America (more to the point Florida) was high on the list initially and for a long time that's where we thought we would go. Stuff for the kids was important and so two weeks of Disney, Busch Gardens, Sea World, Marine Land, Animal Kingdom and Universal Studios were planned and researched.
To be honest, that wouldnt have been my idea of a fantastic holiday, stuck in theme parks for two weeks, holding bags and taking photos, although it would have been fantastic to see the kids (and big kid Kerry) have loads of fun. I pushed for us to take an extra week, possibly in the middle to hire a car and get out there and see some of the real America. That would keep us all happy. And then we started looking at the prices.
Obviously wanting to go in the school hols, prices were premium accross the board. Flights, accomodation and theme park passes, not to mention food and spends, it all added up to a pretty tidy sum I can tell you.
Then the God of fortune smiled down and had a word in Kerry's ear. "Why dont we forget Florida" she piped up one day. "We could buy a camper van and tour round Europe. We could still do a few days in Disneyland Paris, and Adventura in Spain and there are loads of water parks in the South of France. We would be spending the same amount of money, but when we get back we still would have the van to use any time we please". It would also mean that we could afford to go for a much longer break, probably the whole month of August.
And so the idea was born. Over the next few weeks we worked on where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see. It was important to break the journey up because some long distances were involved and we didn't want the kids just sitting in a van for miles and miles around Europe. We also wanted to be booked in and confirmed at some locations, but retain the freedom to just do things on the spur of the moment and camp on the road if we fancied. We planned periods in between that we could just 'cuff' and make up as we went along. It also gave us some contingency plan in case we had an emergency or breakdown.
A famous motorcycle adventure traveller (Ted Simon) once said, its not the travel that makes the journey, but the stops and the things that happen along the way that do. They are what give you the memories. I think he is a wise man.
We really didn't want to feel that we were constantly rushing to try and get to the next location, this was a holiday not a race. So if we feel like stopping to try a bit of bungy jumping in the Alps along the way, we can (not likely for me but you never know!!).
Eventually we agreed on our route. The plan is to travel to Hull and get the ferry to Zeebrugge. From there we travel to Paris for a few days, then on to Geneva and Lak Leman (Lake Geneva to those who prefer) for a three day stopover. Then down to the South of France, St Tropez and Cannes for a full week of camping on the beach. Next to Estartit in northern Spain, followed by Barcelona and further on down the coast to Valencia and Alicante. Then we begin the route homeward, via Madrid to Santander, ferry to Portsmouth and then to London for a few days stopover with Leanne (Kerry's sister) until we mosey on home to Newcastle four and a half weeks after setting out. The map below doesnt do the distance justice, its 2500 miles (3800 km) just from point to point!
I'll give a full breakdown of the itinary in a later blog closer to departure date which is on Tuesday 31 Jul 2012. Its also my plan to blog as we travel, hopefully posting some nice pics of the places we visit and things we do, every few days. Thats if I can get connected on the road. Fingers crossed.
The next blog however will be about the fine beast of a vehicle we plan to do the trip in. Our home for nearly 5 weeks and how we picked and bought her. As with everything we do it was not simple, we do like to keep things complicated! lol.
Speak soon, and remember: One life.......live it!
Chris.
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