After deciding to head to Europe for 4 weeks, we weren’t sure if we wanted to rent a campervan or travel by train and rent AirBnb’s every night. We thought it would certainly be more cost effective and more of an adventure to rent a campervan and see Europe that way. There were a few key factors in choosing where we would rent our van from. Most everything usually comes down to price for us but the price of the camper van wasn’t the only cost we’d be looking at. We found cheap airline tickets to London, so we decided to go with Getaway Campers in London, UK. Not only was their daily rental price better than some other quotes we got, but we could also easily get to the office from the airport/city center, and they could accommodate our rental on short notice.
The rental process was simple and their customer service was exceptional. We emailed back and forth many times before even securing the rental and they were always happy to answer our questions. We paid in full for the rental when we booked it and signed the rental agreement. The cost for the van for 26 days was $1431 USD and that included the rental, insurance, and a few add-ons like bedding and cookware. The breakdown of the van was about $55 a day – that included our transportation and a place to stay!
Once we arrived, they secured a 500 Pound damage deposit ($654 USD). Getting the van was smooth and easy although it was a little bit hard to find the location with our Uber driver. There’s just a small “Getaway Campers” sign near the front door and if someone is parked in front, you won’t see it.
The staff ran us through how to use everything in the van, how to set up the bed, and then let us have her. Tyson and I were a little nervous about the right-hand drive but it turned out to not be such a big deal. We were renting a Toyota Alphard Van set up to sleep 2.
You can read all about our Europe Adventure here as we had an amazing time living out of the van for 4 weeks. There are a few points worth mentioning if you’re thinking about renting through Getaway Campers. First of all, the sleeping bags are pretty thin and not of great quality. It didn’t make sense for us to bring sleeping bags so we ended up renting from Getaway. If you are going to be traveling in the colder months, we would highly suggest bringing/buying more blankets. We ended up buying a 15 tog blanket from a dollar store for about $15 which we were very happy to have.
The only other thing we would mention is to definitely be sure and check how much camp fuel you have for the stove. We saw there were two bottles but when we went to use them, they were both nearly empty. It wouldn’t have been a big deal except we had a heck of a time finding the fuel in Central Europe and the language barrier made it tough too.
We also rented a little camp table (and the rental came with two camp chairs) and we did not touch either the table or chairs once! We were mostly on the go, so if you plan to be in one spot for a long while you may find it beneficial to have them. We found that they were just getting in our way constantly.
There is also a small fridge which we were happy to have. For us, it fit our essentials like sandwich makings, yogurt, and cheese. It is pretty small so you’ll have to shop accordingly. We were totally fine with drinks that weren’t cold and you get used to the size of the fridge and what you can fit in it.
Overall, we were really happy with the size of the van and found that we could fit in most places. Had we rented a larger, more standard RV, we would have had a tougher time getting into some of the places we wanted to. The customer service at Getaway is above par and they were so easy to deal with. If you followed our trip, you know we had a bit of a mishap with the passenger side window. It was our responsibility (read all the details of the “full coverage” insurance!) to pay for and fix the window but we were having a very hard time finding one (it’s an import vehicle from Japan). The staff at Getaway reduced our stress and helped us solve the issue, all while still being able to enjoy the remainder of the trip. We ended up paying for the damage out of our deposit and the remainder of the deposit was returned promptly.
We would definitely rent from Getaway Campers again and would recommend them hands down. They’re easy to access from London, have incredible customer service, great prices, and supply you with a clean, well-running, rental vehicle!
More reads you may want to check out:
How Much Money We Spent Traveling in a Camper Van for 4 Weeks in Europe
The Best Way to Stay Connected in Europe: Coming Soon!
