Roxana was the lucky winner of our competition together with Sarah and Lara and was allowed to test our VW Bulli California for a weekend. Together with her little family she started into the adventure Vanlife and lets you and us participate in her experiences. Thanks for that.
The experiences of Roxana
When I found out that I won the camper for a weekend in Sarah and Lara's sweepstakes, I got a little nervous after a short burst of joy: Where should we go? And when? And will it work with a small baby? However, my husband convinced me very quickly with the words "just do it". We decided on South Tyrol as our destination, since it's not a long drive from Munich and therefore easy to manage even with a baby. Since we both have not been camping since childhood, the excitement was of course great. We spent the next few days researching campsites and family-friendly day trips until the program was "roughly" set. Actually, this is not our travel style to think, plan and book everything in advance. Most of the time we only defined the start and end and everything in between was more spontaneous. When traveling with a baby, that was out of the question for us. And certainly not on our very first trip as a family.
We started already in the morning - already the "loading" gave us a lot of joy, because we could explore all shelves and storage areas. And there really is a lot of it! We particularly enjoyed that.
The anticipation grew the closer we got to the Brenner Pass. Finally Italy again! After Corona and the lockdowns, an indescribable feeling! Arriving in Rasen - our first stop - we were assigned a beautiful site at the campsite with super afternoon sun. We immediately unpacked the table, chairs and grill to start the perfect late summer evening.
The next day we explored the area with strollers. We took the bus to Lake Antholz, as the circular route was recommended to us as "stroller friendly". There we wanted to picnic in between at the water. Unfortunately, the Italian defines "stroller friendly" a little differently than we do...the trip turned out so that I carried the baby in my arms and my husband heaved the stroller on his shoulders over rock and stone. But the picnic was wonderful. It will definitely remain in our memories.
The next stop was the Pragser Wildsee. Beautiful but unfortunately far too crowded on weekends. This time we left the stroller in the camper and resorted to the baby carrier. The best decision! Between countless Instagram photo shoots, we also found a private spot for our picnic blanket and could enjoy the sun. We refrained from taking a boat ride due to the mile-long line.
The nights in the camper were unfortunately already very cold at the end of September, so my husband slept alone in the fold-out roof tent, while I made myself comfortable with our son downstairs. Thickly wrapped were also the nightly breastfeeding and diaper changing no problem.
Our last stop was at Lake Dobbiaco. Here, too, we found a sunny spot at the campsite and were able to really enjoy the last evening! Even though the short trip was planned in advance, we couldn't help but feel the freedom that traveling with a camper gives. We had so much fun that we are already raving about traveling with the camper for a longer period next year during our parental leave. But then without concrete plans 😜
If I had to give one tip to other "newbies" traveling with baby it would definitely be this: leave half of your luggage that you want to take with you at home. You can manage with half of it and in case of need you can get everything later. We had retrospectively considered namely far too much Zeig with it 😅 there would have been enough even half.
In any case, we give six thumbs up for FreewayCamper and the VW California Ocean!
Love, Roxana
