4 Sleeping in Cali with packed van … Aires etc?!

[NoviceCaliOwner]

Everyone's mileage will vary here of course depending on how your family work and what you need.

But for what it's worth, we recently came back from a 7 week trip in France in our brand new Ocean (not all of it camping...) with two kids of similar age as yours and the van was nowhere near full (except on the way back when we packed with it wine and cassoulet tins of course). That was including swim gear (inc. wet suits), hiking gear, a portaloo-style toilet and a rather large booster seat. You'd be surprised at the huge amount storage space you get in an ocean - it's very deceptive.

Things that worked for us:

• Only pack what you really need. France has shops - you won't be stuck if you forgot something essential.
• You don't need a lot of clothes. There are easily accessible self-service laundrettes everywhere in petrol stations, supermarkets and in completely random places (and of course, in campsites). The Park4night app will tell you where they are. 5 days worth of clothes is all you need.
• These packing cubes are a godsend for clothes. Everyone gets one small cube and one medium or large one. And that's it - you're not allowed to pack any more clothes than this. Then throw them all in the wardrobe.
• Use those to turn the huge drawers under the bench into useful storage spaces.
• Use plastic boxes or strong cardboard boxes for the boot. Only store in the boot the suff you don't need for eating or sleeping as it's a right pain to keep having to go get stuff from the boot (only store outdoor gear in the boot).
• You don't need a lot of kitchen stuff. 4 plates, 4 bowls, 4 stackable glasses, a stackable cooking set like this one and a roll of kitchen paper is all the gear you need. Your kitchen cupboards will be mostly empty.
• Don't pack loads of food. Take a few tins of easy-to-reheat stuff that can keep you going for 2 meals and that's it. Buy food as-you-go - again France has shops (and much better ready-made fresh and tinned food than what you'll find in a British shop). Don't overthink the cooking.
• Towels: you only need 4 towels. Get micro-fibres one that come in carrying boxes like these ones. They take no space at all, dry almost instantly and can be easily thrown in a cupboard (like the one above the bench).
• Don't store anything on top of of the bed shelf at the back of the bench. The only thing that goes there are the pillows and duvets. That way, making the bed doesn't involve shifting loads of stuff around.
• Don't store anything on the floor at the back. The living area is kept clear at all times.
• At night, the driver's seat is used to store the booster seat and any bit of random stuff clothes. The passenger seat is kept clear to climb up and down the upstairs bed.

All worked just fine. We always all slept in the van (kids upstairs, us downstairs) with the portable toilet neatly set between the bed and driver's seat (toilet absolutely essential BTW).

Wow thanks for such a detailed response! Thank you

 

[Mehdime]

Great post, almost exactly what we do. Is this the inside of your van?

View attachment 98901

It’s what it looks like in my head for sure. I won’t post an actual picture though - better not break the charm.

 

[JayneGS]

We always take a pop up toilet tent. When travelling we put the toilet and blowup tent in the van. Fit side by side behind the front seats, takes up barely any room and when we arrived at Euro Disney for a few days we put up the toilet tent, literally takes about 5 mins, put tent, toilet, washing line for wet towels, shoes and anything else, it’s like a tardis. The back shelf is only for bedding and underneath is organised in order of what you need and when. A pop up toilet tent is invaluable for extra space

 

[CaliforniAnna]

We have a Beach and have just come back from 5 weeks on the continent with our 8 and 12 year old. We mostly stayed in campsites but had a good few nights in aires/laybys etc. There is a detailed summary of our packing arrangements in this thread
Thread 'Packing in the Beach'
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/packing-in-the-beach.45889/
In short, we had no problems fitting two adults, two reasonably big children and all our stuff inside the van when we needed to. We also took a large inflatable dinghy - in retrospect we’d have had more space if we hadn’t taken that. If you pack sensibly you’ll be fine.

 

[GrahamB]

Some brilliant and helpful ideas in this thread. We are still learning, but we find we pack differently depending on the duration and activities. For a fast weekend away its easy enough to pack minimally and as long as bedding is the only thing packed above the rear bed board it all works. It gets more difficult on a longer trip with more clothes to pack and the driveaway awning taking up a lot of boot space. So we end up with seats fully forward and pack carefully so that the bed will still go down. Someone mentioned removing headrests which I will look into because they are a pain in this scanario.

 

[calibusje]

First of all congratulations.
Packing and travelling with a california is a learning process that never ends; it’s our 11th year (ten with a T4 westfalia and this one hasn’t got the clever storage of the inner table, outside table and two foldable seats). We find our new one (T6.1 coast) having more space. 26 nights in the van in 4 months; over 10.000 kms.
What we didn’t use in one year goes out.
When you pack, think about where you'll put it while making the bed (we use the drivers seat for that). That way you will already make a good arrangement. Also not too many clothes: you can wash them on the way.
We are also four and have no space issues. We do place a box on the bicycle rack for the summer trip. Never anything on the roof because I especially don't want to lose the height advantage. We park and sleep beyond the 2m height barriers, you see. And there are more such barriers year after year. Also to park in underground car parks when we visit a city. All very easy to do. But you do what you want of course.
Food: other countries also have shops. Only food we bring -we call it emergency food- are 2 cans of ravioli, extra cheese and tabasco and we have a meal; 2 cans of sausages, sandwiches and some fried onions and sauces (sauces such as mayo, mustard and ketchup we always have with us in a small squeeze bottle). This is when we arrive somewhere late or remote. In the morning: baguette and French cheese and fresh coffee (coffee maker of your choice; we have been using a genre of biathletti with coffeepads for years with great satisfaction). Are we too remote, we have a pre-packaged toast bread with us and make toast with a small folding camping toaster (works great). Or we drive to a village or town and have breakfast there.
We carry a portable toilet (porta porti) to use at night but otherwise we use the toilet in restaurants, museums or anywhere we find a clean toilet.
Where to stay? Choose/ experience yourself: I do not recommend aires along the highway, others -the so-called camper places that you can find with apps such as park4night- are fine. Also small campsites (municipals) almost always have available places. We apply the following rule: if one of us does not feel safe, we look for another place to sleep.
A california is the perfect van for you and your family to travel around with in any country and you can eat and sleep in it with four, so happy travels.

 

[bob_summers]

if it all seems a bit cramped, think of the countless families who holidayed in vans in the 60s, 70s etc. A modern camper is like a tardis in comparison!

 

[Jonney]

Our kids are 7 and 8 and we have been making trips to the continent each year since they were born. We have just come back from a 6 weeker. 10 stops, 2500 miles.

And we regularly go away to sites in the uk.

We have always just taken along a garage: where we chuck everything in.

2 person blackout pop-up tent - 2 Seconds Fresh & Black

2 person blackout pop-up tent - 2 Seconds Fresh & Black null Our designers have spent time developing this two-person tent that you can pitch in just a few minutes. It gives you guaranteed mobility.

www.decathlon.co.uk

Never had any issues. Never needed to peg it down. And it’s easy to pack up once you get the knack. It’s very waterproof and keeps things cool out of the sun. It’s also very easy to dry off the ground sheet if it’s a bit damp underneath by turning it upside down in the sun for 5 mins. It’s been a no brainier for us, especially with car seats for the kids.

On this last trip After 10 years of abuse it ripped when I was packing it up. So just stopped off at a decathalon and picked up a replacement.

 

[BIG C]

Hi, taken us 12 years to work this out, and worked in 6 weeks in France this summer, put all the campsite, beach, wetsuits and cycling stuff etc in boot that not need in Aire/wild camp. Put bedding and one clothes bag each on shelf behind rear seats, At night stack clothes bags on one turned front seat. Anything else in front footwell. This means you can get ready for bed without exiting van. If you cannot do this then you’ve got probably got too much stuff. We put all our food in under seat drawer, those open top cardboard fruit box fits perfectly. Saves a load of faff getting food in and out of cupboards.