How often do you get away in your van? And where do you go?

[Pitstop Penny]

Since we purchased our Ocean, just before the pandemic struck, we’ve not had chance to go anywhere outside the UK yet. Just weekend trips whenever we can. We got away about eight times in 2020. To the Lakes, mainly. And one trip to Wales. Another couple to Yorkshire.

How often do you use your van? During normal times. And where do you go?

When things are “normal” again, I’d love to do longer trips away. To France, to the Netherlands. To Germany and Belgium. I’m dreaming of 2022 now but quite content with weekend trips in the UK for now.

 

[Ozzy Pete]

We “In normal times” go to France and Spain. We have tried it in both June and September and find September to be the best for us. At first my wife didn’t like Spain but over the years it’s really grown on us. We have been going for around 20 years, 15 years on a motorbike and the past 5 in a camper. The weather in September on the whole is beautiful especially in Spain. Mid to high 20s and warm at night. We have had to cancel our 2020 trip then 2021 now moved to 2022..
Let’s hope this has all finished by then and we can get back to normal.

 

[Pitstop Penny]

We “In normal times” go to France and Spain. We have tried it in both June and September and find September to be the best for us. At first my wife didn’t like Spain but over the years it’s really grown on us. We have been going for around 20 years, 15 years on a motorbike and the past 5 in a camper. The weather in September on the whole is beautiful especially in Spain. Mid to high 20s and warm at night. We have had to cancel our 2020 trip then 2021 now moved to 2022..
Let’s hope this has all finished by then and we can get back to normal.

That’s great to know. About Spain in September. I expect you’ll be there in 2022, no problem. I’ve not explored the place much but always wanted to. I love France so will probably head down that way slowly. I’m really looking forward to it.

I’m spending this year taking the van out as much as possible and seeing what we might need to make it manageable. Today, I purchased a new towelling robe and some new boxes for the boot! Spain here we come!

 

[Wildcamper]

We booked 9 trips for 2021, Minehead, Lizard, Berwick on Tweed, N Somerset, Peak District, Cambridge, N Yorkshire, N Wales and N Cumbria. Done the first 4, Peak District next week. So far sites all quite. No trips during high season/school holidays. Last trip in early Oct. Then we will book our winter series of trips. We also do day trips in between. Not missing Europe. Our on- board toilet and hot shower capability have really come into their own.

 

[5i1ver8ack]

2020:
Driveway, London (various)
Calne (weekend)
South East Devon (long weekend)
Chirk, Shropshire (long weekend)
Duddon Valley, Lake District (one week)

2021 (done):
Postern Hill, Savernake (long weekend)
Leith Hill, Surrey (one night)
St Davids, Pembrokeshire (one week)

2021 (arranged)
New Forest (two weekends)
Wasdale (one week)
South East Devon (three weeks)
North Wales (two weekends)
Chirk, Shropshire (long weekend)
Brecon Beacons (one week)

2021 (likely)
New Forest (weekends)
Calne (weekends)
Other (if I get any work done)

No (ususal) trips to France durng either 2020 or 2021.
2022... Germany/Austria/Italy/Switzerland/France??
2023... France./Spain/Potugal??
2024/5... Norway!!

 

[GrannyJen]

Currently in my 20th day of a 52 day trip cycling across England and Wales.

Campsites have been Hill farm, Harleston, Norfolk (CL)
Highfield farm, Comberton, Cambridge (Licensed site)
Whitemills Marina, Wellingborough (CS)
Anita's touring park, Mollington, near Banbury (licensed site)
Broadway CAMC site

and currently Hades in Malvern, CAMC site.

Next stop Hay on Wye

 

[Whistler]

We have just had our Cali for 3 years so our travelling has been a little limited. Aim for one weekend away a month plus a week at the summer and Autumn half-terms and at least 2 weeks in the summer holidays.

Weekends are within 2 hours of home
Summer half term UK based
Summer holidays - Scotland, Yorkshire Dales/Northumberland. Really looking forward to the chance to go abroad.
Autumn half term - Peak District or Dartmoor

Planned last year to go to Amsterdam at Easter to watch the Euro League Hockey but that got cancelled.


Sent from my SM-A515F using Tapatalk

 

[Magic Bus]

We go away for 1 week every month, as we are retired. We’ve recently started to do 2 centre breaks, staying at 2 sites during the week. We’ve just returned from a week at Barnard Castle and Old Hartley near Whitley Bay.

Last month we went to the Norfolk Broads and Kessingland in Suffolk.
Other Places we’ve been include Chester, London (Abbey Wood), Abergavenny, Peterborough, Sandringham, Moreton in Marsh, Somerset, Great Longstone, Clumber Park, North Walsham in Norfolk, Cambridge, Castleton. We’ve had our van for just under 2 years.

We mostly stay at C&MC sites as they are easy to book, but have stayed at Tranquil Parks and a few private sites found through Google.

 

[Stoneybroke]

Not enough!
Irrespective of COVID, despite my early retirement, my wife's new business, (a dog shop) set up after we bought it, means her commitments restrict us.
Perhaps some solo nights this year?

 

[Anthony1]

Since we purchased our Ocean, just before the pandemic struck, we’ve not had chance to go anywhere outside the UK yet. Just weekend trips whenever we can. We got away about eight times in 2020. To the Lakes, mainly. And one trip to Wales. Another couple to Yorkshire.

How often do you use your van? During normal times. And where do you go?

When things are “normal” again, I’d love to do longer trips away. To France, to the Netherlands. To Germany and Belgium. I’m dreaming of 2022 now but quite content with weekend trips in the UK for now.

Two years ago we did the Arctic Circle and then on to Nordkapp - I plan on doing it again once we are given parole by HM Government. We went Via the tunnel, then Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, back to Sweden, Norway etc.

I wrote it up here on the Forum. Here:

JUST BACK FROM NORDKAPP​

 

[RonB]

Being of a certain age, we’ve been able to travel a lot around mainland Europe, prior to the pandemic.

April was generally spent in Scotland and/or Ireland, then May & June followed by September & October doing two x 2 month trips every year all around the continent. These included the Adriatic, Iberian Peninsula, Central & Eastern Europe, even right round the Baltic & Scandinavia, as well as lots of time in France. I’d worked out that we’d actually spent two and a half years in our Cali in Europe in the six years we had it.

Unfortunately this has all ended with Covid.

Almost two years without driving onto a cross channel or North Sea ferry and apart from a couple of drives to the south coast to visit family, and a few odd weeks taken in the, nowadays, oversubscribed Highlands, fingers crossed we can revert to our previous habits next year.

Having said that, the dreaded B word raises its head as the 90 days within a 6 month period rule is going to curtail our May & June then September & October trips. Will have to rethink that!

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Quite confusing 90-day rules am i’m not sure I totally understand them fully yet but on the assumption you want to spend more than 90 days in the EU between May and October would this work for you?

Assuming zero days are clocked up during 2021, do a day trip to Calais on 01/01/22. This triggers your 90 day allowance. You then have 89 remaining days to use by the end of June. Then do the same for the July to December period.

Trouble is that can’t then be repeated in 2023 and would need to be adjusted.

 

[RonB]

Quite confusing 90-day rules am i’m not sure I totally understand them fully yet but on the assumption you want to spend more than 90 days in the EU between May and October would this work for you?

Assuming zero days are clocked up during 2021, do a day trip to Calais on 01/01/22. This triggers your 90 day allowance. You then have 89 remaining days to use by the end of June. Then do the same for the July to December period.

Trouble is that can’t then be repeated in 2023 and would need to be adjusted.

Yes, I had considered this - a single day trip over to Calais in early January would trigger the start of the 90 days within 6 months period, followed by a trip starting in early July doing the same for the next 6 months, and so on...

...except, we live in Edinburgh so the January day trip would maybe need to become a weekend flight to Paris or similar.

Complicated or what?

 

[Pro moochers]

“Normally” we do a 2 week European trip, a week long Scottish trip in winter and 1-2 weekend trips per month to mainly Lake District, snowdonia, Peak District or Yorkshire dales.
We sneaked in a 2 week European trip in September 2020 and started our YouTube channel as the pandemic made us realise just how special freedom and memories are.
The channel (in its infancy) is now encouraging us to think of fresh new places to visit in the future, as often as we can and try to experience new things.
I’d recommend anyone try the same thing as looking through old photos sometimes, just don’t quite scratch that itch

https://youtube.com/channel/UCA5m0hC-HW5aBv9-Ob5EtAA

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Yes, I had considered this - a single day trip over to Calais in early January would trigger the start of the 90 days within 6 months period, followed by a trip starting in early July doing the same for the next 6 months, and so on...

...except, we live in Edinburgh so the January day trip would maybe need to become a weekend flight to Paris or similar.

Complicated or what?

Yes, difficult :-(

 

[Eber123]

Hello,

The camper is my daily drive, so it is used every day.

Before the Pandemie we went to Norther Ireland and England and many day tours in Ireland. In 2019 we did a tour through Europe starting in France, Germany, Poland, Czecha, Austria, Italy, France, Spain. It was a dream.

This year we stay in Ireland. A few days in Killarney, a few days in Nothern Ireland and Donegal.

Planning the future. Next year a tour to Scandinavia and Baltic Countries. After that to Rumania and in 2024, if everything is going well, several month to America and Canda (planning started).

Happy traveling California,
Eberhard

 

[andyinluton]

Quite confusing 90-day rules am i’m not sure I totally understand them fully yet but on the assumption you want to spend more than 90 days in the EU between May and October would this work for you?

Assuming zero days are clocked up during 2021, do a day trip to Calais on 01/01/22. This triggers your 90 day allowance. You then have 89 remaining days to use by the end of June. Then do the same for the July to December period.

Trouble is that can’t then be repeated in 2023 and would need to be adjusted.

That doesn't work, the limit is 90 days out of any 180, you don't get a block of 90 days with a start point & have to use them all up.
You could go every other day for 180 days if you wanted. In fact every other day for 360 days is allowable.

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

That doesn't work, the limit is 90 days out of any 180, you don't get a block of 90 days with a start point & have to use them all up.
You could go every other day for 180 days if you wanted. In fact every other day for 360 days is allowable.

I see Andy. So each time you enter they look at how many days you’ve ‘used’ in the last 180 days. Correct?
TBH it won’t affect us as we won’t be away long enough and regularly enough to use up our allowance.

 

[andyinluton]

I see Andy. So each time you enter they look at how many days you’ve ‘used’ in the last 180 days. Correct?
TBH it won’t affect us as we won’t be away long enough and regularly enough to use up our allowance.

That is my understanding, so you could do 60 days away, followed by 90 at home, then do another 90 away as at any point if you looked at a block of 180 days you would only be away for 90.

 

[RonB]

That is my understanding, so you could do 60 days away, followed by 90 at home, then do another 90 away as at any point if you looked at a block of 180 days you would only be away for 90.

Andy, is that a typing error? Do you not mean ‘...you could do 90 days away, followed by 90 at home...’? If you were away for only 60 days you would need to spend 120 days at home (or a maximum of another 30 away and 90 at home), before you could return to EU when your next block of 180 days would start.

 

[andyinluton]

No I was deliberate - if you take any adjacent 180 days on a calander you can be in EU for any 90 of them. If you were there for say days one to seven of the 180, those days drop off your allocation of ninety, one day at a time starting on day 181.

You don’t get given two blocks of 180 days, it’s how many days have you been away in the last 180

In the example I gave you are away days 1-60 and 151-180 - that’s your 90 used in 180
You are still away days 181-240 but as you use these days the 1-60 days drop out of the 180 day window one day at a time. After day 240 you have used up all your allowance until day 330, on day 331 day 151 drops out of the calculation and you are free to go again.

 

[RonB]

Well it certainly buggers up our long established habit of EU travel of sixty days in May & June trips followed by sixty days in September & October. Somewhere in there we’ve got to lose thirty days.

Well explained with calculator here:

Confused About the EU’s 90/180 Day Rule? Here’s How it Works - FrenchEntrée

Brits, Americans, and many other non-EU citizens can only spend 90 days in the EU within any 180 day period - but how it’s calculated can be confusing. Here’s what you need to know.

www.frenchentree.com

 

[Elly Swanson]

My favourites are one night stopovers whenever we can at a good pub or farm shop. Also long weekends at festivals.

Last year only managed one in September due to Covid. This year have already done one, four to go between now and mid September. Hopefully next year there’ll be more to go to.