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Camping Car

February 21, 2019

Recently, he watched a TV program that featured about camping car tourism. Some people, especially retired people, bought a camping car and would travel around in their car. Some people even sold their house or stopped their apartment contract, and lived in a car, like Gypsies. He retired from his job recently and he was curious about this.   He only watched the latter part of the program but he could guess that camping car travelers lived in a car like living in RVs in the US. Camping cars have enough space that one or two adults can sleep comfortably with outstretched bodies. They equip some necessary items like a small kitchen with a sink and a water tank and stove, lights, sometimes a fridge; if it was a big one, a toilet, or even a shower were inside. His country's land is long from the north to south, so camping car travelers can move to the best climate places like migratory birds. For example, in rainy seasons, they can go to the most northern areas that have little rain. In winters, they can go to the warmer southern areas. If they like fishing, they can go anywhere looking for a good catch. They can also follow the best cherry blossom views from the south to the north, or the best autumn colored leaves from the north to south. He surfed on the internet. There was a website that gave information for camping car travelers. It mentioned about auto camping sites with various types of outdoor kitchens, toilets, electricity, and whether they accept garbage or not. It also contained info about plain camping sites and other facilities that allowed camping cars to park. Also, there was information about public toilets, convenience stores, public bathes, hot springs, and/or good local restaurants in various areas ... Some were very detailed like: "It's very noisy at night because of trucks driving," "Parking is prohibited at night and police officers sometimes come," "Parking lot is quiet and safe, very good!" "Good milky hot spring costing only three dollars!" "Free Wifi." "XXX auto campsite ~1 night 10 dollars, garbage 5 dollars, electricity 5 dollars." Another website offered information about various campsites, including auto campsites. There were about 4,000! Users posted their ranking and comments. The campsites varied from expensive log cabins to just a space for a tent. He came to know that there were about 300 free campsites in the country. He thought, "Maybe four things enable camping car travelers to have a long trip." One: Smartphones or tablet computers Through our smartphones, we can get any information about facilities, shops, etc. including maps. For example, where coin operated laundry facilities were located.   Two: Convenience stores There are so many convenience stores here and there. Some of them are open for 24 hours. They provide toilet, food, daily goods, etc. They are located suitably apart because of business reasons. One camping car traveler posted saying that convenience stores sell various types of ready-made foods especially the plastic bag type, like stir fried eggs, baked meat, boiled fish, salads, cooked rice, pasta, noodles, which made life more convenient. Then you can prepare them by boiling the whole bag in water. You can eat the food directly from the bag; and after eating, you can throw everything away in the garbage can at the shop. Because you don't need to cook, you don't wash a pan or a pot. You don't need a plate or a cup, so you don't need to wash them either. Plus cooking inside the car leaves the smell of the food. Also washing plates, etc. requires some facilities like camping sites. In addition, you can omit a refrigerator in one's camping car because there were so many convenience stores in this country. Three: Car Stations In 1991 the Construction Ministry started this policy in order to respond to the demand of increasing automobile travel. The federal government gave subsidies to local government to make Car Stations which have big parking lots, toilets, telephones are available for 24 hours. They sometimes would build a restaurant and a farmers shop on the premises. They had become a big hit and now there were more than 1,000 Car Stations in this country.   Four: Efficiency of camping cars and goods Maybe camping cars' functions' are getting better. Gas mileage is better than before. Futons are lighter and warmer. Lights' LED uses less electricity. Portable gas cassette stoves are convenient. Even earplugs and eye masks are better. He vaguely thought that camping car life costed less than house owners and apartment residents, but one camping car traveler mentioned on his website that from his calculations, a camping car life costed more than a house life. The reasons were expensive food (readymade food is more expensive), gas for driving, coin-operated laundry fees, public bath fees, sometimes hotel fees, etc. He roughly calculated about the cost of his apartment life ~ apartment rent, water fee, electricity fee, gas fee, and divided it by 30 days. It was not expensive. He will start getting more useful information on the internet about camping car life. In addition, as he had a membership to a gym, he could use its branch facilities without extra fees, so he should research about their locations. But more importantly, he should start to look for a cozy and inexpensive camping car. He was feeling excited.

*migratory: 移住性の
*frederal :国の
*cozy: こじんまりして居心地のいい