#10 BY JANOS BALOGH We
travel to see new things and
like to share
what we see.
How many times are we looking at those long bus conversions and envying the people who travel in those really fancy motorhomes? Have you ever thought about sharing a big rig with others? Sharing it with maybe 20-24 other people, and don’t even have to worry about driving? Do we see any business opportunity here? When I was travelling 15-20 years ago through Asia in
ROTEL
Turkey, Syria, Jordan, I oſt en saw a unique vehicle from Germany, a half-bus/half-motorhome in bold red, but I never had a chance to talk to the driver or the passengers. T en we moved to Canada and a few years ago I saw the
same vehicle coming off the ferry to Victoria BC. Just a few weeks later I saw the same rig in the Grapevine
area coming out of Los Angeles. I just had to do a little research and found out that I had
worked in the same city in Germany where the company is based: in Passau, Bavaria. T e company has always been know by the adverturous and budget-minded travelers. T ey are off ering trips to every continent, to destinations other travel agents would not even consider. T e concept: the front of a bus is the usual, comfortable
part with 20-24 seats; the back of the vehicle is the sleeping compartment for the passengers. If there are more passengers they can travel in a bigger bus that’s pulling a trailer with the sleeping compartments. T ey off er trips to developing countries with not-so-good roads or no roads at all with all- wheel-drive busses. T ose all-wheel-
drive vehicles are build on a heavy-duty truck frame and some of them also pull a sleeper-trailer. Just to give you an idea about the size of the company: at the time of this article they have 3,400 beds on wheels.
22 RVT 140 • MARCH/APRIL 2011 The bus and hotel in one unit.
T ey are off ering trips from South America to Alaska, all over Europe, Africa, and as I said: every continent. T e shortest trip is a 7-day French tour; the American and Canadian tours are so popular that they are off ering a 50-day tour from North America to Alaska through Canada. It has to be a comfortable vehicle to spend 50 days living in it.
T e 50-day trip cost 4800 Euro including fl ight from Germany and back. Included are breakfast and dinner prepared in the kitchen of the bus. On the African trips the all-wheel-drive bus is a photo-safari
vehicle during the day and a comfortable hotel in the Sahara at night. Since people now want to see more and more of the world
and not just the touristy part, the company also off ers trips in China, Tibet, Brazil, Australia, and Africa. On the so-called “Adventure Trips” adventure is guaranteed
from wildlife to meeting local natives to crossing rivers with the bus. T e company also off ers trips customized especially for
young travellers tailored to their needs. T ey want to see the world in a diff erent way and Rotel off ers them just that and on an aff ordable budget. No matter where they want to go, no problems with the
language because all the drivers and tour guides are native Germans and have years of experience in the countries where they travel. I’m trying to fi gure out how I could modify my 21- foot motorhome to accommodate 10 more people?
Here is a website
to visit if you are interested in taking any of the trips in a “hotel on wheels”:
www.rotel.de The bus and a separate hotel trailer.
UNIQUE RVs
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