Bunk Campers Customer Services Manager, Mark, road tests the Vista in Ireland

If you have hired a camper from Bunk Campers, or even made an enquiry, you will know Mark, Bunk Campers Customer Services Manger. We often hear stories from customers about their campervan hire experience, but this time, find out what happened when Mark road tested the Vista camper in Ireland with his super cute daughter, Niamh!

The Vista campervan

I wanted a campervan for a short break in Ireland for myself and my 4 year old daughter, Niamh. Bunk Campers have 6 campervan types to choose from but I picked the Vista as it comes with bunk beds, perfect for Niamh and I to sleep in, plus a shower and toilet (perfect for traveling with young children!) and cooking facilities so we could eat what we wanted, when we wanted.

We didn’t have a fixed plan on where we would be staying, so the camper van gave us the freedom to go on our own adventure!

My experience touring Ireland by campervan

We picked up our Vista from Bunk Campers depot in Belfast on a Friday afternoon ready for a long weekend break and headed south.

The first night, we stayed in North Beach Caravan Park in Rush to enable us to be close to Tayto Park in Ratoath for our second day. The North Beach Caravan Park is right by the ocean. It was really nice playing at the beach and waking up by the water, watching the waves come in. A real reminder that you are on holiday!

A fully equipped camper

The Vista comes equipped with a 4 burner gas hob plus an oven and grill so you really can cook anything you want! We decided on a tasty meal of chorizo and pasta and had dinner in our camper before sleeping in the bunk beds. As there was only 2 of us sleeping in the Vista, we didn’t need to use the fold out double bed and the novelty of bunk beds was certainly not lost on Niamh!

The next morning, we had breakfast and showered before packing up our camper and drove to Tayto Park. We spent the whole day playing in the massive park, trying the food and walking around the animal zoo. It is perfect for kids, there is even pony trekking! It was something different and Niamh really loved it!

Later that night we free camped by the beach in the Skerries, closed to Funtasia in Drogheda which we decided would be our plan for day 2! Funtasia is a large entertainment village with an indoor waterpark, climbing wall, high ropes area and play park for kids. Again it was a great day out and something completely unplanned. Someone at Tayto on our first day recommended Funtasia, and with our camper, we had the freedom and flexibility to go there the next day!

Traveling by campervan with a 4 year old

It’s good fun, Niamh loved being up high in the campervan. You really do get better views of the beautiful countryside! The experience of driving around in a camper was really exciting for her so even long distances went in very quickly. Plus, we sang all the songs from the movie Frozen (many, many, many, many, many times) to help us enjoy the drive!

In the evenings, we cooked dinner in our camper and played games and watched movies on our portable dvd player before getting ready for our adventure the next day.

Niamh really loved the campervan experience. When I said that we were returning the camper to go home, she said “but I want to stay in the campervan forever!” Back at Bunk Campers depot on Monday, she even helped me clean and tidy up the van ready for its next rental! It won’t be long before we take another trip!

The best part of the campervan experience..

With a camper you have everything you need in one place – all the comforts of home. This is important, especially with children, knowing you can’t be caught short because you have all the facilities you need with you!
It was good to get some rare time away. It was also good to be driving down the road in shorts and t-shirt with the sun shining, holding hands.

My advice to other travellers..

Bring a camera! There are so many beautiful things to see and places to stop when touring Ireland and a campervan gives you access to all of them. My phone camera isn’t great and so many times we stopped at an idyllic location I wish I had a proper camera to capture the moment!

Campervans are great for families

The other thing I would say is that every day at Bunk Campers, I speak to many customers who are apprehensive about campervan hire with kids. A campervan holiday is a laugh a moment experience with so many memories to be had! From singing on the drive, cooking up a tasty meal after a day playing at the beach and just having the freedom that a hotel or organised tour doesn’t give you is really great for families, especially if you have tired kids or decide you have discovered somewhere better to visit than originally planned!

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