55-year-old Camper Van Enthusiast Talks About Realizing Her Slide-in Camper Van Dream: Is Travel Expensive?

Tags: Slide-in Camper Van, Camper Van Living, Camper Van Costs

Many people say that when they retire, with both money and time, they will buy a slide-in camper van and travel around in it. They will go to different places every day and see different scenery—what a wonderful life that would be.

However, dreams remain dreams, and few people can turn their beautiful dreams into reality. Most retired elderly people are held back by real financial pressure or have to help their children take care of the next generation, so they cannot set off.

Aunt Zhang and Uncle Liu are a couple who turned their dream into reality. After both retired, they sold an investment property and spent over 600,000 yuan to buy a slide-in camper van, finally fulfilling their dream of traveling around the country in a slide-in camper van after retirement.

Aunt Zhang’s account:

I am 55 years old this year, and my husband is 61. I have been retired for 5 years. During these 5 years, although I dreamed of traveling in a slide-in camper van every day, I had to wait patiently for my husband to retire because he hadn’t reached the retirement age yet.

I didn’t idle away during these 5 years. I raised my grandson to adulthood and also took the time to get a driver’s license. I was the oldest student at the driving school. Young students learn fast and have strong comprehension, and they pass the driving test on the first try.

Because I am old and have a poor memory, I always couldn’t remember the key points taught by the coach. I took the driving test five times in total before getting my license. I don’t want to elaborate on all the hardships involved.

On the day I got my driver’s license, I cried tears of joy and stayed up all night with excitement that night. I was so excited because getting the license meant I was one step closer to my dream of traveling in a slide-in camper van.

If my husband and I travel in a slide-in camper van, we can’t let him drive alone all the time, which would greatly increase the risk of accidents. With my license, I can take turns driving with him, which will boost his confidence in traveling with me in the slide-in camper van, so he won’t oppose my plan to sell the house and buy a slide-in camper van.

My husband and I have saved up two houses in our lifetime. One is an investment property we bought years ago when housing prices were not high. We bought an 80-square-meter two-bedroom apartment for just over 100,000 yuan at that time, and we have been renting it out to earn some rent every month.

The other is a welfare apartment allocated by our work unit. My husband and I work in the same unit. Back in our day, dual-employee families in factories could get a welfare apartment for free. We have been living in this apartment, but since the property rights belong to the unit, we can only live in it and cannot sell it.

I planned to sell that investment property and use the money to buy a slide-in camper van, but my husband hesitated all along, thinking my behavior was too wasteful.

He said the house was like a hen that lays eggs, as it brought us 2,000 yuan in rent every month. Selling the house would be like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, and we would no longer have that rental income.

My husband and I have completely different ideas. I think while money is important, personal happiness matters more. If we don’t go out and see the world to fully enjoy life during our good post-retirement years, should we wait until we are too old to go anywhere and regret it?

I always talked to him about selling the house, buying a slide-in camper van, and traveling when he was in a good mood. I often showed him photos online of elderly couples traveling in slide-in camper vans, which made my husband yearn for it too.

I waited and waited, and finally the day came when my husband got his retirement certificate. Together, we sold the investment property, went to look at and buy the van, and bought all kinds of equipment for it. I lived a very fulfilling life during those busy days.

We sold the house for more than 1 million yuan and spent over 600,000 yuan on the slide-in camper van. I equipped it with everything I could think of, including a washing machine, refrigerator, air conditioner, generator, and more—I didn’t miss anything.

I decorated the inside of the slide-in camper van to be as warm as home, and then officially started our slide-in camper van journey. We have been to Tibet twice, Xinjiang three times, and then visited famous mountains and great rivers all over the country.

I found that as long as I am on the road, I feel extremely happy, as if the air is sweet, and every plant and tree on the road delights me. When we go back home to rest, I feel gloomy and look forward to setting off again every day.

I love self-driving tours and nature. No matter where we go, it feels like the most beautiful scenery to me. The reason I can stay on the road without worries is that both our parents are healthy and don’t need our care, and our daughter is independent, leaving us with no concerns.

All these things have pushed me out of the house to go to every place that fascinates me. Relatives and friends think our post-retirement life is too luxurious. Although they yearn for such a life, they never have the courage to take the step due to reality.

In fact, traveling in a slide-in camper van is not as costly as people think. Compared with those who travel at home and abroad frequently, our expenses are much lower.

Traveling in a slide-in camper van only costs fuel and highway tolls. We cook for ourselves with groceries just like at home. My husband and I don’t eat much, so our food expenses are minimal.

We don’t need to stay in hotels at all when traveling in a slide-in camper van, which saves a huge amount of money. My husband is over 60, so many scenic spots offer free entry or discounts for the elderly, so we spend little on tickets.

We just skip scenic spots with particularly expensive tickets. We only choose to visit scenic spots at reasonable prices and spend within our means.

In fact, slide-in camper van travel doesn’t have to be seen as something fancy. After we got used to this way of traveling, we found many ways to save money. My husband and I roughly calculated that our monthly travel expenses in the slide-in camper van only cost one person’s pension.

I get 4,000 yuan in pension every month, and my husband gets 5,000 yuan. We spend my husband’s entire pension each month and save all of mine. Five thousand yuan is enough for us to live a comfortable life traveling in the slide-in camper van, and the 4,000 yuan we save is our security for old age.

I think retired elderly people who have certain financial means should experience slide-in camper van travel. Those who have never tried it will never feel the freedom of "home is where the van is, and the road is where you roam"—a freedom you can’t get even from a hundred group tours.

I believe that since we came into this world, we must see it clearly. Before retirement, we were busy with work and had no time to see the world. After retirement, we must live up to the good times.

We must go to all the places we want to go, see all the scenery we want to see, and taste all the food we want to eat while we can still walk, so that we won’t leave regrets in our lives.

Abroad, traveling and camping in a slide-in camper van as a couple has become a very fashionable way of retirement. In China, a growing number of retired elderly people have joined the ranks of traveling in slide-in camper vans, enjoying their golden years.

They see majestic mountains and rivers, appreciate birds singing and flowers blooming everywhere, play by the glistening lakes, and experience the exotic customs of ethnic minorities...

On the road, the van is home, and home is the van. You stop to rest when tired, and set off whenever you feel like it. They can park the slide-in camper van in a scenic spot, cook delicious food, and enjoy the stunning scenery while eating. They can also close the doors and windows of the slide-in camper van and lie in bed watching TV shows.

On romantic nights, they can step out of the slide-in camper van to watch the stars in the sky, listen to the chirping of insects and frogs, fully feel the beauty of nature, and integrate themselves with nature...

Aunt Zhang says that one must live happily for longevity to be meaningful. She is willing to trade the length of her life for its width.

She doesn’t care how much money she saves or how long she lives. She just hopes to live happily every day until the end of her life.