Nothing gets recommended here until it's been rained on.

How this happened

It started with a notepad on the passenger seat of the motorhome, recording stops, costs and which lay-bys sloped. The notepad became a published book: the Road Trip Adventure Log, a 30-day journal with a structured page for every stop. The book became an itch: the log wanted maths. What did April cost? How many nights were wild versus paid? Which favourite spots had signal?

Paper doesn't answer questions like that, so the app got built. Stops & Stays is a professional piece of software (works with zero signal, handles multiple vehicles), but it's shaped entirely by real travelling, which is why it tracks toilet cassettes and ferry legs instead of "memories". And because not every rig is a coachbuilt, it adapts: motorhome, campervan or a car with a boot full of camping kit, the app only asks about the systems you have.

And this isn't a developer playing at vanlife. Ed has spent over ten years off-grid and well away from campsites: a VW Transporter camper from 2015, a full motorhome from 2021, and, since 2025, a BMW i3S coaxed into an improbable but genuinely usable car camper, which is how the app ended up handling electric campers properly. The motorhome is a Swift Escape, which is why there's also a Facebook community for owners of the range and a YouTube channel logging the trips and the builds. Put simply, the software is built by the people who use it.

How the site pays for itself

Two ways, both in plain sight. The app has a Pro tier once you're past ten stops. And the gear pages carry Amazon affiliate links to things our own motorhome genuinely carries. Commission costs you nothing and keeps the site free of ads and sponsored nonsense. The full detail is in the affiliate disclosure.