This was published 9 years ago
Caravan road trips: The best caravanning holidays around the world
By Steve McKenna
A Happy Glamper caravan set up at the Mornington Peninsula.
It is a bright sunny morning in England's West Country and The Drifters' feel-good classic Up On The Roof is fizzing, nostalgically, through my head. I am chilling out, you see, in a vintage Airstream-style caravan; one that is literally up on a roof.
With its spired churches, elegant Georgian buildings and the bustling, bohemian St Nicholas Market, the medieval heart of Bristol is not the first place you would expect to find a roving recreational trailer. But parked on the flat, astroturf-laden summit of the Brooks Guesthouse are four shiny silver Retro Rockets. Hand-built down the road in Worcestershire, modelled on the classic American caravans of the 1950s and 60s, and lifted up towards the Bristolian clouds by a 30-metre crane, the Rockets are a gleaming example of how caravans are cool again.
"They've been incredibly popular since we launched them in May," says guesthouse manager Piotr Borowski. "On weekends, they're booked out several months in advance. Guests say they like the retro feel, and the idea of a countryside-style stay in an urban setting, the chance to see the sun going down, then waking up to see it rise. You get to appreciate the beautiful architecture of Bristol and take in the smells and sounds from the market below. It's not your usual caravan holiday."
Happy Glamper Airstream caravan set up among tents.Credit: Elle DS Photography
After their Flower Power-era heyday, caravans were largely seen, until fairly recently, as the preserve of hardcore happy campers - or an option for couples or families wanting a break, or a life, on a budget. Cosy and comfortable, perhaps - but fancy or trendy they were not (apologies to any Home and Away fans who fantasised about staying at the Summer Bay Caravan Park).
But things have changed, and our renewed appetite for caravans is part of our embrace of the global glamping movement - an outdoorsy-orientated pursuit that gets its name from "glamorous" and "camping". Accommodation and facilities are far more luxurious than in times gone by. Instead of pitching tents, unrolling sleeping bags and forgoing home comforts, we can now check in to glampsites with ready-made safari cabins, Mongolian yurts, geodesic domes, tree houses, tepees and, of course, funky trailers.
Glampsites have mostly mushroomed in rural or coastal regions, but Bristol is revelling in its novel status as a hub of city-centre glamping and Brooks' Retro Rockets ticks plenty of boxes for the discerning traveller.
Happy Glamper's sister company Airstream Dreams also hires out Airstreams for promotions and events.Credit: Mark Lobo
Clad in polished aluminium and studded with multicoloured LED lights that flash after dark, the caravans have the kind of mod-cons you'd expect from a boutique hotel room: pocket-strung mattresses, flatscreen TVs, iPod docks, Hans Grohe Eco showers and free Wi-Fi.
The largest caravan is a 20 footer (which is about six metres in length and has a double bed at one end and a seating area at the other that can convert into two single beds for children). Space, in truth, is hardly a premium in any of the Rockets, but you'll see tinier hotel rooms in Paris for double the price. Rates are from £90-160 ($164-291) a night and include access to the guesthouse's facilities: a smart lounge area, a secluded courtyard and a kitchen-restaurant serving breakfasts like granola and muesli, scrambled eggs with salmon on toast, plus creamy eggs benedict with local back bacon (brooksguesthousebristol.com).
The British-built Rockets - which can be exported Down Under via their Australian agents (rocketcaravans.com.au) - draw their inspiration from Airstream. Arguably the most iconic of all retro caravans, Airstreams were developed in the 1930s by Wally Byam, a nomadic entrepreneur born in Oregon on July 4, 1898. Byam's lightweight but durable trailers proved incredibly popular with wanderlustful Americans who desired the freedom of the open road without the fuss of needing to find a bed for the night. Byam loved to stir his own "venturesome spirit" and, in 1959, he led a convoy of more than 40 trailers on an overland expedition from Cape Town to Cairo.
The Happy Glamper Airstreams have been renovated into mobile motel rooms.
You can learn more about Byam's story at Jackson Centre, Ohio, where Airstream trailers have been built since 1952. Factory tours run every weekday at 2pm (airstream.com/company/tours).
With its vast distances, awesome natural beauty and sparse rail system, Australia - like the USA - is made for independent roadtripping and caravanning. VW Combis and Scooby Doo-style vans have long been the transport of choice for thrill-seeking surfers and backpackers, but the renewed interest in sleek, sophisticated trailers from a more affluent clientele sparked the arrival of Airstream Australia in 2012.
Headquartered in Batemans Bay, NSW, the company sells a range of snazzy new Airstreams - priced from $115,000 - and also imports vintage American Airstreams for customised refitting (modern kitchens, DVD players and so on).
Happy Glamper Airstream caravan set up.Credit: Elle DS Photography
"We have been amazed by the amount of people that have come out of the woodwork who have just been waiting for something like this to emerge in the Australian market place," says James Bush, national sales manager at Airstream Australia (airstreamaustralia.com.au).
Explaining the new-found appeal of Airstreams to 21st-century holidaymakers, Bush says: "They were built by dreamers, who had an idea and built a product that a person bought once and had for years. They were built to a style, they had character, they had charm, things that a lot of the vans of today lack. Add to the mix everything old is new again and you have the perfect foundation for the 'cool factor'. I think this really resonates with a lot of people today."
If buying your own glossy Airstream is a pipe dream, fear not. It is possible to rent one.
As well as leasing caravans, Sydney-based Airstream Adventures (airstreamadventures.com.au) arranges tailor-made and chauffeur-driven itineraries with pitstops at campsites throughout NSW, for example: in and around the South Coast, Hunter Valley, Orange, Glenworth Valley and Byron Bay.
, including campsite fees (minimum three nights), with the larger 762 International priced from $895 a day (five-night minimum hire). The rates rise to $1275 and $1475 respectively if you would like a chauffeur to do all the driving and towing. Both Airstreams have water and fuel tanks for all your washing, heating and cooking needs.
In Victoria, Airstream Dreams (airstreamdreams.com.au) hires out Airstreams for events and promotions and, through its sister company Happy Glamper (happyglamper.com.au), arranges glamping experiences at beach-and-bush sites across the Mornington Peninsula, the rustically charming region south-east of Melbourne.
Rates for two-night stays in Peggy Sue - a 1966 Trade Wind Airstream imported from the US and renovated into a 'mobile motel room' - start from $440 for two people (with extra beds $30 a person), and come with an outdoor rug, outdoor chairs, board games, tea and coffee facilities and other perks.
Opportunities to stay in Airstreams Down Under will increase in the near future, says James Bush. He adds: "We are working with a number of different parties looking to set up unique Airstream locations around Australia for people to come and stay in private settings, including Broony Island (Tasmania), Phillip Island (Victoria), Hunter Valley (NSW), Barossa Valley (SA) and more."
In the US, it wasn't so long ago that the phrase 'trailer trash' was bandied about as an insult to caravan-dwellers. These days, however, 'trailer flash' may be more appropriate. Hollywood stars like Tom Hanks, Johnny Depp, Matthew McConaughey, Steve Carell, Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, Lenny Kravitz and Sandra Bullock are among the celebrity Airstream owners, while Ordinary Joes are also rekindling their affection for these wheeled wonders.
Operated by Dicky Riegel, a former president and chief executive of Airstream, Airstream 2 Go is one of a clutch of Stateside companies that leases these 'silver bullets' to leisure seekers. The firm has three pick-up points - LA, Las Vegas and Bozeman, Montana - and from these, it recommends some alluring travel itineraries.
the to Big Sur and through Yosemite National Park.
From Vegas, the 'Southwest Soujourn' takes in spectacular sights such as Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon and the Navajo Indian lands of Arizona, while whitewater rafting, rockclimbing and hot air ballooning feature on the 'Big Sky Bonanza', a route that courses through Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, including the magnificent Yellowstone National Park.
Off-peak hire rates - October to March - for a 23-foot Airstream are $2175 for three days ($5735 a week). Prices increase by up to 40 per cent in the March-October peak season (airstream2go.com).
Of course, you may have the appetite for a vintage caravanning adventure, but not the funds. Yet there are tempting alternatives for a fraction of the price.
Inspired by the 1986 Fleetwood Bounder motorhome that featured in the hit TV series Breaking Bad, some travellers dream of driving an RV (recreational vehicle) through the dramatic ochre landscapes of New Mexico - where the Emmy-award winning show was filmed.
Sifting through online classified adverts, you'll find you can pick up a second-hand RV in the States for a few thousand bucks. Just make sure it's in full working order before you head out into the desert.
SIX MORE PLACES TO GET YOUR RETRO CARAVAN FIX
SUFFOLK, ENGLAND
Airstream-enhanced glampsites dot the UK, from the Isle of Wight off southern England to the Scottish Highlands (well-insulated, Airstreams were designed to stay cool in the Californian sun and to keep warm in the Alaskan cold). After four years in Dorset, Happy Days Retro Vacations will start the 2015 northern summer season in coastal Suffolk, 160 kilometres north-east of London, near the quaint seaside towns of Southwold and Aldeburgh. Their 'sympathetically restored' Airstreams include Dee Dee (built in Ohio in 1959), Gloria (a 1961 model) and Peggy (a 1973 Tradewind). Rates from £490 ($894) a week (happydaysrv.co.uk).
SOUTHERN FRANCE
Touted as the first vintage trailer park in Europe, BelRepayre is in the wooded foothills of the Pyrenees, about 40km east of Carcassonne. Between May and September it rents out ten Airstream caravans on a self-catering basis - and has space for visiting vintage caravans to pitch up. Run by a French-Irish couple, BelRepayre has a spa with a hot tub and eateries serving things like organic beef burgers and sheep's milk ice-cream. Accommodation from $158 a night (airstreameurope.com).
SEATTLE, US
Most caravan experiences in 'The Land of the Free' happen in the great outdoors, but you can also glamp in some of its coolest cities. Housing a swanky kitchen, plush leather furniture and two flatscreen TVs, a new 25-foot Airstream is perched in the tranquil backyard of a graceful property in Seattle's Queen's Anne neighbourhood, close to the giant Space Needle observation tower. It's $169 a night via Airbnb (airbnb.com/rooms/1622794).
ANDALUCIA, SPAIN
Parked by an enticing plunge pool, this deluxe 2007 model Airstream - fashioned on a classic 1930s edition - is set in Sierra de las Nieves, a gorgeous mountain range in southern Spain. Tucked inland from the built-up Costa del Sol, an hour's drive from Malaga, it's the ideal base for birdwatching, hiking and cycling and offers visitors the chance to absorb some authentic Andalucian culture, with Alozaina, a traditional pueblo blanco (white village), just 3km away. From $151 a night, minimum stay three nights (glampingairstream.com)
VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Complementing its 115 smart rooms in Vienna's Belvedere district, Hotel Daniel has a remodelled 1952 Airstream in its leafy back garden. The caravan has a free-standing bath tub, fold-out bed and Wi-Fi. Guest are welcome to pick the garden's seasonal fruits, vegetables and herbs - and can also hire Vespas and bicycles from the hotel reception. From $148 (hoteldaniel.com).
BYRON BAY, NSW
With a kitchenette, small lounge area and private verandah (with retractable awning), the Airstream Atlantic offers a retro home-away-from-home a few minutes' walk from Byron Bay's main beach. Hugged by a rainforest reserve, it's part of a snug complex containing three Caribbean-style cottages, which are also available for rent. Rates vary (atlanticbyronbay.com.au)
Steve McKenna was a guest of Visit Bristol, Visit Britain and Brooks Guesthouse.
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