To think caravanning in December is crazy?

[elmerbananas]

It’s my mother in law’s birthday in a couple of weeks and she is hatching a plan to buy a caravan and travel round the country visiting all the grandchildren in the middle of December. She’s in her sixties but her husband is early eighties and has a heart condition. Am I being overly anxious or is this a completely ridiculous idea?

Even outside of coronavirus, do octogenarians go caravanning in the middle of winter? She reckons the person selling the caravan says it’s really warm but it’s a cheap old caravan so that seems pretty unlikely.

Then there’s the Covid risk. They’re in tier 3 so they’re not supposed to do this anyway. It’s over a 500 mile round trip to see everyone and amongst the kids and grandkids is a nurse treating Covid patients, a social worker and 3 kids in school and nursery. I just think, given the vaccines that are coming, this is such a stupid risk to take.

AIBU to say we don’t want them to do this?

Does she know anything about towing a caravan?

You could ask about heating and if she has checked which sites are definitely open.
Ask some practical questions but I wouldn't do more than that.
Of course if you're not comfortable meeting then you should say so. Maybe her plan is all that's keeping her/them going.

Bloody hell! That sounds mental at the best of times, let alone during a pandemic.

She's never towed a caravan before, no, that's another reason it seems like madness!

Could she park it outside her house and have family visit them.
Each one can clean the caravan as they leave and leave a day or two between visits.

@IdblowJonSnow

You could ask about heating and if she has checked which sites are definitely open. Ask some practical questions but I wouldn't do more than that. Of course if you're not comfortable meeting then you should say so. Maybe her plan is all that's keeping her/them going.

She does really miss her family, even at the best of times she is sad we all live so far away (I don't think it's entirely coincidental all her kids moved away though... she is both lovely and a bit of a nightmare at times...). But it's not like we've not seen them all year, it's only been a couple of months. Plus we were supposed to be spending Christmas with them.

Leave them to it. It’s not fun, they will find out the effort involved is tiring. They are allowed to make stupid decisions.

She would be better with a Motorhome. No towing involved and can park where convenient for over night or rest and make a cup of tea and something to eat.

They used to have a small campervan, I think they went for a caravan this time as they're so much cheaper.
I'd still think travelling round the country in it this December when they're in tier 3 and vulnerable to covid to be pretty daft though!

A few campsites are still open. It's really not that hard to learn to hook up a caravan and tow it.

If they can get electric hook up on a campsite and they have a small fan heater on the caravan, they'll be warm enough.

It's a stupid idea in the middle of a pandemic though.

@VeganVeal

Sounds crazy anytime of the year. Sitting in a shed on a trailer, in a field, in the rain and shitting in a bucket in a cupboard.

Or they could go to a proper campsite with toilets, showers and electric hook up and be absolutely fine. Or park on someone's drive, plug in the electricity and use their facilities. I've never shat in a bucket in a cupboard, never needed to. If they want to do it, let them, they can always come home. If he's in his 80s maybe he feels its his last hurrah. 60s is nothing. The only complicating factor is Covid.