Couple purchased an old fire truck for £9,000 and spent £5,000 fitting it with two beds, a fridge, a stove and storage. Family spent roughly £3,100 (€4,000) overall but nothing on hotels as they preferred the 'homely' feel of the van. Trio stopped off in countries including Poland, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, during the eight week trip. After purchasing an old fire truck, one couple set off on a 6,000 mile round trip from Lithuania to Morocco in a bid to show the world that having a baby doesn't mean your travelling days have to stop. Johan van Zutphen and girlfriend Milda embarked on their two month long journey from Europe to Africa when baby Leo was just nine-months-old. Three months before their departure, the couple picked up an old fire truck for £9,000 and spent £5,000 renovating it with everyday items for their trip. The truck is fitted with a rear view camera, solar panels, a fridge, a stove, a seating corner which converts to a single adult bed and a king size bed with storage underneath. The family stopped off in countries including Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Italy, and Spain, during the eight week trip. Van Zutphen said that they spent roughly €4,000 (£3,100) overall on the adventure but nothing on hotels as they preferred the 'homely' feel of the van, and said it helped them to fit in more with locals in each destination. The couple are experienced adventurers having crossed continents by motorbike previously but rather than a child derailing their travel experience they adapted their transport method and tried to keep up a routine on the road, for their youngest passenger. Speaking to MailOnline Travel, Johan said: 'Four years ago me and my girlfriend made a motorcycle journey from Lithuania to Malaysia and two years ago I travelled with a friend on small dirt bikes from Lithuania to South Africa, so we are well-travelled. 'Our preference is to travel with a motorcycle but because we wanted to travel and to be comfortable for the baby, we decided to travel with a van. 'In our eyes, the best vehicle to travel overland in would be one that is reliable, simple to fix, easy to get parts for and has a four wheel drive. 'This is why we choose the fire truck - it was well maintained. Our travel to Morocco was more of a test drive to see how the van and our baby would handle a journey like that.' The trio travelled for eight weeks in total, leaving their home in Lithuania to drive through Poland, then Germany and the Netherlands where they stayed for a couple of days with Johan's parents. After that we went through Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Italy, France again, Spain and Morocco. Before making their way back on a similar route. 'Morocco was our favourite country because of the difference to the countries we had come from. 'It had different food, landscapes, religions and so on, and it's easy to get along with local Moroccan people, especially travelling with a child which breaks the ice. 'Leo was nine-months-old during the first part of our travel. We tried to keep the normal routine for him so that he would get proper food and enough sleep. We figured out that as long as we stick to his routine and take care of proper hygiene, he would have a similar comfort as he had back home.' Rather than relying on campsites, the family relished the freedom of the road and would stay wherever they felt like parking up. Johan said: 'We liked to sleep along the coast and in towns, so that there was some action going on around us. So most of the time we parked in a normal parking spot and paid a bit of money to the parking guard. 'For a shower - every three days more or less - we went to local bath houses or we parked our van in a campground. 'The reason for travelling with a van was not budget related, we simply don't enjoy sleeping in hotels - where you never get the home feeling - and we don't need luxury, which would only create a bigger gap between us and locals.' If anything travelling with a child made the experience feel even more authentic explained the couple. Johan told metro.co.uk: ‘The most memorable part of this journey was our baby Leo’s ability to break all the cultural and language barriers between us and the locals everywhere we went.’

• published: 24 Feb 2016
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