The challenge for anyone travelling with a rooftent, is to make life comfortable without ramming your vehicle full of stuff. That’s only going to cost you money in fuel and drive you nuts when you’re trying to find anything.
But equally, if you’re like me, you’re not going to want to go travelling for weeks on end without some home comforts. So I’ve written up some of my tips for the sort of kit you might want to think about.
Ultimately, if you do forget anything, or discover you can’t live without something part way through your trip, there is always Amazon!
Vehicle and accessories
Needless to say, your vehicle has to be your number one consideration, and I’ve written a whole section on Driving. But there are a few additional tips I have for preparing your vehicle for a roadtrip.
A key consideration will be roofbars. I went with the ones recommended for my car on the TentBox site and they were absolutely fine. I also have some tips on how to organise your car essentials in the section below.
My key piece of advice is a bit random, but if you are driving in Europe, be sure to get some windscreen fluid that removes bugs. And take some anti-bac wipes, so you can brush any bugs off your TentBox cover. Trust me, you will be really glad you have them once you are out there. And they also come in handy for keeping your ladder steps clean!
TentBox
Naturally you will be focussing a lot of attention on which rooftent you are going to be using. It’s going to be your home away from home so it needs to be just right! I have the TentBox Lite 2.0 which is perfect for a single person. It’s also big enough to accommodate my kids and dogs when they want to come along. You’ll definitely want the ladder steps for any doggie travellers.
All of the TentBox models have their own strengths. And the one you’ll get will depend on what your own particular requirements are. I love the Lite model as it has 360° views, even with the raincovers on, and is really spacious. Also, it’s super easy to put up and down by myself which was a huge consideration. I’ve got that down to under 5 minutes now, which is absolutely no issue at all.
I bought a beachchair that fits nicely inside so that when I’m not exploring, So even on rainy days, I can just chill and admire the views. It’s pretty perfect if I’m honest!
With regard to accessories, I have the living pod but I’ve never used it as I am pretty much always out and about. And the roofcovers have very rarely been needed while touring Europe. But they’ve performed really well during the occasional mediterranean storm and have clear windows so the tent still gets a lot of light. One thing I will definitely be purchasing is the thermal kit, because even in summer it’s very cool at altitude in places like Switzerland.
A key concern for anyone with a rooftent is going to be security, particularly when you are so far away from home. I invested in the TentBox security kit and a good GPS tracker and gave a lot of thought to my parking choices. In terms of insurance, you are likely to have more coverage if you leave your TentBox up in a campsite than packed away unattended. So if you can, it might be worth investing in an additional night at a campsite, and using public transport to get around. The cost difference is likely to be negligible and it’s a whole bunch more fun!
Electricals
If you’re anything like me, you’ll be wanting a few home comforts on your trip. One of my absolute must haves is a nice strong coffee in the morning. And because I don’t want to be faffing around with stoves and gas, I take a little kettle and a cafetiere along, it’s way easier.
One reason I like pre-booking my campsites is that I can select pitches with electric hook-ups. You need to do a little bit of investigation on the sort of connectors you are going to need as these vary between countries. But again, if you find that you don’t have the right one you can normally get hold of them locally, or get one delivered to an Amazon locker.
As a backup, it’s also possible to get portable batteries, some of which can be charged with solar. I can recommend the Jackery range, and have the Solar Generator 300 which I’ve used for some years at festivals and while travelling. This suits me as I don’t use much electricity, but you might want a bigger one if you are travelling as a group.
Organising yourself
I cannot stress enough the importance of getting yourself organised for travel. You really do not want to be emptying out bags and bags of packing when all you need is a bottle opener!
I would recommend thinking about things in terms of how often you are likely to use them and packing accordingly.
I was travelling with a car, so bought some handy little organisers that attached to the back of my rear seats. They were great for holding things I was’t sure I would use but that I might need e.g. first aid kit, spare torches. Aldi middle aisle provided some neat organisers that sat in my rear footwells for things that I needed a bit more often, like my travel kettle.
But my key advice is to get yourself some drawers for your clothes. I got two sets of 2 drawers that fitted perfectly in my boot. And they held more than enough clothes, shoes and bags for 4 weeks travel and made my life so easy!
For anyone with a sunken boot (like me), a boot shelf is easy enough to make if you don’t want to pay the manufacturer prices. A quick DIY project that took me under 2 hours and cost around £30 got mine sorted. And not only does it support the drawers but also provides great storage for all my motoring accessories, even when I’m not travelling!
