Our next big trip- any thoughts?

Here are our thoughts for our next trip. I’d welcome any comments or suggestions.

We live in Australia. We want to go to Europe and buy a motorhome to travel slowly around for 12 months, following the sun, but not in peak seasons if possible. We like to cook for ourselves, stay in one place a couple of weeks at a time, and prefer not to pay for camping. I understand there is free/roadside camping all around. I would also expect to stay in a caravan park some times (maybe one or two nights a fortnight) to use the wifi, do laundry, empty the loo and charge the batteries etc. I guess in big cities we’d need to pay for a great location , or stay so far out of town that we spend all our energies and the same amount of money getting to things by public transport. Do caravan parks charge per child?

We have done just this in Australia, and it worked very well. Caravan parks are so expensive, and they also charge extra per child per night!! Could easily be $70 per night, you can see why we prefer to free camp. In fact our Australian road trip cost about $700-$800 a week for 6 people, thanks to free camping, cooking for ourselves and going slow. This is cheap for Australia, and we had a glorious 9 months.

For the Europe trip I understand that the km between destinations are fewer, but fuel is dearer, motorhomes are cheaper and food will vary. We certainly don’t need to see and do everything, and could stay longer if we feel like it. What we need is some family adventure time, and a low stress experience that beats living in suburbia doing the same unsatisfying things everyday and spending too much on things that are not adding to our quality of life. WE are NOT into rushing.

So, NOT including the purchase of motorhome ( which we will hope to resell) our budget is about $35 000 for the year. We will be 2 adults and 5 children who will be 9,9,9,5 and 18 months.

Likewise, we have enough FF points for flights, taxes etc. So this figure is just for once we are there. How does it sound? Obviously I know it depends on how fast we go, and how many additional touristy expenses we choose to add on ( not many would be normal for us) Because one of our children uses a wheelchair and is tube fed, some times we’ll just need to bite the bullet on something more costly, like a room for a few nights, or taxis or whatever, and we need to be able to do that.

$35 000 is Aussie dollars, which are basically on par with US$ at the moment.

Any thoughts? Soultravellers and Mamatomany, I have read your ENTIRE blogs, and have learnt a great deal. I’d love your opinions on our unique situation. And anyone else!

Hi!
Figures are getting hazy (you've proably seen them on the blog!) but in the five months we were motorhoming we stayed in 130-something different locations, and paid for less than a couple of dozen of them, sometimes the payment being just a couple of euros even. We stayed in very few campgrounds. Some charge per person, some don't, but we really don't have much experience with them. In Germany there are frequent Stellplaetze, which are places for motorhomes to park, dump waste, usually get fresh water and often power for a few euros a night. Sometimes there are limits on how long you can stay, although we never saw this enforced. In France there's the same thing, but there they are called Aires. You can get books that tell you where they are - don't believe all GPS co-ordinates though In Greece there are beautiful beaches that you can stop by (Greece had the one place we were moved on by police - don't try stopping overnight at Delphi!) etc etc!
You'd be surprised at some of these place - take, for example, Cologne. There's a Stellplatz just 2-3km from Cologne cathedral, right on the river, right next to a huge park and just across the river is an enormous playground. There's even bread roll delivery each morning if you want! And a supermarket round the corner. (Amsterdam, on the other hand has absolutely no free camping and the couple of campgrounds were really pricey - we stayed only two nights even though we'd have loved to stay longer- but they charged for each person as well as the site) Rome has a place quite out of town, but there's a busstop right at the gate (it's a secure compound) that takes you to the metro and on the same ticket you can get right into town and you walk out of the station and you're staring up at the Colosseum on one side and the Forum on the other. Amazing, and all for a euro. The proprietor speaks not a word of English, but you get by.
So yes, it's totally doable on the cheap!
We did end up fertilising a few farmers' fields in England, but in Europe there are dumping stations all over the place and this was not such a problem.

Costs will inpart be determined by which roads you tavel on too. WE stayed off the toll roads in Italy which meant for hairraising journeys at times, but it saved dollars and we met the real Italy! French secondary roads are immaculate - as good as toll roads elsewhere.
Some countries you need to buy a carnet, another cost to consider.

You'll work it out!

My thought is always if there is a will there is a way, but it is really a "how long is a piece of string" kind of question with no easy answer. It will depend on HOW you do it, but I think we could do that with your details.

We have done mostly cheap campgrounds ( and you can find some that give discounts for long stays that might be almost as little as free camping). We have done some free camping even in places and countries where there is not suppose to be any, but we usually just stayed a night or two in such places.

Following the weather is VERY important as cold, rainy, weather gets old fast with camping. I warn people about this often, but some have to learn on their own. Warm weather and sun makes the whole outdoors your living room and is just a LOT more pleasant. Europe has pretty crappy weather ( it was like winter in Paris this last August...rain and cold, UK has often been colder,darker,wetter in summer than Spain is in winter and those kinds of things WILL impact you and wear you down).

A few days of rain no problem, but day after day after day and it will be harder. Trust me.

Also plan and prepare for some emergency expenses because you very well may have them. Mostly we have a great time, but we have also had our share of emergencies. Do not travel at night as some of the mountain roads can be extremely scary. That said, we have broken this rule a million times and still survive. lol Getting lost in the dark is our least fave things, especially on scary mountain roads or ancient tiny villages where a motorhome is gigantic even if small.

I am appalled at the camping ( and all prices ) in Australia. Wow! Sydney blew our minds...beautiful but sooooo expensive. If you can travel cheap in Oz, I bet you can do it in Europe.

I lists all the good campsites that we like on our blog, so get a good book or two because it's handy to know what is near by often. We rarely stay right in a city and the mass transit is great in Europe.

http://www.soultravelers3.com/2010/06/best-books-for-camping-europe-road-trip-european-rv-tent-or-cottage-bungalow-rental-vacation-holiday.html

You will have to stay conscious and proactive on keeping costs down, but Europe can definitely be done on the cheap. Live like a native...trust me they are not all rich. Stay more in rural areas which tend to me more fun families any way and tend to be cheaper. Do shorter stays in cities. DO go slow and rest a lot..that's a big part of the fun...just doing ordinary things in extraordinary places. I think you will have a ball and I think Europe by campervan slowly is THE best way to see Europe ...especially for families. Good luck!!

I've only skimmed the very lengthy replies here, but has nobody mentioned visas? Schengen visa is good for 90 days, then you need to leave for 90 days. This will play a MAJOR role in your trip planning.