She's finally ours

We just could not stop grinning
A salesman at the vehicle dealership told us how refreshing it was to see people so excited to pick up a car. Apparently he'd never seen anyone so excited as we were to receive our vehicle. I think we had possibly visited the showroom about five times during the week prior to collection.

We were given a complete beginners' class in how everything worked, from putting up the table in the cabin to using the bicycle rack. Then after signing some paperwork Cleopatra was all ours to drive away.

The first thing that struck me upon seeing Cleopatra standing on our driveway was how big she was. I'm sure I'll get used to having a massive great van sitting there, not least because every time I look at her it produces the biggest grin!

We spent an hour excitedly putting five-months worth of campervan purchases in their places, and realising quickly we'd bought a bit more than we can realistically cram in. Then we took her for a spin, driving over to show her off to my parents.

I had my first experience of driving Cleopatra on the way home and found there was nothing to be scared of - I was comfortable driving such a big vehicle almost instantly. Everything about driving her is a breeze, and she's surprisingly zippy for a vehicle that weights three tons. Reversing her up he drive will take a bit of mastering, but I didn't do badly on my first attempt.

Tempting as it was, we resisted the urge to sit inside Cleopatra all night and we spent the remainder of the evening reading the owner's manual and Googling things we didn't yet understand.

Then we booked a midweek night on a campsite because we really couldn't wait until the weekend...

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