Urban Park Up Series: Tim Hortons
As my name, The Urban Motorhome, suggests, I park in unconventional places. I’ve parked in some random places in my time, including supermarkets and fast food chain car parks.
I always film my experiences so I can take my viewers along for the ride, showing everyone how I find urban park ups and what I look out for.
In this edition of my urban park up series, I attempted to park in Tim Hortons AND get some free power!
If You’re New Around Here, Welcome
If you are new to the website and this is the first post you've come across me, welcome!
My name is Darren and I've been living in my motorhome in the UK, full-time, for over 5 years. 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.
Come And Find An Urban Park Up With Me
After the success of my Krispy Kreme park up and my Dunkin' Donuts park up, Tim Hortons was next on my list. The video is below, so you can come along with me.
(If you want to read the full Transcript, it’s underneath the video)
‘ And that is us plugged in to Tim Hortons, result!
What's up guys? Welcome back to the channel. Today I'm gonna do another park up video and I'm gonna show you where I go, what I look for in a park up and what I don't look for in park up. This one's gonna be with a bit of a twist though because I’m going to try and get some free power!
Apologies for the uh, the grizzly adams look. The hat stays on for this video because it's a mess [underneath] and you're just gonna have to deal with the beard. Money maker, still on point though!
So let's get out of this industrial estate and see if we can go find some places to go and park up. Right, there's loads down there, down the side of the industrial state, so no problems there.
Costco car park. Now Costco, I think they do lock their car park. I haven't done a Costco yet. It's on my list to do. It does say maximum parking applies. There’s one in Stevenage which I think I can get away with. So if you wanna see me do that, then drop that in the comments.
But yeah, if you're new to the channel, then my name's Darran. I am The Urban Motorhome. I've been living full time in the motorhome for just shy of five years now [at the time of this video].
I predominantly park urban, hence the name of the channel. No real campsites, unless it's like for a meetup or something. So, yeah, if that's something that you'd like, then stick around!
Let's go left shall we, never been down here? Dunno where we're going, oh Monkton. Monkton. Okay. Little layby straightaway. Yeah, I could park in that little layby. Let's go down this way. These ain't really outside the front of people's houses. So like behind this Mini, before the drop curb, you could [park], it's a bit of a tight road, but I mean there's a van there, so I'm not really wider than the van.
So if I can get past, then it shouldn't be a problem. I do think you'll stick out around there. But , I'm not opposed to sticking up where that orange car is. I'd park here. Let's go down there and look.
I'd park where these two cars are and that, and them two right there. Uh, yeah, right where this black car is, that's perfect because that's at the end of the house. There is a little window, but that wouldn't put me off too much.
Straight in front. You see all the bikes, all them kids', bikes? One; that tells me there's a lot of kids around there.
And two; I don't mean to be rude, but I don't know how nice the area is. I'm just going by first looks. I really can't, you know, it could be the best area in the world and have the best people in the [world] but when there's bikes left everywhere and things, it kind of gives me a bit of a, just a little bit of a flag to not really trusting it.
To be fair, you just gotta notice these things. I mean, the amount of time I've been doing this, these are the things that I notice, you know? And if it was an area full of rubbish or litter and you know, just stuff thrown everywhere, you wouldn't park there because it doesn't signal a great area, and you don't want that.
You want to be parking in an area that is nice, clean, safe, and well kept with good residents or good people. Um, you know, again, I'm making judgements on a split second, which is not fair on the place. All the people and they're nice houses. See, that's the thing, isn't it? We've gone from where I just said two seconds ago, like out to these massive houses and they're not cheap houses at all, you know?
And money shouldn't determine everything, but it does determine pretty much, pretty much everything. So if you got these massive houses, it should be alright. But again, with big houses, comes a lot of privacy. They like to keep themselves to themselves. You could park here. Yeah, definitely.
No restrictions there or up here on the right, I’d park there. That's nice. Again, there is a football field, so you know, it is what it is, but it looks pretty quiet right now. I wouldn't have a problem parking here. So that might be one to come back to if we have a problem later. You're just looking for these little places that you can park politely and legally just for the night, you know? No real bother.
And I've been doing this for nearly five years now, and I'm not had a problem. I've not had a knock on a door or, or anything. So as long as you park politely and, uh … what the hell is that? So there's a, what is going on? So we've got our children's nursery here and there's a kebab van in the car park.
Are we having a, here you are, look at this. That's brilliant.
Oh, you can't beat a cold Pepsi max cherry, heaven in a can, that is heaven in a can!
I'd love to know, if you are about to start van-life or you've just started, um, when you're thinking about doing it and [where you’re] parking up? Are you a bit nervous about park ups? Are you a bit nervous about finding places to stop and, you know, parking overnight or anything?
I'd love to know all your questions and queries, and what makes you worry and what you'd like help with or what I can [help with], can I answer any of your questions? Can I show you how I do something to alleviate, you know, the worrying, the angst?
Maybe if you have got any questions or comments, or would like to see anything about park ups, then just, yeah, drop 'em in the comments below!
I don't find park ups this way normally, this is just for illustration purposes. Normally I'll have a look on Google Maps. No where I’m going, find a spot or two that may take my fancy, have a look at the industrial state in the area I’m going to and then just go from there. I don't [just] aimlessly drive around wasting fuel and wasting time.
And here we go, Tim Hortons! And that's where I want. I'm not gonna park there now because I don't wanna bring attention to myself but right there, that's where I wanna park later. Get a nice thumbnail, I think that'll look good. I think this is like Chrome. Chrome Van City Van Life. His, like, favourite place to uh, grab a coffee.
I always see him in his videos, grabbing a coffee and a donut. He loves it, he loves it! They all have black coffee as well. Proper, proper coffee drinkers, aren't they? Right now, this is where the video gets a little bit interesting because I've been sent this, the EcoFlow Pro and the EcoFlow Mini.
They're both power banks with a twist! EcoFlow claim, and this is why I wanted them so much, that they can recharge to 80% battery in one hour. I could just plug it into my motorhome, plug it into my inverter, turn it on, no problem. But that's boring. We want extra power. We don't want my own power. We want extra power.
So my idea is go to a coffee shop with my laptop and a bag, carrying the power banks and as I'm having a coffee and working on my laptop or on my phone, I'm gonna plug them in under the table and then I'll just slowly sip my coffee for an hour and then will see how it charges.
Because then we're getting free power while we're having a coffee, while we're doing some work on the laptop, which could then be used to recharge the motorhome, recharge my laptop etc, you know?
And if you’ve not got solar, you've only got a little bit [of power] and it's winter, this might be a good option. I've drained these, so that is at 0%, 1%, and that one is at 7%. And we'll see if they actually do charge to 80% in an hour. I've got a lot going in because I've gotta carry a bag, I've gotta carry the camera, I've gotta carry my laptop and just try and blend in whilst looking like a woolly mammoth. What could go wrong eh? What could go wrong?!
This is it, I’m plugged in, here we go. [All] set up, plugs down there. Right time to enjoy my coffee. Well, it's a chocolate shake.
One hour later.
Oh, it's time! It's time to show you. Let's have a look. I haven't really been able to show you properly because there's been people around constantly. Here we go. The mini was at 7%. Okay, so the mini has kind of not been plugged in properly. Yeah, I've just taken it out and it's at 42%, but it wasn't in properly, so it wasn't charging fully.
But let me show you this. Here we go. Look at that. 95% charge in an hour.
That was, yeah [tricky]. They don't have many plugs, or tables near plug sockets in Tim Hortons, so that sucks. Let's start with the bad boy, let's start with this. It went in at 1%, come out, one hour [later] and it's 95% charged! How freaking good is that?
And this one now, I don't think I plugged it in properly. And um, I think it might have been too close to this one.
So I think they were getting hot, so it might have turned itself off for safety reasons. I'm going to redo it in the morning. I'm gonna drain it tonight and redo it, but this one got to 42%. In the hour, um, from 7%. Now I know that can do a lot better than that because I've tested it myself many, many, many times.
So I think that this got hot and turned off because it does feel warm, which I've never felt it like that before, where I kept them close in the bag and on the chair together and I kind of kept my hoodie, kind of over the top because there was a lot of people around and I mean, they don't look like the best of things to be charging.
I mean, normally I'd probably only just take one in, but I thought I'd just try and be cocky and do two. It was a fantastic test.
I'm gonna go through what these are and why they're good and that, but I wanted to illustrate straight off the bat why I wanted to, uh, review 'em and why I wanted to get them sent in and, and test [them].
So tonight's dinner is nothing special. It's just beans on toast, so you know, it's not gourmet food. It’s nice beans on toast with a bit of cheese on top, straight under the grill. Lovely, lovely. But I've got a top tip for you. It's a lazy tip. I'm not gonna, uh, I'm not gonna say it ain't, cause it is.
Got me a lovely can of baked beans. I've, uh, moved from Heinz to, uh, Branson. Just a side note there, that ain't the top tip, don't worry. Anyway, top tip, the worst part of, like, a can of like spaghetti or, or baked beans or whatever is heating 'em up and the cleanup. I dunno how I thought about it, why I thought about it, but this is my tip.
Tin foil in the bottom of my pan, and it does work! So put Tin foil in the pan, as so, just one little piece. I'm gonna empty these [beans] in there, then cook them on low with my spatula. My toast is on the go. And then once they're done, I pour them straight on to the toast. Let that go cold. And then empty that straight to the bin and there's no washing up, none. Zero. What do you think of that? Let me know in the comments below.
Make sure you put a bit of a lip over on one side so you can pull the beans out and then it doesn't get in a mess. But as you can see, bosh! There we go. Clean.
That might be the greatest tip I've ever given you. Or it might be the worst. Let me know, and before any of you come at me and going, you’re gonna kill yourself, it’s poisonous, it's not good for your health, I've been rapping jacket potatoes and meat and vegetables and onions and frying 'em in the butter in the fire since I was a kid. I'm still here, so unless, unless something's gonna kill me tomorrow, I don't really care.
Sometimes the simple dishes are the best, you know, they just work. So does the dog bowl.
Oh yeah. So this is where I'm parked up. Haha. I was just over here for the first couple of hours but now I've moved across. It's all shut, it's midnight. I've just been taking some photos trying to get the Tim Hortons sign and as you can hear, there is quite a busy dual carriageway there, uh, with lorries but that shouldn't affect me in the slightest,
[I’m] right by the drive-thru, couldn't get closer if I tried. People could still get through the drive-thru, they can still get out the back, uh, I'm not obstructing anything. Gonna go in and then get my head down. I can't see there being a problem tonight. There's no reason for anyone to come around tonight, the drive-thru is shut, the Starbucks and the McDonalds are shut. I think it's gonna be a good night's sleep at Tim Hortons. Yeah, baby!
Good morning and a wonderful morning it is. I, uh, slept longer than I thought I was gonna, um, it's about quarter to nine. The drive-thru opens at six.
Um, yeah, perfect nights sleep. It is quite noisy out there now, the road is in, and the Carriageway, is in full swing. Um, but yeah, perfect night sleep, no problem. As you can see from CCTV, [I’m] still in the same place, no problems. The drive-thru there is just there, which is pretty close. Um, he's really quite, I've just stepped through to the front to get out, [the] steering lock [is] still on and look how many people there are about, and I am like three foot from 'em.
Honestly, I think this is the closest, riskiest, risque-isk park up I've done to date. Um, yeah. yeah, it's pretty close! Slept there all night, no worries. Yeah it’s quite a noisy road there, I will say that, but like I say, there was no problems last night. Parked up there. All good, time to go get some breakfast.
Look at this place. It's like a cross between Krispy Kreme and McDonald's. Look at the donuts! And they do breakfast baps and I think later on they do burgers and chicken burgers and god knows what else.
I think they are definitely competing with Krispy Kreme. Here. Look at these. I'm not sure. Uh, I'm not sure who's gonna win.
And then they got these little bite ones, I think they're called Tim Tams or something, which is pretty cool. All the wraps, muffins, bagels, pancakes, and they've got loads of stuff. And then they've got all the proper stuff, so it's like a three in one, like a Costa Coffee or a Starbucks with crispy cream. And then with, uh, McDonalds all rolled into one. It's a bit weird, but it's cool, isn't it?
There's the mini [EcoFlow], turn it on, [it’s on] 1% and it is 9.04am. [I’ll be] back in an hour and see where we're at. Should be at least 80%, 82, 83%. So, uh, yeah, let's go.
[They’ve got] a good deal going to be fair. So you can have any breakfast, with like a wrap or a muffin, with a drink and a hash brown for £2.50.
I mean, my wrap was a big breakfast wrap and it was meant be £3.50 on it’s own, so it was pretty good. But yeah, their wraps come with hash browns in them and their muffins come with 'em as well. And then they give you a hash brown as well. That's a bit weird. So basically I got a big breakfast wrap, which is sausage, bacon, egg, hash brown, a French vanilla ice, and you know, hash brown.
Thats not bad to be fair. Alright lets try the hash brown. Looks a bit sorry for itself to be fair. Not bad. I don't think it competes with, um, McDonald's. McDonald's [one has] got more of a crunch. I dunno if they're fried or they're oven, like, um, they're air frying them or something, I dunno. But McDonald's have got more of a crunch and they are a little bit thicker. But still not a bad deal [for] £2.50. Iced French vanilla, beautiful.
One hour later. Lets have a look at the battery shall we. 82% at 5 past 10. So that has charged 80% in one hour. That test worked out perfect. We got to 80, 81, 82% in the hour. So that's exactly what they say. I dunno what I'd done on the first one. I dunno if I plugged it in right or it got too hot because it was close to the other one. But yeah, I'm glad I redone it and uh, showed you that it does recharge in an hour.
I'm not here to say, right, what you've got is rubbish throw it away, go buy these. I'm not here to do that, it's just not gonna happen. I'm here to just show you that there's improvements being made, if you're currently in the market, these are the latest, and I'll tell you the pluses and minuses.
Notice anything different? Well notice one has a nice, long cable. That's good. And there's no brick! No brick, it's just the two ends, like a kettle end. Now, I dunno what they call this and that brick is like a transformer, step up, step down thing. I'm no expert, you know me, but I'm just gonna call this like direct, hardcore, mainline power. Straight from the wall, straight to the bank, because that's what it is. Plug that in and poof, there's nothing stopping it is there?
This is 210 watt hours and this is 720 watt hours. This is, um, a 300 [watt] pure sign wave and it peaks at 600 [watts]. This is 600 [watts] that peaks at 1200 [watts]. Peaks at 1200! That's banging.
On both of these we've got a USB type C port, um, what you'd call like a PD port so you can charge your MacBook and everything and your laptop. They're a hundred watts, so I can charge my, I can plug my MacBook straight into this and it charges no problem. To be fair. You can have a look at these on the website. I'm gonna link them down below [in the description].
I'm gonna put all their full specs on the screen because you know me, I'm not an expert. I like to use things and them work. [Compared to] everything that's out there so far, this is a major leap forward. The charging speed is massive. These both come with wireless technology, so you can have an app, you can turn ports on and off, and you can see how much is coming in and out if you're charging them or if you are depleting them, which is freaking amazing.
The downsides, because they're not, they're not, you know, not perfect. Nothing's perfect. There's no wireless top on this one. So there's a wireless charging plate on this one. If you look here, it would fit my phone perfectly, but there is no wireless charging plate there. Uh, I'm not sure of the reason why. Maybe because of the handle? I don't know. I would like to see, uh, why there's no charging plate there.
The handle isn't terrible. I quite like the handle, to be fair. It's not intrusive like other handles. Uh, I'll mention no names. I'd like it to be a bit more square and I think it'd be more of a friendly shape to then be able to stack something on top if, you know, you're putting it in the cupboard, if you're putting it away,
To be fair to EcoFlow, do quite a few deals so look out. And then they, um, do have regular discounts. If you've got what you've got and it works, keep it. You don't need to upgrade. If you are looking for something now, then this is the latest.
You know, in two years time, there's gonna be something even more, you know, bigger, better, bolder. That's the way the way technology goes. I'm not, I'm not here to say, Hey, you! You need to dump all that and then go get this, because that's not, that's not economically viable or friendly to the environment.
The beauty of an hour though, being able to go into Tim Hortons or KFC or McDonald's or even your friends for a coffee and go, yeah, could I just plug something in? And then it's like, yep, thank you, i just took your power!
And now it's time for the all important donut taste test. [It’s] gotta be done, ain’t it, gotta be done. Here we go.
Not bad, not bad. I think it's better than Dunkin’ Donuts. But you know what? It doesn't beat the king - Krispy Kreme. Speaking of it, check out this video where I actually park up at Krispy Kreme, show you how to get a free donut and take you on a drive along , what more do you want?!'
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