About us
Five years living in a motorhome
We're Ben and Cristina, and for the last five years home has been an eight-metre motorhome, a Hobby 750 from 2000. We spend the winters in Marbella and the rest of the year somewhere in Europe, now with Blu, our collie.
- 5 years on the road
- 13 countries
- 400+ blog posts
- 238 campsite & aire reviews
How it started
It started with Covid. Cristina lost her job in the first lockdown, like so many people in Spain. Ben is a website designer (Marbella Website Design) and can work from anywhere. We'd had a campervan we couldn't use for over a year, and we thought: why not go and see Europe while we can? Who knows what will happen next.
First things first: Cristina wanted a toilet. So the VW T5 long-wheelbase went, and in came the Hobby. In October 2021 we checked into our first campsite, Camping Tropical, between Marbella and Estepona. We made friends there in the first week, and we still spend our winters there.
We were a disaster when we started. No clue, a lot to learn about driving something that big, and a few arguments along the way (mostly stress-related ;-).
The plan (what could possibly go wrong?)
It was a two-year plan. We wrote it down in our very first post. This is how it went.
-
The plan
The Red Hot Chili Peppers in Scotland
The concert was cancelled the morning we drove to Glasgow, so we spent the day in the pub with old friends instead.
-
The plan
The winter in Greece
We got there in summer 2023, and again in 2026. Never in the winter.
-
The plan
A friend's wedding in Italy
Joe and Joanne's, in Sorrento. It happened, a year late.
-
The plan
Two years
That became five, and we're still going.
Our five years
Each year has its own post: where we went, what happened (the good and the bad) and who we met along the way.
-
Year one · 2022
Six countries and not a clue: the Fallas, Scotland, and home through Portugal.
6 countries
Read our year -
Year two · 2023
Croatia, Albania and Greece, and the wedding in Sorrento.
8 countries · 5 new
Read our year -
Year three · 2024
The Black Forest with friends, Prague, Cornwall and Wales.
7 countries · 2 new
Read our year -
Year four · 2025
We lost Asha, set off late and found Brittany and Biarritz.
3 countries
Read our year -
Year five · 2026
Greece at last, and a new face: Blu.
5 countries
The post comes at the end of the season
The people
Motorhome life is by far the most social thing we've ever done. Remembering everyone's name is the hard part. We met Mariana and Cor on our very first morning at Albir in 2022. Since then we've met up with them in Holland and at their new house in Aragon, where they threw Cristina a surprise birthday party. Then there's Ralf and Gaby in Germany and Spain, Jürgen and Kami, Helen and Rob, and Jessica, Joseph and Tahnee at Camping Tropical, and many, many more.
Our families think we're crazy, and that we must love each other like crazy to share such a small space all the time. Maybe so. But you soon realise you don't need most of your stuff. Even now we have more in the van than we need.
Asha and Blu
Asha came with us from the start. She was scared of firecrackers and boats, she made friends on every beach, and border guards were scared of her. We lost her in June 2025, just before we were due to leave, and she'll get her own post.
Now there's Blu, an eight-month-old collie who joined us at Camping Tropical this autumn, and he's lovely.
What's next?
Austria, Slovenia and Sicily were in the 2021 plan and we still haven't been. There's always next year. Come along for the ride.