5 week European Campervan road trip- what to pack?
With our newfound early retirement freedom we are setting off on a 5 week summer road trip with no plans, no bookings and no idea where we will end up. All we know is that we want to go to the mountains and the beach- meaning we need wetsuits, boogie boards and full on winter hiking gear. How on earth do you pack a VW campervan for such a diverse adventure?
Timeline:
00:00 We are Early Retirement Wanderlust
00:37 Introduction to our trip
01:45 Food
03:30 Clothing
04:12 Van Camping Gear
05:23 Tech' and entertainment
06:33 Paperwork and Documents for Europe
08:45 Bikes
09:40 European Van requirements
10:36 Storage on the road
11:25 What next?
We are Richard and Jackie and we live in the UK. Our plans for early requirement include relocating to the Yorkshire Dales, developing our forever home and travelling the UK, Europe and eventually the world in our VW campervan Nelson.
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Check out our blog earlyretirementwanderlust.com
Many thanks,
Richard & Jackie
Пікірлер: 37
Comprehensive and clear list! We found packing cubes for clothes etc great, different colour set for each of us. Uses less space than boxes but very easy to sort through in camper van, fits the odd spaces. I know you prefer cash, but getting linked up before travel to auto paying for toll roads eg France - if you take them - takes the stress out of explaining what road you came on from (sometimes by accident!) and if no people at exit toll booths. Green ‘token’ for German cities quite easy to assess. Safe journey!
@earlyretirementwanderlust
Жыл бұрын
Thank you 😊 we have never really investigated the toll tags before and on this trip seemed to only have one toll road as we had stuck close to the coast, which a bonus! Will look at German green tokens though and we still need to order a crit air sticker for skiing!
@suewheeler5795
7 ай бұрын
Packing cubes were game changer for us. One for hiking kit, underwear and then another one for everything else.
A really useful video. Thanks for sharing.
Really informative great video, have a super time xx keep safe x x x x
@earlyretirementwanderlust
Жыл бұрын
We will Thankyou
This is brilliant for our trip next year. Thank you
@earlyretirementwanderlust
7 ай бұрын
Thank you. Don’t forget a crit air sticker which you have to order on line from the french government site. It is only about £5 but the area where you need them is increasing slowly. The vendee and Bordeaux can seasonally need the sticker depending on air pollution level and Rouen needs one below I think class 4? There’s lots of information on line
Enjoy 💐💜
@earlyretirementwanderlust
Жыл бұрын
We will! Thankyou
Have a great time, looking forward to seeing your updates… 👍🏻
@earlyretirementwanderlust
Жыл бұрын
Thankyou
Really useful, thanks. I'd driving to Belgium and France this summer and it has really helped me. Enjoy the trip
@earlyretirementwanderlust
Жыл бұрын
Have a great time, Belgium is on our list one year to visit the leffe area 🍻
Thank you for video👍
@earlyretirementwanderlust
5 ай бұрын
Cheers hope it was helpful 🚐
@neilwr7442
5 ай бұрын
@earlyretirementwanderlust Yes, it was. More to watch as only just found your channel and looking for inspiration whilst we plan for first european trip to travel down portugals 'N2' after crossing to Santander. 👍
Another great video guys. We are planning a trip in our campervan during September and are very nervous about it, so any tips are most welcome. Keep up the good work and enjoy your trip.
@earlyretirementwanderlust
Жыл бұрын
You’ll have an amazing time and September is good as it is generally quieter and in Europe with an ACSI card cheaper too.
How’s life?- thanks, you made pro trip.
Great video! were you allowed in with the food everywhere I read says somthing diffrent were going on our first road trip in our campervan but arrive in france on easter sunday so will struggle with shops being closed. hope you had a great trip
@earlyretirementwanderlust
6 ай бұрын
We travel with some store cupboard basics that we can make a meal from in an emergency- like when we arrived in Spain on a Sunday. You can’t take any dairy or meat based products but we found a small shop open to get some chorizo in our first town.
A tip for another time - Crit'Air - reduce the photo/copy you have of each sheet of the V5 document -if less than 900KB each it should be easy. (PS you don't need a brethalyser any more other than for your own information). Have a great trip!!
@earlyretirementwanderlust
Жыл бұрын
We read somewhere after I gave up that you can screen shot the photo or email to yourself at a low res. I just gave up as we knew we didn’t need one where we were going but will if we ski again this year
Great vid! Have you considered popping over a weighbridge? Worth a quick check.
@earlyretirementwanderlust
Жыл бұрын
Yes we have weighed the van a couple of times. It has a t30 payload which helps. Been ok so far 🤞
@ScottishVanTrips
Жыл бұрын
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Awesome! 🤘
I have a few of your videos but there hasn’t been any mention of your loo arrangements. How do you deal with that?
@earlyretirementwanderlust
10 ай бұрын
We don’t have any on board facilities so we use campsites, public loos and pubs/cafes as much as possible with the odd outdoor wee! 🚐
Great video, did you need to notify your home insurance provider as you were out of the house for more than 28 days?
@earlyretirementwanderlust
Жыл бұрын
No as our children are staying there while we are away. It seems it is their little holiday cottage 🤣
Hi what was the last document referenced in this video. Something that was region/city specific “critaire”?
@grahamsmallpeice1212
10 ай бұрын
Sorry found it 👍🏼
@earlyretirementwanderlust
10 ай бұрын
Yes the crit aire sticker is what we will need when we go in January through the Lyon and Savoie valley. More areas seem to be added every year and the sticker lasts the life time of the vehicle however, the website is awful to navigate and we struggled to load anything in May. We will try again!
Food is much cheaper in Spain. Just buy stuff here !
@earlyretirementwanderlust
11 ай бұрын
Yes we definitely found that, however we were glad to have some food on board after arriving on a Sunday with not a lot open! We also stocked up a little before going into France which was extortionate 😳
@helenvwalker7919
11 ай бұрын
@earlyretirementwanderlust Of course. We always have a couple of emergency meals on board but we have a much smaller van. It is a Dacia Dokker.