Does the Grand California Rattle? And Other Questions You Asked Us!

After nearly 40,000 miles in our VW Grand California, you asked us a LOT of questions — and in this video we're answering them! Does the Grand California rattle? How much payload do we have? How long can we stay off-grid? Why did we choose the 680? Would we change vans? And what about retiring early and travelling for months at a time? We also talk about the reality of life in the Grand California, how we pack for long trips, washing clothes on the road, campsite and travel apps, ferry costs, insurance, our favourite van accessories and what we've got planned for our next adventures. And yes… we finally put the "Does it rattle?" question to the test on a very bumpy road! 😂 Thanks so much for all your questions, comments and support. We genuinely love hearing from you and picking up your tips for future travels. If you're new here, we're Den & Lisa — a retired couple from the UK travelling Europe in our VW Grand California, hiking, exploring and sharing what we discover along the way. 🚐 If you’ve enjoyed following our travels and want to save places for your own trips, we’re now planning and recording our whole trip in Wilder Trips. You’ll find our link below and you can use code WHEREWEWANDA for 50% off if you’d like to try it 🔗 Wilder Trips Discount Link https://wildertrips.com/landing?fpr=w... 📍Our Trip and Stops https://www.wildertrips.com/share/SP1... CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 00:08 Does the Grand California rattle? 02:57 Quickfire van questions 03:05 Who converted our Grand California? 03:11 Payload and our fully loaded weight 03:35 Was the gas point factory fitted? 04:00 Leisure batteries & how long we stay off-grid 04:37 Our seat covers after 40,000 miles 05:06 Is the bed area claustrophobic? 06:27 Fixing the gap in the Grand California bed 07:19 Coffee break 07:27 Travelling beyond the Schengen 90-day rule 07:53 How we manage long-trip insurance 08:52 How we find campsites and plan our trips 10:10 How we use Airstop 11:28 The risotto maker we use in the van 12:04 Ferry costs & travel insurance 13:29 The underwear question! 😂 13:50 How much does a Grand California cost? 14:51 Would we change our van? 15:52 Why we keep making travel videos 16:53 Sleeping in the van without electric hookup 17:46 How much clothing do we pack? 19:34 How we use packing cubes 19:44 Is a 6.8m van difficult to drive? 21:03 Why we didn't travel further inland in Spain & Portugal 22:29 Our Helinox camping chairs 24:14 The new sun loungers 25:49 Your retirement questions 25:52 How old were we when we retired? 26:14 What jobs did we do & why did we retire early? 26:34 Did we sell our house to fund retirement? 29:27 Family, parents & travelling for months 30:37 Why we kept our house 32:33 Where are we travelling next? 33:48 Our biggest ever trip is coming! 34:46 A peaceful morning in the van 35:21 Is the front seating area comfortable? 36:22 Washing sports clothes while travelling 37:04 Why did we choose the Grand California? 38:32 What would we steal from other vans? 39:13 That's a wrap! 🙋‍♂️🙋🏻‍♀️ About Us: We are Den and Lisa, traveling full-time in our VW Grand California 680 campervan. Follow along for more of our European van life adventures! 😍🚐 Thanks for watching. ✉️ Want to contact us? Den & Lisa Our email - wherewewanda@icloud.com