Hey grandpa, I’ve got it! Tim is super proud on his freshly obtained drivers’ license. Succeeded the first time, just a few weeks before his 18th birthday. “That is top, now we can travel with a motorhome together. You drive!” That is kind of hard to imagine at that point … “Can I really drive such a large vehicle?”
The plans have been made. We go during the autum break and Tim has rapidly made some extra kilometers in his fathers car. We will go on a roadtrip, grandpa Kees and his grandson Tim. Destination Berlin, as this is high on Tims bucketlist. Unfortunately Corona forces us to decide otherwise. We create a cool program for a trip in our own country, the Netherlands. After a nice evening behind the computer together, we agree: it is going to be a super week!
The first acquaintance
It is Friday afternoon when we visit the new Sun Living dealer in Ede, our hometown. Here we meet the semi integrated Sun Living S 75 SL which we will use for a week. To make Tim a bit more comfortable, I drive the motorhome to a quiet area without a lot of traffic nearby. But then it really is time for him to sit behind the wheel. “Well, quite a lot of buttons” is his first reaction. Right at the first turn he finds out that this motorhome really is wider than his dad’s Tesla. Luckily he misses the curbstone with the rear wheels. “Steer a bit later next time Tim. The motorhome is longer than you are used to.” The next obstacle is a small countryroad with a ditchmower working on the side. “Look Tim, if you drive carefully, you can easily pass.” He succeeds without problems.
“It is special Tim says, when you drive quietly, you hardly notice the motorhome being so wide.” During another drive on the freeway I can proudly say my grandson is a very good driver. “Grandpa, are there any motorhome with massage chairs? This driving is so relaxed, such a chair would fit perfectly. It actually drives more comfortable than dad’s Tesla. But don’t tell him I said that or else he will never lend it to me again.” 😊 After the testdrive we go home to pack the motorhome up. I sense a very nice week ahead and look forward to it. For the driving, we are ok, but other than that, I have no idea what we can expect …
Bobsleds and cave biking
Our first destination is Valkenburg and Tim takes the wheel immediately. This will not change for the entire week. We arrive at citycamp Den Driesch where Tim only leaves the positioning of the vehicle up to me. The layout of the motorhome is perfect for us: 2 single beds in the back and a large lifting bed above the dinette. Because the door of the toiletcompartment can divide the bedroom in the back from the living area in the front, Tim chooses the lifting bed. “What if you snore … “ In the morning we are in luck: after a nice breakfast we can have our coffee in the sunshine with a view on the sled-track.
After a short walk we float up with the cable cart after which we swoesj down with the bobsleighs. To bad you sometimes find someone in front of you that doesn’t have as much guts as you and goes too slow. After a few times we’ve had enough and start to get hungry. Fortunately our motorhome is equipped with a good kitchen because due to Corona, all restaurants are closed. Grandma packed the neccessary food for us so we can enjoy a couple of nice burgers.
Our next adventure starts at 4 pm at .. ASP Adventure. We are going cave biking! After a descent of 163 stairs we meet our guide Boris. He gives us some explanation and safety advice then we receive our specially prepared mountainbike and helmet. During the ride, Boris stops a couple of times to tell about the existence of the caves. This teaches us that the hills erupted millions of years ago when the Netherlands were still water. 150 years ago the inhabitants of this region, Limburg, discovered that the rock from these caves was very suitable for building houses. When excavating enormous corridors were created in the hills – now very exciting to ride through them! We zigzag 6 kilometers through the caves, making sure we duck at the right moments. The “ceiling” is quite low at certain points – we are very happy with our helmets.
At night, we relax in the motorhome. Tim seats himself in one of the cabin chairs. “Very nice grandpa, a motorhome really is.” He is constantly searching in all cupboards, pockets and drawers as he is constantly loosing stuff: Phone, earplugs, sunglasses … we make fun of it all the time.
Nostalgia and beertasting
The next morning Tim takes his spot behind the wheel again. Tilburg is our destination today. We take a detour through Eindhoven where we want to visit the DAF museum. Here, the history of the most well-known Dutch carfactory comes to life, Van Doorne’s Automobile factory. In the old workshop of the Van Doorne brothers, you discover the start of the company in 1928. The production of trailers starts in 1932. Today DAF is one of the largest European brands of trucks. At the military vehicles Tim finds out how excited I get when seeing the YP 408 – an army vehicle in which I spent most of my time in the military, over 50 years ago. The first floor houses the passenger cars. Here memories of my mother come up. Back then she drove us all around our South-Holland island in a Daffodil, without a license! Tim is covered with nostalgia. He enjoys the rallytrucks the most. The Paris-Dakar vehicles of Jan de Rooy impress him the most.
After a few precious hours we return to the motorhome to continue the day to the citycamp of Tilburg. An ideal base to wander around the city as the campsite is in the middle of the city.
Too bad bars and terraces are closed. The city is not so vibrant as it can be unfortunately. But, we are creative. So at the Stadsbrouwerij 013 (the cities own brewery) we buy are own “boys nights’ out”. Tonight, Champions League night we will have our own beertasting in the motorhome. Tim learned very quickly that when it comes to cooking, he should not expect too much from his grandfather so he takes this task on his shoulders. Piece of cake tonight: he can heat up grandma’s nasi and only has to bake come eggs to go with it. We enjoy diner and then Tim discovers a slightly disappointing point about this motorhome: no dishwasher. We exeute this chore together and Tim is a real “master of the dishes” thanks to his current job in the kitchen at the city café in hometown Ede.
Wandering through a futuristic maze
We sleep very well in the motorhome. In the morning I surprise Tim with a boiled egg for breakfast – long live the electrical egg-cooker. Even I know how to work with it. We walk to Doloris, a futuristic maze in the former postoffice of Tilburg. I am here for the second time but Tim is very curious about it. Doloris is a project of 40 artists where you walk in, blind folded. Phone and watch have to be left at the entrance. Then your journey starts. A new suprise awaits you behind every door. It is hard to describe what makes this maze so interesting, you really have to experience it yourself. One moment you stand before a slide in the dark, the other you enter a hallway with a door every meter, with new suprises behind each and every one of them. You climb, you crawl, small hallways, iron steps, sometimes in the dark. Feel. Experience. And dare.
At the end, Tim and I agree: this is by far the coolest activity of the week! When we return, it’s time for diner. To do something, I cut the veggies and chef Tim serves a deliscious spaghetti.
Car. Cable cart. Sled. Let’s go on a boat today!
Our last day lies in front of us. Our destination is Rotterdam, the harbourcity. We park the motorhome on the citypark in Alblasserdam and take the waterbus to Rotterdam. Leaving a trail of white foamy water behind us, we sail towards the Erasmusbridge where we trade in the waterbus for the Spido Tour which takes us through the impressive port of Rotterdam. The numerous impressive docks with the huge freightliners are really impressive.
When we drive home in the evening, Tim sighs … It’s been an impressive week. But when he turns on the motorhome way new plans already come up. “Next year grandpa, can we go to Berlin?” I can’t wait!
Our travel companion
The Sun Living S 75 SL (with 140 Hp Fiat engine and automatic gearbox) was made available by Adria Benelux. The S 75 SL is a well equipped motorhome with 2 single beds in the rear, a lifting bed above the dinette and separate shower and toilet. The dinette and kitchen are very friendly in use and offer enough space to move and work. The door between the living and sleeping area is very practical. This way you create 2 bedrooms. Despite the length of 7,42 m. the motorhome manouvers really well. As a starting driver, Tim had no trouble at all driving.
Special Thanks to Tim and Grandpa Kees as well as Topcamper Magazine.