A Few Tips For Your First French Trip

barryd said:
Were there many other vans around Sky or did you find you were on your own a lot?
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I have been on my own a lot of the time - especially during December and January. Now the sun is shining and the temperatures are increasing, I'm seeing more vans about. Mostly they're French, but I've seen a few German and Dutch ones too.

I must be honest and say that the first couple of weeks were a bit stressful and I was quite nervous. This was simply down to not being able to communicate. Honestly, those few phrases I mention are REALLY well worth learning and make such a difference.

I did have this friend for company for a while, but I had to evict him when he started to smell. :wacko:

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Just do it . . . ;)
 
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Simply Brilliant!

Sky, your posting should be awarded 'Post of the Year' award, if we had one. Truly inspirational, it might be time for you to write a book about your experiences.

Many thanks for the very kind comments about the tomtom - I hope you found the Aire POIs handy in particular. Let me know when you want free map updates and we will organise that somehow wherever you find yourself. We will be back in France ourselves again in May for a month or so that might be a possibility.

All the best !:wave:
 
fairytooth said:
Sky, your posting should be awarded 'Post of the Year' award, if we had one.
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Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Well, you've spent plenty of time here so you know what I'm on about. :)

Thanks for the offer of the updates. I hope to be back here in May too - the only reason I'm coming back to the UK is to get an MOT. I shall probably end up getting a French registered van and just visit the UK instead of the other way round. I've put mine up for sale already in the Forsale section.
 
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Someone asked me what I do about sleeping arrangements - do I leave a bed made up or make it up each night etc. so I thought I'd share it with all of you as the answer is very simple.

Making the bed up each night is a right PITA as I'm sure a lot of you know already. The bed over my cab can't be slept in as I use this as a storage area (I left the cushions with my brother in the UK) and I didn't want to sleep up there anyway.

I have a large double quilt and a pillow and sleep on the side bench. I fold the quilt in half, throw on the pillow and hop in. Making and breaking the bed takes less than two minutes. I roll up the quilt and keep it in an overhead locker. :sleep-027:
 
Excellent post

Just to add to all the other thank you's. Briliant post thanks for taking the time.

All the Best Gray.
 
Sky, most inspiring post, how about starting a bo
Blog of your experience I for one, will be your loyal follower.
keep posting regards
 
A blog huh? That sounds like it could be lots of work and would need regular updates wouldn't it? I don't know if I could handle that kind of commitment, but thanks for the thought and interest.

I shall be leaving the Charente region I'm in at the moment and be heading back to the UK in a week or so. I shall take a nice slow drive up the west coast over about three weeks. I don't want to get back too soon because of the crap weather you're having - it's glorious sunshine here today.:cool:

Maybe I could take pictures and write a little about the return journey; showing stopping places/Aires etc. and post them on here for you to see. Would anyone else want to see that?
 
Hi Sky thanks for your post. Spent many a summer pootling round France and your post brought back loads of good memories. We were in a VW t4 so very basic but who cared? We were in France! Absolutely love the place. I used to choose a region each visit and we'd set off with French road map, the Rough guide and hey ho 6 weeks would be gone. Sadly, we is now I and I haven't been for 7 years. I did start a thread entitled "Meet in France anyone" (maybe it was on another forum?!) as I don't fancy doing it alone. So, if anyone is so enthused with Sky's post I'd love to hear from you!

Bon chance, Sky!
 
carol said:
"Meet in France anyone" (maybe it was on another forum?!) as I don't fancy doing it alone. So, if anyone is so enthused with Sky's post I'd love to hear from you!
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Well, if anyone hops the channel and is heading south down the west coast in the next month or so as I head north I'd be happy to meet up with them. Would be great if we could get a small group together. :dance:

:anyone:
 
Thank you Sky for a fabulous post. I intend to head for Europe in September/October and have taken ALL of your advice on board. I'm sure there will be many of us heading that way now especially after your post, I may need to do a recce before the autumn. Once again thank you for taking the time to write it all, if it's any consolation for your time spent over a hot computer you've already helped me immensely.

Daiboy
 
Sky said:
A blog huh? That sounds like it could be lots of work and would need regular updates wouldn't it? I don't know if I could handle that kind of commitment, but thanks for the thought and interest.

I shall be leaving the Charente region I'm in at the moment and be heading back to the UK in a week or so. I shall take a nice slow drive up the west coast over about three weeks. I don't want to get back too soon because of the crap weather you're having - it's glorious sunshine here today.:cool:

Maybe I could take pictures and write a little about the return journey; showing stopping places/Aires etc. and post them on here for you to see. Would anyone else want to see that?
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Yes please Sky.

:nicethread::pc:
 
I do t know about long winded but iv sat and read the whole post and thread in one go. Very interesting and inspiring. I would be interested to read more from you as I'm sure lots of others here would be as you can see for yourself from all the responses. Hope you carry on having such an interesting journey and let us know what new van you decide on
 
We are off to France beginning of September for 4 weeks. Enjoyed reading about your experiences.
 
OK, I'll see what I can throw together on the return journey for you all. :pc:

Thanks again for all your positive comments everyone; I'm really pleased that the time taken to write it was worth the effort. :D
 
i`d heard the scare stories about aires and gas attacks
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Sky forgot to mention that the reason she doesn't bother to lock the door is that it saves the robbers damaging her MH by drilling holes for the gas pipe.

Some aires DO charge for dumping the waste, but rarely more than a Euro or two.
 
Tv access

Rather than haul around an entire TV set I have a neat little USB dongle which has a socket for a TV antenna. Tha laptop is now the TV, it works all over Europe and alledgedly the world. Available on ebay. about 13 squids.
 
Brilliant post - can anyone do the same for Germany?
 
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twomercs said:
Brilliant post - can anyone do the same for Germany?
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All I can say for Germany is get the Bordatlas for thousands of stellplatz some free some pay. Arrive early afternoon unless at a very popular stell then around 11 am should get you in.
Have a load of single euro coins for the bornes as most (but not all) charge for water and hookup. Some are per kilowatt/hr some for set period of time.
In general most things seemed to work in Germany.

Im just about to get the tunnel for France for a couple of months..maybe head back to Germany then.

We toured the Mosel, the Romantic road and the Black forest and had a wonderful time.
 
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