There is a version of motorhome life that exists on Instagram where someone is sitting at a beautifully styled desk, laptop open, mountain view through the window, perfect latte to hand. That is not entirely fiction, but it is about ten percent of the reality. The other ninety percent involves hunting for wifi, repositioning yourself seventeen times to find signal, and explaining to clients that no, you are not breaking up on purpose.
I have been working remotely from a motorhome on and off for a few years now, fitting it around my consulting work and business commitments. It can be brilliant. It can also be deeply frustrating. Here is the honest version of what it is actually like, what works, what does not and what gear makes the difference.
The wifi situation (let us get this out of the way)
This is the first thing everyone asks about, and rightly so. If your work requires a reliable internet connection, and most work does these days, then connectivity is the single biggest challenge of motorhome life.
Campsite wifi is, with a few honourable exceptions, absolutely terrible. It might work for checking emails if you are lucky, but anything more demanding than that and you are going to have a bad time. Video calls on campsite wifi are an exercise in optimism that rarely pays off.
The solution is mobile data, and specifically having more of it than you think you need. I carry two different SIM cards on two different networks, because coverage varies massively depending on where you are. EE tends to be the best in most of the UK, but there are plenty of spots where Three or Vodafone have better signal. Having both means I almost always have something usable.
I use a dedicated mobile router rather than just tethering from my phone. It gives a better, more stable connection and it means my phone battery is not dead by lunchtime. The router lives on the dashboard with a small external antenna that sticks to the roof with a magnetic mount. That external antenna makes a surprising difference, especially when you are in areas with marginal signal.
The honest truth is that there will be days when the connection is not good enough. You learn to plan around it. If I have an important video call, I make sure I am somewhere with reliable signal the day before and I stay put until the call is done. If I am doing deep work like coding or writing, I can do that with minimal connectivity and sync everything later. Flexibility is key.
Finding good spots to work
Not all locations are created equal when it comes to working from a motorhome. The most scenic spots tend to be the most remote, which usually means the worst connectivity. You learn to balance the desire for a stunning view with the practical need to actually get work done.
I have found that the sweet spot is often on the edge of a town rather than in the middle of nowhere. Close enough to a mobile mast for decent signal, far enough from the town centre that it still feels like an escape. Coastal towns in the UK are often surprisingly good for this. Places like the Jurassic Coast, the Pembrokeshire coast, parts of Norfolk. Beautiful settings with reasonable connectivity.
I keep a list of proven spots. Places where I know the signal is solid, where there is a reasonable place to park for the day, and where the setting is pleasant enough that I actually enjoy being there. Over time, you build up a collection of reliable locations and that takes a lot of the guesswork out of planning trips.
Also, do not underestimate the value of a nearby pub or cafe with decent wifi as a backup. There have been more than a few occasions where I have abandoned the motorhome for the afternoon and set up in a pub with a pint and a stable connection. There are worse offices in the world.
Productivity: the surprising truth
Here is something I did not expect when I started working from the motorhome: I am often more productive than I am at home. That sounds counterintuitive given everything I have just said about wifi and logistics, but hear me out.
When you are working from a motorhome, you have a limited window. You know you have the morning to get your work done, and then you want to go and explore, or drive to the next spot, or just sit outside with a cup of tea and enjoy the view. That constraint focuses the mind in a way that working from a home office, where the day stretches out ahead of you, simply does not.
I tend to work in concentrated blocks. Three or four hours of genuinely focused work in the morning, then a break, then perhaps another couple of hours in the afternoon if needed. No commute. No office small talk. No wandering to the kitchen every twenty minutes. Just focused, deep work with a clear stopping point.
The change of scenery helps too. There is something about waking up somewhere new, making a coffee with a different view out of the window, that refreshes your thinking in a way that your spare bedroom never will. Some of my best ideas and clearest thinking have happened in the motorhome, and I do not think that is a coincidence.
That said, there are types of work that suit this lifestyle better than others. Writing, coding, design work, strategic thinking, anything that benefits from uninterrupted focus works brilliantly. Collaborative work that requires lots of meetings and screen sharing is harder, simply because of the connectivity issue. I try to schedule my motorhome trips during weeks when I know my diary is lighter on calls.
The gear that makes the difference
You do not need a lot of kit, but the right kit makes everything much easier. Here is what I have settled on after a lot of trial and error.
A good laptop is obviously essential. I use a lightweight 14 inch machine that is powerful enough for development work but not so heavy that it becomes a burden. Battery life matters more than you might think. Not every location has convenient power, and running the engine just to charge a laptop is wasteful. A laptop that genuinely gets eight to ten hours of battery life means you can work a full day without worrying about power.
The mobile router I mentioned earlier is probably the single most important piece of kit after the laptop itself. Mine is a compact unit that takes two SIM cards simultaneously and has an external antenna port. It cost about eighty quid and it has paid for itself many times over in saved frustration.
Noise cancelling headphones are essential if you are going to be on calls. Motorhomes are not soundproofed. Wind, rain, passing traffic, the neighbours' generator, other campers' children screaming. You need something that blocks all of that out. I also use them when I am doing focused work even when it is quiet. Putting them on has become a signal to my brain that it is time to concentrate.
A portable monitor might sound like overkill, but if you do any kind of development or detailed work, having that extra screen is a game changer. There are some excellent lightweight USB C monitors that fold flat and take up barely any space. It transforms the working experience from squinting at one screen to having a proper setup.
And finally, a decent chair. Or at least a decent cushion. The standard motorhome dining seat is not designed for eight hours of work, and your back will tell you about it. I have a lightweight folding chair that is actually comfortable and sometimes I just work outside when the weather is good. Fresh air and a nice view is hard to beat as a working environment.
The honest verdict
Working from a motorhome is not for everyone, and it is not for every type of work. If you need to be in meetings all day, every day, you will find it frustrating. If your work involves handling sensitive data that requires a corporate VPN and enterprise grade security, the logistics get complicated. If you cannot handle a degree of uncertainty about your connectivity, it will stress you out.
But if your work allows for flexibility, if you can batch your meetings and do your focused work on the road, if you are the kind of person who draws energy from new places and new experiences, then it is genuinely wonderful. I get some of my best work done from the motorhome, and the quality of life on the days when I close the laptop and step outside is hard to put a price on.
My advice if you are thinking about trying it? Start small. Do a long weekend. See how the connectivity works for your specific needs. Figure out your setup. Then gradually extend. You will quickly learn what works for you and what does not, and you will be able to plan your trips accordingly.
The Instagram version of motorhome working is not entirely real. But the actual version, messy wifi and all, is honestly pretty great. I would not swap it for anything.
