Traveling all around with "mobile homes"

Freely hanging out with a mobile home car

“I first got to know about the mobile home cars just a few years ago, when I went to Ho Chi Minh City to visit my friend, who was from Hue. With the passion of traveling, my friend and his wife bought a used 16-seat car and designed it into a mobile home, then they traveled here and there with their son," said Quang Tam, my friend.

From the 16-seat car, Tam and his wife had a car repairman to convert it into a 3-seat car and re-registered it. At the back of the car, the trunk is designed into a small house, with all basic functions such as bedroom, toilet, cooking area, wardrobe, and desk. Specially, the family gets electricity from solar energy for living in the car. “The repair process includes many stages such as installing electrical system, soundproofing system, heat insulation system, paneling wood, and making the wardrobe. It took nearly 2 months to construct, with an interior cost of more than VND 100 million," added Quang Tam.

Nguyen Van Chien, who also owns a mobile home car, said that in addition to new and interesting travel experiences, mobile home cars helped save a lot of money compared to traditional form of traveling. First of all, you don't have to spend money staying at hotels, and you don't need to worry about where to eat as you can cook directly in the car. For those who love traveling, this is truly the ideal car, making the trips newer and more attractive. Travelers can stop anywhere, even in wild and remote places to camp and picnic without having to worry about motels or hotels.

The newly born trend has opened up many approaches for travelers to "buy" a mobile home car for themselves. Many people buy old 16-seat or 7-seat cars, and convert them into mobile home cars to save costs. In this method, they usually only need to spend from VND 400 million to 800 million, but it takes a lot of time and efforts.

Those with more money often choose to purchase an available mobile home car, with prices ranging from VND 800 million to 2 billion. These ones are modified from vans, not converted vehicles, and the quality is much better than converted ones. As the trend of traveling by mobile home car is gradually becoming more popular, there are manufacturer of this vehicle in Vietnam, with the quality is not inferior to imported cars; there are also car leasing facilities.

According to people living in mobile home cars, one thing to consider when choosing this option is to accept some disadvantages besides its great points. Due to their limited size, the mobile home cars are only suitable for a maximum of 6 people. On the other hand, due to infrequent use, users must pay attention to preserving and checking to turn off electrical and water equipment. After each use, they must pay attention to the hygiene and maintenance so as to keep the vehicles in good condition.

Although there are unavoidable limitations, mobile home cars are still attractive “homes” for many people. Nowadays, eating under the moonlight, sleeping under the starlight, and wandering all around is the lifestyle of those who love traveling, experiencing, exploring, and enjoying the freedom. For that reason, many young people and families have refused to stay at beautiful and multi-star hotels, or luxury resorts in favor of mobile home cars. They seek for the trips that are close to the nature, "living nomadically" right in their cars, with the concept that home is where you turn off the car engine.