Did you buy your camper to save money or to explore?

[jk]

To Explore...................We paid as much as we could afford at the time to buy the best quality hard floor we could, with the goal of having it last us for many years no matter what we threw at it !!

I've always tried to buy on the value for money concept, not cheap and pay again later/soon  ...............so far so good   

[MarDon]

Definitely not to save money! In fact, get the guilt's just a little when I look at it in the shed, sometimes seems a lot of money sitting there waiting for the not often enough camping trips! With saying that, we don't always use the camper when exploring, have on occasion just packed the back of the cruiser with swag and esky and headed off for a simple camp.

Dee.

[DaveR]

For us, not about the money, but the exploring.
We got the best CT we could afford with available funds.
We found traveling with 3 x kids and hotels is not possible. Before CT, I tried to arrange a road trip from Gold Coast to country Vic and back, down Pacific and Princess hwy, back inland. I was not able to book a sequence of rooms hotel or other to accommodate us.
To go on a long trip to see the scatted family around the country side was the 1st reason to get a CT
Now, it has the bonus of turning into a quick weekend adventure toy. I love deciding to go away on a Thursday night for the weekend.
Kids love it to.
Oh, and we are yet to go see the relo's........

[HEM19X]

Based on purchase price, and number of nights weve slept in it, our camper now costs $48 every night we stay in it. If we include mods of approx $3.5k, price jumps to $62. and increases more if you add  accessories ($?).

If you factor in the estimated re-sale value, the cost per night drops a lot. We bought ours for exploring and the comforts it has included. Not sure where you could get a motel/unit for $62 per night!

[86gav]

Based on purchase price, and number of nights weve slept in it, our camper now costs $48 every night we stay in it. If we include mods of approx $3.5k, price jumps to $62. and increases more if you add  accessories ($?).
How can we make it cheaper? Answer, go camping more.
For us, it was a balance between comfort, lifestyle and experience. One trip a year we stay in accomodation. Wifey loves it. I hate it, and would prefer to go camping for a month for the same bucks. But because we havent overcommitted on camper, feel we can afford to do both.
At the end of the day, the camper is ideal for trips away with the kids. So really, my response is it was a budget based lifestyle choice to provide lifetime memories whilst exploring parts of our great land!
Oh, and dont ask me about our trip to disneyland next year.  Id prefer to do the big lap instead, but in our democracy, my vote is not equal to hers. Bugger!

This my rationale exactly. I too get the "gee that's a lot of hotel rooms" quite often.

Gav

[DRB120]

We got ours to explore in comfort, probably would have been a money saver also if we hadnt of upgraded the car at the same time though.

[austastar]

Hi,
  I couldn't afford a hotel with a view like this.





cheers

[Stozz]

Absolutely, we bought our camper to get out and explore as much as possible.  We bought it with a long term view in mind so were prepared and able to spend the extra to get the camper we knew would meet our needs and last the distance.

Frankly, hotels do nothing for me.  You sleep in a bed that a gazillion others have slept (and ??) in, the hair you find in the bathroom probably isnt yours, you are confined to a room that usually doesnt have a window that opens, you have to breathe recycled air day and night, everything costs twice what it should and it costs a bomb to park your car in the same building!

I do the reverse thinking of those who love hotels. For me whenever I stay in a hotel (usually travelling for work), I think about how many nights camping the same money would last for (excluding the initial outlay of the camper).  There really is no comparison.

Fresh air, open spaces, no crowds, our bed, our food and usually locations and views that money cant buy [unless of course you buy a camper... lol ]

[xcvator]

I got mine to get away from the missus  but the bl00dy thing is too comfy and she comes along  anyway 

[oldmate]

Hi,
  I couldn't afford a hotel with a view like this.





cheers

Nice picture. Looks to be at katoomba??


We bought a camper, to save time in packing and unpacking and to make our touring/getting away life easier. Had nothing to do with saving money

[Mallory Black]

Hey Dion, thise types of people who go on about cost of hotel rooms vs camping...... they don't really get it do they.
We've hosted a few families new to camping with our set up and generally they 'get it' and start to understand what it's all about and more importantly how to go about it.

But having said that we are very careful who we actually ask to come along!

[kiva]

We bought a camper, to save time in packing and unpacking and to make our touring/getting away life easier. Had nothing to do with saving money

X2.

[muzza01]

We bought a camper, to save time in packing and unpacking and to make our touring/getting away life easier. Had nothing to do with saving money

X3
That sums me up perfectly.

[berlitza]

Nice picture. Looks to be at katoomba??


We bought a camper, to save time in packing and unpacking and to make our touring/getting away life easier. Had nothing to do with saving money

x19874 , still use the odd caravan park, but ct's setup and packup times are brilliant , wish I would have done it sooner , can quite happily leave in a moments notice without putting too much though into   packing

[knoath]

We're looking at getting a CT pretty soon... just bought a capable tourer and it's not really about "I want to stay at a 5 star resort just so I can say I did"(who has the money for that???)... I'd rather stay at a million star resort and show you the looks on my kids' faces!
We've always stayed in one tent or another... I hate setting up tents, 4 room or 1 room... they take too long for what you end up with.
I figure most of the time you have to pull a trailer anyway, so why not have it packed ready to go at the drop of a hat?
God, I hate dragging everything from the shed to the garage into the trailer... only to have to unpack it all and drag it back to the overpacked shed again!!!

I think our mind is made up... I can't sleep on stretchers for ever anyway!!!
So I guess we will buy one to explore and save money doing it!

[Doweymex]

Same as some others here, to explore and show the kids some good times. Girls in the family not that keen on the tents, us boys more than happy in the swags.
Wife and I did the hiking thing BK now it's family time..... When it arrives.

[Muckinhell]

we unexpectedly came across a camper at an unbelievable price a month before our wedding, wich we hadnt planned anything honeymoon wise for as yet with a 1 year old in tow.So everynight in our camper is our honeymoon and im pretty sure when we sell to upgrade we will be in profit going by what these campers are going for and what we paid for it....

were looking at campers but not that serious before this one came along and having the 1st child made tenting ok but we knew we would be having another as we did welcome our 2nd boy some 5 weeks ago so the camper is a very handy way to see the countryside.

[Pog]

Ours was about giving our kids a holiday more frequently at a price we could afford in locations that motel rooms were not.
Tenting is ok, but with 3 kids there is only so much room in the cruiser, so getting a camper meant we could have everything at the ready, in one spot.
Once we feel we've had enough of camping (hope that day never comes), we can sell the camper and all our holidays have cost us two fifths of **** all!

Same

[Kit_e_kat9]

Seriously ... who wants to spend the rest of their lives staying in motel rooms and living out of a suitcase? 

$ for $ regardless of what the value of each night ... camping with peace and quiet ... no highways out the front ... no yahoo's wandering by at all hours (or going to the room next door) ... country views that change with the locations ... early morning bird alarms ... can take my dogs ... set up the "window" which ever way I like ... I can have a fire ... I come in when I want and leave when I want ... we are the only ones who've slept in the bed ...

Who cares what it cost per night ... Life Is Always Better When I'm Camping!

Kit_e

[fishfinder]

got sick of being kicked out to the shed at night and motels was not an option as i spent all my money a few hours earlier on booze - so yes to save money

[BernieS]

To explore and so we can take our Border Collie with us. Have u seen the prices to rent dog friendly houses? Just ridiculous.

[Brumbypt]

to get to and camp in and enjoy areas thatt here is no one else.

Love single car camp sites.


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[nelso]

The way I look at it is:

• with a hotel room you never get a return
• with a camper you may still pay for camping/park fees but you always have an asset that will provide a return if sold

[GS]

This is not a yes or no answer for us and is not based on financial decisions, more an emotional one.

We have had more holidays and weekends away since we had a ct compared to the time when we didn't.

Sounds strange but we make an effort to plan our leave to ensure our ct is used and not just sitting in the garage.

We get away much more as a family than any of our friends and family that do not have one. I often feel that they are jealous that we have the ability to plan ahead.

I'm an old fart (45) with young kids 6 and 9 and am getting a real buzz seeing how much they love the outdoor holiday life style any the way that they interact with other kids.

Personally I think we are creating great family memories for our little Australians.

[Mobi]

Explore.
I don't remember seeing many hotel rooms in some of the places we stop.

 

Peter