Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost

Finally, after months of reading and planning, and planning and reading we've done it.
Since June last year I have been scouring charity shops and e-Bay for travel books and maps. I've read amazing travel blog after amazing travel blog and picked up so many tips and its finally paid off. We have agreed on a route. In order to see as much of Europe as possible with the most flexibility we have decided on a route that means we can stay in every place for a week or a day. The idea is to visit all of the places we have ever wanted to go and spend lots of time off of the beaten track learning about local cultures and hopefully stumbling across lots of hidden little gems.

 

We used routebuilder.org to map the route  (which I'll include within the 'Route' tab soon) and will be driving around 10,000 miles over 9 months, stopping at approximately 150 destinations over 20 countries.  These will include, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium.  

 

Now to find a larger, more practical camper van. Although the VW T4 we have is lovely, perfect for weekends away in the UK its not quite right for 9 months on the road with limited storage and..........no toilet. We have been looking at the Tolbolt Express, fingers crossed we find something suitable soon.

 

 

Paper Chains

This week we've been getting all our admin in order. I applied for a new passport and almost fell over when I saw the price of passports these days. I paid £81.25 (£72.50 to HMPO and £8.75 Post Office check & send). I wouldn't normally pay the extra fee for check and send but with only 10 weeks until we set off I couldn't afford any set backs. 

We also applied for Oscars pet passport, also shockingly expensive, but a necessity. According to Gov.uk Oscar must be microchipped, vaccinated against rabies, hold a pet passport and be treated for tapeworm. The rabies vaccination costs £90 and lasts 3 years and following this you are issued with the pet passport. 

We looked into an international driving permit and again, according to Gov.uk GB driving licences can be used in all EU and EEA countries. I guess thats one less thing to apply for. 

We also applied for our EHIC cards through the NHS which enables us to recieve medical attention in all EEA Countires including Switzerland. Theres some really useful information at the following link; http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/EHIC/Pages/about-the-ehic.aspx

A few things I'm yet to check off the list are, insurance (motor, travel and pet) and breakdown cover. I was recently told about a website viamichelin.com (a godsend) which enables you to map your route, calculate toll costs, petrol costs, miles and time. Amazing. I also need to make time for a little visa research, so much to do and so little time!! 

Ill report back in a few days (hopefully with a finalised route)

Book Worm

Every conversation I have at the moment seems to throw up something new that I hadn't thought of. This is making me somewhat uncomfortable as we are due to set off in less than three months and information retention has never been my strong point.

I feel like I need a travel bible to provide a general overview of EVERYTHING. In an ideal world this would comprise of an A to Z guide of absolutely every element of travel, from where its safe to drink the tap water to crossing borders (yes, that basic). I am fairly well travelled but from a very commercial perspective, which is why Ive made the decision to venture off of the beaten track to learn a little more about other cultures. 

I recently purchased an atlas to brush up on my geography and a couple of books on traveling Europe, this should make interesting bedtime reading for the next 11 weeks. So firstly we need to finalise our route. It's important that this is flexible and allows us to make changes whilst we are away. Hopefully this will enable us to meet and travel with others in the same situation and visit attractions or events suggested by the people we meet.

     

So I've decided to stay in tonight (how things have changed) and study maps and guides and hopefully achieve a route that allows us to see and experience as much of Europe as possible (on a fairly tight budget). Somebody recommended some Lonely Planet Guides so they'll no doubt be on the watch list on eBay soon. 

As well as educating myself on all of the above I also need to research rules and restrictions on taking pets abroad. Joining us on our trip will be our 18 month old Beagle, Oscar. 

Christmas Treats

Starting the New Year with the first blog post. Here are some of the goodies we got for Christmas for when we go away in March. Santa was kind to us this year so we thought we'd share these traveling essentials.

L to R; Wood-burning Camp Stove (Biolite), Down-light Lantern (Lakeland), Waterproof Protective Pouch (Lakeland).

 

So the lantern and waterproof pouch are pretty self explanatory however I feel the need to shed some light on the first item. It may just be that I have led a sheltered life, but this piece of kit is somewhat remarkable. The concept is amazing, you feed the fire inside with fuel such as sticks and pine cones which is converted into electricity via a thermoelectric generator. The energy can then be used to cook/boil on top of the stove or charge (via USB) a phone/iPad, camera etc. Genius.

 

 

L to R; Canon PowerShot SX170 IS (Amazon), iPad Mini, 64GB (PC World)

 

Both items in the picture above are without doubt absolute essentials if  I am to successfully document the next 9 months. Firstly the camera, 16 mega pixels with 32X optical zoom. Now I'm no camera expert but understand this is a pretty simple to use, middle of the road camera that should be perfect for what we need. The iPad (maybe not so essential, but a nice bonus) will allow us to blog regularly and stay in touch with friends and family back home.   

There is still loads of planning and prep to do, so I best get to studying that atlas and reading up on more travelling hints and tips.