simplon Pass to continue on to Italy. That decision was quickly made when we encountered a huge rainstorm on the other side of the mountain. We called a campsite on Lake Maggiore in Italy to ask if they had space and what time the reception was open, and set course for the lake, about a two-hour drive away, where it was also raining at the time.
If we had been travelling with our own tent trailer, I would have been worried: still so far to drive and then setting everything up in the rain. How different it was now: with the idea that we would soon be able to park the motorhome and eat pizza in a restaurant on the boulevard, we enjoyed the last few hours of this day of travelling. We made a long stop at the truly beautiful Simplon Pass to enjoy the view, which was breathtaking in the wet weather. And then we drove on to the campsite, where we only had to park the motorhome before going out for pizza. The next day was dry, and we made the most of our overnight stay by taking a dip in the lake and not continuing our journey until 12 noon. With the camper van, that's easy: just pack up the table and chairs and we were ready to go. What freedom!
We kept up that relaxed pace throughout the holiday. It's really nice to be able to settle in quickly when you arrive and leave again quickly. This gave us plenty of time to really enjoy our holiday and not have to worry too much about packing.
The Sun Living S 72 SP turned out to be perfect for us. This semi-integrated motorhome is 7.20 metres long, 2.30 metres wide and 2.87 metres high. My partner and I slept in the rear transverse bed, where we had plenty of space. Our boys, who celebrated their thirteenth and sixteenth birthdays a few weeks later, shared the fold-down bed. The two of them, who are growing like weeds, had slightly less space than we did. Still, it worked out fine. The only thing we really missed on this holiday was air conditioning. It was extremely hot in Greece, which meant that the temperature in the motorhome rose considerably at night, even though we closed and opened the roof hatches and windows in good time. Fortunately, a fan we had brought with us provided some relief. And thanks to the cabin air conditioning, it stayed nice and cool during the day while we were travelling.
The generous dimensions meant we could move around easily in the motorhome. We had a surprising amount of storage space for our clothes, toiletries, games and other holiday essentials. This Sun Living has so many cupboards! We kept our shoes and slippers in the special shoe compartment under the side bench. Our clothes were stored in the cupboards at the back and the boys' clothes in the cupboards on either side of the aisle. The bathroom offers plenty of space for shower gel, shampoo, sunscreen and more. All that storage space is one of the absolute advantages of this motorhome. We could also store a lot in the garage: from furniture to packs of water. And then there was the drying rack, which we put in the garage with all the laundry on it when we left, so we could take it out again at the next campsite.
We didn't use the kitchen much. We were particularly happy with the large fridge and freezer. It's so nice to be able to stop at a large supermarket on the way and put all your shopping in the fridge straight away. We were happy with the bathroom. The shower cubicle is opposite the toilet and washbasin. By closing the door to the living area, and possibly also the door to the bed, we had plenty of space to get changed. We only used the toilet at night and sometimes on the road. We also mainly showered at the campsite. Although it is nice to have a shower. This became apparent when we drove past an athletics track during a day of travelling and our eldest son, a keen athlete, wanted to run a few laps. After a short training session, he was able to shower in the motorhome in the car park, which was very welcome after those laps under the Greek sun.
During our road trip, we stayed at a total of two German campsites, four Italian campsites and eight Greek campsites. We also took two boat trips: from Italy to Greece and vice versa. The Sun Living was parked on the car park deck and we spent the night in a cabin.
It's almost impossible to name the highlights of this motorhome trip; everything was special! I'll give it a try anyway: the moment at Lake Maggiore that I mentioned earlier, when we arrived after a long journey and were able to relax immediately. Our first campsite in Greece, in beautiful Parga, where I had to pinch myself every now and then to realise that we were camping in Greece for the very first time ever. Or the motorhome site right by the sea, from where we could reach the Acropolis in Athens within an hour and a half by bus and metro. And then there was the lovely little campsite in Olympia, where it was so quiet that we had the swimming pool to ourselves. Oh, and the campsite on the Gulf of Corinth, where we were once again right by the water and couldn't get enough of the view.
This trip was amazing. That's because everything was just right: the Ford-based Sun Living drove like a dream, our boys had a great time in their travel domain (sofa plus table) and we had plenty of space for our belongings and to move around in the motorhome. And Greece is an absolute must for campers.
There is only one downside: we are spoiled for life. The trip with this camper was so enjoyable that we don't want anything else. After all, there is still so much to discover in Europe, and that is really easy with a camper. Fortunately, we still have the memories, which we regularly reminisce about, and lots of photos.