Choosing Our Long-term Camping Setup

Travel and photography are our biggest passions—and they go hand in hand. But serious landscape photography often demands being at the right spot at exactly the right time: well before sunrise or long after sunset. Relying on hotels and restaurants makes that timing hard. You’re bound by check-in hours, breakfast schedules, and long drives back and forth.

That’s why we’ve known for years that camping is the solution. We both grew up spending summers in tents and campervans, and over the past two decades, we’ve taken numerous trips together in rented vans—across Australia, the UK, and Iceland.

But what kind of setup is right for us long-term?

What We Need

We’re not weekend campers. Our future trips will last six months or more. So we need a setup that’s not just adventurous—it has to be comfortable, reliable, and suitable for extended use.

Many campervan travelers move frequently and stick to warmer regions. We plan to stay in some locations for days or even weeks, often in northern climates. That means:

• The ability to stay warm in freezing temperatures (down to -20°C)
• Off-road capabilities for Icelandic F-roads and remote European locations
• A mobile day vehicle that doesn’t require tearing down camp every time we want to explore or photograph
• A compact enough build to navigate narrow roads and villages across Europe

In short, we want it all—space, durability, mobility, warmth, and flexibility. Not a small ask.

Exploring the Options

Campervan

We’ve used campervans extensively, including a Mercedes Sprinter 4×4 in Iceland. It performed well off-road and was fine for two weeks—but it wasn’t ideal for long-term travel. The cab was hard to insulate, and cold air flowed into the living space. Overall, it lacked the comfort and separation we’d want for six-month trips.

Our rental campervan in Iceland. Offroad capable and super well built from CS Reisemobile. 

Motorhome

Traditional motorhomes are usually more spacious but rarely off-road capable. The Hymer ML-T Crossover is one of the notable exceptions, but even that feels risky for remote gravel roads or river crossings.

Our rental during our Devon & Cornwall trip in 2022.

Expedition Vehicle

Expedition trucks are incredibly capable—insulated for arctic temps, built like tanks, and luxuriously equipped. We seriously considered one. But their size makes them unwieldy for narrow European roads or coastal towns. And again, they lack flexibility: the entire home moves with the vehicle. Some use motorcycles or quads as runabouts, but that’s not our style.

Classic expedition vehicle. Large, heavy – this brings you everywhere.  

Tent

A traditional tent isn’t viable for us—but we are planning to include a rooftop tent for flexibility. More on that in a future post.

Caravan

The word “caravan” usually evokes images of packed campgrounds at Lake Garda or the Spanish coast—not remote trails and snow. But Australia changed our thinking.

The classic European caravan. Nice, but not built for heavy usage.

There, caravanning is a national pastime. Retirees hit the road in massive off-road caravans, towed by Toyota Land Cruisers and pickup trucks. Brands like ZoneRV and Bruder build units that are both luxurious and off-road capable—designed for the rugged Outback.

We briefly explored importing an Australian caravan, but it’s complicated. Most aren’t street-legal in Europe, and the few exceptions (like Bruder) are still very large for narrow European roads.

Bruder XP-8 – you can go to war with this thing. 

Conclusion: Getting Closer to Our Ideal Setup

Each solution we explored had its strengths—but also drawbacks for our specific needs. In the next article, we’ll reveal what we finally chose and why we believe it’s the best long-term solution for travel, photography, and remote exploration.