Urban Park Up Series: Dunkin’ Donuts
I’ve parked in some pretty random places and naturally, I like to film it and take you along for the ride, showing you how I find urban park ups and what I look out for. On this occasion, I parked at Dunkin’ Donuts. Yes, really!
The home of donuts wasn’t my first stop though. Originally I had another urban park up in mind and as you’ll see in the video below, I had to change it when I found out the first one wasn’t suitable.
If You’re New Around Here, Welcome
If you are new to the website and this is the first post you've come across, welcome!
My name is Darren and I've been living in my motorhome in the UK, full-time, for 6 years. I predominantly park in urban areas, hence the name, the Urban Motorhome!
I very rarely go on sites, I just find park ups as and where I can.
The twist is I like to park where most wouldn’t dare! Nothing phases me, I will literally try anywhere. As I mentioned above, I film my life, park ups and all, and post the videos on my YouTube channel.
As part of my urban park up series, I've also parked up at Tim Hortons and Krispy Kreme.
Come And Find An Urban Park Up With Me
The video below was filmed in Doncaster. It was a little while ago now, hence my charming baby face compared to newer videos.
(If you want to read the transcript, it’s underneath the video)
‘When you see this, I’m thinking it’s gotta be done ain’t it!
What’s up guys, welcome back to another episode on the channel. Today, I am going to be showing you how to find a park up, boom! If you’re new to the channel and this is the first video you’ve ever seen, welcome!
I’m Darran, I’ve been living in my motorhome, full time, in the UK for just under 4 years now. I am predominantly parking in urban park ups, hence the name The Urban Motorhome. I very rarely go on sites, I just find park ups as and where I can.
I thought I would bring you along for another episode of what to look out for when you’re trying to find an urban park up. I've done a few of these videos and they're not meant for me to just be driving around aimlessly, wasting diesel because I know that's not the aim of the game.
These videos are the only way I can really take you along, you know.
I'm in a new area. I've never been to this area. I've been into Doncaster but I don't know anything about this place so I am just new to this, exactly like you lot.
By the way, the reason I do these videos, the way I do 'em is because I could tell you what is a good park up and how to find a good park up, but telling you is pretty boring.
So, that's why I'll take you along and we'll drive down streets. I might end up in a dead end and you know, that's no good, but we might see something down at a dead end and then that's a good place to park or no, it's really not. And the reasons why it's not, from my own experience.
I'm gonna head towards an Asda, but I think along the way we're gonna go down a few side streets.
Let's have a look at this one shall we? Dunno where we are? I've actually got Asda plumbed into the satnav, which is about three miles from here. But let's have a look down here, shall we?
Now you see all these houses, they're gonna know who's who. But there is a motorhome there. I mean, right here to the side of me.
I'd probably park here because it's on the side of them houses and there is a motorhome there. So the street is used to a motorhome being around. Again, these houses are very full on, at the front, like very open. So I'm not sure I would want to [park there].
Right there, I'd park on the end of that. Yeah, I'd park there because at the end, there's someone's house.
They very rarely get bothered. So is there one, Is there one down here? These are all quite close out to the front of people's houses. I don't think I'd park here, but, like let’s have a look down here.
So right here, yeah, I'd park. Right here. I would do that, right behind this Volvo. I'd park there. Because it's the end of the house and not many people have a look.
Now, I wouldn't park in them spaces because they're, people are gonna notice you in them because people regularly park in them. Obviously.
Lets have a look down here, garages. These bungalows, bungalows are a good area. It's a double edge sword really, because obviously bungalows, and I'm stereotyping here, don't get me wrong, but bungalows mean older people, but older people have time on their hands. It means they can curtain twitch, but these bungalows mean nice, quiet sleep.
So it all depends on what your main goal is really, I've ballsed that up as well. Should have gone back a bit more. Oh, well.
All right, I would park there, definitely park there where them trees were, definitely 110%. Now this is quite a main road. There's a bus stop there, so you can't go anywhere near that.
Obviously you're seeing kids play there, anywhere you see like football nets or anything like that, you just stay away because it's gonna, they're gonna be pretty noisy. They could, you know, when they finish school. Depends.
I mean, like I said, I'm a night driver, so I usually park during the day and sleep during the day. But I don't want to be anywhere, like park in my van, anywhere near where, you know, kids could be hanging around.
Here, I'd park here, definitely I'd park on the, on the right here. It's quite a main road, but I'd do it. And right here.
What's down here? Because again, this is at the end of someone's house, so I would park here all day long. Yeah, right here. All day long. All the way along here. It's perfect. There's big roads, very big roads. No reason you shouldn't.
And here, definitely here because of the bushes. Again, they're protecting you from the neighbours. The neighbours are not seeing you. And again, here, fencing big enough and a big enough road for people to get past, even that truck's not got a problem.
I wouldn't probably go, I wouldn't park anywhere near here because there's a school, so I'd probably go to the first one back there, and that'll be as close as I come because it's gonna be traffic and school and things.
These are all dead, these little turn offs, so won't want to go down there, but you could park in front of this Sky van.
I don't do this normally, like, and this isn't my normal way I would do it. I wouldn't just aimlessly drive around. I mean, if I was stuck and I needed somewhere to park and I had nowhere to park and I didn't know where I was going or anything like that, and I had to find somewhere, then this is how I would do it.
But 9 times out of 10, I'd have a look at an area, I'd find somewhere, I'd find a few potential spots and then head to them and work my way from them.
But this is just really to illustrate and show you how I look how, because I know parking is a real big thing for people. They really, a lot of you that are new to Van Life and are new to, you know, full timing and finding parks is quite an issue. Because obviously you've gotta feel safe.
You've gotta know how to, how to find the park ups and what you're looking for. The dos and don'ts, the why I would park there, what I'm thinking, and basically just come along and see what happens as we look around together. Because like I have no idea right now where I am.
So that's my turning for Asda. But we are gonna go elsewhere and have a look, see what we can find.
So there's a new housing estate there, with them new houses, housing estates, parking is a real issue in them. These look like older estates, so [they] should have some bigger roads. The roads are pretty decent sized. I mean busy and very hilly.
Ok, we got round there. Oh, this looks interesting. Oh, yes! It looks like a factory or something, for aeroplanes? I would park here. I'd park right here.
Yeah, this comes to an end now, but, oh I don't know if I’d park right at the end down here. Because that right there is a footpath that comes along here past this little Cleo.
Pretty cool planes, aren't they? That's pretty cool.
Past this Cleo here and then past these houses. So like here, here, I'd park here. I think I'd have a pretty good night here, to be fair.
If Asda doesn’t work out, I'll come here. I think this would be pretty quiet. You've got a few houses at the end, but they're not looking, you're not directly outside them. There's nothing to the left of me, apart from a big building, which looks pretty abandoned and there's a big enough road, if anything does come down here or whatnot, you're, you're pretty fine.
As you see, cars are passing, no problem. There is a walkway here so people might walk past at night, but I can't see it being a problem down here, so that's pretty good. At least I found one if Asda doesn't work out and it's pretty flat.
That was, I'm liking that find. It's pretty good.
And you wouldn't have known that unless you come down here because like, this is, it just looks just like a little street, a little street of, estate of houses.
So until you actually come off the beaten track, shall we say, off the main roads and into the little estates, and have a look, you ain't gonna know what's around it. So the way to do this without actually driving around would just be to hunt on Google Maps and Google street view, just to hunt all the way around.
Have a look, zoom in, go to street view, you know, and just constantly search for somewhere, you will find places. They're all over the place. I haven't got a worry about finding somewhere, not a worry at all.
I don't think I park right this close outside someone's house because it's just, it's not fun.
My God, they like karts and trikes. Let's go this way. Yeah. I wouldn't park dead outside someone's house like this. It's not, you are gonna get, probably, a knock on the door. It's just too busy around there. I think people would notice that you're here.
That guy and that woman was proper looking at me then like ‘why are you down here? Well, you've gone wrong’. I was like ‘okay’. So yeah, I wouldn't park anywhere down here. I might park where this V Dub, Volkswagen van is, and i might park here if I really had to, but not my first choice, to be honest.
There aren't gonna be plenty of places, but now we've got one in the bag just in case Asda doesn't work out, I feel, I feel good about that.
I wouldn’tl put too much pressure on yourselves for finding park ups, like, you know, straight away and, you know, finding them easy. And you know it's gonna be, you're gonna be nervous, you're gonna be worried, you're gonna be a bit anxious at finding your first few park ups.
It's always gonna be the way you, you're gonna be like that. You've not done it before. You know, it's all, it's all a learning curve. And the best bit of advice is if your gut doesn't feel it and you don't think it's the right place to park, move somewhere else. Just move, go somewhere else.
If you have to go to, if something's freaking you out or anything like that, and you really can't, you know, and you just need to get some sleep, then you go to a Tescos or go to a pay and display car park.
But to be honest, you'll always find somewhere. The only thing I'm thinking about is Asda might be a pay and display until a certain time. So that is one thing we'll have to see.
But there are a whole heap of shops and restaurants there. So we'll see if any of the other car parks are different. I mean, I'm not opposed to parking in one area of a car park, say it was in the cinema for a few hours, and then moving over to the supermarket side.
Not opposed to that at all. I haven't done many supermarket car parks, park ups anyway, to be fair. I only started doing them as part of this series. If I'm going into a town, I just need somewhere, can't be bothered to look around, I know there's a few Tescos that I go to, which I know is a solid park up. So they're pretty good.
Just stay out of the way of the actual store, go to the back, you know, get away from people. You're not gonna bother them, they're not gonna bother you. You could always go in ask the manager and say like, you know, I'm just travelling through. A campsites blown out on me or something, or they've had to shut or whatever I’ve just arrived, can stay in your car park for the night.
I don't need any services and I'm more than happy to go buy some products in your store. The worst they can say is no. Pretty much.
I know Asda is no longer part of it, but they were a part of the Walmart family, weren't they? Walmart in America is the go-to base for parking up overnight, like boondocking.
So I know they're no longer part of it, but this is a good test. Let’s have a look [at Asda]. It's got some signs here. What's it saying? What's it say? Is this an ANPR or what? Asda customer car park, ANPR, yeah. Parking restrictions apply. So it's just clocked my plate right now. Camera controlled.
No outside parking out of these store hours. Okay. So literally, they say no. Okay. So that's what the sign says. So where its saying no parking allowed and then brackets outside of store openings, I think that means I'm gonna get a ticket if I do and, or, a knock on the door.
Right, so I've had a look at the sign, which you've just seen, doesn't look very promising. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna drive around to the other side of the retail park, because there's loads of restaurants around that side and there's bowling and a cinema. So we'll go see if their parking restrictions are different.
If not, we'll come back. We might pop into Asda and see if I can talk to anyone in there, like the manager and just say, is it ok if I park in your car park? They can only say no, then we'll just go somewhere else. Or I risk it for a chocolate biscuit, but I know I'm going to get, I know what my luck is, I'll do it and I'll get a 70 quid fine, which is not too good.
I’ll look in this one first. This is a big, big car park. I haven't seen any parking restriction signs yet. Lets have a look down further. That looks like a campervan as well. Right ahead. Oh, don't see any parking signs.
There's a few signs saying ‘beware thieves’. Well, I can't see anything in there that says that we can't park, so that's a winner winner. So look over there. Oh, is that Dunkin’ Donuts. If I could park outside of Dunkin’ Donuts, for the night, that would be amazing.
I might change this whole video, park outside of Dunkin’ Donuts for the night, how cool wouldl that be? Oh Jesus. That will be too cool. You can see I'm outside of Dunkin’ Donuts.
Uh, I wonder if I can park here. I wonder. I don't see, there's no signs. I don't see why not. Let's see what time Dunkin’ Donuts are open till.
That's gonna be brilliant. Dunkin’ Donuts, they're open until 11, so that might be busy tonight. But just for sheer shits and giggles, parking outside of Dunkin’ Donuts is great. Especially if I drive through and get some!’
[Voiceover: ‘12 seconds later’]
[To drive-thru window] ‘Can I just have a box of six donuts please? But can I just have like six of your best donuts? I don't really know what ones to choose to be fair. It's gonna be, it's all that's left. Perfect. Thank you very much.
I have no idea which to go for, so I just left it to them. I'll have a box of six. This is great that I can actually get through this, drive through. This is brilliant!’
[Paying for donuts at window] ‘Thank you very much’.
[Collecting donuts] ‘Cheers. Thank you very much.
Donuts! Oh, that's my snacks for tonight.
Right lets go park, got a long way to drive to park up. That's my parking space, right there. Asda is over there, sacked that off in the end, that looked like too much aggro, so I didn't even bother going and asking to be fair. I could have gone and asked, but when you see this [Dunkin’ Donuts], I'm thinking it's gotta be done, isn't it?
It's gotta be done. Parking at a Dunkin’ Donut, it's opposite. And I got myself some Dunkin’ Donuts. Why wouldn't you? What I'm gonna do now is, I don't think I'll probably close all the blinds and that, I dunno if I'll put the curtains down yet. Oh, look at that. All the lights just come on. This place looks good. Oh yes.
Oh the lights have gone off again. Yeah. So I'm gonna go jump in the motorhome, probably get on Uber Eats, find someone to deliver some tasty, tasty things. Yeah, because I've got a few UberEats codes to use. Might do that. And then, yeah, settle down for the night really.
Going to download all the footage that I've done today and probably chill out watching tv, have a dunkin’ donut, and then chillax. I mean, I haven't found any signs around here saying that I shouldn't park so hopefully it should be a quiet night tonight, fingers crossed, but I will come back out later tonight when, probably about 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock when everything's settling down, see what we've got.
If anything happens in between then I'll obviously record and report that. But yeah, hopefully should be a quite night.
Food is here! Yes, yes, yes, love it. Oh yeah. Bacon and cheese fries, some crispy chicken strips and some wings. Oh, and some sauces. Oh yes.
So it’s 11.50pm and as you can see, it's all very quiet. The Dunkin’ Donuts is now shut. Talking of donuts, I had a couple of mine, still got loads of my takeaway left. That'll be for tomorrow's lunch or tomorrow's dinner, whatever. But lets have a look outside, shall we?
Drive-thru is all shut. Everything's all closed. Yeah, it's pretty quiet around it now. By the sounds of it there's some little cars over there playing some music. But yeah, as you can see, all quiet. Ghost town. The little wood structure I'm next to at the side is a bin shed, there's been a few staff coming and going, putting stuff in the bin shed, but apart from that, it's all quiet.
There's McDonald's over there. I have got my diesel heater on, if you can hear that little tick. Apart from that, that's it. Hopefully I should be in for a good night, quiet night. So unless anything happens, I'll see you all in the morning’.
[Shot of making a coffee with a donut on a plate in the background] ‘Not the worst way to start a morning, Is it? Watch a little bit of news, catch up with the day, see whatever's going on and have a coffee and a donut, while parked up at Dunkin’ Donuts.
No problems, had my diesel heater on last night. I turned it back on about four or five in the morning because it was a little bit nippy. But yeah, as you can see, there are people here now, everything’s in working order and everything's open.
But yeah, no problems, so that was pretty good. Sweet little park up. Sweet little park up.
If there was ever a time that I was gonna get told off of parking up, um, there's three police cars here now. So obviously, no jokes about police and donuts, that's a given! But I'm just clearly pointing out that there's 3 police cars here, lots of police.
If they were gonna come and have a go at me or something, come tell me I couldn’t park here, it would be now, but they haven't.
There we go. Parking up at Dunkin’ Donuts. Done!
If you liked this video guys, give it a thumbs up. If you haven't, give it a thumbs down. If you've got any questions or comments, drop in in the section below and if you wanna suggest where I park next, drop them in the comments below.
And I'll catch you on the next one guys, take it easy’.
What Did You Think Of That Urban Park Up?
I'd say that was on my top 10 list for sure!
What did you think of that urban park up? Would you park somewhere like that overnight?
Leave me a comment and let me know. Alternatively, if you have an idea for a park up that you haven't seen in my urban park up series, leave your suggestions for that below as well.