Introduction – Camping Life
This Camping Life Home page will cover camping by motor home and caravan targets issues that we encountered after no real planning just a lot of excitement and enthusiasm. 😂 😂
Love to share our experiences with you on camping sites we stayed at throughout our travels in Europe. What do we look for in a campsite and why do we look at the location and the ease of entry and exit? Camping life.
Combi, minivan, or tent don’t really have much to think about for this but with Motorhomes (especially the large 6m plus or four-wheel drive) and Caravans, you have to think about arrival, depart and park-up options, and also how to get around and see things or the logistics of buying groceries and sightseeing.
We, of course, had no idea and were excitedly gung-ho from day one. We wanted a motorhome with a scooter and bike on the back. The scooter for shopping and sightseeing and my bike cos I love to ride. Camping life.
We settled on a 2-berth Swift Bessacarr 442. Fitted a 150kg max platform on the back. Bought a 125cc PCX Honda scooter and headed for the open road. This was our choice and not necessarily yours. So let’s look at how this first trip went.
Well, we loved our first trip which saw us take the ferry from Portsmouth, UK to Santander, Spain. We were pretty excited and entered Plymouth in the GPS instead of Portsmouth. All went well😂 after Fabian decided it might be a good idea to check the ferry times.
That’s when we found our mistake, no Plymouth ferry that day. We only had to drive about 50 more kilometers on the motorway before we could turn around and the corrected GPS headed us in the right direction. Luckily we allowed ourselves (sort of) plenty of time and arrived in the right town (just) in time for the afternoon sailing. Camping life.
Camping Life – What do we look for?
There are lots of caravan and motorhome clubs around. Some are Based in the UK and Europe and membership are not expensive. We joined the UK Caravan and Motorhome Club and we also joined Eurocamping (ACSI). We found Eurocamping best but that’s because we spent the majority of our time in Europe. Off-season rates run from 15-20 euros a night. Link here.
Camping Life – Planning
Easy entry and exit. Some sites were just too tight for us with small pitches and the internal access road was way too narrow. I use Google Earth if I’m unsure of the best route to take and I can also get a good view of the entry road most of the time.
We have a Garmin GPS that allows you to set up the size of your motorhome or caravan and that should keep you off roads unsuitable for your vehicle, unfortunately, it doesn’t work all the time.
Ok, now the campsite. Everyone’s a little bit different of course. We like premium pitches that have water, power, and grey water facilities, so no running to fill the water tank or empty the grey water tank.
Electrical power can be as low as 6 Amps. This is OK but if you want to put the kettle and the microwave on at the same time it isn’t so good. We look for parks with at least 10 Amps. The power supply can average between 5-16 amps in some parks. Just have to remember to use one appliance at a time if only low amperage is available.
Next item that most important is the pitch size and shade. Our motorhome with the platform was 8m long so we looked for an 80-110 sqm pitch, the bigger the better. This allowed us to erect the awning. Watch out for the tree type on your pitch. And not just because of low-hanging branches. Camping life.
Don’t get caught with any type of fruit tree. We did and what a mess it made. Falling all over the top of the van and around the pitch. Squish squash. Did I already say what a mess? Rotting fruit has a sickly inescapable aroma don’t you think? Look for pitches with dry leaves, no fruit or berries. The wet weather can stir up the mud so we look for grassy, solid, or gravel pitches. Camping life.
As you can see we have a Weber barbecue oven and would be our best-ever investment. It’s in use just about every day.
After talking about motorhomes you might be wondering why you are looking (above) at a caravan and tow car. We decided to switch as we are very slow travelers and can be at one site for a couple of weeks or even months. For us it made sense. We have a car to get around in, instead of the motorbike, while the van stays put. We still have the motorhome and use it for short trips.
Communications
Now, this can be a big issue or a little, some think it is important and others don’t. Be it a mobile phone, internet, or TV reception. Our priority was internet coverage. We found most sites we visited did have internet coverage. Some you pay for some it’s free. However, it can be weak even if paid for. There are plenty of options out there so you should do your own research and pick a provider that suits your needs.
We decided to go with O2 in the UK. We bought the internet receiver and a remote booster. Then found out that we couldn’t use it overseas after confirming with the sales staff that we could. Luckily for us, they didn’t make us pay out the entire contract. We now have a non-contract Vodaphone portable wifi service. So far so good. The remote booster works with either the site WIFI or its own receiver but the remote wifi handles five devices.
Other Considerations
Depending on where you want to travel these other considerations can run deep. Our target travel was Europe and long term. So we had to consider visa restrictions. Insurances and licensing. Although I spent most of my life in Australia and my wife is Australian I also hold an Irish passport.
This allowed us to get my wife (Fabian) a five-year Residency card in Portugal. Hard work to navigate the application and approval process but well worth the effort. So both are now free to travel to all the European Schengen countries, within limitations. Balken states limited to three months. Camping life.
Insurance and licensing. May not be an issue with some but it was for us. I swapped my Australian driver’s license for a UK one before we left the UK but Fabian didn’t. They wouldn’t allow her, because she wasn’t a resident of the UK. We didn’t think this would be a problem. But adding a named driver can be expensive and even more so if the license isn’t an EU or UK one.
It was when the UK left the EU that it all really fell to shit. Our insurer would only cover us up to 180-day euro cover. We quickly found a new insurer (AXA) for the 365-day cover but wanted an excessive amount of money to add Fabian with her Aussie license. Camping life.
o Fabian jumped through all the hoops to get an EU license in Portugal. After many months of frustration, and with the help of our wonderful Portuguese-German friend, it eventually arrived. Getting her added to our new policy then was easy and only an admin charge.
If you plan to travel in Europe for any length of time please check out Schengen rules on this link. https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/schengen-visa-application-requirements/ or https://europa.eu/youreurope/ Honestly, we were pretty naive. We first discovered the 90/180-day rule in France and managed to get a 12-month cartes de sejours but it had to be renewed in the same place which is a bit of a drama when you are hundreds and thousands of miles away and in another country. So Big Thank You Portugal. Camping life.
We hope you found this information helpful.
Check-Out Spaceship Motorhome Rentals Here, See ya on the Road
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