[arnav17]

Mobile homes are quite popular abroad as I have heard and seen in movies, videos etc. But wanted to know BHpians opinions on the scope of living in a mobile home in India.
Examples : Force Traveller, Urbania, etc.

+ves:
- Flexibility in living conditions : You can get a sea view or a forest view whichever you please.
- May workout cheaper than buying/renting a house.
- No issues of hotel reservations, during travel and trips.

-ves:
- Van culture in India is still not very popular.
- As per what I have seen in movies and books, such vans require water supply and sewage hookups, and the infrastructure for that is not too great as of now.
- Small for families.
- Lack of security.
- May attract Legal trouble.

Please express your opinions regarding this.

[Eddy]

Sorry, but I can't think of even one good/practical reason why I would want to live in a mobil home.

[14000rpm]

Having had a few holidays stretching several weeks in a Mobile home/Camper Van, I am qualified to answer this.

Yes It is possible....

Provided..

One assumes a Minimalistic lifestyle with not much to carry around.
One is Hands-on with fixing the multitude of systems that tend to break every once in a while.
One finds a parking spot that is safe and well-lit and has access to bathroom.
One knows where to fill in clean water and dispose the Grey and Black water. Compositing toilets are not that popular in India.
One is ok with the lack of space in the vehicle which is further complicated if there is more than one person living in the vehicle full time.

I keep watching several videos of people in the US that have taken to Van life fulltime only to quit it after a few years. There are numerous reasons but the lack of an anchor is usually the top most of them all. We all find the comfort of an anchor/base location as a sense of security. Security which becomes a matter of improvisation in VanLife.

Infrastructure in India is far from there to make this concept acceptable. I'd say, it is still doable for short holidays etc. to some locations if not all.

My best bud living in Austin, TX has bought a bus in which he has lived 250/365 days during covid times.



But that's over. he's still got the bus but the days on the road have reduced dramatically. Per him, the excitement dies after some years.

Personally, I'd not make it a fulltime VanLife commitment anywhere in the world even if the infrastructure is available. It would be a holiday use and nothing more.

[Jeroen]

There is a difference of course between living permanently and just for a few weeks during a holiday.

The latter is ok, the first is definitely not ok. I have a number of friends who own them and use them extensively. Very often die hard campers in their old age move to a van. There comes a time in your life, where dragging a little Trekker tent around is simply to uncomfortable.

Doing holidays in them in Europe, US and for instance Australia is very popular. But these are all countries that tend to have good infrastructure for these vans as well.

Its a bit like our yacht. Its always ready to go, you just need to bring food and drinks and off you go. If you don't like where you find yourself you just move on. A very convenient way of exploring nature. And much more comfortable than camping with a tent.

I'm not sure it would work as well in India for all the reasons mentioned by 14000RPM.

Fine for a holiday but I would hate to live in it permanently.

Jeroen

[humyum]

I had seen a lot of platforms and probable models on which this can be done in India, one that really stood out for me which was perfect for this job was a Tata Ultra T7

--> https://trucks.tatamotors.com/ultra/tata-ultra-t7

Perfect length, look and feature list. Humanised for a personal car buyer to operate.

It could become something like this minus the 4X4 of course. Some beefed up tyres, Amazing approach and departure angles and all the gizmos that come with an expedition vehicle. I am sure the 80 kmph speed limit can be removed too.

https://www.tuningblog.eu/en/camping...ehicle-468541/

The loaded weight of the same is 7490 kgs as per company website, a personal car licence allows you to drive till 7500 kgs, just perfect.

Don't know why this has not picked up, never seen a good expedition vehicle ever in India, its only those Tempo Travellers/Urbania's and some with the Hilux.

To answer the question in this thread, yes on a holiday I would live this life for a couple of weeks, but if you ask me forever, nope, not my thing.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by arnav17

Mobile homes are quite popular abroad as I have heard and seen in movies, videos etc. But wanted to know BHpians opinions on the scope of living in a mobile home in India.

Friends of our daughter (we've met them too) bought a used camper van, kitted it out, and travelled over 15,000 km around Australia over 4+ months after giving up their jobs. They started social media posts hoping to monetize it, but for some reason they didn't become very popular. Came back home, sold their camper van, and settled back at home & their regular jobs.

The cons as I see them:

1) I'd have loved to travel around India in a camper van, but I can't think of giving up my job to finance such trips - I don't make or have that kind of money!

2) While the central government may allow me to drive a 7.5T camper on my LMV NP licence, the state governments & cops are going to have a field day taxing & fining me for innumerable reasons & violations - road tax for yellow plates (truck chassis = commercial vehicle), no entry for large vehicles, no parking, high highway tolls, state entry taxes, and the list can go on.

3) When I'm not travelling, where am I supposed to park that behemoth in my city? And where do I allow the waste to be dumped (okay, okay, I know - just about anywhere, like crores of other Indians), or get my power supply (hook up to overhead wires, maybe)?

4) If I live in a camper van permanently, what would the address on my Aadhaar card & passport be? And where would Amazon & Swiggy deliver my purchases?

5) What about security? While I sleep in some isolated place, someone is going to jack up the van & put it on bricks, and steal the wheels!

6) Cannot ever sell such a camper van. There are no other crazy buyers. Just in case there are (billionaires, for whom point #1 above doesn't matter), they can & will build their own camper van from scratch. Mine isn't going to be powerful / spacious / luxurious enough for their needs!

There are no pros of owning a camper van / mobile home in India, apart from that childhood dream of visiting & seeing exotic places from the comfort of my own home. If I needed that much comfort, I'd have stayed at home, installed a giant TV, and watched the beauty of India through others' (especially vloggers') eyes. In 4k!

[GTO]

Maybe for a night, at the most, just for the experience. But anything longer than that, and I'm out. I need my space + comforts + luxuries in accommodation. I am not a "rough it out" kind of guy at all.

Would rather have a 4x4 SUV to see all that India has to offer, then come back to a comfy hotel room at the end of the day, to a fresh bed, hot meals, room service, air-conditioner and security (India is too unsafe to park just about anywhere overnight).

[Gansan]

For a short time as a novelty, perhaps. Permanently, no. I don't want to become a nomad!

@Jeroen
What about the waste water in the Yachts? I suppose one just lets them out in the open ocean, but what about while in rivers and canals?

[Sohail_91]

I've always been fascinated by van life. There was a phase when I spent a significant amount of time watching mobile home videos on YouTube. I love road trips so much that I try to avoid flights whenever possible, preferring to drive even for long distances like Ranchi to Bangalore or Vizag!

The idea of living in a well-equipped camper van, with all the basic amenities and a little extra comfort, is incredibly appealing. However, as fellow BHPians have pointed out, there are still major challenges to mobile home living in India, with safety being my biggest concern.

Since I have never actually experienced van life, I am also unsure whether I would be comfortable staying in a camper for months or if it would be more of a short-term adventure for me.

That said, I would really love to experience it once the infrastructure for mobile homes improves in India.

[mack.mehul]

Before we even think of mobile homes in india, the weather conditions are quite atrocious in most of northern & western part of india with very hot summers. Secondly, security is a very big issue in india. Your mobile home may be burgled or trespassed upon. Thirdly i will consider one only for a small camping kind of holiday however nothing comes close to a proper house to live in.

In US, the mobile home culture is prevalent because of the housing issue, the real estate cost has significantly gone up and many people in USA are just unable to afford the monthly rent. Only a small percentage of population lives in mobile home out of leisure.

[girishv]

Though I love traveling and exploring new places, I may not survive in a van that too with family for very long. The reasons are already given by members. Though can live with many of them, security is going to be a major criteria. For that reason, you are forced to park inside a proper parking place which in most of the cases will be a hotel parking lot. In that case, I may as well rent a room for the night.

Trawler parks as I see on many movies/series are popular in western countries. Even there, I do not think its because they wanted to stay in the vans, but out of not having other better options.

Between, I really love the care-free accommodation it provides as seen for example in Kill Bill and Mentalist. But for me the honeymoon period may not last for more than couple of days. I experienced the same in other places too. I used to spend months together at NainiTal, one of the most traveled destinations, but always was looking towards returning to namma Bengaluru

[am1m]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

1) I'd have loved to travel around India in a camper van, but I can't think of giving up my job to finance such trips - I don't make or have that kind of money!

4) If I live in a camper van permanently, what would the address on my Aadhaar card & passport be? And where would Amazon & Swiggy deliver my purchases?

I know a couple of friends who used to live in mobile homes, in the US and in the UK. One of them even did his PhD while he was living mobile, and got a job as a professor in a reputed college. For the first few semesters, till he could move into a home, he continued to live in a camper, on the campus!

One main point to consider is most of these people don't live in vans because they want to live in vans or travel. That is not the purpose. The primary driver is usually a passion or outdoor hobby/sport that consumes them and that they want to pursue. Rock climbers and white-water kayakers are two classes of people who travel over the US pursing the best spots for their passion.

It takes a totally different mindset, you can't think of replicating your 'permanent' life in such a situation. Far from thinking about amazon deliveries, you need to manage with what you have.

You can't think of having 'one foot here and one foot there'. It's a totally immersive lifestyle. The people you hang out with, the people you form relationships with, all need to be of the same mindset, otherwise there will always be a clash/dissatisfaction.

Finally, the pursuit has to be worth it, what you get out of it.

Also can be a bit disorienting. After hanging out for a weekend with a similar group, I've returned to a corporate job culture that spends more on one office lunch than a those guys spend in a month or two! You really begin to question things.

[DicKy]

Watching USA based movies, cartoons, comics, for me caravans/motorhomes/RVs were a childhood dream.

Be it huge Class A motorhomes or the Class C motorhomes with the bunker above the cabin. Seeing malayalam movie ee parakkum thalika (2001), I even dreamt of modifying our Coaster school bus with a water tank on top.

Though in India, instead of waking up to a scenic view we may either see elephants looking at us or the locals trying to peer in. Add to that we haven't figured out our sewage systems in built-up urban areas, let alone infra for motorhomes at camping places. That said, we have plenty of folks (nomads?) who travel the country with nothing but a tent covering the loadbay of a 407.

[GeeTee TSI]

While motorhomes have never been a personal ambition, one challenge we have is the absolute lack of good vans as base vehicles. We only entered the 21st century now, with the Force Urbania.

Truck-like steering angle, gearshift throws and clutch travel might make us employ a driver for motorhomes as well!

[Sensible_Speed]

As long as waste disposal and civic sense remain in the dismal state they are today, I will stick to structures with a fixed foundation.