How to change your traveling by buying a VW California van!

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How it started or life before Oliva

At first there were only the two of us. And we frequently made Sunday trips. We have put a finger on the map in the morning and that’s where we went that day. Sometimes there was nothing there, and we didn't even have a coffee, and we just drove all day. But sometimes it was all full and we came home late at night and tired of all the memories. Most of the time, we went to the beach, usually someplace we were alone or almost alone. One of such cornera is next to the fisherman's Guesthouse in Sečovlje. We parked at the inn, and there was a wild beach right over the corner. If we had enough money, we could sometimes even afford to eat something there.

Then we became familiar with the cheap air carriers and weekend moves were expanding across the borders of the homeland. We started to meet different European cities. Sleeping in simple accommodations and walking all-day long across European cities. We were always afraid of not letting anything out, and we had it planned almost to every minute of the weekend.

Then we became three. In the beginning, Grandma helped out and the last alone trip was to Lisbon. But soon we found out that Ema (our daughter) is showing a great deal of interest in things that the kids usually do not care about. She just liked the view of the buildings, and the museums have become the best part of trips. We started with Venice, Verona...... and for Emma 6th Birthday we went to New York. We have hit the target; one capital city in the world a year. Ema is a great child traveler. If we provide enough playgrounds and at least one visit to the amusement park, she is ready to walk for days around the city, view museums and also write a diary (mostly equipped with cartoons). And in Rome, we were walking together with ancient warriors and eating ancient spaghetti.

And soon, these tours were no longer enough for us. Weekend packages via Booking.com were becoming more frequent and in the summer we were setting up our tent each Friday. Our stock of different sizes of tents and the speed of layout is already very comparable with some small sports store. Autumn 2016 we got a dog and many hotels closed the doors in front of the nose, cheap airline companies don't like dogs and without our Tora we didn't want to go anywhere.

We are dream of something impossible or what do we really want

We all dream. Sometimes we also dream about more things at once. Sometimes we dream impossible. But often we do nothing or too little to make our dreams come true. We decided otherwise.

We've dreamed of a motorhome for a while. And we always said that this dream would come true once we had more money. And even then, you might want to hire it, not buy it. So the years went by, no money fell from the sky and dreams still remained unfulfilled.

And suddenly we realized that just waiting for something does not work. You have to live now, today! And don't wait for the future. We don’t need a new kitchen, a new living room,... Give the saved resources a better focus on something that makes us more happy. Let's buy a camper!

Rok was not so sure. All the motorhomes I showed him were too big, and he said that we could no longer travel to smaller places. Some of the campers were too expensive, some ugly, some too old…. In short, it took us a while to make a deal: "If you want a camper, let it be small and cool." And VW California is exactly that! The search has started.

Finding the perfect VW California or Oliva is not easy to find

The start of the search was the same as a blank white sheet of paper. We didn't know anything about these vans. Soon we found out that the new is so expensive, that it's easier to buy an apartment than a new California. I posted a question in one of the groups on Facebook, if anyone knows anything about the topic of buying California. Soon the comments appear in the sense that this is an expensive, not worth the money,…and that I am stupid because I want to buy such a car and the general ridicule that I will throw money out the window. At first I didn't know how to answer such a negative approach...... Suddenly someone posted a comment that said I should not look to all this ridicule, that this is just an envy of those who can't afford a van like that. And that he is available for all the questions I have. Yes, that's how I met my Aleš. We chatted on Messenger for an hour, where he immediately forwarded some of the indicative information that is important in finding the perfect California. For me, it was all new, unknown expressions, professional markings..... Today in the middle of the night I can answer almost everything a woman must know before buying VW T4 California Coach.

It is important, it was made in the years from 1993 to 2001, before that was the model of T3, after that year, the vans were made full of mistakes. The van should have at least 102 horse powers and motor should be a diesel 2.5 TDI so that traveling with it will be pleasurable. The color should not be important (said Aleš, but I know differently). The interior of course should be preserved as much as possible. It is especially necessary to check how much rust is on it. And that there are similar variants, such as the VW Multivan, which you are already getting with a roof, but no lockers and no kitchen. You can do it retrospectively. We didn't want to do any work and we wanted the final version at the time of the purchase. Ours should have a kitchen with a gas stove, water sink, fridge, cabinets in the rear, swivel front seats, lifting roof with bed, preferably a sun tenda, and above all, everything working and all very well preserved. We didn't want to spend a lot of money on repairs.... We've been buying a 20-year-old car. And age can leave a few beauty effects on the car. Are we ever going to find a van like that?

In Slovenia, someone sold one in front of us, but that didn't quite fit all the demands we had, and the van was a little” tired”.

The search continued in Germany, Austria and Italy. Even England was in the game. In the case of a purchase from abroad, it would be necessary to pay extra tax and transport from abroad also is not cheap. You can also find information on the Public transport Safety Agency of the Republic of Slovenia.

One day we found the perfect California, priced very favorably, black, with severe equipment and not many kilometres. It was sold by someone in Italy. I immediately contacted him. The response from his side quickly to the Englishman that lived in Italy that in England cannot drive with the wheel on the left side and that is why he is selling the van. But he wants to sell it through the delivery service. I'm going to get part of the coupon to this company, they bring me the car, I test it for a few days, and if everything's OK, I'm in charge of the difference, and they give me the car. How great it all sounded!! If I hadn't read the European Union 's advice on shopping and fraud at the time of a car abroad. If you are buying a car from abroad this is a mandatory reading. It describes exactly my case in the advice. I was very lucky.

Searching California I continued with online advertisements Mobile.de, Autoscout24, Ebay and of course avtonet. I found a lot of things. Even the ones that fit all my criteria. But they were so far away, and they all had a lot of kilometeres behind them. Me and Aleš were constantly on the line, and I was sending him ads every day, and he gave me a quick, friendly and professional answers. All I know about Californija today, he taught me in one month in summer of 2017.

I was already such an expert that when an advertisement appeared where someone was selling a regular transporter and the seller claimed that it was the same as California, but that he had no lockers, I explained in three sentences the difference in isolation, the electrical inside and the other differences. He was pretty speechless and he could only confess his lies.

Because I want to always have it all right away, I became increasingly desperate and almost had already bought a similar van, except that it was a Mercedes and that the automatic transmission was not working. Fortunately, we did not make this mistake and believed Aleš, who all the time claimed that a real van will appear in Slovenia soon.

A short weekend at sea or how Oliva has found us

August. A beautiful sunny and warm morning somewhere in the vicinity of Savudria, at the camp Veli Jože. Great camp, only the cleanliness of the toilets is their weak spot. We just ate breakfast and Rok was washing dishes. I open the avtonet , and I checked if there is something new. We're still in the middle of a search of the van and we don't even know whether to choose a smaller camper or still insist on finding Californie. We're kind of not excited about the idea of buying a car abroad.

When all of a sudden, the screen shows an ad for...... perfect van – someone was selling a California. I made a phone call! My knees were getting weak, my voice was shaking...... now it was for real. The car is available, but we're in Savudria, Croatia. With a tent set. Will the salesman wait for us??? Rok came back, I yelled at him that I found the van and.... what shall I do??? Panic! Yes, indeed. A real panic. I'm just about to fulfill my dreams and I panic. I can't believe it.

Rok smiles and says, "Let's go!"

We put the tent down quickly, we didn't drink the coffee, and I think we've surpassed the record at cleaning the camping pitch. We got to the state border where we stood for two hours.... The cars moved so slowly, we were both anxious to look at the clock. Will the van wait for us?

Together with Aleš we went to Gorenjska (a part of Slovenia) and there in all its splendor in the courtyard of a house was a beautiful green California. Shiny and fragrant. It was love at first sight. Maybe not exactly at first glance, because Aleš professionally fully reviewed it and there were a lot more views than just a single one. But it was exactly what we wanted...... And there were 15 more buyers in the line. We paid the money, we sign the receipts, and we make a deal to pay the full price by the end of the month.

I went to my bank to find out how much credit I could rent and when I informed them that I found the car, the credit was approved in the same day.

The salesman and I got together in the bank unit in Kranj. We signed a contract, a sample of which we acquired at the AMZS, the assets of this final repayment of the money for the van we performed on the counter at the bank. So we were all convinced that everything was done as it should. The salesman had a transfer certificate, and I was calm and I didn't pay the money before signing the contract. Together we drove to the nearby AMZS and passed the transcript.

And this is how we became proud owners of Olives – VW California, Vintage 1999, 102 Horse powers and beautiful green color.

Color blindness or how did Oliva get the name

When we were looking at that Mercedes, with the defective transmission and the Westfalia equipment, we gave him the name Hubert. Somehow we felt that it was fitting and abroad we noticed that all the lovers put their names on their vans. Why not us, too?

That's why he had to be given to California as well.

Oliva got a name...... quite simply...... because it's olive green.

Is it true? NO WAY! But the first couple of days we were sure it was olive green because we had such a bad photo. The name got stuck. Oliva is Oliva.

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