Metris Getaway Adventures

For Christmas last year, the husband decided we needed a set of VanEssa bags to use as luggage instead of suitcases, so he ordered them hoping to have them for the "big day."  For some that are not aware, these bags are made by a small company in southern Germany, and ship directly from them, not through any third party distributor.  This means they take quite awhile to arrive.  The husband knew this, and ordered well ahead, or so he thought. He got notices from VanEssa that they had shipped but shipping ended up being a major nightmare.  They started with DHL, and got transferred to the USPS, so tracking was difficult. Once he got the USPS tracking number, he found out that the USPS had lost them. He worked with one person at our local post office to try to back track and reclaim them, and she was great, but there was only so much she could control.  To add to the angst, we left town for the holiday, so the whole time we were gone, he was afraid they would...

For our family vacation this year (2025), we spent 16 days in Ireland, where we rented a VW T6 California Beach “weekender style” camper van, and drove around the island with minimal itinerary.  This model of the VW bus has never been sold in America, but they were everywhere in Ireland!  Comparing it to our Metris, and before that - our 2000 Eurovan; there were quite a few features on this van that we really LOVED!  If this post is too technical, I apologize - but I imagine some other van campers out there might appreciate the details.  First, in the cabin, there were built in, pull down roller shades instead of awkward curtains. The passenger and driver windows had magnetic cloth covers that worked well.  We found it funny that they were made of the same grey material as the snap on curtains for our 2000 Eurovan.  VW must have a warehouse full of that fabric and they have been using it for the past 25 years! LOL!  There was a cover for the insid...