The trouble with hotel rooms is that they’re so darn stationary. Once booked, you’re locked into the location for the entirety of your stay, with no chance of venturing to places far beyond. Of course, you could always travel in a camper van, but the experience can feel isolating, and you also have the hassle of driving, with the added stress of trying to navigate new road systems if you’re overseas.
So how about a stay in the awesome Truck Surf Hotel? As its name cleverly suggests, the Truck Surf Hotel is a hotel on a truck. For surfers.
The unique design is actually a modded Mercedes Actros fitted with a hydraulics system that allows the walls and ceiling to expand to create even more space inside when you’re parked up.
Guests can choose from one of four (highly compact) double rooms with a bunk bed and one room with a double bed, all with windows so you can enjoy the sea view — a different one each morning — from wherever the driver parks up.
On the first floor you’ll find a living room with a table and couches where you can mingle with other guests. It also offers a video projector so you can share any GoPro or drone footage you shoot while out on the waves each day, though hopefully it won’t be of any incidents as scary as this one. There’s also a fully equipped kitchen for prepping your daily meals.
The air-conditioned hotel-on-wheels also comes with appropriate bathroom facilities.
Just outside the entrance you’ll find a lounge terrace with bean bags — an ideal spot to enjoy the daily sunsets. And sunrises, if you can make it up that early.
The Truck Surf Hotel comes with its own guides and coaches for your surfing trips, though presumably they travel separately. The mobile accommodation is pitched as “perfect for travelers who want to learn how to surf or improve their surf skills, for adventurers that enjoy outdoor activities in nature, also for sports groups, high performance sport teams or business groups.”
The double-decker is currently tootling between sites in both Portugal and Morocco, with week-long adventures costing anywhere between $600 and $900 per person, depending on the location and season.
It’s certainly a different way to see a place — or several places — and could prove appealing for sociable types who like to keep on the move when they’re on vacation.
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