Screen times are crazy in these days. My iPhone says my daily average screen time is 7 hours. Plus computer and other displays.

7-8 hours in the bed. 8 hours sitting at 9 to 5 job. 3-4 hours meaningless everyday routine. 

Opening windows at home is a nice thing to do, but if you don't do it at 5 a.m. air won't get any better.

Concrete jungle. Pavement. Dust. 

Have you ever spent 48 hours in row without social media? It feels so relaxing and free. 

When life gets gray I pack my staff and drive a campervan to mountains. 

Get food (mostly high fiber stuff), drinks, fill up a fresh water tank, get propane gas, get diesel for the van and for the heater, check the weather and hit the road. 

Exiting the city is already exciting. Views on the mountains, forests, meeting some nice cars on the way - yes, it's exciting. 

There always is something I forget to buy. There was no trip I've not stopped the second time at the shop. 

You know you approach the destination when the scenery is so nice you feel urge to film it. 

Places are more interesting if there is no pavement there. Off-roading to spots is another great experience. Thanks to AWD system my van gets there where only SUVs are supposed to be and people gets really confused once they see Ford Transit van in the end of the trail. Being proud of stuff is satisfying. 

As usual I camp remote from population, but still close to the main road, just in case. Everything happens. The first thing is taking a walk around. Short hike and photo shooting. "Happiness is not real, if it's not shared". So, let my folks see how beautiful place I'm at. Fresh air and smell of the nature: ground, trees, flowers make human feel alive. Once the sight is explored I start doing camping things. Start a fire if it's warm enough outside. If it's rainy, windy and snowy I close the doors and keep it cozy. 

It's -12 degrees Celsius outside. Wind is shaking a van. Jackals, foxed and other locals hang out outside while I cook pork for dinner. The level of coziness - campervan.

Nights are not scary at all. I'm little bit concerned about tents. You can always be distracted by animals, wind or rain. In the van barely anything can spoil the sleep. The only threat is unwanted knock-knock, but I've never experienced it for these 2 years. Even if it happens I can instantly drive away. 

Mornings are the best. Sun rays are shining through the windows and curtains. Open the door and step out in the paradise on earth. This is freaking cool. If the weather is nice I always try to have breakfast outside. Morning walk, workout - it's a the same routine, but much fresher.

People keep asking me - "is it really comfortable to stay 4 square meters cabin?". Dude, I don't live in the campervan - I live in billion start hotel that we call earth and the van is only a shelter for cooking and sleeping. 

If the sight is fully explored I'm just driving to the other destination or go home. Coming back I'm never the same person that left the house a night before and it feels ridiculously good. 

Taking a campervan road trip is the coolest way of travel, but a solo trip? It makes some people little bit uncomfortable. This is how I - the founder of Mta Campervans experienced my very first solo trip by my van.

January 2022 - Omicron is rising. My travel companies are suffering just like in 2020. Zero customers, zero income, but monthly expenses are still here. In brief, I felt very bad. Then I though: wait, I have my own ultimate overlanding vehicle. Why not to escape this tension for few hours and deal with problems with a fresh mind? This is how I ended up on the way to Racha, to the north of Kutaisi. ​

Once I saw the first snow layer on the road my mood immediately changed and felt much better. Kilometer by kilometer I was getting positive trip vibes. Crossing Nakerala pass was something joyful. There are some narrow turns where drifting is a nice feeling. 

The original plan was to visit Tskhrajvari, but snow was so high out there I'd definitely get stuck there and this is a place where you don't want to get stuck completely alone: sometimes stones are falling from the cliff and if the van goes off the road and I fall down to the slope no one would find me till the next morning. So, I changed the route and went to Shaori lake. It was completely frozen. The snow was so high there was only one place where I could go out of the road and park at the beach. I parked around 50 m away from the main road. Frankly speaking I wanted to be remoted from people, but was afraid of getting stuck in a deep snow, moreover I didn't have neither snow chains nor winch. Actually, being alone makes people little bit insecure. 

I made a tea, took a dinner and worked for a while. I watched some snow overlanding videos as well. Watching camping videos on camping trip - this is what I call addiction. To be honest, it didn't felt that lonely as long as I had internet. It's almost the same as being at home - I still had heating, a berth, food, hot beverage and internet. Just like at home. I was going to sleep once someone decided to do some snow wheeling just around my van. 

It was a Mitsubishi Pajero io. They drifted for few minutes and guess what - they got stuck. There were 4 of them and I thought they would get out of it and leave soon, but their gearbox failed and ended up in the middle of a meter deep snow alone. They didn't even know I was in the van. The feeling of human supporting woke up in me, diminished my introvert character and I went out to help them. 

We needed around an hour to get that car out of the parking. They were from Kutaisi too and had nowhere to stay that night. My van can't accommodate 5 persons, so I decided to tow them till Kutaisi. I did. Didn't slept that night at all and ended up at home at 7 a.m. I couldn't make a trip without humans, but the purpose of the trip was accomplished - I felt better and refreshed. 

Taking a camper van trip isn't isolating from everyone else. It isolating from a boring everyday routine and being open to new adventures where ever you want. 

2020 made everything upside down, though it still brings some benefits. Mta Campervans provides 52% off the price till the end of 2020. Campervan rental has never been so cheap in Georgia. From today - October 4th Wizz Air restarted the very first regular flights Kutaisi-Riga, so we're expecting the first guests on autumn season. 

Campervan is the most isolated travel option ever. You take your campervan at airport and can never get in touch with anyone till the end of your trip. Take advantage of low season and travel for the best price ever. 

ტრანსპორტის ტიპი - მიკრო ავტობუსი
მართვის მოწმობის კატეგორია - B
მოდელი - Ford Transit AWD
გამოშვების წელი - 2014
ამძრავი თვლები - ოთხივე
საწვავის ტიპი - დიზელი
ძრავის მოცულობა - 2.2 ლიტრი
დღიური ფასი - 180 ლარი (2020 წლის აგვისტოს ბოლომდე)
​ლოკაცია - სადაც გაგიხარდებათ :)

რეზერვაციისთვის დაგვიკავშირდით
ელ. ფოსტა - info@mtacampervans.com
ტელ. - 591616936

1. Plan. Really well
Planning is the most important thing to do if you don't want to end up with unfinished project, wasted money and nerves. There are lot's of wannabes posting a lot about camper van project but have never even started one, or stopped on the way with dismantled vans. To get the thing done you'll need step by step plan with calendar, contacts, tools, budget and timing. Plans that are not written on paper or in word document doesn't exist. 

2. Save a lot of money
Car projects always cost more that you ever thought. In most cases people stop working on their project because they don't have enough money. Even in case of good plan you can never calculate all expenses waiting for you. So, get you life together and save  lot of money first. 
​

5. Layout
Your sleeping and cooking position is pretty much based on layout of camper van. Let's sort everything by priorities.

1. Bed - the main thing about camper van is a bed. If you can't sleep inside it's not a camper van. Bed should be long and wide enough to have a good sleep. If you wake up tired the whole trip will be horrible. 
2. Kitchen - On the camping trip you need to cook at least twice a day. If you choose a small vehicle you can have a portable kitchen kit. In good weather you can cook outside, in a bad weather directly on your bed.
3. Water - a tank and a tap are must. You'll respect it once wash dirty dish and your face. It should be fixed somewhere and better to have 2 options of dirty water exit: 1. To the dirty water tank - in case you park in streets or private territory. 2. A hole in the floor - in case of parking in forest.
4. Storage - You'll take lot's of things to camping trip. Hiking shoes, equipment, clothes, food, first aid kit, off-road recovery kit, spare tires, boat, bicycles and etc. For all of this you'll need special space. Not everything can be put on bed. The more space you have inside the van is better, but a good roof rack is game changer too. 
5. Electricity - you'll need a small room for your batteries, voltage converter and wires. Save a special place for this before you start building it.
6. Toilet - If your van is big enough to build a room for toilet you should do it. It will solve a very big problem. Just imagine - you're in the mountains, in the night, there is no one around you, it's snowing and you need a toilet. Not that good perspective, right? Don't save money on this comfort. If you took a shorter vehicle with better off-roading capacity don't get envy. That guys with toilet will never drive as far as you can. 
7. Shower - That's luxury. It's difficult to spend more than one night without shower. Rivers, lakes and waterfalls are an option too, but c'mon... If your vehicle is not high enough to stand you can always make a shower outside. Water tanks and the heater will be inside, but the shower will be hanged outside.
8. Fridge - You can live without it, but if you have money, energy supply and space take it too?

On Pinterest you can get great design inspiration. On YouTube you can learn how to do things by yourself. In Facebook groups you can get advice from camper van owners. Take a pan and a paper and draw the layout. It's important. ​

9. Furniture
You can use wood and metal for furniture. Wood is easier to install, though will be spoiled because of driving vibration. So, I suggest to built metal rack for furniture. It's better to be done by the professional too. ​

10. P.I.M.P. it
Once you have a camper van its time for making it special. You can paint it in different ways, install spacers and A/T tires, stairs to the back or on the side of van, winch for off-road ones and etc. In this field the sky is the limit. 

To sum up all you need is a good plan, a lot of money, inspiration and a good nerves. If you can't or don't want to own one - rent it here. ​

The Mountains Are Calling & I Must Go! - told this to myself and took my girlfriend to the spontaneous adventure trip to Khevsureti on her birthday. This is a story of falling rocks, traffic jam on 2650 m altitude, exhausting hiking and burst of emotions.

Late take off
You don't have a chance for proper start when you was drinking till 4 a.m. last night.  After a shower and a bottle of Borjomi we're able to leave the city at 11 a.m. The first stop was for lunch after 4 hours of non-stop driving at the Aragvi river bank. We felt hungry the way before but c'mon who eats on sideways of the highway? Mountains river bank with forest sounds much better.

Lunch break 
Never eat the same staff on holidays that you eat everyday. Eggs, bacon, bread, potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, tea, coffee and sweets. Our ingredients looks like this, but we have lot's of variations of cooking.

After the long drive cooking is a great way of relaxing and stretching. Taking a gas from storage, choosing ingredients and rolling bread on the pan - that's better than stretching. 

In the end the meal tastes great on the fresh air.

Driving up to 2000 m altitude views become spectacular. This is the height where trees stop growing and mountains are covered with grass like a rug. We reached Roshka at 8 p.m. It didn't make sense to start hiking. So we parked in the entrance of village at springs.

Because of our extraordinary route we had to hike in the field where no one has hiked before (at least there were no footprints or any trace of human being). We crossed a small swamp, 2 springs and a river and joined the pass. This is where I regret I let my ax in the camper. There where high green mountains, the glacier and no civilization around us. We where into the wild. But after hiking few hundred miters the views become more beautiful than scary. 

 Traffic jam on 2650 m altitude and falling rocks
After exhausting hiking we're just sitting without movement for 20 minutes. We'd love to stay but there was long road ahead. We drove back to the main road and starting driving up to Datvisjvari pass (2689m). 

There was road construction and we drove with loaded trucks. They were driving slower than our campervan's 1st gear drives and there weren't many places for overtaking. At one point, near the top I had to stop because the truck was too slow and I gave some room to it. There was a high rock to the left of us and a deep abyss to the right and Esma said "Look, stones are falling". I've never been that fast and nerves in my life. The rocks were falling just next to us and were about to hit the van. I pushed an accelerator, but left the left leg from the clutch too fast so engine was shut down. Rocks are still falling. I rolled the key again, pushed the accelerator as hard as I could and took off with AWD burnout. I don't have photos, there was no time for that, you've to trust us. That was close. ​

Shatili and Shatilions
We hadn't stopped till Shatili. We arrived at night and visited our Shatilion (people from Shatili) friends. They live in towers built in 15th century and earlier. For our point of view they live in the dream. They hosted us with delicious local food and mint tea that was much better than our packet one. Khvanchkara, bonfire and group of Shatilion friends on the tower rooftop - this was legend(wait for it...)dary.

This mornings
This was one of the few mornings people can remember. We parked in front of Shatili in order to have a great view for the morning and it worked. We woke up with the sunrise. The birds were whistling, river was flowing silently and the view was like this.  

Khevsureti is one of these places in Georgia that never had a lord. People had been free till Russian occupancy. They were independent citizens and used to protect their own families by themselves. This is why they lived in fighting towers. Shatili is at the border of Chenchia and Qisteti (now are in Russian federation). Chatilions were the first protecting wall for enemies from the north. Looking to the towers me as a Georgian feel the power and pride of being their decedent. 

Home coming
Leaving the place like this is not that easy for Georgian, but responsibilities call us too. The road back was too long for one day, but the views made it easier.

We came back to Kutaisi yesterday, but still are tired and full of emotions. Traveling is the only expense that makes your soul richer.