Learning to live with an awning

Camper and awning (Vango Idris model).

At this time of the year (autumn) most campers here in Italy appear to be retired couples and the campers they drive are by and large - pretty large! Many have their own shower, toilet, freezer, satellite TV and so on. Our campervan being a Bongo is quite small and living space is minimal; while OK for an overnight stay, anything longer would make life uncomfortable. And so we use an enclosed awning to provide additional  living space. The awning is designed to attach to a camper van and creates a very useful enclosed 'corridor' between the two. It takes about an hour to set everything up when we arrive at a new camp site but we reckon it's a good investment of time.

The Bongo only provides a limited amount of storage space; we use this space for food, crockery & cutlery (inside) and tyre wedges, gas bottle and other camper hardware (in the rear cupboards). Remaining 'luggage' such as clothes, toiletries, sleeping equipment etc. is stored in four strong folding plastic crates. The crates stack easily inside the van when we're travelling and can be quickly transferred to the awning once it's erected at a new destination. This frees up the van for cooking (we have a 2-burner hob) and sleeping.

If our venue is free from excessive flies/wasps/mosquitoes we prefer to eat outside (there is a small table that can fit it the van too but it is more trouble than it's worth to use). On the other hand if eating outside is a no-no then we move into the awning and here it shows it worth since there is plenty of space to dine comfortably. Indeed because the awning creates a closed corridor with the van, food can be transferred in and out of the kitchen keeping it well away from insect life.

Most of our camping to date has been in the warm Italian climate so we've not been troubled overmuch by rain or cold. However there have been windy days and again the awning proves useful since we simply move our folding chairs and table inside and carry on reading, relaxing etc.
At night we hang a rechargeable LED lamp from the top of the awning and read or write or whatever. Head-torches help with further illumination, particularly if one is reading.

Finally we lay a nylon awning carpet in the 'corridor' between tent and van; in this way we're able to keep most of the dirt/sand/pine needles etc. off the floors.