Hello and welcome back to Here we Tow this week I'm going to give you a little
rundown on how we've planned our trip to Europe as you may be aware yes over this
summer Jules and I and fudge are heading to Europe so if you want to know how
we've planned the trip and some considerations you might want to make
then stay with us and join us after this
so we've decided we're going to take our eight-foot-wide Adria across to Europe
this is something we wanted to do for a while because when we bought the caravan
we did want to go further afield the first thing we decided we're making our
plans was how long we're going to go for because Europe is a really big place and
the amount of time you've got to go on your holiday is really going to affect
how far you go and where you go because we didn't just want to be on the road
all the time we wanted to be able to have several days in one place so when
we sat down we decided that we're actually going to go for six weeks now I
know six weeks is a lot longer than a lot of people will be going for because
you're probably going to go in school holidays for a lot of people so it might
be two to four weeks you're looking at going for you need to decide what's
going to be the best timescale for you and when it's going to fit in so we've
decided we're going for six weeks through July and August once we decided
how long we were going for we then wanted to think about where were we
going to go a lot of people always head for France and Spain and down into Italy
we had thought about that what we decided was because we're going in
summer two things one it's going to be very warm for fudge he's got quite a
thick coat and that sort of heat will probably be quite uncomfortable for him
and also France and Spain of very popular places for families in the
summer period which is understandable so because of that unknown we have more
time to allow us to travel further we decided we'd like to head up to Sweden
now Sweden's obviously in northern Europe it is warm in summer it's
obviously very cold in winter but it's not going to be as warm as Spain so it's
probably going to be more comfortable for fudge there was a few of the reasons
we wanted to do Denmark and Sweden as well we've never been there we've never
seen it and there's so much to see it's very scenic it's great for getting
outdoors and that's really what we enjoy so once we decided how long and where
we wanted to decide on how we were going to get there as you may be aware there's
a lot of options of how to get into Europe you can either go on the ferries
you can go on the tunnel with us having such a large power in Caravan we thought
it was going to be quite costly for us to get across the water into Europe and
also once we got there the question was how far we were going to have to drive
we looked at two options depending on where you might be thinking your best
looking at the options for you but knowing that we were going up to Sweden
our options were either the tunnel from Folkston to Calais now when we looked at
the tunnel it worked out quite economical it was also good in that it
was only about 35 minutes along the tunnel and we popped out in France the
benefit of that is really for fudge because he can stay in the car and
within no time with air in France the only thing we thought was once we landed
in France we're going to have quite a long drive to then head up through
Germany and get up into Sweden so then we looked at the ferry now previously
when I've looked at the ferry prices they're being extremely expensive to get
over to Holland I was really surprised when I started looking actually how
cheap it was and I don't know whether that's been because of the brexit effect
that prices have come down I don't know but what I've done is I've used the
caravan and motorhome club website to book our ferry crossing and that's
worked out cheaper I think it saved me nearly a hundred pounds so we're going
from Harwich or Harwich however you want to pronounce it and we're getting
the ferry over to the hook of Holland now that journey over is going to be
just over seven hours with fudge once you get onboard they do have kennels and
it's a good choice if a ferry in that you can either keep your dog in your car
or you can put it into the kennels and it's totally up to you which you do so
once we decided on that we looked at the price then for the return journey and
altogether for a big car a long caravan two adults in a furry dog it came to 274
pounds I think that's pretty good value to get
over the water with all that so we sorted out that so we'll and then in
Holland after that one ferry crossing we decided that we'd certainly like a night
there in Holland just to have a bit of a rest so we booked to site how have I
decided which sites were stopping up there's a lot of sites to choose from
across Europe there are thousands of them the way I've chosen ours is first of all
I've decided on our route and to use a route planner I've used the Mitchell in
one on the Internet it's really good in that it gives you not only a route but
also an approximate cost of fuel because you put your car details in obviously
we're going to be towing a caravan as well and it also gives you toll costs so
it gives you an idea of what it's going to cost you I'm not overly concerned
about that the petrol and diesel use it's more the tolls so I've figured all
the routes out and approximately how long the routes are going to take you
might be best breaking up your journey because those that tow will know it
takes a lot of concentration and not only going to be towing on the wrong
side of the road for us you've also going to be on roads that
aren't familiar to you there's lots of different road traffic laws when you're
abroad and that's going to pretty quickly tire you out so I wanted to make
sure we were doing no more than five hours towing a day and that's an a
maximum some of the days a lot shorter so our route we're going to leave
Holland we're going to head through Germany we're going to then head into
Denmark up through Sweden around Sweden back down and we're going to land back
at Holland for a few days and then we're coming back across on the boat so how
have I chosen our sites I've used UK campsites website which is an excellent
website it gives you a map so you can search the area so I've been able to
search the roads and find sites along those roads there's also the ACSI website
those of you that might already have the card you generally can't use it in
summer because its peak season it still gives you an idea of those brilliant
sites that are available across Europe in Denmark and Sweden I've actually just
chosen one caravan company to use it's almost a bit like the caravan motorhome
club but it's not a club it's a privately they're privately owned sites
and they're all over the country and they offer a good standard of pitch and
facility so you know what you're getting and they're called first camp so I've
chosen first camp to book all our sites with and they've been really easy to
book online absolutely no problem I have found booking the private sites that
were using in Germany Holland have been a little bit more difficult to book some
of them from web sites some of them haven't and trying to email although
I've used Google to translate so it's actually in the correct language they're
not quick to come back so that's been a little bit more difficult so that I've
chosen the sites I've wanted larger more commercial sites that give that safety
and security because it's our first time in Europe and although Europe's very
safe when you're not 100% sure of what you're doing is better to be safe than
sorry what about fudge we're also taking fudge
with us fudge is a good little traveller he doesn't get anxious and he doesn't
get seasick and he's probably looking forward to his trip so what will fudge
need he's going to need a pet Passport I've gone booked in so in two weeks he's
going for his yearly jumps and he's also going to have a rabies job and get a pet
passport and that's what he'll need for travelling so when he arrives with us at
the ferry we'll head off into Europe and then when we come back with him the one
requirement is that when we're back in Holland we're going to have to take him
to a vet to get him wormed before we come back to the UK and that's quite a
simple thing really and I believe I've been quoted 95 pounds for his pet
Passport and I've already been in touch with the
vets in Holland near to where we'll be staying on our way back and it will be
just under 50 euros for them to worm him and I think that's pretty much a going
rate for a large German Shepherd because don't forget he does weigh over 40 kilos
so prices will vary so that's how long that's where that's how that's fudge
what about the other bits that we need to think about
breakdown cover we've got that insurance we've got European travel cover with
Caravan guard we've got our passports our European health cards we've got
pretty much everything and we've certainly got a good plan of our route
because our caravans large it's eight feet and we want to make sure the routes
we use a sensible because we're not familiar with the roads over there the
best thing to do is plan, plan wherever you're going and whatever you're doing
because the last thing you want is stress and anxiety when you're going on
holiday you want to enjoy it so yeah put a lot of planning into it and also think
about your awning hopefully the weather in summer is going to be pretty nice
we've got a large Vango awning as you know but we're considering swapping that
for a canopy because instead of carrying 30 kilos of awning it's going to be a
lot easier if we have a canopy with us then we can just whip up when we want it
and it will give us that shade for when the weather's nice and we've got fudge
with us obviously so all-in-all I think we've planned pretty much hopefully for
most of the things that could happen there's a lot more that goes into it but
I'd say if you think you're going into Europe do don't hesitate just get a good
plan even if you want to travel with a couple of people it's always safety in
numbers isn't it so that's how we have decided how long were going for we're
going for two and how we're getting there hopefully that's been a little bit
of help for you if you've got any questions or queries please do drop us a
line not that I'm any expert yet and I do hope that come July you join us as we
head off across the water probably never to be seen again so as always thanks for
watching and see you in the next one