We’re back on English soil for the first time in over 4 months! Despite a few setbacks and several doubts as to whether we’d be able to complete the first loop under our own (well… Bertha’s) steam (or combustion engine… Bertha’s not that old!), we’ve done it. We admire your patience at waiting for the resolution to the cliffhanger about pondering options for the second loop… your patience will be rewarded here! But before that… here’s the journey we’ve done in the last 4 months:

We’ve learned a lot of things about the cost of motorhoming in the first loop; much of which we covered in our blog post about costs. The other thing to take into consideration though is that we’ve spent more time on the road than planned… as we were total motorhome newbies, we hadn’t realised that travelling long distances in a motorhome is different from doing the same journey in a car, often taking twice as long. Our original plan of trying to cover most countries in Europe in the timeframe of a year doesn’t actually give you much time in each place!

So, what are the options that we’re pondering for the second loop? We have to admit they don’t include getting out and pushing (as one friend suggested) and they don’t include doing a total overhaul of power. However, they did include writing to electric / hybrid car manufacturers asking if they would like us to do a long-term test drive; providing photography, film and reviews of their vehicles. Sadly, that came to nothing, although several publishing houses said they were interested in running our story if we managed to procure a vehicle. Sad times.

Essentially we are left with 3 main options, which we might end up combining in some way:

1. Convert Bertha to LPG. Using the LPG calculator at mylpg.eu with some estimated data, we reckon this would be worth it if we were to travel 11000 miles (by the time we’ve factored in conversion cost). Would the rest of Bertha be able to do 11000 miles though…? We’ve learned that mechanics are a lot less willing to look at an old vehicle than we thought… we’re spoiled in the UK by having such a friendly (and willing) mechanic. More to the point though, our estimate is that our current plan of second loop is only 10000 miles!
2. Change our mode of transport and stay in hostels or a tent. In this scenario, we could continue our travels, but either buy a car (that’s more efficient than 20mpg) or take public transport. We’ve discovered that living in a motorhome is actually much more luxurious than we’d imagined; we’re basically glamping and we could certainly live with a lot less. The thing is though, as another friend pointed out (and we agree), there’s a different dynamic to travelling in a motorhome. There’s much more of a “get up and go” option. Plus Bertha’s our home.
3. Cut down the second loop to be shorter. We could prioritise what we want to see / who we want to visit in the second loop, travel directly to those locations and stay there for a bit longer. If we only did a 90 day loop, that would bring down the cost of insurance and breakdown cover too.

We’ve been mulling over various combinations of these options for the last few weeks and soon we’ll have to make a decision. Until then though, we’re going to just enjoy seeing family and friends again.