Experience with van exchanges?

[islandwestie]

Hi there--I've been lurking a couple of months, now, and getting an interesting picture of VW circles in the UK. Sounds as if you all have a lot of fun!

my partner and I are in British Columbia, Canada, and just bought a Westie this spring--a 1988, in reasonably good (though not perfect) shape. We are currently fixing her up and doing the occasional short camping trip to get in practice, with thoughts of driving to Mexico for a couple of months this winter. She has a rebuilt 2.1 wasserboxer, done last fall. Full camper with top bed, stove/fridge/sink, etc.

Question--has anyone here had experience swapping campers with someone overseas? Is anyone interested?

British Columbia has terrific wilderness camping and lots to see. We'd be interested in a van swap perhaps next spring or summer for the UK and perhaps Ireland as well. My partner is ex-Brit so right-hand drive is not an issue.

...IslandWestie (we live on one of the islands near Vancouver)

[posler]

hello islandwestie,

my girlfriend is from canada she used to live in dawson creek in BC, hers parents live in penticton currently we are planning on moving over to canada in 3 years, probably vancouver!! to start with. we visited canada in 2008 (west side is the best i've heard ) going round vancouver, calgary, white water rafting in golden, rock climbing in canmore, vancouver island and lots of other places on our trip. Going to mexico sounds like a great trip, it just seems like theres so many brill places to go camping mainly wild camping, we think we would like a camper again in canada how much do they go for (the good, the bad and the ugly)? enjoy your camping

regards phil

[islandwestie]

Hi Phil--

Sounds like you've seen a lot of the good places already--though there are so many!

Definitely mostly wild camping, as it seems to be described in the UK and Europe--British Columbia has a lot of provincial parks that have very basic facilities (usually water, campfire rings, and outdoor biffies) plus, because of the logging, a lot of even more basic ones that were set up by the Forest Service. Then, of course, if you have a Syncro or are really brave with your 2WD, there are tons of places that are just plain wild, and on Crown land so no-one cares too much if you're tidily camping there for a night or two.

Here's a link to some camping:

http://www.sitesandtrailsbc.ca/planning-your-trip/

As for the price of vans, we paid $8000 Canadian for our Westfalia in early spring (almost par with the US$ right now, and this would be just over 5000 pounds UK). As I said, it's an '88. The body is fairly good--a tiny bit of seam rust and some dings here and there. The upholstery needs some repairs. The camping stuff was grubby, but is mostly in good shape, though the power and water need a bit of work. I think we got a reasonable deal, when I look at others being sold now. The West Coast of Canada and the United States is definitely VW country, and you pay a premium because of that, compared to other parts of North America. Still, the vans out here are probably in better shape because there's not too much salt used on the roads (milder winters).

If you check out the Craigslist for Vancouver, Victoria, and Nanaimo you probably can find a variety of vans for sale, and check out the prices.

I hope you get a chance to come out here again, and maybe stay--it's a beautiful part of the world!

---

IslandWestie

[Stefvan]

Hi
I put an ad up over on the Westfalia.org forum last year asking for exactly this.. http://westfalia.org/community/showthread.php?t=656 and got no replies ! I would be interested in a swap in theory but I would have to ask your opinion about the best time to go, and your honest opinion about whether it would work for us in BC. I have 2 kids (5 and 9) and have school holidays end of July - end of August. BC would be right up my street but might not suit 2 small kids they are not wimps but they like some entertainment rather than beautiful woodland drives ! If there was some kayaking or some other bonus... . I have a 1987 left hand drive Westfalia, in very good shape mechanically and cosmetically 93,000 on the original engine. I drove it to Northern Ireland myself last month, didn't miss a beat. I live in West London very near Heathrow.. I have just had a major service (April) and had the van inspected and valued by the UK Type 2 owners club, and just did some (rather dull) photos for the valuation. Unfortunately I have no experience of doing this before so I too would be interested in anyone else's experiences ! (either of van swap or British Columbia)
cheers

Stefvan (Rory)

[islandwestie]

Thanks for the feedback, Rory!

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Kathy