From the age of zero to eight years old my family owned VW Campers. I am not entirely sure why because we rarely went camping but we would drive vast distances in it on vacations. My dad would wear these pilot glasses while driving and whenever he would pass another VW camper van he would wave hi to them. Was it an exclusive club? I have no idea.

I almost always sat in the back of the camper which my family called the ‘cubby hole’ . I am not sure why they named it that , was it because I was a cub? Who knows but it was directly above the VW van engine and it would get warm there and vibrate slightly. I liked it because it was like having my own little bedroom. I also has a tiny closet there that I could store my comics or toys. At one point they had a blanket that was mock-tiger print and we covered the seat with it. I spent hours and hours back there.

Now that I think about it – wasn’t it dangerous to have a kid situated on-top live combustible engine? Oh well, one of many things that I survived as a kid. (BB guns, M80 firecrackers, poisonous snakes, rabid animals etc)

VW Campers weren’t the reliable transportation vehicles. They sometimes overheated, used up motor oil for mysterious reasons and have wacky electrical issues. The campers had a stove, fridge, and a sink. Once when my dad was driving the sink malfunctioned and started shooting out water all over the place and nearly caused us to have an accident.

My family bought three VW campers that featured better accessories in it. It’s strange in movies and television VW campers always are featured with hippies that were stoners or on arcane hidden  islands ( “Lost”) . To me it was just a vehicle from my childhood.

-lucien desar