Kees and Riet from Brabant The Netherlands (both born in 1934) are real die-hard campers. As children, they used to camp in tents. When they had children themselves, the tent was quickly exchanged for a caravan for practical reasons. In the years that followed, there were caravans by Bluebird, Kip, De Reu, Adria, Avento and eventually Kip again. Early last year, with pain in their hearts, they said goodbye to their Kip Grey Line. Manoeuvring and, among other things, putting up the awning became simply too heavy. In addition, they were finding it increasingly difficult to sleep on the narrow 2-person fixed bed for weeks on end.
A few months after selling their caravan, they became “homesick for camping”. The blood runs where it can’t go: recently Kees and Riet started camping again with a TakeOff Xcite with semi-fixed bed. We interviewed these super enthusiastic enterprising people in Oostkapelle. A lifetime of camping!
From tent to caravan to TakeOff
Kees and Riet tell us: “When we were young, we used to go out with the CZ motorbike, taking the tent to southern Europe. We didn’t need much more than each other, nice and compact camping. In 1959, our first son Paul was born. With Paul we first camped with a De Waard tent. That went well as long as the weather was good. In 1962 and 1965, Paul got two brothers. With such a large family with a ‘bunch of those bandits’, you really appreciate the comfort of a caravan. Many holidays followed all over Europe, first with the children and partners, later when we were retired lovely months of travelling around just the two of us.”
Kees and Riet (both 89 years young) proudly in front of their TakeOff Xcite at Camping DuinRand in Oostkapelle The Netherlands.
“Last year we sold our Kip, a lovely caravan, but putting up and taking down the awning became too much for us. Yet we missed camping almost immediately. For a while we considered buying a camper van but that’s a serious expense and once at the campsite, at our age, you are then limited in your flexibility to do some shopping in a nearby village. Then we looked at the TakeOff, the ease of unfolding and folding surprised us greatly. In the king-size bed we sleep like at home, truly ideal. Combined with our Kia Niro Hybrid, we are on an average consumption of 1 in 18, just a small difference as when driving with the separate car. With the caravan, though, it was different. Driving and putting it in place is child’s play compared to a caravan: its low weight and limited outer dimensions obviously help. The awning tent is easy to put up because there is only one tent pole in the back wall, so no fussing about with all kinds of poles as with a caravan awning. Although putting up a tent in the current temperatures of around 30 degrees remains a challenge.”
From the way the tent is pitched, you can see that Kees and Riet haven’t forgotten about camping.
“At the orchard campsite here in Oostkapelle, we have many visitors with the TakeOff, everyone is curious and wants to take a look. We have already given several ‘tours’, maybe that is a downside of the concept after all,” jokes Riet. “We are very happy with the thinking of the Easy Caravanning team when we decided to go for the TakeOff earlier this year. For example, we really wanted an entry-exit bracket to have a bit more grip at the entrance. They developed this on our TakeOff and it will be included in the range for next model year. In addition, by special request, our TakeOff was the first to be fitted with extra organisers on the side above the kitchen cabinet and cooler cabinet. In fact, we were missing (coming out of the caravan) some storage options. In addition, the people at Easy Caravanning in Emmen have already fitted our TakeOff with an organiser in the front with reading lights and extra USB charging points, really ideal! We will stay here in beautiful Zealand for a few more weeks, we will see where we go afterwards.”
Organisers which can optionally be mounted on either side
for extra luggage space while camping. Also shown is the
additional entry-step bracket can be seen around the doorway.
NLike Kees and Riet, do you want to experience the TakeOff for yourself at your nearest dealer? Then quickly visit https://www.easycaravanning.com/en/dealers/ There are only a few TakeOffs of model year 2023 still available at reasonably short notice, be quick! After our summer closing, our production will switch to model year 2024 with corresponding prices.
Use the product configurator on our website to put together your own TakeOff in no time:
https://www.easycaravanning.com/en/editions/
Handy in preparation for a showroom visit. Our dealers can give you detailed advice on the Active-Sport-Xcite, train-seat and semi-fixed-bed layouts and further options. Experience for yourself the convenience of lightning-fast opening and closing, readyfor TakeOff. Would you like to come and take a look at the factory? You are welcome there too. Then make an appointment via https://www.easycaravanning.com/en/contact/
