Planning a road trip - through Europe by van

Planning a road trip - traveling in Europe by van

Do you also like being bird-free on vacation? Yes?

If you are not yet traveling with your car or camper, you should definitely consider it.

Traveling in this way perhaps not everyone can imaginebut anyone who has ever tried it will agree that it is a different kind of vacation - a free, independent and, above all, a particularly beautiful one.

Hey!
My name is Johanna and I've been part of the VanEssa mobilcamping team for a few years now.

In this post, I'd like to show you how I approach planning a road trip in Europe by van. And maybe I can motivate one or two people to try it out for themselves.

I really enjoy planning and organizing and I love to browse through travel guides, so this automatically became my job in the family. It's only when it comes to booking ferries that my husband takes over, as he has the details of our car in his head.

By familiarizing myself with the vacation country/destination in advance, I already have the feeling that I have experienced a small part of the trip. And it's worth getting an idea in advance.

As a rule, we always travel with a VW bus. For the last two longer trips, we were allowed to borrow the VanEssa Sprinter so that we could be self-sufficient for longer and therefore completely independent and free.

But back to the topic: How do I go about planning a road trip?
First of all, you need to decide when and for how long you can go away.

If possible, you should avoid typical tourist destinations during the vacation periods and otherwise bring plenty of time and nerves with you (but everything has always worked out well anyway). The van is of course more comfortable if you set off in the warmer months, but the auxiliary heating or appropriate sleeping bags mean that nothing stands in your way in the fall or spring. We haven't personally been on the road in winter yet.

The need determines the goal
My husband and I first think about what we want from our vacation: relaxation, sport, sightseeing, sea and beach, mountains and green nature or a bit of everything?

Planning

Once we have decided on our main destination and the time period, we set out the route around it. Pay attention to how many kilometers you want to and can drive on average per day. Too much travel time can be quite stressful and you won't be able to relax. Make sure you also plan days when the car is parked. This is often a better way to immerse yourself in the culture and surroundings.

The next thing I do is pick up a travel guide. I'm an absolute fan of the good old book, as I can always pick it up on vacation and make notes in it (even without a good cell phone network). I get on best with the travel guides from Lonely Planet and have always had good experiences with them, but here too, tastes differ.

I look for beautiful and exciting destinations and make sure that there is variety in the program - for example, a city tour one day and a day at the beach or something quiet in nature the next. We quickly get bumblebees up our backsides, need to move around even on vacation and want to see as much of the country as possible. That's why just "chilling on the beach" for several days is out of the question for us.

We now have a little passenger with us, so of course we also pay attention to the children's program. If you like visiting cities, you should look for one or two playgrounds in the city where the children can let off steam in between. I am always surprised at the beautiful playgrounds that cities have to offer.

We always print out the part we want to visit as a Google map and mark the most important points on it. This makes it easier for me to find my way around during the trip and I find it easier to change the "plan". I also write the relevant pages of the travel guide on the map so that I don't have to scroll through the pages.

At home, I look for a few campsites and mark the locations on the map. We usually look spontaneously to see which campsite or pitch suits us best, but I'm more relaxed if I already have something up my sleeve.

Booking

With the VW bus, we usually just drove off without booking places in advance. This meant we didn't have any stress and could then decide on the spot where and how long we wanted to stay in one place. We only booked the ferries to islands in advance.
We then book the return journey two or three days before the return trip using our smartphone.

Of course, there is no guarantee here. If you want the best price at the best time, you definitely need to book early - but then you lose flexibility.

A big advantage of the „small“ camper is that you don't necessarily need a camping pitch.

During our vacations in France in particular, we were often allowed to stand on campsites when all the other pitches were full. However, this is only possible if you don't need or produce your own electricity.

How do you go about planning?
Let us know under the social media post. We would be delighted if we could try out one or two of your tips so that we can travel even more relaxed and enjoy our freedom to the full.

Have a good trip, Johanna.

Do you need more storage space in your vehicle during your road trip? Then take a look at here Please take a look at this article on our panniers for VW, Mercedes and PSA models.

Or do you need a place to sleep in the vehicle for your offspring? Then we can offer you here recommend our crib so that everyone can find a place to sleep.

And for more independence, you should think about a toilet on board. You can find out which one suits you here out.