How can an entire year go by so fast? Why does “life-at-home” seem so chaotic compared to leisurely roaming about and exploring Europe in a tiny motorhome? As we’re readjusting to our “normal” life, we can’t help but wonder occasionally if our year long adventure was just a figment of our imaginations, like trying to recall a good movie that we saw a number of weeks ago. It’s a good thing we have 8500 photos as proof it really did happen and we can clearly see that we played the starring roles. We feel amazingly blessed to have had this experience and daily we relive some aspect of this escapade, although we do find it difficult to describe to others (that care) just how fantastic our trip really was. We saw and experienced so much that it’s virtually impossible to express it adequately and do it all justice. “In a heartbeat” is the answer we give when asked if we would like to do it again and in fact we’re already planning our next motorhome adventures in Europe, though future trips will be somewhat shorter in duration and probably utilize a rental motorhome option. One quick phone call to our new friend Michael at the “Dumo Reismobile” dealership in Germany, and we’re on our way.
The main intent of our blog was to keep friends and family informed of our nomadic travels, but when all is said and done, we hope that we’ve also inspired a few others to consider some kind of extended travel adventure of there own. If that adventure includes a long, or short, motorhome trip in Europe, then possibly we can be of some help in the planning process. I have assembled below a few facts and figures that may, or may not, be of assistance to you. Please feel free to give us a call at any time if you have any specific questions that you think we could answer.

Making it Happen:
The biggest step in turning your dream into reality is making the decision to go, as “Nike” says, “Just-do-it”. I suggest you tell as many people as you can about the dream trip you’re going on and soon you’ll have told so many people that there is no way of backing out without looking bad… self inflicted pressure. Next, pick a reasonable (or not) date and book a non refundable flight. Now you have a deadline on the calendar and everything else will fall in place. See how simple it is! Below I have assembled a few thoughts specifically about traveling Europe in a motorhome that may answer some basic questions some of you may have.

Visas:
If you plan on traveling Europe for three months or less a specific Visa is not required, your Canadian (or American) Passport is all you’ll need. However, if your stay is longer than three months, you’ll need a special “Schengen Visa” from a qualifying European country (most of the EU countries). Our 12 month German Visa required a few specific conditions be met such as proof of medical insurance, a base address and sponsor in Germany (our dealership graciously provided us with these two items), and proof of financial stability (this is where my pop bottle collection really came in handy). If you want more information on long term Visa requirements, research “Schengen Rules in Europe”

Medical:
Basic Canadian immunization shots are probably just fine for traveling most parts of Europe however we would highly recommend getting a series of Hepatitis A & B shots as well as a Tetanus booster before you go. Preventive shots like Shingles and Flu would not be a bad idea either.
Access to very good medical services throughout Western Europe is excellent however, obtaining basic Canadian “off-the-shelf” medication like Aspirin, Ibuprofen and Neo Citron can be somewhat difficult in many countries so carry what you need with you.
It goes without saying that travel medical insurance is a must. But when applying for it be very careful to declare ALL pre existing conditions (EVERYTHING!) and understand the fine and deceptive print. For example, we purchased a very clean, simple and complete 10 million dollar world wide policy from “Travel Now” that was recommended by our Insurance brokers “Megson FitzPatrick”. Despite this we were caught by surprise when Margot sprained her ankle in Portugal. The hospital X-ray costs added up to about $150 so we decided it was not worth chasing after such a small amount. But, when her ankle was still a painful concern after a full week, we decided to inform Travel Now just in case her ankle required more aggressive and expensive attention going forward. We were quite surprised to discover that they considered the ankle “emergency” to be over a week prior to our phone call and that now they would only be responsible for the original hospital visit of $150 and a single “follow-up consultation” with a physician but, no further or additional treatment (if she’s mobile, she can return to Canada for any newly required treatment). Always keep in mind that your travel insurance is strictly for PRESENT MEDICAL EMERGENCY purposes only.
If you’re planning on leaving Canada for an extended period of time here’s a little-known piece of advice that could save you some extra cash. Our “Blue Cross Extended Medical and Dental Service Plan” is only accessible from within Canada and between us we pay about $1500 a year for this service. However, with some limitations, it’s possible to put this service on hold when travelling abroad for extended time frames. Our Travel Now insurance for the year cost us just over $3000. Therefore, with not having to pay Blue Cross $1500, our total cost of additional emergency travel medical coverage was cut in half to just $1500.

Planning:
If you’re plan entails a limited three month trip we would suggest that mid March to mid November provide excellent opportunities for motorhome travel in Europe. Obviously July and August will be busier months but we had no problems negotiating the somewhat excessive travel crowds. Try to avoid driving the Alps during the winter shoulder seasons because the weather can be unpredictable for driving a motorhome. As you would expect, mid summer in the southern Mediterranean area can be particularly hot but for the most part we really enjoyed the southern August heat and we took full advantage of the endless beautiful Mediterranean beaches and ice cold German beer.
If you only have three months at your disposal, we would recommend that you narrow the driving scope to either northern Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Holland) or alternatively, the southern Mediterranean areas (Croatia, Greece, Italy, Southern France, Spain). Trying to include too much in one short trip can turn a potentially relaxing and laid back adventure into a somewhat stressful ordeal. We met a few people along the way that seemed to be racing along in order to check limitless destinations off their list in limited time and in our opinion, they were missing out on the main essence of what this kind of trip is all about. Over a period of 10 months we comfortably drove our motorhome close to 30,000 km’s throughout 20+ countries touring both the northern and southern regions of Europe. We personally never did feel overly rushed but in reality we could have easily spent our entire 10 months in any number of specific and amazing locations like Germany or France or Spain. We’re completely aware of the fact that traveling time is a relative and depleting commodity for most. If you are limited to a shorter time duration, and if it’s possible, we would suggest taking 2 or 3 separate motorhome trips with each one focusing on a specific and new area. Finally, an obvious reminder is to keep in mind the seasons and your desired location so that if you’re intention is to experience the tulips of Holland, hiking in the Alps, or wine festivals on the Rhine, you’ll need to plan your driving route and seasons accordingly.

Renting our Home:
We decided to rent out our furnished condominium for the year to help offset some of our large travel expenses. We removed all our personal items and stored them in a secure location. We hired a property management company that we trusted and let them handle all the rental details. When all was said and done, the renting enabled us to cover our fixed property expenses (condo fees and taxes), our management fees, and still put a thousand dollars a month into our travel account. This really helped out and virtually covered most of the cost of our motorhome. When we returned home we found our condo in fairly good condition. It did require some attention in the cleaning department and some very limited repair but we planned on having it painted anyway and after a couple of busy weeks around the place, it looked and felt like new again. I would say that renting a nice home for this period of time is not without it’s risks but we were fortunate, and it all worked out positively for us. If you do decide to go this route we would highly suggest employing a reputable management company to watch over your investment. Prior to us leaving we were a bit concerned and apprehensive about our decision to rent but once we were on the road, we never gave it a second thought other than waiting for those monthly deposits.

Clothing:
Due to our extended stay we required a variety of seasonal clothing be available and to reduce the overall burden of carrying large bulky clothing we utilizing the concept of multi-functional “layering”. “Eddie Bauer” became our favourite “go-to” clothing store as it has a great selection of reasonably priced quality multi purpose clothing designed for easy maintenance and lightweight travel. But, as usual, we packed way more clothes than needed considering our “on-the-road-tendency” to reuse the same select set of clothing over and over. Our confined living space in the motorhome did not provide the luxury of excessive storage space for lots of dirty laundry to pile-up and therefore we would wash and wear on a regular regular basis. Most campgrounds had clothes washing (machine) facilities available but often without dryers. We soon discovered that drying clothes on a line is a European norm so keep in mind that a basic clothes line becomes essential camping, or non-camping, equipment. Washing clothes by hand in a special sink is also very common and most campgrounds have these special laundry sinks available as well. If you do choose to use a washer and dryer, be prepared to pay the high price because it’s not uncommon to pay over $10 for a single load of laundry.

Packing:
We had an airline luggage limit of 125 pounds each and therefore we carried with us as many extras as possible including bedding and some miscellaneous kitchen items. We ended up having to purchase lots of other camping essentials on our arrival such as pots and pans, lawn chairs and a BBQ so lucky for us there’s no shortage of shopping opportunities for anything in Europe. At the end of our trip we shipped home 4 large boxes of items by ground freight. The shipping estimates varied wildly from about $250 to $2500 and the best shipping deal we found was with “DHL”. It took two months for our boxes to successfully arrive safely in Victoria and for $250 dollars, we felt it was well worth the exercise.

Books:
Endless travel books exist for those wanting to explore Europe and they provide as much detail as you’d like but for our purposes we found the best books at the right level of detail were the “Eye Witness” series. These books have great drawings, great photos and just the right amount of description if you don’t want to be buried in detail. The “Lonely Planet” books are also good and they worked very well to supplement the Eye Witness guides by providing even more information from a slightly different perspective. If you plan on camping in Europe there’s an important camping club, with a low season book and APP you should know about. It’s called “ACSI” (www.campingcard.co.uk) and this is truly a must have item for the road. You can purchase the camping club card (CC) and related books in Europe but if you want the British “English” version you should order it well in advance of your trip and have it delivered by mail, you’ll find it”s well worth the hassle of carrying it over with you. The ACSI guide will rate the camping sites, give GPS location directions and provide you with many other campground details on thousands of possible sites all over Europe. As far as paper maps are concerned, you’ll need a very high level planning map that you’ll bring with you from home showing your general travel route clearly highlighted. We used different highlight colours to represent different seasons. You will also need a decent road atlas to work in conjunction with your GPS and after trying out three different road atlas books, we discovered a very good one that’s produced in England by “Phillips” (Philip’s Multi-Scale Europe 2015 – Road Atlas – Europe). It had just the right amount of road detail, was easy to read, easy to flip around through and it has an excellent short review of road regulations and expectations for each country. You can find this great atlas online at amazon.com.

The Internet:
The internet was an essential tool for the entire trip. We used it every single day of our travels for such things as research, banking, blog writing, e-mail, reservations, backing up photos to Drop Box, Apple FaceTime visits, Skype telephone calls, world news, business, entertainment and more. Looking back, I don’t know how we could have ever functioned without it.
There are so many web sites and blog’s that exist on-line providing an infinite amount of information at just the right price. I would love to tell you exactly what sites are the best to use but that would be impossible considering how vast and dynamic the web is. Your best bet is to just start digging around by searching with on-line questions like “Motorhoming in Europe”. But, make sure the information you’re reading is relatively up-to-date. We often used “Wikipedia” for additional in-depth information on specific people, places and things, and it was really valuable in helping us sort-out many complex historical events.
A very good web site to help you with your WiFi needs is produced by a young couple, (Adam & Sophie) who started out there life together traveling Europe in a motorhome and now they run there own online motorhome travel business called “Motorhome WiFi” (motorhomewifi.com) They’re really worth checking out if you have specific questions regarding any European WiFi needs. They can also pre-supply you with the electronics and the operational support for using it. We purchased a 4G Huawei Hotspot and used a European wide SIM card with somewhat limited data usage available. As you would guess the SIM market is in constant change and I’m doubtful if this specific EuroSIM card is still available. Adam or Sophie will have all the latest information and best advice regarding mobile WiFi needs in Europe. Certainly we preferred using our own dedicated WiFi Hotspot rather then public WiFi as it was often faster, but most importantly, it was very secure when doing important things like “on-line banking”.
Staying connected was fairly easy but not without it’s frustrations. WiFi Data is definitely the most economical way to keep in touch and do your “on-the-road” research. Most campgrounds have WiFi available for a daily usage charge but the speed, quality and dependability of these connections vary greatly from place to place and/or time of day. You will definitely need a SIM card to connect to the internet and if you do decide to use a Hotspot, keep in mind your Hotspot can run multiple devices at the same time. Again, I suggest you contact with motorhomewifi.com for more up-to-date and reliable information.

The Dollars and Nickels:
Of course the question on everyones mind is, how much did it all cost? We tried to keep an accurate accounting of our year long expenses but our trip was really in two distinctly separate stages and the motorhome component was very different than the flying home through Asia part. Looking at our 10 months in the motorhome the numbers are surprisingly positive. With our home rental income being deposited regularly there were many months that after our expenses were covered, we were actually putting money into the savings account. As we toured, we never denied ourselves any tourist opportunity that came along, we dined out whenever we felt the desire and never concerned ourselves with the small stuff that regularly pops up. Our lifestyle however did save us some money. We really did enjoy relaxing at the motorhome with a glass of beer or wine and cooking up a simple evening meal on the BBQ. These are some of our best memories. Lunch was often a sandwich of some kind, usually on delicious French bread, and eaten as we motored along some beautiful winding country road.
With exchange rates constantly changing it’s very hard to provide exact present day Canadian values to our trip so instead I’ll give you some numbers based on 10 months in 2014. At this time, 1 Euro was worth about $1.40 Canadian. And keep in mind all these numbers are very general and approximate.

February to November 2014

A. – New 2014 Motorhome:
1. Depreciation cost of the motorhome: 8,500 Euros
2. Motorhome insurance: 1,000 Euros

B. – Operating Expenses:
3. Cash Spent: (Add this to categories 6.7.8.9.11) 13,600 Euros 43%
4. Camping Fees: 3,600 Euros 12%
5. Diesel Fuel: (Avg. 10.56 Km/L) 3,600 Euros 12%
6. Groceries: 2,800 Euros 9%
7. Other Transportation: 1,300 Euros 4%
8. Tourist Attractions: 1,200 Euros 4%
9. Dining & Entertainment: 1,200 Euros 4%
10. Motorhome Expenses: 1,000 Euros 3%
11. Miscellaneous Items: 2,700 Euros 9%
_________
Total: 40,500 Euros

These figures do not include return airfare to and from Europe. (Our airfare to Europe was purchased on points and our multiple return flights home were East through Asia)
When all is taken into consideration it probably cost about the same to travel the 10 months throughout Europe in our motorhome as it would have cost us to live normally at home.

Driving:
The first and most important thing to say about driving in Europe is… do not attempt this exercise without your very, very best friend, “GPS” at your side. A quality GPS system is an absolute must and it’s essential that it speaks to you so that when things get really busy, you can concentrate on watching the road. A GPS that warns you of photo radar will be valuable when driving these unfamiliar roads as this seems to be the main method of traffic control in Europe and the fines are very expensive. We used the combination of an iPad, Dual Sky Pro Receiver and a Map software “APP” to navigate all over Europe (More specific information about these items is described below). This combined set-up worked extremely well for us by providing a wonderful viewing experience on the iPad and the reliability of a serious satellite GPS receiver (NO cell or roaming charges). Various options of mobile APP software such as “Sygic” or “Waze” is available on the internet for free or at a reasonable price. Once you have decided on your GPS system, I would strongly suggest that you become familiar with using the software BEFORE you leave home.
Despite the uncharacteristically narrow secondary roadways, fast freeways and large mobile population, the driving in Europe (without formal border crossings) was relatively easy, orderly and non stressful. Virtually all the secondary roads were in great condition with the exception of some in the Mediterranean areas of Greece and Sicily. We tried to stay off the fast moving autobahns and major highways but on occasion we had no choice and when faced with no other alternative, we successfully managed them without too much stress at all. A warning however, If you do find yourself on a major roadways be careful you don’t get an unpleasant surprise at an unexpected toll booth, especially in France. Tolls can be very expensive like the $50 dollar,150km drive from Le Mans to Paris. Also, keep in mind that certain countries require a “Vignette” (electronic toll permit) that you must attach to your front windshield. You can usually purchase these for a number of days but in some cases like in Switzerland, you must buy an annual permit for 30 Euros. You have to purchase these Vignettes before driving any distance into the country so look for the locations that sell them (like certain gas stations) just as you cross the borders.

GPS
Dual – SkyPro, GPS receiver. This small red pucklike device is placed on the dashboard of your vehicle and receives GPS signals from US and Russian satellites. The Dual then sends the signal to your electronic device(s) (iPad, iPhone, Android etc.) by way of bluetooth. This unit therefore replaces the need for a dedicated GPS unit from outfits like Garmin or Tom Tom. It requires NO Cell or WiFi connection at all and will function anywhere in the world when the appropriate software APP like “Sygic” for Western Europe, or “Waze” from Google is down-loaded on you device. The cost of the Dual is about $160 and you can purchase it and obtain further information from “GPS Central” Calgary, Alberta. We successfully used the Sygic software for all of Europe and for the first 8 months I would have rated this APP a solid 10+. Unfortunately I made the mistake of updating this software with 2 months of driving to go and the new version was awful. I don’t think they properly road tested it and it had all kinds of issues, my rating scale slid to a -4 with the push of a single button. I really hope they’ve worked out all the bugs by now, I know that their North American map software seems to be working much better. The cost of the European Sygic APP software was about $30 at the time I purchased.

Blogging:
If you decide to do your own Blog, “WordPress” is an excellent choice as you actually own all the content including the photos which is unlike other outfits like Google. Once you figure out the complexities of this software all you need is an iPad (a keyboard is very helpful) and a wifi connection. This is a great way to keep all your friends and family informed about your adventures all at the same time and it’s a much more personal and secure platform than options like Facebook.

Top 10 Gadgets:
1. iPad – iPad – iPad – iPad * With Logiteck keyboard and Ram automotive mounting clamps
2. Dual – SkyPro, GPS receiver
3. Ram” iPad mounting bracket – For vehicle dashboard
4. Logiteck Keyboard – for the iPad
5. iPhone – For iPad “back-up”, camera, walk about wifi from free sites, travel APP’s on the go, communication if needed, etc,
6. Digital pocket camera – we used a “Nikon Coolpix” waterproof and shockproof AW110 (Bring with you an “Apple plug adapter” to download photos directly from your camera to your iPad
7. Huawei 4G Hotspot – (with appropriate SIM card) For personal and secure WiFi
8. Swiss International Travel Plug
9. Extension cord – “North American” so you can charge 3-4 devices at one time
10. Battery operated burglar alarm for the motorhome (Canadian Tire – Swann Motion Alarm)
*Note worthy. Small traveling magnifying glass

Top 10 APP’s
1. GPS Map Software – We used Sygic (Western Europe)
2. 1Password – Keep all your passwords and secure information in one place. Best APP EVER!
3. Skype – With auto Visa prepay, world calling capability (pennies/min) to any phone, using wifi
4. Dropbox or iCloud for documents, photos etc
5. Units Plus – Check the dollar value and convert to Euro’s. Convert most measurement units
6. WorldCard HD – Keep a digital copy of all the business cards you collect in one place
7. Day One – Daily Journal. Helps keep track of where you were when and what you did
8. CampingCard (ACSI) and YouCamp – Information on thousands of European campsites
9. Visual Budget – A user friendly APP for easily keeping track of your daily expenses.
10. Fuel Monitor – Track your gas usage

Other Useful APPS:
– Wikipanion – The Wikipedia APP for the iPad
– TripAdvisor – Also provides great POI information for most major destinations
– 1000 Places – Interesting, and has a limited information on key tourist attractions
– Choose a Medical advice APP such as the Blue Cross “Mobile Travel Kit” Expedia, Hotwire, booking.com,
– CNN (Fast when using slow wifi), CBC news, CBC Radio, BBC news, HuffPost, Etc.
– Choose a European Weather APP of your choice
– Google Translate – Excellent for translating information or pages from the internet
– Scanner Pro – Copy important documents and other Items as needed
– EverClip HD – Multi use App used for such things as copying and holding internet information
– Talkatone – Googles equivalent to Skype. If Skype’s reception is poor, Talkatone may work
– Vocre Translate – Will translate languages and speak the sentences out
– Offline German English Dictionary Translator for Tourists – Also available for other languages
– Fodors – Multiple Travel APP’s available
* countless other great travel APP’s exist so spend some time locking them all over.
Note: Without question you’ll need the specific secure banking software APP from your own Banking institution.
Note: If you purchase the Dual Sky Pro GPS Receiver, you should download the mobile Dual APP to go with it. This APP allows you to monitor the operation of the Sky Pro and see what’s happening with your connection.

Photos:
After a days outing I always downloaded my pictures directly onto my iPad and that way if something nasty happened to the camera or the “SD” card, I was only loosing the last few pictures. Now when you download the pictures onto your iPad, they should also be saved to the Apple iCloud when you turn on the iCloud option and have a wifi connection. If you don’t want to use the apple iCloud I can highly recommend “DropBox” for backing up your photos and or any other data or documents you may want handy. Most of my photo downloading to Drop Box took place during the nighttime while we slept. As far as the camera SD cards are concerned, we started with the biggest and fastest cards we could buy but soon discovered that this was not really the best approach for operating our camera. After about 1200 photos on a single high-end card we noticed a significant drop in camera performance including the battery life, activation speed and picture quality. I switched to using smaller SD (4GB #10) cards and after about 800 photos I would pop in a new one, this seemed to rectify our camera issues. This also put less SD card photos at risk of loss from any unfortunate situation. Ultimately, the iCloud is your supreme back-up buddy.

Money Handling and Money Belts:
Banking anywhere in the modern world is a snap these days with all the new technology at our fingertips. We did virtually all our banking for an entire year using our iPad connected to our own personal wifi hotspot and we were amazed at how straight forward and easy it was. We found that cash was the preferred method of payment at most smaller establishments in Europe and in many cases discovered that credit cards were not even accepted. Therefore it’s necessary to have more daily accessible cash available. We used the “Hide-en-Seek” method of cash management. We had 2 or 3 excellent hiding places in the Motorhome and I think we remembered them all when we traded it back in. As for our “day-to-day”-“on-the-go” we used this same principle. In our pocket, in a small change purse, we carried what we thought would be just enough cash to get us through the day and nothing else. Backing up the change purse we had, without question the most vital travel option available for travellers riding on our hips. In our “Money Belts” we had two cash stashes. First was the “Fail-safe cash” in a little sleeve inside the very difficult to enter back passport pocket. This was our final cash solution and we only needed to use this hard to get at cash a few times during our trip. (also inside this pocket, besides our passport, was our travel medical insurance card, vehicle registration ((not to be left in the vehicle)) and a back-up credit card). The second cash stash was the easy access pocket at the front of our money belts where we kept a very thin “RFID” protected card holder with our daily back-up pocket cash, main credit card, and drivers licence.
The trick to a money belt is to keep it as thin as possible by including only what you need and can’t do without in an emergency. Get rid of the wallet and use only the plastic card holder that comes with it. Dump most of the stuff that filled that up and you’re almost ready to go. We placed our passports in a small plastic bag/sleeve and that helped to protect and keep them fresh. We were never-ever without our money belts for the entire year. Thank goodness our fantastic “Packsafe” money belts with there slash proof cable belts were easy to wash by hand and quick to dry overnight. Many money belts exist but you can find this great money belt online or at Mountain Equipment Co-op. Keep in mind that it will take you a little time to get comfortable with using a money belt and manipulating yourself in public to get at it, but it’s well worth the effort for security and piece of mind. If you go to Europe for any length of time, you WILL encounter amazingly talented pick pockets.
Before we left home we obtained a list of European banks that were affiliated with our own Bank and when it came time to top up our cash, we looked for the appropriate bank and ATM (NOTE: Only ATM machines with the “Plus+” symbol displayed work for international bankcard withdrawals). There were not that many affiliated banks available for us to choose from but when necessary, they were definitely worth looking for considering the high percentage service charge for using a non-affiliated bank.

Multi Languages:
Easy! Most Europeans have learned english as a second language and many of them are very willing to practice there skills on any verbally fumbling North Americans. However, you’ll definitely gain high points if you first attempt your own limited version of German, French, Spanish or Italian. Most road signs use easy to understand symbols and items like menus, campground instructions and tourist information very often come with an english version attached. If all else fails, revert to using the truly international language of charades.

Motorhome:
If you plan on traveling in a motorhome for over six months you may want to consider purchasing and then reselling. We purchased our motorhome new with a prearranged agreement to sell it back to our dealer ten months later for 20% less then what we paid. Taking the registration and insurance cost into consideration it still worked out financially in our favour compared to renting a similar sized unit for the ten months that we were on the road. If you do decide to purchase, and you’re not a European Union citizen, you will have vehicle registration and insurance issues. You will probably need a European address, sponsor, and depending on the country you enter from, you’ll also need someone to represent you on the official vehicle documents. We obtained our visa for Germany and developed a good relationship with Michael Thyssen at Dumo Reismobile, a Motorhome Dealership just outside Dulmen, Germany in a village called Hiddingsel (www.duemo-duelmen.de). We placed a great deal of trust in Michael’s word and we can now report that his word was truly his bond from the start to finish of our transactions. Michael helped us every step of the way by getting us through the initial complex bureaucratic procedures and paperwork, then out the door and on our way. When it came time to returning the motorhome to Dumo, he and his entire staff were wonderfully helpful, honest, and efficient while wrapping things up. We would not hesitate to recommend Michael Thyssen and Dumo Reismobile to anyone planning a similar trip based on our own personal experiences. If you decide to rent a motorhome instead, Dumo Reismobile rents out a variety of units as well or you can also find a number of other possible motorhome rental companies throughout Europe such as “McRent”.
Before arriving in Germany I thought we would be mostly interested in obtaining a camper van style of motorhome but on closer examination of all the possibilities before us, we decided that for the length of time we would be using it, one motorhome size up would be our best bet. This turned out to be a great decision because after learning how to move and function in it, it became a very comfortable living space. It had everything we needed with lots of storage space. Eating, sleeping, cooking and relaxing was easy to do in this 21 foot long unit, and it had a great little washroom (head) as well. It was also a decent size for driving around on the roads and finding parking spaces to fit, not too big and not too small. The only extra options we put on our Sunlight T58 (on a Fiat chassis) was a back-up camera (very useful), radio, winter tires, mud flaps and awning. We used the standard radio a fair amount but the best use for the radio was having access to my iTunes from my iPhone or iPad by using a standard connecting cable. We purchased a great little gas BBQ that we used regularly, a small folding table and two comfortable lawn chairs. Most of our camping supplies were purchase at a huge camping store called “Obelink” in Winterswijk, Netherlands. This very well stocked Obelink store was a pleasant 45 minute drive from Dumo Reismobile and for us it was well worth the time and effort to get there. But, there is no shortage of other shopping opportunities along the way including big box stores similar to Home Depot. These kind of stores turned out to be the best place to replace our empty gas bottles used for heating and cooking.

Camping Facilities and Infrastructure:
Camping options in Europe are amazing and I would say superior to ours in North America, with thousands of campgrounds to choose from and they’re located in every community. We never came across a really “bad” campground. Some were much better than others and some were just amazing, like resorts located on spectacular estates. One star campgrounds are very basic so we tended to zero in on the 3 to 5 star campgrounds that usually had a great selection of facilities including small stores, restaurants and better WiFi. Washrooms, showers, dish clean-up, and laundry facilities were usually excellent. It’s interesting to note that in our entire ten months of using these campgrounds, I never once remember having to wait in line for access to a small personal shower room (which are standard throughout Europe). 5 star campgrounds, in some cases, were truly amazing like the French Chateau in the Loire valley and the beautiful resort in southern Portugal. Most of the campgrounds near major attractions have public transportation that is easily accessible. We also utilized popular overnight camping facilities referred to as a “Stellplatz or Aires” when convenient and available. You find these official designated camping lots everywhere in Europe but most particularly in the smaller towns and centres. They usually only charge a few Euros per night and some are even free but keep in mind that during the busy months of the year they fill up fast. These Stellplatz’s are only available for self contained Motorhomes that are passing through the area and therefore they usually provide only minimal options such as power, water, and sewage disposal access. The idea here is to have a safe and clean place for people to camp overnight that’s within walking distance to the town centres so campers can easily find places to dispose of their money at willing local establishments. The concept is brilliant as these are great places to stay when on the road and in some cases you’ll even find shower opportunities right there or at nearby civic facilities such as public sports centres. Markets and grocery stores are everywhere, fun to explore, and the selection of food is fantastic and reasonably priced too. Just thinking about the markets makes me want to jump onto an airplane and fly back to some little town in France just to sample that wonderful fresh French bread again, no additional condiments required.

Thanks for reading our Blog:
I hope this “Nut’s and Bolts” post will be of some use to someone, somewhere, somehow. We would never consider ourselves absolute authorities on motorhome travel in Europe but, we did learn a few things during our adventure so if you’re planning your own escape and have some specific questions, please feel free to contact us and we’ll do our best to help you out.
“Just-Do-It”… Happy travels!

The Sunlight T 58. Great German design and construction on a reliable Fiat chassis with a clean and economical diesel engine.

A great place to eat, sit and relax… and do your homework.

Our fantastic Sunlight T58 layout. Before leaving home I thought this would be the perfect motorhome but probably too big for driving in old Europe… wrong!

It only took us a few hours to make this decision. Not bad for me.

A cozy but very comfortable bed.

A small part to the Dumo dealership complex showing the main office.

Making things happen with the help of Michael Thyssen at Dumo Reisemobile.

Packing gadgets just prior to leaving home. We used virtually everything here except the Walkie-Talkie.

#1 travel option… the iPad. On the job 7 days a week and often operating night and day. 2 great books; DK Eyewitness Europe and ACSI campground guide.

The Dual – SkyPro, GPS receiver at work. When connected to my iPad it provided me with wide screen navigation… Fantastic!

Dual – SkyPro. This GPS receiver will send a “Blue Tooth” signal to 5 mobile devices at once.

Huawei 4G Mobile WiFi Hotspot. A local SIM card is required.

The “must have” North American extension cord. Plug it into your World travel plug and you can now charge multiple devices at once. I used this cord every day.

Inexpensive motion detector we purchased from Canadian Tire. On occasion it really helped to provide us with a good “false sense of security”.

Homework every night.

All the BBQ parts. You filled the pan base with water to catch the grease. We made a lot of great chicken dinners on this puppy

We loved this little BBQ. You washed it up after every use and packed it away in it’s travel bag

Margot cooked some amazing meals on this little stove. I usually washed the dishes using the campground facilities. Notice the electric heater on the floor; this was a great gas saver when we had the campground power.

The “garage”. We had lots of storage space in our unit. This large space could also be accessed from an outside door.

Campground “gray-water” dumping and fresh water “fill-up” station. The redish brick structure attached to the wall is for servicing your porta-potty.

Standard European motorhome “porta-potty” system. Easy to manage and easy to find facilities where you can manage it.

Real Fresh laundry!

Another example of a campground laundry.

A 5 star campground laundry area.

Major clothes wash as we camped beside the Rhein river at Cologne, Germany.

Dish washing station at a 5 star campground in Portugal.

Dish washing station at a campground in Spain.

Doing dishes at a campground in Northern France.

A family washroom at the 5 star campground in Portugal.

Campground shower facilities in southern Spain.

Wonderful 5 star campground in southern Portugal.

This must be France.

A great French Chateau campground in the Loire valley.

Campground on the river in Heidelberg.

Lovely campground in Luxembourg.

Spellplatz in Nuremberg, Germany.

Spellplatz in the centre of Berlin.

Campground in Salzburg Austria.

Spellplatz in Senden Germany, near Dulmen.

Spellplatz in Weimar Germany.

Spellplatz at Le Havre France on the Normandy Coast.

Campground in Delphi Greece.

Spellplatz on the West Coast of France.

Sadly packing things up at Dumo.

10 months and 30,000 Km’s on that little black line. What a wonderful experience!

We had a fantastic time exploring Hong Kong and will never forget this fascinating little corner of the world. There is so much here and so many people packed into this little space it’s not surprising why the average building level is about 30 to 50 stories. For so many millions of people, it all seemed to work so smoothly. What was surprising is how much green space there is around Hong Kong and how many Rolex watch stores can be squeezed into one city block. Flying out of Hong Kong we had a great panoramic view of the city and surrounding mountains and Islands below.
After experiencing the somewhat chaotic cities of Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi, Tokyo was a shock to the system. I don’t think we’ve ever experienced a more orderly, polite, respectful or clean city. The people are so friendly and helpful that ones personal safety and well-being when walking about is never even a consideration. Tokyo however can be a bit expensive if you let yourself go and forget to watch the budget. Lots of things to see and do in town but our favourite day was when we took a bus/bullet train tour to visit Mt. Fuji. Often covered in cloud, we lucked out and saw it in its full and splendid glory despite the fact that it was a little on the cool and crisp side. The fish market, the Imperial Palace, many temples and cool shopping districts are great places to explore when walking about this pedestrian friendly city. But, get ready for a steep learning curve when it comes time to sorting out the most complex and complicated metro systems we have ever seen.

Road Ramble:

All good things, and some great, must eventually come to an end. Our amazing twelve month “around the world trip” is about to conclude and we end it with so many things still left on the agenda to do. It seems that the more you see, the more you want to see. As we’ve shifted about from location to location we’ve rarely moved on from one destination to another without having some degree of regret about what we’ve missed. The trip home through Asia-Pacific turned out to be great decision and has really given us the opportunity to encounter a vastly different cultural experience then that of Europe. But, no matter how much time you plan for, it’s never enough and as these final few minutes of this wonderful year-long adventure quickly slip away we find ourselves in shock about how incredibly fast it all went by. We are definitely excited about returning home and seeing family and friends but also a little sad about having to end this addictive nomadic lifestyle… at least for now. Ever mindful of how fortunate we’ve been to have had this opportunity we truly hope that others may be encouraged to take an adventurous little expedition of their own. And, if that is the case, and we can be of any assistance in helping you plan a similar adventure, please give us a call and we’ll share what we’ve learned along the way including ideas that worked and some that didn’t. This will be the final “on the road” post for this particular adventure of ours and I want to thank all those that followed the blog and put up with its shortcomings and quirkiness. Once we’ve reestablished ourselves back home and get settled in I would like to send out one more trip related post regarding the “Nuts & Bolts” aspect of our trip. This post will focus on the facts, figures and some observations that MAY be of interest to some that are thinking of getting away themselves.

We’ve been moving so fast and doing so much lately that it’s been really difficult finding adequate time to prepare my blog material for posting. This update therefore is a hastily assembled collection of photos with a short overview of our recent travels.
We took an interesting tour just outside of Bangkok to see the “Death Railway” with its famous WWII bridge over the River Kwai. We actually had an opportunity to ride the rail on an old, but still actively operating local train. Back in Bangkok we visited the Royal Palace, explored many temples and had a great time around the city before heading off to celebrate the New Year at a very nice resort hotel on Pattaya Bay beach. From Thailand we flew to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) city in Vietnam. We took a trip up the Saigon river to visit the very large underground complex of war tunnels called Cu Chi that were used for years to battle the US military forces nearby. This very crude yet effective complex was literally an underground city for thousands of determined Vietcong fighters. To pay tribute to the era we stopped in for a few “cold-ones” at the three favoured Saigon watering holes of the 1970’s war correspondents and military commanders. Hanoi was an eye opener. We’ll never forget the crazy suicidal motorbike traffic in both Saigon and Hanoi where crossing a street is not recommended for the faint of heart. A visit to the “Hanoi Hilton” POW Camp and the war museum was an interesting experience and with all these painful reminders around you’d think that the local people would still be bitter but that’s not the case. Almost everyone we came in contact with was fantastic and the service we received was truly exceptional. An overnight cruise on a unique 17 cabin wooden ship on Ha Long Bay was the highlight of our trip to Vietnam. Hundreds of majestic islands floating about casting their reflection on the calm water seemed far too picturesque to be real. The food was fantastic and the boat’s crew made us feel like royalty. This is a breathtaking part of the world that everyone should have the opportunity to see at least once. The four-hour drive to Ha Long Bay through the countryside was also a memorable experience but in a much different way and it was not quite as majestic.
We’ve just arrived in Hong Kong and we’re very impressed with how clean and orderly things are. We plan on exploring this impressively tall city for a few more days before flying off to our final travel destination, Tokyo. If all goes well we should be home in Victoria before the end of the month and we’re really getting excited about that.
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We arrived in Bangkok on the 23rd and have settled into a very large resort style apartment hotel where we plan on celebrating a quiet Christmas together. Some decorative signs of the season do exist here in Thailand but after experiencing those fantastic Christmas markets in Frankfurt, it actually feels like Christmas for us was a week ago in Germany and this is the vacation part. We must admit however that right now we’re feeling a bit homesick and would gladly trade this tropical experience for a seat at the traditional Christmas dinner table with our family close by. I guess next Christmas will be twice as special for us.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE were very fascinating places to visit. When we got to Dubai we were completely amazed at this ultra modern city/area that looked like a Las Vegas on steroids without the glitter and sin-city side of things. We stayed at a fantastic beachside resort where our balcony overlooked a beautiful marina and the famous man-made “Palm Island”. Having all this luxurious living space around made for a great change but I must say that we were already missing the relaxed comfort of our little motorhome.
Our first impressions were that this entire area appears to be more western than North America itself. But as we settled in we began to see and experience some of the less obvious and “non-concrete” differences. Very strict personal conduct rules apply here such as no kissing, holding hands or showing any kind of affection in public between genders. It’s common however to see two males, or two females, walking hand in hand or with arms around each other. No swearing or drinking of alcohol in public places and by the way, these rules are enforced with potentially severe penalties. Women shopping in very exclusive shops buying beautiful expensive clothes and jewelry then covering it all up in public with a black burka. Somehow all these strict rules and customs seem to fit the interesting older parts of the city but to our eyes seemed a bit out-of-place and contradictory in the ultra modern western style environment of the new Dubai.
We took a ride to the “Top of the World” the other day. The 125th floor observation deck of the Burj Khalifa building is really something to experience. This is by far the tallest man-made structure in the world today and it’s not only structurally amazing, it’s also the tallest piece of artwork we’ve ever seen. New construction stretches for miles along the sandy coastline where it’s squeezed between the desert on one side and the Persian Gulf on the other. Clusters of mega towers pop up like giant redwoods next to marinas, malls, business centres and such. We thought Berlin had a lot of construction going on, in Dubai it was impossible to count the number of construction projects and cranes at work on new and spectacularly designed buildings. Interestingly, we couldn’t help but notice the large number of foreign workers that seem to be doing what appears to be all the labour building and maintaining the new UAE.
If shopping is your thing, no problem… immaculate mega malls, with mega shops and mega prices. Parking outside the Dubai Mall reminded us of the Monaco Casino with millions of dollars worth of cars lined up along the curb. Inside the mall I got my first chance ever to try out the driver’s seat of a couple of very nice Rolls Royce’s, the two combined worth about a million and a half. Nice, but I couldn’t stand the first scratch so I think we’ll stick with our good old Hyundai Santa Fe. We were very surprised to see so much of the Christmas theme throughout the entire area, especially in the shops and restaurants… I wonder what that says?
In the first part of January we’ll be leaving Thailand and heading to Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam for the next step towards home. We’re still having lots of fun as we move east but the closer to home we get the more excited we are. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone soon and we’re especially now looking forward to an extra big Christmas with you next year. But, for this year, we again want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Arriving in Dubai

Well, the quick trip to London didn’t quite work out for us. Margot’s ankle was still a little to tender for such an excursion and the wet cooler weather was also becoming a bit of an issue. So, we decided to leave the London venture for a different British Isles trip sometime in the not-to-distant future. Instead we spent an extra few days wandering about Paris and enjoying what could be our favourite international city so far.
From Paris we made good time heading through Belgium to another amazingly beautiful city, Amsterdam. We stayed at a great campground about 20 minutes from Dam Square and we felt right at home wandering about these beautiful and familiar canals again, but I’ll have to admit, we were missing the company of Bert and Camilla this time around. Luckily for us, we have our new Dutch family to count on for a warm and welcome feeling. The red carpet was rolled out again and we had such a wonderful day eating and visiting. We can hardly wait to see them in Canada so that we can reciprocate this hospitality.
The weather’s been getting much colder lately with icicles forming and the space heater working overtime so it’s got us moving things along a little bit faster than planned. We had almost forgot about the cold. So, here we are after 28,000km, back at Dumo-Reismobile, the dealership outside of Dulmen, Germany that has been so fantastic to deal with. Michael Thyssen has been true to his word in every possible way and his excellent staff has been extremely helpful to us as we wrap up our European adventure, just like they were at getting it started. We’re now in the process of packing up the bulk of our things for freight shipping back home and have discovered that this is not an easy or inexpensive venture. The guys here at the dealership are graciously helping us with arranging the carriers to transport it. All we have to do is “pack-it-up” which sounds so easy when you say it quickly… Why did we bring so much stuff?
From here we will start the next phase of our return trip home via Asia-Pacific. Our sights are now set on flying from Frankfurt, Germany to Dubai, United Arab Emirates where thankfully the temperature is averaging in the 30’s. This could be our Christmas “vacation” destination. From there, eastward toward Bangkok,Thailand or possibly Singapore, Malaysia. We don’t plan on spending too much time working our way back home but we do plan on sampling a little bit of Asian culture as we skip our way along and getting back to the Pacific Northwest within three to six weeks. And yes! we are getting excited. As for the Blog during this phase, I will do my best to sneak in a short post whenever I get the chance but depending on our time and wifi availability they will probably be much more limited… lucky for you.

Road Ramble: Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas will be very different and I suspect somewhat difficult this year as we’ll be celebrating it without family and friends nearby for the first time ever. We’re already starting to think about having a family turkey dinner in March just to give us the strength to make it through the season. I can’t tell you how much we are going to miss the kids and all the fun times we have with everyone over the holidays. I’m sure that no one is feeling too sorry for us… but keep in mind that you’ll all be front and centre in our minds, and we’re wishing everyone a very…
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

With very mixed feelings about entering the final stages of our European tour and bringing to an end this whimsical Gypsy lifestyle, we’ve now focused our headlights north and from Lisbon started the long journey back towards Germany. We can hardly believe that it’s been ten months since we started this whimsical road trip and though we really miss our family, and friends, we’re certainly not bored with this relaxed way of living and exploring. Traveling in this fashion has been such an amazing experience with the luxurious freedom of time, transport and private accommodation. Europe has certainly not disappointed us either, there is just so many fantastic things to see and do over here that I’m sure we could reverse the direction of this trip, see all new things, and have a completely different experience along the way. But now it’s time to focus our attention on the next stage of our adventure and start putting together some sort of an exit plan from Europe and a new scheme for returning home via Asia-Pacific.
As you know Margot was completely immobilized with her badly sprained ankle in Lisbon and so we think of this first part of the trip North as our medical evacuation phase. We were unable to stop and explore in detail the more interesting places along the way so we quickly adapted our travel methods and became very content with rumbling along and just enjoying the scenery through the front windshield of our motorhome. In hindsight, we figure that we missed about five days worth of interesting tourist “exploratory-stop-overs” including one or two more days checking out Lisbon, a day in Porto, Portugal a day in Santiago de Compostela, Spain and a day in Bordeaux, France. But, we drove through some very beautiful Fall landscape all along the way and our only real issue, other than keeping the ankle iced, was the lack of open campgrounds. There must be at least a thousand great camping sites along the coastal route between Lisbon and Paris but at this time of the year, only a few remain open. We did however manage to make it back to Paris having only spent one night sleeping in a shopping mall parking lot; which did have it’s advantage of great proximity to McDonald’s coffee first thing in the morning. Besides all the painfully negative aspects of Margot’s injury, if this was going to happen, she chose the perfect time and place. You see, the original plan from Lisbon was to focus our efforts on a multi day “bee-line” drive back to Paris, and therefore much of Margot’s down time was spent resting in the passenger seat with her foot elevated on the dashboard. Turned out to be a great way to recover and make positive mileage progress at the same time. We did drive through Le Mans, France to pay tribute to this racing Mecca and actually got a good look at the track that was in use by a racing school. We also watched with interest some very talented “Go-Cart” racers perform on a professional skill training track next to the main track. Some of these young kids that were driving these “not so ordinary go-carts” were driving at exceptional speeds and I’m sure that some of them will probably go on to be the future drivers of Formula 1 at La Mans. I would love to see this place during race week! Somehow we ended up spending more time in La Mans then planned and had to resort to the high-speed six-lane expressway to drive into Paris before it got too late. We don’t often use toll roads as we prefer the more scenic and leisurely pace of the secondary roads but when we got to the pay booth about 110km away we were reminded of another reason for using back roads as we deposited close to $50 into that mechanical highway bandit.
We pulled into the same great Paris campground that we stayed in last June. It’s only a short trip to the Arc de Triomphe and Des Champs Elysees. Now that most of the leaves have fallen, we can actually see the Eiffel tower from our camping pitch. Paris is an amazing city no matter what time of year but seeing it with all the fall colours has been a real treat and if Christmas markets are your thing, you should experience the humongous one that runs along the entire park on both side of the Champs Elysees. Strolling along through this colourful display of craft booths and food carts with a glass of warm mulled-wine in hand, listening to Bing Crosby singing Christmas carols from the speakers above, will become a permanent and cherished memory of our trip.
We plan on spending a few more days here in Paris and if Margot is feeling “up-to-it”, then possibly doing a quick backpack trip through the Chunnel to London for a short visit there before carrying on to towards Holland again. Our final motorhome destination is Dumo Reisemobile in Dulmen-Hiddingsel, Germany and that’s not far from Amsterdam. We really are starting to feel the vibration from that ticking clock.

Road Ramble: Medication Disorder:

Why is it so hard to find what we consider basic “off-the-shelf” medication in Europe? You can’t even purchase “once-a-day cardio baby aspirin” without a prescription from a doctor yet down the street you can buy a bottle of your favourite expensive Scotch Whisky at the local supermarket. Finding pharmaceutical medication of any kind in a convenient shopping location is just not possible. One must actually hunt down a special drug store for even the most basic of your needs, and don’t forget you prescription. When we left home we thought we had a good supply of the basics such as Ibuprofen but sure enough with all the walking we’ve done on aging joints that are in need of attention, and now with Margot’s swollen ankle, we’ve run short and can’t easily get more. It’s a good thing we don’t need anything more serious, like Viagra. More importantly, if your used to traveling in Mexico and are now planning a trip to Europe, make sure you bring along all the necessary meds you think you may be need because Europe is definitely not Mexico when it comes to finding readily accessible medication. If you do forget your pain medication and have an emergency situation, I would highly recommend heading to your nearest grocery store outlet and choosing from the wonderfully huge selection of quality alcohol beverages at your disposal. Not sure what to suggest about a sudden case of diarrhea.

I realize it’s only been a few days since my last blog posting but I thought it would be good idea to update you on our latest little misfortune. Check out the Road Ramble below.

As for the travel update… After leaving our campground in Albufeira, Portugal we headed west to Sagres which is as far west as one can go on the European continent without falling off. Very beautiful and rugged area much like the Oregon coast with its giant waves, fantastic cliffs, and miles of deserted sandy beaches. We spent the night at an impressive “4 star” campground resort just outside the cool little harbour town of Lagos on the south coast. As we drove north towards Lisbon we passed numerous other idyllic surfer style beaches along the way but what caught my attention in this area was the abundance of wild “cork” trees. I’ve never seen a cork tree before and I just had to stop and get a closer look. In the pictures you’ll notice how they harvest the cork (bark) from only one half of the tree trunk at a time because If they remove more than that it will kill the tree. Growing cork is not a fast process as it will take a tree at least ten years to replace what has been harvested. All over Portugal we have found a fantastic assortment of cool cork related products such as hand bags, wallets, hats, and even shoes.
The final drive into Lisbon was a bit crazy and it was not made any easier by the heavy rain and darkness. When we finally located our huge campground inside a large city area park we found ourselves parking the motorhome during the biggest downpour we have seen so far but, for some reason, nasty weather like this always makes our confined space feel that much more cozy. Lisbon is a very interesting city with tons of history as well. Without a doubt you can see the strains of the recent financial pressure on the Lisbon infrastructure but it’s still a great place to visit and we never sensed a depressed feeling at all, we only experienced pleasant and up-beat people. The impressive Castle S. Jorge proudly overlooks the old walled village next to it and the main city centre and harbour below. At night with all the feature lights on this view is even more splendid but if you plan on exploring Lisbon in the dark, beware of those dangerously deceptive shifting curbs.

Road Ramble: Ouch!

Even the lives of amateur explorers can be filled with excitement, danger and unexpected adventures. Margot decided to experiment with all three at once on Tuesday evening by running across a busy Lisbon Square bravely leaping over large puddles and tall curbs as she raced to catch our late night bus. Unfortunately a tall curb got the best of her and she went down hard with a badly twisted left ankle. With all the painful markings of a bad sprain Margot was understandably upset and we both agreed that this was not a fun way to end such a great day. As this happened right beside our bus stop we decided to carry on,”hop” aboard, and head for home. Unfortunately Kristen wasn’t around to practice her new nursing skills so I did my best and thankfully we had others there willing to help; this is where the story becomes a little more “upbeat”. You can really tell the true nature of a city and it’s people by the way you’re treated by total strangers when the going gets tough. When Margot fell, a young skateboarder dude instantly jumped into action to lend a hand while a nearby restaurant waitress scrambled for some ice. But, the most amazing gesture of all was from the bus driver who helped us onto the bus and then when we reached our stop got up and announced to everyone that he was going to make a slight detour… for us, and then proceeded to drive off his designated route to drop us right at the front gate of our campground. I don’t think we’ll ever forget the heart-warming image of that big bus pulling away with the bus driver and most of the people aboard waving goodby and wishing us well. Did I mention the lady on the bus that was so helpful. At the campground office we had a better chance to assess the damage and ultimately decided it prudent to check things out at the nearby hospital. The concerned campground staff also jumped into action and arranged for a taxi to take us to the hospital, then provided us with an extra big bag of ice to get through the night. When we arrived at the rather confusing emergency department we hadn’t even exited the taxi before a very nice fellow and his daughter surprisingly sprung into action there, running off to get a wheelchair and then helping us with Portuguese translation for our entire visit. The doctor and all the hospital staff were fantastic and when the X-rays confirmed it actually was a sprain, we were on our way back home again with instructions to take things really easy for a few days and after a couple of weeks things should be getting back to normal. We both agree, that for us, the most significant “upbeat” part of this unfortunate little story focuses around the wonderful people who came from nowhere to help total strangers and how that’s left us with such a positive impression of the Portuguese people in general. It’s amazing the impact that a few small gestures of random kindness can have on ones opinion of an entire country. Almost two days later and you’ll be happy to know that the swelling is now starting to subside and the patient is on the mend. Unfortunately, our freewheeling mobility has taken a sharp hit, but with lots left to see and do, rehabilitation will become our main focus over the next few weeks.

We had a very hard time leaving Calahonda and could have easily spent an entire month or more in this very interesting and service rich area. After two busy weeks here we leave with still things to do on our agenda, like spend a day relaxing on the spectacular beach a short walk away. As we drove into this deceptive area our first impressions were not that great because it seemed so excessively commercialized but the longer we stayed the more we began to realize and appreciate why this is such a popular destination. Everything we needed was a short walk or journey away and from groceries stores to restaurant choices the food selection is exceptional. For short daytime excursions to places like Gibraltar, Ronda, Tangier, Granada, or Cordoba all we needed to do is walk to the front of our campground complex and hop on the appropriate pre-arranged tour bus. On halloween day we took the tour bus to Gibraltar and explored this impressive British rock from top to bottom. Great views all the way to Africa and despite a little “monkey business” up top, we managed to get a quick look at the famous WWII tunnels and still have time for some main street shopping.
The following day we took another bus trip to the beautifully situated city of Ronda where you’ll find the oldest, and one of the most famous, bull fighting rings in the world. Notice the great and very risky picture I got of “Margot-Olay” demonstrating one of her own outstanding defensive techniques in the ring. The deep defensive gorge that separates the old Moorish part of Ronda from the new(ish) side is quite spectacular and since the mid 1700’s the impressive “Puente Nuevo” bridge has connected the two sides. For much of this day we were thinking of Joanna and Lloyd as we nervously watched a major climbing competition progress using the bridge and surrounding cliffs as their playground. I think all the competitors made it home safely, but I’m still having nightmares. All in all we had two great bus tour days exploring this beautiful region of Spain and now totally understand why it’s such a great location and destination for so many northerners to weather away the winter.
After a rather lengthy good-by to all our campground friends we pressed on up the coast line to the city of Cadiz where Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492. From Cadiz we drove cross-country to pleasantly surprising Sevilla and settled at a campground just outside of town. Sevilla’s beautiful city centre makes for a great place to wander about and explore. This is an inland port city with a long rich history and some very interesting buildings of which many are covered by marvellously colourful ceramic tiles. We drove across the border into Portugal on Thursday and have set up camp at the great little beach resort town of Albufeira. We think this is a sleeper area that will become much, much more popular within the next 10-15 years. From here we plan on driving West to “lands end” at Sabres and then pointing our bow towards Lisbon. It’s hard, and sad, to think that our trip is quickly coming to an end and our sights are focussing on Germany again as we head into our final European stretch.

Road Ramble: People do make a difference

Tomorrow marks the beginning of our eleventh month on the road and we thought we’d done a pretty good job of learning to function in our tightly confined living space, but then, in Calahonda we met our campground neighbours from Finland. Wow, a family of six living together in a similar sized unit for more than half a year. They certainly put us in our place and made us appreciate all that expansive and luxurious real-estate accommodation that we’re living in. Such a warm and welcoming family they are and despite our extreme language gap, we managed to fumble through a number of spirited games of Uno and Dominos together. The two little girls tried desperately in vain to school us in Finnish from a kindergarten picture book but finally gave up on us and resorted to the good old “Pictionary/Charades” approach to foreign communication (Finnish is hard!). What a great family adventure they seemed to be having. Part of the real enjoyment a trip like this is getting to meet all these amazing and interesting people along the way. We’ve had countless conversation with friendly people from all around the world in stores, restaurants, campgrounds or just in passing and the best part of these conversations is realizing that despite the obvious differences, our family priorities are very much in common. Hopefully over the next couple of months we will continue to meet many more diverse and welcoming people as we start working our way back home to our own loving family.

Spain has turned out to be a real highlight for us despite a rather unpleasant experience shortly after our grand entrance (see Road Ramble). Traveling south from Madrid we made our way to the cool medieval town of Toledo that’s famous for its rich history of sword and armour making. If you’re in the market for a new sword, or suit of armour, this is definitely the place to go. Our campground was just a pleasant 20 minute walk down the hill from one of the old city gates. Onward we drove to Cordoba where we visited the Mezquita, one of the most interesting buildings we have seen so far. This huge “Mosque/Cathedral”, in relatively good condition, dates back 12 centuries surviving turbulent times. It’s very unique Christian-Islamic architecture is quite fascinating to experience all under one roof making for an interesting story and walk through. The close by palace and gardens are also worth mentioning. The drive from Cordoba to Granada was very beautiful and went by way to quickly. In Granada we had to pre-arrange our tickets to visit the famous Alhambra Palace as they only allow a limited number of visitors per day. This is a massive and impressive complex that also has a very colourful Moorish (Arabic) history dating back to 1238. This was the last Islamic stronghold on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and fell to Catholic Monarchs in 1492. Later on it even survived Napoleon who tried in vain to blow-it-up. This large complex also has the same very impressive mix of architecture all situated on a magnificent hilltop setting overlooking the old-town and valleys below. Besides the many fun little shops in the old-town, the massive 16th century Gothic Cathedral was also an impressive site to see. A little further south and we were greeted by the sandy beaches of the Costa del Sol. We stopped for the night in Nerja to pay tribute to George and Oksana’s old stomping grounds from their mid eighties travel adventure. This stretch of the Mediterranean is very well utilized and you find an abundance of hotels, resorts, strip malls, shopping centres, restaurants, villas, condos and golf courses… Cam. It seemed busy now but they say in the summer months you can hardly move it’s so crowded, and hot too. We’ve ended up in a nice campground in the village of Calahonda (love the name but I think it should be Calaharley instead) that was recommended to us by a wonderful couple from Huntington Beach, California. We first met this amazing couple in Pompei and then again in Rome and now in Calahonda. He’s a retired aero space engineer who worked on a number of projects including the Apollo missions. Between his work contracts, Barbara now 82 and Greg 87 have been traveling Europe off and on for extended periods of time with and without there children since the early sixties. For this trip they loaded their Mercedes-Benz on a freighter in California and picked it up in Germany where they bought a nice new holiday trailer to pull behind it. I thought we were doing well but they make us look like amateurs, they’re loaded with valuable information and great stories but best of all their fun to be around. Last night we all took the bus miles down the coast to a great Chinese restaurant they knew about and then successfully fumbled our way back home in the dark. These two are such an inspiration, I can only hope that we have this kind of health, drive, and courage when we’re approaching our mid eighties. We initially planned on staying in this campground for one or two days but the new plan will see us here for probably ten. Every day It seems to get harder to leave as this entire area of the coast is starting to fill up with snowbirds from northern Europe and many of the estimated half million escapees are from England. We did manage to squeeze in a bus tour to Tangiers, Morocco. It was a very interesting trip but because we had such a quick visit to the port city, I’m sure we missed much of the true blue Moroccan experience. But from what we saw and have heard, keep an eye on this strategically placed city and country because in the next 10-15 years, it will be the number one major centre of commerce for northern Africa. This will be partly due to Moroccans progressive, welcoming and non discriminating nature when it comes to business and religion. We really have enjoyed almost everything about Spain and would love to spend another month exploring it but the clock is ticking and people tell us that Portugal is also great so we’re now looking forward to our time heading north along the Portuguese West Coast.

Road Ramble:

We never expected to be traveling for the better part of a year without a few negative experiences, but four rip-off’s is enough already. We told you about the pick-pocket in Germany, our bogus parking ticket in Sicily, and our really bogus bus ticket infraction in Florence. Now unfortunately we have to add a “break-in” to that annoying little list. It happened about an hour after we entered Spain when we pulled into the parking lot of a very large grocery chain store at about two in the afternoon. The area had lots of people around and I intentionally parked near the front entrance within the sightline of a busy outdoor restaurant. We did notice some older kids riding there skateboards around and utilizing the side of the parking lot not too far away, but they looked non-threatening and we decided they looked too innocent to be crooks (Not so according to other camper travellers that we have talked to since). We were in the store for about half an hour and upon our return we discovered our motorhome cabin door lock had been punched out and a few things messed about inside. We quickly looked around and found all our obvious valuables were still in place and therefore figured they must have been spooked, running off before any serious damage could be done. It wasn’t until later that we discovered they actually did get away with two back-packs, one having significant sentimental and monetary value. Inside the packs were rain jackets, an umbrella and a few other miscellaneous things but definitely worth noting was Margot’s small address book (no e-mail addresses) that was inside her backpack. So, just in case, if you get a suspicious call asking you to send money to some obscure destination to help save us from imminent disaster, hang-up and fire us off an e-mail instead. As all break-in’s are, this was a very disturbing experience but we do consider ourselves lucky because it could have been so much worse. Thankfully we did get our lock fixed at a dealership in Madrid and again have learned the hard way that in this part of the world you should never leave a motorhome unattended in unsecured locations, particularly along the Mediterranean coast. But for some strange reason however, we can’t stop thinking that possibly those kids on the skateboards followed us all the way from Italy just waiting for the right opportunity to strike. Possibly they work for the transit authority in Florence.

It’s with a broken heart that we post this blog. We have just received word that a truly amazing young gentleman in our newly extended family has tragically passed away following a terrible highway accident near Mission, BC on Friday morning. Our feelings are overwhelmed with grief as we try to comprehend this loss and our deepest thoughts and prayers are with the family.

Barcelona and Madrid:

Barcelona was a pleasant surprise for us and we would consider it to be one of the nicest cities we’ve experienced so far. Clean, safe and organized, it’s a perfect pedestrian city with mega wide sidewalks on mega wide boulevards lined with trees, shops, and filled with people. Countless restaurants, fantastic architecture, and a spectacular waterfront with miles of sandy beach. This is also the home of artist architect Antoni Gaudi and a number of his famous works are within easy walking distance of the city centre. By far the most important of his work is the Church Sagrada Familia and a trip through this basilica is truly an outstanding experience regardless of your spiritual beliefs. You can’t help but be moved in some personal way even if it’s just the architectural splendour of this structure that leaves you in awe. Not bad for a building that’s not yet finished. Construction started in 1883 and still following Gaudi’s design, they hope to have it completed by 2040. As we wandered through the organically themed Cathedral the sound of ongoing construction echoed throughout and almost made it sound alive. Sagrada Familia is now one of the top tourist attractions in Europe and Gaudi himself, who’s buried in the crypt, has hero status in Spain and is considered one of Barcelona’s greatest citizen.
We didn’t spend much time in Madrid as we camped a fair distance away in a famous little town called Aranjuex and took the train into Madrid centre. We managed to squeeze in a very interesting trip to the impressive Royal Palace and then we explored the very crowded city centre area. Known for it’s very high rate of petty street crime, we felt a bit nervous wandering about the packed downtown and we actually preferred the smaller town we camped in. Just a short walk from our campground, through beautiful Royal parks, was another splendid Royal Palace called “Chiquitren” and it was used as a spring retreat for the Spanish Royals. The Royals called it the “Farm House” but it’s not like any farm-house we’ve ever seen.
We will now be heading towards the south coast with stops in Toledo, Cordoba and Granada along the way.

Road Ramble:

I actually had a ramble topic for this blog but in light of the recent events at home I find it hard to ramble on about anything. Instead, we would like to leave you all with a message of love, especially to our children, Kristen & Erik, Cam & Lia, whom we are missing a lot right about now. Make the most of every single day and remember to hug the ones you love.