I’ll be spending Christmas Day in my van – I’ll travel around Wales and will eat a massive festive dinner next to a lake
CHRISTMAS is a time where many of us gather together in our homes with our loved ones, to celebrate the festive season.
Often, people will join around their dining tables, have a large turkey dinner and then open gifts.
But one couple are doing things slightly differently this Christmas - as they will be spending the big day in their van.
Lucy Cunliffe, 23, and her partner David Williams, 29, have been together for four years and have spent the last eight months living and travelling in a van.
Known on social media as ‘’, the pair both have part time jobs working for a fast-food company but are looking forward to spending Christmas together in their van.
But the couple’s Christmas Day will be slightly different to many others, as they plan to travel around North Wales and eat their epic Christmas dinner by a lake.
Lucy told Fabulous: “For Christmas we are planning to see our family for a couple of hours in the morning and then coming back to the van to travel to North Wales and cook a Christmas dinner next to a lake.”
The couple live in a Elddis Auto quest 155, 4 berth motorhome, that they bought back in April 2022 for £34,000.
Although the couple had to fork out for the van, Lucy confirmed that their bills are a lot lower than when they were privately renting.
She said: “Bills are a lot cheaper now that we live in our van. We live in our van full time, fully off grid while travelling around the UK.
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“We have travelled a lot of the UK so far. We have been to Wales, Lake district, Peak district, Essex and Cornwall. We have just travelled from Scotland to Cheshire.
“Before we got the van, we were living in a three bed semi-detached house, privately rented.
“We got handed our notice to move out of the house due to them wanting to sell. We did a lot of research into different ways of living and decided a motorhome was the best thing for us.
“We ended up finding this motorhome on the market relatively cheap.”
When it comes to Christmas in their van, Lucy explained that they will be spending the day travelling around North Wales.
She continued: “We will have David’s daughter with us while we are in Wales. When we lived in a house, we would not get to have a Christmas dinner next to a lake in Wales.
“We now have the freedom to be able to do this and it also only costs us the price of fuel to get there and the food that we want to cook which is pretty awesome.
“We have a three stove cooker built into the van and a two-tier oven and grill as well so we can pretty much cook whatever we like.
“We tend to make sure we buy everyone a gift for Christmas but most importantly spend some time with our loved ones before we spend time on our own because that’s what Christmas is all about.”
When it comes to living in a van full-time, Lucy explained that there are a lot of ups and downs, but according to her, there are way more ups than downs.
She explained: “We absolutely love the simplicity of living in a van.
“The views we get to see from the comfort of our home is so mind blowing.
“The freedom is something you just cannot get enough of.
“There are a couple of down sides to van life that we have found - these being emptying our toilet.
“This is not the best of tasks but at the end of the day it is something that needs to be done.
“A new found problem is moisture in the van but we have found some strange and easy ways to deal with this.
“We have bought some dehumidifiers for the van, and also leaving cupboard doors open and windows on the latch helps the moisture leave the van.
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“A lot of people seem to think that we would get on each other’s nerves by being stuck in a van together in a small space but this is not the case for us.
“We get on so well with each other, we are not just partners but we are also best friends.”
