Newbie

[toki2]

Hello everyone. Hope I can learn from your collective experience. Husband and I have been caravanning for ten years in UK but venturing forth to the Continent in May for the first time. We will be following my Dad's wartime route from Normandy to Hamburg through France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. We have set aside 5 weeks for the trip. We have sorted out insurance, breakdown recovery, EU medical cards and have all the legal requirements, high viz vests, breathalyser kits etc. Have sat nav and maps. We will be mostly using ASCI camping card for off season discounts at sites. I have become quite a WW2 nerd since researching my Dad's wartime records so have a good idea of the places, museums and battle sites that I want to visit.
What I would like is tips and ideas for a long trip, trying to minimise the load, differences that I may find between UK and Continental caravanning and anything really to make life easier. I will also be posting specific enquiries, so I hope I do not bore you to death :woohoo:

 

[Parksy]

Hi toki 2, welcome to the forum.
I moved your query to the Overseas Parks & Touring message board where it should receive more replies.

 

[RayS]

Sounds to be a very interesting trip. I would recommend the Caravan Club Europe site guides which have site reports written by members and also much general advice on electric hook ups, local rules , road signs etc.Signs you need to understand are things like Nur Fur PKW as well as direction signs.
be prepared for some site pitches to be smaller than in UK, and I would certainly have a mover fitted if you don't have one already.
Some years since I was in Germany, but lane discipline on autobahn was much better then than UK motorways. Fuel in France is cheaper (much) at supermarkets than on motorways and 24/24 pumps usually accept UK credit/ debit cards.

Don't hesitate to post specific questions. Very likely someone on the Forum will know.

 

[DianneT]

Hi If you go to my website as below you may find some interesting info on Germany as we have visited every year with the Caravan since 2004 and since 1979 with the car touring.
Dianne

 

[Beachball]

Hi Toki2 This is a belated welcome to the practical caravan forum (Been back into the hospital again)