Helga and Roland Harsch have been going on vacation for decades without even having to pack their bags. Your holiday home is eight meters long and 3.30 meters high.
bask. A bed on Sylt. A bed in Brittany. A bed on Lake Constance. A bed in Denmark. When Roland and Helga Harsch list their vacation homes, it sounds like the jet set and the life of luxury. It is also for both. Even if the bed is still the same. The Harsch family travels in a mobile home. Both have a much nicer description: “We have a condominium all over Europe.”
1982 is considered a fateful year. Then it happened to the Aalen couple. Roland Harsch just wanted to cross Canada in a mobile home. Helga Harsch had her concerns. “I told my husband I would once, but that’s okay.” You are making a fool of me? You mean it when you say that. “When we returned we almost cried, we were so nostalgic for this way of travelling,” recalls Roland Harsch.
Almost six tons of weight
From then on it was all about the couple. Initially, mobile homes were rented, then the first used mobile home was purchased. “We made our way very slowly,” says Helga Harsch and laughs. In 2004 they bought today’s vehicle. The chassis is a Mercedes 616 CDI with a total weight of 5.99 tonnes and the body is a Phoenix. Length of the mobile holiday home: eight metres. Height: 3.30 meters. Width: 2.40 meters. The technical data hides two bedrooms (double bed), a shower, a toilet, a seating area with space for six people and a fully equipped kitchen, including an oven. Energy comes from two solar panels on the roof. They feed two large batteries with twice 210 amps. A battery already weighs over 70 kilograms. The water tank creates 270 litres. “That’s enough,” says Roland Harsch.
Since the Harsch family caught mobile home fever, he has never traveled any other way. “I don’t even remember how a suitcase is packed,” says Roland Harsch. His car has a wardrobe. Every corner has storage space. The Phoenix is a miracle of space. It’s all in order. The kettle and even the small flower pot rest on a non-slip mat. Enter, leave, go on vacation.
Both are behind the wheel
Both drive the holiday home on the go. “When I’m driving, my husband usually sleeps in the passenger seat,” says Helga Harsch. Many married couples know that this is the greatest sign of trust imaginable in some relationships.
Experienced mobile home travelers also have tips. They advise beginners to rent a mobile home first. This type of trip is only worth it if both spouses really have a fever. On the other hand, Helga and Roland Harsch have been to places tourists cannot go. That welds together. Both have been married for 58 years. Where are you headed next year? “We will definitely come back to Sylt.” They bring their own bed.
Look in the living room. There is another bed above the table. Where the seat is, there is a passage into the cockpit. The backrest must be removed for this.
©Oliver Giers
The mobile home is currently in a hall in Aalen. The mobile home is usually canceled during the winter.
©Oliver Giers
Looking into the kitchen and down one of the two bedrooms. The shower is to the right and the toilet to the left.
©Oliver Giers
The camper is a Mercedes 616 CDI with a Phoenix body.
©Oliver Giers
