Long term touring in europe

[dugiandcarol]

ZHello all
My and the wife are looking at retiring next year and touring Europe in the caravan any advice with regards travel/health insurance breakdown cover etc we will be travelling for about 12 months before finding somewhere to rent

 

[RayS]

A great adventure and an excellent way to mark retirement.

I have never been away for that length of time but have talked with others who have. The answers depend significantly upon your UK family circumstances. If there is a UK address to which you could ( reasonably) have moved, then you can still have an address for letters, bank statement, NHS registrations etc.etc.

If not, then frankly I'm not sure how you will get on. being of 'no fixed abode' can be pretty tricky these days.
Most of those I talked to came back to UK at least once during the year to keep up GP registration, car insurance etc.

Many car insurance policies cover up to 180 days European use and such as CC will cover up to 180 days for caravan medical etc. GP;s now are not supposed to prescribe more than 90 day's worth of medicines at a time should you need this service.

If you can get round these, then more obvious things are to get your E111 European health cars, consider a pre-loaded euro card based on a UK bank account which you can top up from your mobile phone - sometimes you will need cash not credit card. Ensure credit cards etc run longer than your expected time of trip so you don't have to have them posted to campsites etc.

Put a strong box firmly into caravan or car for valuables. Take photo copies of important documents passports car logbook etc and store separately from the originals. Have can and van thoroughy serviced and replace anything like brake pads which may be OK for this year but not much longer. Perhaps get list of agents/dealers for your make of car in the various countries - this may be easier for some european makes than for UK e.g. I had great trouble getting such a list from LandRover but none whatever for the preveious Mercedes.

Ideally take more than one computer device e.g. laptop + ipad and more than one mobile phone. One can then be fitted with local simcards. Don't forget the chargers !

Depending on your DIY inclination take some caravan spares - toilet takn seals and vents, water pump and filters or at least a list of UK suppliers who will export quickly. www.leisureshopdirect.co.uk is good in that they have exploded diagrams of many appliances such that you can identify the part quickly. Caravan dealers can be few an far between even it tourist areas e.g Spanish coast south of Murcia. There are a few more motor home dealers, but they will not stock too many UK components. Toilet fluid can be quite difficult to find too, and expensive when you do.

Read the Caravan Club and other guides which explain towing rules in various countries. Many have on-the-spot fines so some reserve cash elsewhere than in your billfold is not a bad idea. Fines can be quite steep - up to 200 euros is not unknown.

All this seems to be gloom and doom, but not intended that way. A famous military man once said 'Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted'. Good preparation = good relaxation.

 

[emmerson]

Hi Dugi&carol.
My wife and I travel Europe for 2 or 3 months every year, and only come home because we need to look after the house!
Regarding travel insurance, this is done thru' Barclays Bank. Never used it, but last year Herself had to have treatment in Holland. The doctor was not keen on using the E111 (not sure what it's called now), so we paid him and reclaimed from NHS.
Regarding breakdown insurance, there is only one company worth doing - ADAC. If you haven't heard of them, they are the German equivalent of our AA, only much bigger, and ten times better, and they cover you world-wide. Google ADAC. There might be a delay while they find an English speaker, but when they do get their teeth into a job, they are simply amazing!
Check with your home and car insurance whether they will cover for twelve months .Our home ins insist that the house be occupied for a percentage of the time we're away. No problem for us - our son just moves in for the odd week or so.
The car insurance can be a bit sticky, as most of them only allow 90 days European cover, but if you ask nicely, this can be extended.
Can't think of anything else, other than to say I'm quite envious, as we can only do 10 weeks next year!

 

[dugiandcarol]

thankyou for your detailed reply the plan is to travel going somewhere warm for the winter and we will now look into all your advice we do have a care of address and have travelled fairly extensively in Europe would but all advice is grateful accepted

 

[JohnMW]

Hi
We are retired - at least from big brother in the UK and are free to roam if we want to. When in France make friends with the locals on sites - when they get to know you they will help with problems and local knowledge. For example getting a simcard can be difficult without a resident address. We spend about 4-6 weeks in the South of France and are piccy about the month because it is not all sunshine even down there and prices vary a lot -use ACSI. June is good because the sites are just waking up and so is the weather - can still be a tad windy especially around Valras Plage and Carnot. July starts to get expensive but lovely weather and then August is so busy and very expensive, September can get very wet - Montpelier was flooded this year. So unless you get down to the South of Spain the weather can be disappointing. We have met people coming back from Portugal because they are homesick - too much of a good thing but when they get back to blight y they wish they hadn't - terribly roads, congestion, irritable stressed people and then the neighbors don't talk to each other. Now where did I put that lottery ticket.

 

[RayS]

Lots of good advice. If you do need a 'residential address' for something, it's worth a try just putting your pitch number and the name of the campsite leaving out any obvious words like ' camping' or 'leisure park'. This has been known to work with a high success rate.

 

[DianneT]

Hi you might find some help here on my websitewww.joysofeuropeancaravanning.co.uk If you have any questions please ask will be glad to help.
DianneT