About Us
Who we are
Vicarious Media is a small company with a big personality.
It all started in 2003 with a year long motorhome tour of Europe. Chris Doree and Meli George returned the UK and wrote the book they wish they had read before they went travelling, Go Motorhoming and Campervanning. This was no sugar-coated travelogue. It was the cold, hard truth about living in a motorhome full-time; everything you needed to know and nothing you didn’t. Many years later, Vicarious Media is still giving you all the information you need to have a fantastic journey with none of the fluff.
We research, write and publish unique motorhome and camping guidebooks for the UK and Europe as well as retailing the best motorhome, caravan and camping guidebooks, maps and travel accessories available. When it comes to travel information, if we don’t sell it, you don’t need it!
How it all began
Back in 2003 Chris and Meli packed in their careers, sold their house and set off full-timing around Europe in a 1993 Hymer 654 A-class motorhome.
After visiting all four compass points of Europe, the pair returned to the UK in 2004, where they settled in the southwest coastal town of Minehead. It was here, in a beach hut, that the pair compiled and self-published their first book, Go Motorhoming Europe (now titled Go Motorhoming and Campervanning), a figurative bible of all things motorhoming drawn from personal experience full-timing and designed to give readers a comprehensive and realistic guide to motorhoming and campervanning. It was with this that Vicarious Books was formed.
During their time touring Europe, Chris and Meli discovered Aires – also known as motorhome stopovers, stellplatzes and sostas – which they found to be virtually unknown by British motorhomers. Having noticed a serious lack of information for English speaking motorhomers, Chris and Meli decided to spread the word by personally researching, inspecting, photographing and publishing All the Aires France in 2007, the first English language motorhome stopover guidebook of its kind.
The success of this flagship guidebook spawned the publication of the now widely recognised All the Aires series, with two new motorhome stopover guidebooks for Spain and Portugal, and Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands being released in 2009.
In 2008 and 2009 Vicarious Books expanded its range of publications again with Sea View Camping Britain and Camping Morocco respectively. After several editions, Sea View Camping Britain was split into the Sea View Camping series between 2014 and 2016. It’s now published as individual camping guides for Scotland, Wales and the West Country.
As well as these, Vicarious Books produced two driving tour publications, Road Trip Europe: The Great War and More and Road Trip Europe: Go Dutch, in 2014 and 2016 respectively. Road Trip: Best of Belgium was published in 2023.
Vicarious Books officially changed its name to Vicarious Media in 2016, looking to broaden its offering beyond just books to suit the modern motorhomer, camper and traveller.
Vicarious today
The company has come a long way since Minehead, 250 miles in fact. Today Vicarious Media is based in an industrial unit 10-minutes from the Eurotunnel in Folkestone, Kent. The company is now an industry leader, producing and retailing unique, ground breaking travel guidebooks for motorhome stopovers, camping and touring across Europe.
All the staff at Vicarious Media work tirelessly to update existing guidebooks, plan new and exciting publications.
Beyond its own guides, Vicarious Media is the trusted UK agent for France Passion and the ACSI Camping Card and retails a wide range of specially selected guidebooks, maps and atlases from travel publishers all across the world.
Vicarious vision
Vicarious Media strives to provide the best motorhome and travel information available through our unique range of handpicked travel guidebooks. Using their extensive touring and motorhoming experience across Europe and the rest of the world, the team at Vicarious Media has the knowledge that will make your journey easier and more enjoyable.
Chris and Meli tell their diverse and informative story on the BBC's Listening Project This is a fascinating record of how they met then prepared ended up going full timing in Europe. Having struggled to settle and how that led to launching Vicarious Books and their impact on UK motorhoming.