re, won't be able to afford an RV so will have to have a van.
I don't think so.
Our best times RV-ing were in a C-class 22 ft RV. It was old and not very pretty but it had everything, ie a 4 burner stove and oven, a three way fridge, a toilet with a door that closed, a shower in the toilet where it was only just possible to have a shower, a dinette, a couch, an arm chair which doubled as the driver's seat and a king size double bed above the cab. What more could a person want?
We drove 5000km across Canada, up to Alaska, across to the Northwest Territories, up the Dempster to the Arctic Ocean and back (20,000 km in two months), with hardly a problem. We brought it to Florida and seeing that our lifestyle had changed, traded it for a much bigger Class A. But the old Class C was sold for $4000 lousy dollars and was in PERFECT condition to do a low-cost round North America tour. It's now 20 years old and I have lost touch with it in the last year.
My point is that you can buy a class C that will carry a couple whereever they want, and not cost very much. You have to find one that's good, and then change the belts, and hoses, and perhaps the muffler, and perhaps the brake linings and then you are ready to go. And you will be ready to go places that a 40 foot diesel pusher with 4slides, AC and granite counter tops isn't prepared to go in case he damages his enormous investment.
Rankjo