European Road Trip Advice and Information.
First and most important piece of advice :-
We assume you have arrived at this page because you are thinking of taking a road trip vacation to Europe. The best advice we can give is do it. It will be an experience that will be with you for the rest of your life and we doubt you will regret a minute of it.
If you are traveling in a group make sure you get on really well together! We did and still do after 2500 miles.
What we took:-
Passports
Driving Licences (International driving permits from the AA if you still have the old green license without photo as well)
Car insurance
Car V5 paperwork
Breakdown cover (We got cover for a year including international breakdown after searching Martin Lewis' Money Saving Expert site)
Health Insurance and European Health Insurance Card (if you have one check the expiry date !)
Tyre compressor pump and various spares (of which we used none - perhaps next time we will just take fuses and the pump)
Warning Triangle, First Aid kit, High Vis jackets (and in France alcohol test kit from July 2012)
Spare Bulbs
Camera
Clothes and Toiletries
Plug adaptors
CB radios
Spare glasses for those, like some of us, who have vision issues.
Sun Glasses.
We forgot - Travel Kettle (most hotel rooms didn't provide one so that will be a must on the pack list next time).
Money - We took cash and the Post Office Travel Money Card (which worked for most of the time and always in bank machines, however didn't give balance of what was left on it in French machines for some reason). We also informed our banks of our travel plans to make sure the usual cards would work.
Our Journey:-
We stopped in a Travelodge hotel in the UK before taking the Channel Tunnel (pre booked) and driving to Bruges. Next time we would probably not stay in the UK if heading to Bruges, the car drive from France was short enough. We would not stay in a Travelodge again.
We used Etap hotels in Bruge; B&B hotels in Koblenz; Ibis hotels in Innsbruck (all good for a couple of nights stay and booked through Booking.Com)
We stayed in Bella Italia at Garda. Highly recommended for the price.
Homewards we used Vert Hotel in Chamonix (but not serving food at night at our time of visit in June); Hotel Du Nord at Besancon with their parking pre-booked (very good hotel); Suite Novotel in Reims (again very good) ; and Aux 3 Arcades in Bourbourg (nice hotel but we would not choose Bourbourg for a stop next time).
In total our journey was 2500 miles so there was a substantial petrol budget.
Places we would visit again:-
Venice (we took the train whilst at Garda)
Sirmione on Lake Garda - beautiful town with interesting castle
The Aiguille du Midi cable car at Chamonix . Stunning views but not for anyone who doesn't like heights
The Montenvers train to the Mer de Glace glacier at Chamonix.
Monte Baldo cable car at malcesine.
Hope this all helps you to decide to give it a go !!!
We assume you have arrived at this page because you are thinking of taking a road trip vacation to Europe. The best advice we can give is do it. It will be an experience that will be with you for the rest of your life and we doubt you will regret a minute of it.
If you are traveling in a group make sure you get on really well together! We did and still do after 2500 miles.
What we took:-
Passports
Driving Licences (International driving permits from the AA if you still have the old green license without photo as well)
Car insurance
Car V5 paperwork
Breakdown cover (We got cover for a year including international breakdown after searching Martin Lewis' Money Saving Expert site)
Health Insurance and European Health Insurance Card (if you have one check the expiry date !)
Tyre compressor pump and various spares (of which we used none - perhaps next time we will just take fuses and the pump)
Warning Triangle, First Aid kit, High Vis jackets (and in France alcohol test kit from July 2012)
Spare Bulbs
Camera
Clothes and Toiletries
Plug adaptors
CB radios
Spare glasses for those, like some of us, who have vision issues.
Sun Glasses.
We forgot - Travel Kettle (most hotel rooms didn't provide one so that will be a must on the pack list next time).
Money - We took cash and the Post Office Travel Money Card (which worked for most of the time and always in bank machines, however didn't give balance of what was left on it in French machines for some reason). We also informed our banks of our travel plans to make sure the usual cards would work.
Our Journey:-
We stopped in a Travelodge hotel in the UK before taking the Channel Tunnel (pre booked) and driving to Bruges. Next time we would probably not stay in the UK if heading to Bruges, the car drive from France was short enough. We would not stay in a Travelodge again.
We used Etap hotels in Bruge; B&B hotels in Koblenz; Ibis hotels in Innsbruck (all good for a couple of nights stay and booked through Booking.Com)
We stayed in Bella Italia at Garda. Highly recommended for the price.
Homewards we used Vert Hotel in Chamonix (but not serving food at night at our time of visit in June); Hotel Du Nord at Besancon with their parking pre-booked (very good hotel); Suite Novotel in Reims (again very good) ; and Aux 3 Arcades in Bourbourg (nice hotel but we would not choose Bourbourg for a stop next time).
In total our journey was 2500 miles so there was a substantial petrol budget.
Places we would visit again:-
Venice (we took the train whilst at Garda)
Sirmione on Lake Garda - beautiful town with interesting castle
The Aiguille du Midi cable car at Chamonix . Stunning views but not for anyone who doesn't like heights
The Montenvers train to the Mer de Glace glacier at Chamonix.
Monte Baldo cable car at malcesine.
Hope this all helps you to decide to give it a go !!!