Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 23:21:49 -0600
Reply-To: Owen <olists@THEBRANDS.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Owen <olists@THEBRANDS.ORG>
Subject: Re: camping europe in westy (long post with summary at top)
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Art McGinn" <ajmcginn@EARTHLINK.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2003 6:20 PM
Subject: camping europe in westy
> has anyone out there shipped a westy or a van to europe and back and-or
> westy camped on that continent? we're planning a six-month trip starting
in
> april and open to any pointers. we've done a bit of this on the west coast
> and look forward to the big trip. cheers, art & kerry mcginn, '82 westy,
san
> fran
>
You will probably get bombarded with advice on this one but I will throw my
experiences in there anyway.
The quick read summary - Caravan travel is very common in Europe. Vans our
size are far more practical than the monster RV's we see in the states since
fuel is much more expensive. For the length of your stay it may make sense
to buy vs rent and certainly cheaper than shipping one over and back.
Boondocking was no big deal. Fuel costs weren't outrageous. Stocking up at
the big hypermarts was a good idea. Prague was fantastic. The German
countryside was amazing. Parking and using public transportation was great
since it freed us of finding parking in busy cities and we became a bit less
of a tourist and got to see and interact with far more people.
Now for a bit of gritty detail. I took a 10 day trip Oct 02 and rented
something a bit larger than the westy since we were taking my mother in law
on what would be her first and last trip to Europe. She enjoyed it immensely
and we did too. I based my planning on a book called Traveler's Guide to
European Camping by Mike and Terry Church (Rolling Homes Press ISBN
0-9652968-3-0). It is a decent guide for a green horn like I was. It spends
a decent amount of time on where to find a rental and where to purchase vans
in England and Germany. No slight to England but every piece of equipment I
encountered in Germany was excellently maintained. I am not trying to shill
the book here and I have no affiliation. I can lend you my copy or suggest
buying it and support folks doing what we would all love to do.
Camping
We camped next to a park in a medium sized town, a hypermart parking lot, a
caravan park on the river in downtown Prague, in a nice pull off in the
middle of a forest in Bavaria, and finally in a caravan park in Austria. We
were never bothered once and even met others doing the same thing. The
forest spot was amazing with a smaller cut through road (If I were in a
Westy we would have fit down it nicely) that made for an unforgettable early
morning walk. One my fondest memories of my mother in law is the look of joy
on her face as we walked through that beautiful forest with my children.
Where we went
We spent a fair amount of time en route to and from Prague. The travel time
was a mistake given our limited schedule but the drive was interesting and
spending time in Prague was well worth it. We used public transportation
whenever possible for visiting cities and made sure to enjoy the local fresh
foods. The remaining 7 days we spent wandering the German and Austrian
countryside using a Magellan Meridian GPS and Mapsend Streets of Europe
software on my laptop to find our way around small little farming towns. I
think I still have most of the coordinates for the overnights. I will
eventually get motivated and put this out on my website. Until then just
email me for further information on any of this. The software was very
accurate and allowed me to eventually let go of the paper map that offered a
far less granular view. Wonderful countryside and friendly people in
Germany.
As a quick aside we flew into Amsterdam and took a train down to Frankfurt
where the caravan rental was arranged. Amsterdam for a day and a night was
too short. It was a wonderful city with a great transit system and bicycles
everywhere. I could have spent weeks there alone. Hardly the drug den etc
that it seems to have a reputation as. We enjoyed walking the streets, the
museums, and the architecture was unforgettable.
I hope this helps some and I hope you stay in touch with the list when you
are there. I could use a few trip reports.
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No more top posting for me. Andrew Grebneff's sig file has changed my ways
forever.
Owen Brand
84 Westy
Sugar Land TX
http://www.thebrands.org
