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Countries and territories visited: (46)
.ad .ae .al .at .au .be .bg .ca .ch .de .dk .ee .ei .es .fi .fj .fr .gr .hr .hu .il .is .it .li .lt .lv .lu .mc .me .nl .no .nz .pl .pt .ro .ru .se .sg .si .sk .sm .tr .uk .va .za Also Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Gibraltar.
I've heard it called U3A - University of the 3rd Age - but for me it's just the next stage. Rather than simply fade away waiting for the bits to fall off and the appearance of the grim reaper, it seemed a grand idea to buy a mobile home and become the European equivalent of "Trailer trash", well maybe not exactly, since the idea is to remain on the move and not get bogged down.
The logs below contain (where I still have the data) coordinates of the locations where we have rested. These I have found from a number of sources including:
The UK Caravan Club
The UK Camping & Caravanning Club
ACSI Guide
The German ADAC Stellplatz-Führer
Various Vicarious Guides
Campingcarpark - a new organisation which offers parking with Wifi, not expensive, mostly in France
and information from friends and acquaintances.
For fuel prices take a look at here or here.
As for the health benefits of travelling around in a mobile home, a lady in New Zealand has put together a list.
As of 2016 the EU has reduced not just the voice roaming charges for mobile communication, but also for data roaming. The result is that we are now seeing new Europe-wide services such as that from Transatel. The SIM Card costs €9 and the data rates are low for many European countries. This company also offers a Personal Hotspot Device. I already had one and it works judt fine.
Note that in Finland monthly rates for unlimited data are very low, possibly the only thing in the country which is really cheap.
For currency conversion try the oanda site.
So far (September 2013) we have had a fine time, experienced all forms of weather (just missing a tornado in the Algarve) and met some very nice people. The great thing about a camper van is that if you don't "click" with people you can simply drive away.
At the beginning of the year (2011), late January we were impressed with the almond blossoms in the Algarve and just this morning (2012) I could see the leaves on the established Oak trees here in Northumberland have only recently "popped" judging by their colour. Amazing to see how diverse and large Europe is.
And then there are all the people we have encountered. As the popular Agony Aunt in the Observer said this week.... "I'm constantly struck by our capacity for love and forgiveness, our need to engage and communicate with each other, and just how decent and well-meaning the majority of human beings are." (I assume she excludes bangsters, corporate greedies and egotistical politicians.)
In the early 1980s I was given the opportunity to visit Israel several times. The very first visit left a lasting impression, everywhere one looked there were panels and drums on the roofs. Yep, this is a great way to generate hot water, essentially for free, in countries where the sun shines long and hot. Nonetheless in European countries bounding the Mediterranean there are practically none of these devices - leaving me to wonder why? As an update here in Greece (Autumn 2013) we see a lot of solar water heaters. Apparently they cost about € 500 and have to be cleaned every other year - a simple process.
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