📖 OUR CAMPER VAN STORY
- Ruth Barber
- Nov 15, 2025
- 4 min read
As a young couple, we had a dream to travel through Europe.
We would often take our 2-man tent and our old £125 Vauxhall Nova on a quick camping trip, accumulating camping stuff after each trip, as you do.
Ruth later got a job that came with a small van, and this developed into chucking out the contents and having free trips away in the back of the van with a 2-ring burner and a mattress.
This must have given us the taste of “vanlife “
We spent 7 years saving every penny, and I mean every penny, to buy our first campervan with a view to travelling Europe.
At the time, we lived in a one-bedroom council flat, 6 flights up on a rather undesirable estate.
We did without carpets and heating to save for our escape.
In 1999, we spent £3k on our first campervan – a Mark 1 transit. We were made up.
It had a double bed above the cab, a luxury dining area, and a full “mini “bathroom.
It even had 2 wardrobes.
As an old vehicle, it had no power steering …. and boy did we struggle.
Take a wrong turn, and there was a traffic jam waiting for us to do the 50-point turn in the road!
Shortly afterwards, Ruth’s father died after a 3-year battle with cancer.
With Ruth’s mum needing support, the trip to Europe went on hold, and the money we saved was invested in our first home.
In 2001, we took a 2-week trip to Cornwall in our transit, moving every few days, and it felt like the longest holiday ever, giving us a true taste of the kind of adventure we longed for.
We distinctly remember going to a campsite shop and wondering why the assistant was so rude, not responding to our requests until we followed her gaze to the TV on the wall to see the Twin Towers in flames.
As with everyone, we remember where we were on that day.
On the way home from our trip, just past Bristol, the gearbox of our beloved camper broke. We had to be carried home on a low loader.
We were gutted.
Unable to keep paying for maintenance and with a new home to upkeep, we decided to sell ……but the seed had been planted.
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10 years, 2 birth children, and 15 foster children later, looking for a replacement for our Vauxhall Zafir,a we started looking once again at campervans.
The criteria were
- Seating for 6
- Small enough for a day vehicle
- Big enough to camp in with perhaps a tent on the side
The 2 we settled on after a year of looking were a Vauxhall Vivaro or a VW T4.
I spoke to 4 garage owners and gave them the choice of a T4 or a newer Vivaro, and all of them said the older T4.
Again, we waited ...
And waited
And waited until 1 month before Christmas to make our cheeky offer on an eBay listing of a home conversion, knocking £2.5k off the asking price and securing our T5 for £12,500.
We honestly never thought we would get all we wanted for the money we had.
A side conversion with a full pop-top and a swivel double passenger seat.
We set about enjoying our new adventure, and over the years, have added
· 1 solar panel
· And an extra leisure battery
· An inverter
· And an extra lap belt in the back to allow for 3 (slim) passengers
· Other desirables like decals, soft furnishings, and an endless repair bill as the van ages – we laugh that by the time we retire, we will have a new van as everything will have been replaced!
Now, a large family of 4-6 (we fostered, so this was always changing), we enjoyed the van for days out, weekends away, family holidays, and used it as the family car.
We also started to share our adventures on YouTube - an idea Macy, our daughter, suggested.
Vanlife Goodies began.
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In 2024, Ruth’s mother passed away after a stroke.
She was 81 and was getting tired of the challenges of an aging body.
She often told me that one day the lord would just come and take her.
She was very sure of her place in heaven.
It was a privilege to have cared for her until her passing, but of course, I truly miss my friend.
Unexpectedly, we now had some money left to us and we wanted to do something special with it, in honour of mum.
Whilst planning to do our own van build, we kept our eyes on the campervan market and came across a VW Crafter fully converted being sold by a man who was relocating for work.
After a FaceTime tour and initial visit, we secured our dream campervan.
It was perfect – we could stand up in it, MWB, so not too long but loads more space than the T5, had the layout we were planning, and was a 2019, which for us is the newest vehicle we’ve ever purchased. It even has electric windows and beeps at us for every unnecessary reason!
Never in our wildest dreams did we ever think we would have such a luxury – we are truly moved by this pheromonal gift.
In memory of mum and with help from our viewers, we named the van 'Travis' – a mix of the words travelling and Avis (my mum's name)
The T5 was sold to our wonderful friends, and it continues to give joy and adventure to them.
And so, the story continues ….
Dave and I still have a plan to semi-retire when the kids are a little older and explore our own country a month at a time, working for 3 months in between. And one day, we want to do the Europe trip we dreamed of from the start.
But for now, it’s all in God’s hands as only he knows what the future holds.
If you want to follow our story as it continues or even catch up on our old adventures, you can watch us on YouTube here.
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