Differences between "here" and 'there'
Not having a passport ,can members tell me the differences between caravaning "here" or "overseas", last time i went overseas was a school trip to France 40 years ago, i can only have a week at the time ,so is it worth going across ???
Hopfully this might be the right place to discuss this
EDIT, the tittle should read ....
The differences between here and there
Comments
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For a week, it is probably not economic when you add in the cross Channel costs. Like for like sites are generally cheaper and there are many more to chose from so you can easilly off set the cross channel costs against cheaper sites My first trips were never shorter than 3 weeks but the biggest attraction of the lot is the weather. Go to the Med coast and you are almost guaranteed sunshine. The distance for me is not much further than going to the Highlands and fuel on the Continent is cheaper.
peedee
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As has been said, the ferry across is going to be the main expense; but you do have the advantage of being on the doorstep, so to speak, of the ports, so at least you don't have a long journey to the port and back to contend with.
I personally think the main difference is that it's so much more relaxed "over there". When you decide on a site then you can just turn up at reception without a booking, tell them you want to stay for x number of nights and off you go to pick your pitch. You don't pay on arrival, but on departure (or the night before departure); if you decide after 1 night that the site isn't for you, then you leave next day, no problem, you just pay for the 1 night. If you like it, you stay until you want to leave. This applies mainly to non-honeypot sites, even in high season, but of course the more popular sites in high season will need to be booked.
In short, the difference is the freedom to go where you want, when you want, for how long you want.
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HD, I could never give advice re holidaying over the channel as I never have nor ever would tour there. I would say this-don't penny pinch, give yourself the best possible chance to get the best possible holiday/tour you can. If it's purely about the cost
it will be a holiday full of concerns. That would be unfair on yourself & any traveling companion/s. Just go to enjoy yourself the minutiae of costs can come when you are a seasoned tourer. I've read the words of-'easy, no problems, it's much better', but
they are from the die-hards/experienced. Approach it with an open mind.0 -
We stopped caravanning in this country because of the need to book and plan everything in advance. If you go 'over there' which I take it means Europe, then all you need do is book a ferry and from there you can go where you like. Sites don't have to be booked in advance, you can stay as little or as long as you want, and you can meander through areas and countries as you please. Even if you have only a week you can find lovely sites within an hour of a channel port, and experience the 'over there' experience for yourself.
There are sites to suit everyone - farm sites almost always have hook-ups etc., as a registered campsite has to offer certain basic facilities, but there are five star sites which are real 'holiday complexes. Then there are all the inbetween sites. We like sites with a pool so I can have an early morning swim, we like a bar and restaurant on site, and we like sites in areas of natural beauty. We can find those, and at good prices too. We can stay at sites run by the local council, always walking distance into a town, and generally a good place for an impromptu overnight stop when you're passing somewhere and there's a Fete on, or a Farmer's market, or a wine festival. Sites such as La Callopie at Martel in the Lot will cost you just 9 euros per night. That's just £6.94 per night.
There are schemes which offer you a discount such as the ACSI Card, and Camping Cheques, and you can find sites for just 11 euros (£8.36) per night using ACSI There are forty-two such sites in various countries - list here. There are thousands of sites at less than 20 euros per night.
The culture is different, the food is different, the scenery is different, and generally apart from in cities you don't pay for parking. There are beautiful places you can visit which aren't run by the National Trust and allow you to wander around free of charge, without paying a five to park in the first place. You can find a beachside park - and park free, and you can find campsites which have their own beach - so you can pitch adjacent to the waves.
Apart from all that wine and beer is generally cheaper - though not in all countries, and you can usually bank on being able to sit outside long into the evening with a glass of red or white or a cold beer in your hand.
Teenagers are almost always respectful, and rarely cause problems in towns and villages - you will get a polite 'Bonjour' rather than a surly grunt. They don't (generally) go out to get drunk and cause problems, and are much more likely to be found on the sports pitch than in a bar. Yes, like here, they may be exhuburant during the school holidays, but many sites provide somewhere away from the pitches where they can 'hang out' and do their own thing. Sites even organise things like teen sleepovers in the woods, with a sing along and a campfire...............!
Anyone need any more reasons to try it.
Just in case many of you say it's expensive, I did a comparison for a family taking two weeks at the end of the school holidays in August - comparing Hillhead with a site in the south of France. The south of France site was £300 cheaper - giving the family enough to pay for a ferry and go a long way towards the additional cost of fuel.
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Teenagers are almost always respectful, and rarely cause problems in towns and villages - you will get a polite 'Bonjour' rather than a surly grunt. They don't (generally) go out to get drunk and cause problems, and are much more likely to be found
on the sports pitch than in a bar. Yes, like here, they may be exhuburant during the school holidays, but many sites provide somewhere away from the pitches where they can 'hang out' and do their own thing. Sites even organise things like teen sleepovers
in the woods, with a sing along and a campfire...............!By inference you are saying that UK teenagers are disrespectful, go out to get drunk and cause problems and don't play sports as much as their Europen counterparts. A bit of an over generalisation surely.
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Someone once asked me why on earth I was going to India, and I said that's where they happen to have put the Taj Mahal.
It's the same reason why I have criss crossed Europe with a caravan - that's where they happen to have put the places I want to see.
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The last time we stayed in a hotel in Spain ,apart from The mostly senior guests from several countries,there was two coaches of French students on a school trip ,and it got so bad with the students that the they were made to leave early the "teachers "either
had no control or were not interesed0 -
Teenagers are almost always respectful, and rarely cause problems in towns and villages - you will get a polite 'Bonjour' rather than a surly grunt. They don't (generally) go out to get drunk and cause problems, and are much more likely to be found
on the sports pitch than in a bar. Yes, like here, they may be exhuburant during the school holidays, but many sites provide somewhere away from the pitches where they can 'hang out' and do their own thing. Sites even organise things like teen sleepovers
in the woods, with a sing along and a campfire...............!By inference you are saying that UK teenagers are disrespectful, go out to get drunk and cause problems and don't play sports as much as their Europen counterparts. A bit of an over generalisation surely.I wasn't and my apologies to the posters who want to read why they should try Europe. The last thing I wanted to do was to cause this discussion to sideline into another set of complaints about teenagers (of whatever nationality).
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Teenagers are almost always respectful, and rarely cause problems in towns and villages - you will get a polite 'Bonjour' rather than a surly grunt. They don't (generally) go out to get drunk and cause problems, and are much more likely to be found
on the sports pitch than in a bar. Yes, like here, they may be exhuburant during the school holidays, but many sites provide somewhere away from the pitches where they can 'hang out' and do their own thing. Sites even organise things like teen sleepovers
in the woods, with a sing along and a campfire...............!By inference you are saying that UK teenagers are disrespectful, go out to get drunk and cause problems and don't play sports as much as their Europen counterparts. A bit of an over generalisation surely.I wasn't and my apologies to the posters who want to read why they should try Europe. The last thing I wanted to do was to cause this discussion to sideline into another set of complaints about teenagers (of whatever nationality).
As the title of the post is Differences, I am not sure what point there was in mentioning it.
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Husky - its great to experience the differences - for a change - I personally love the Patisseries - and actually didn't put on weight although feeling I had over indulged in French cheeses and pastries! The lack of over crowded roads - the great open spaces.
I only realised recently that while France has a similar population to the UK it has so much more space! I have enjoyed Normandy and Brittany, Vendee and the Loire recently and would like to try Holland and Belgium as well. Dover Dunkirk is a great crossing
although Newhaven Dieppe is also very good - not sure which part of Kent you are in. France is very dog friendly too - although they aren't as good as most of us at cleaning up after their pooches! A week would give you plenty of scope and ACSI is great
(for low season sites). Go have some fun! Do something different.
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Husky ,give it a go its "different" much bigger with about same population as here,so longer distances,with at times same scenery eg flat and boring going towards Dijon,and then there are as you will know depending on who writes the post,there are pros and
cons with sites as anywhere0 -
We van both here and abroad, both have their attractions for us. By the time we add ferry prices, red pennant, mileage etc being abroad probably works out marginally more expensive than staying in CLs in the UK. For example this year we will be going to
Cumbria staying on CLs and probably clock up 800 miles and then go to Hungary where I would think we will cover more than 3000 miles. Both of these trips will be during premium rate periods0 -
Not having a passport ,can members tell me the differences between caravaning "here" or "overseas", last time i went overseas was a school trip to France 40 years ago, i can only have a week at the time ,so is it worth going across ???
Hopfully this might be the right place to discuss this
EDIT, the tittle should read ....
The differences between here and there
Husky it depends where you go.For starters the scenery in Normandy and Bittany is basically no different than Cornwall as is the west coast."A friendly bonjour" hmmm........if your not prepared too try and speak the lingo many french dont really want too
talk too you.The best english speakers are the Dutch by far and friendlier than the french (but thats not difficult).Many sites cater well for families but they are not exactly picturescue or tidy and french campsite owners are not always the most cooperative
people you will ever meet.so its swings and roundabouts.Would i go for a week ? no as i live too far from Calais but even if i lived in Kent i probably would,nt either.Yes i,ve had some very good holidays across the channel but its nothing special IMO.peter.
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Husky as other have said its differant in that the roads are quieter, the sites less busy (apart from peak) prices are lower and people friendlier. I know volvoman9 says the Dutch are the best english speakers and are generally friendlier than the French, agreed the Dutch do speak very good english, the French however are very friendly. We lived in Germany for 20 years and used to holiday in Spain and Italy for the summer holidays with the children. In those days we used to go through France as fast as we could didn't like it, didn't like the French. Oh how that has changed we love France now and find the French very helpful and friendly.
With us living in Scotland for us to holiday in the south of england is around 550 miles further if we want to go down to the tip of cornwall, so we look at what is going to be the best holiday experiance for us. The weather does play a BIG part in our holidays, with France there is always somewhere nice and if like last September it was pretty awful then you can go a bit further south and reach very good weather in a short amount of time in Spain. We do love the UK and there is many places that we haven't visited but and its a big BUT we have lots of time to do so, fortunately we have good health at the moment but that might not always be the case, as we get older (now mid 60's) we might find it difficult to get insurance, we might not like the distances we currently travel. That is the time when we can then concentrate more on the UK, but if prices keep increasing like they have this year then it will be CL's not sites I'm afraid.
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When we were younger we spent our 2 / 3 week summer holiday in Europe for over 20 years. Mainly France but other countries as well. However, that was tenting and it was a lot easier to move about than towing a van. Now we have a van, I don't think I would
be interested in going for less than 6 weeks, unless I was sticking to the north of the country. When we tented we mainly stuck to the N and D roads which kept prices down, with a van if you only have a couple of weeks, and want to spend them in the south,
it really means autoroutes and these can add greatly to your costs.0 -
Thanks every one for your input,we are looking at changing to a M/H to make touring easier as my wife has mobility problems and once we are sorted with a M/H then a trip over the water will be on the cards , our ultimate trip would be to tour Finland, but thats a big step at the moment
P.S ,i only live 12 miles from the tunnel ,so no excuse
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Valda description of young people on the continent is absolutely spot on. Why did we have adverse comments about her post. This thread is about differences between caravan holidaying in the UK and Abroad so Valda's post is very relevant.
K
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"Nothing special over there", says Volvoman.
Only the telepherique up to the Aiguille du Midi, the Pont du Gard, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the hill towns across Umbria, all those Van Goghs in the Kroller Muller Museum, the mechanical elephant in Nantes, the Musee d'Orsay, camping at the foot of the Eiger in Grindelwald, the open air opera in the arena at Verona..... and Venice was certainly more than a bit special.
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Vovlvoman9, it sounds like you've had some negative experiences, reading between the lines of your post; it certainly comes across that way to me when I read it.
I agree that SOME French people aren't friendly, also that SOME French people won't talk to you unless you are "prepared to try and speak the lingo". But doesn't the same apply to SOME English people? I've met some unfriendly people on UK campsites as
well as on Dutch, German and French ones. Equally I've met some very friendly and helpful people in the same countries.The language issue to me isn't an issue, people get by in any way they can if they don't speak the language, but what I don't understand is the expectation that everyone outside of the UK should speak English.
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Valda description of young people on the continent is absolutely spot on. Why did we have adverse comments about her post. This thread is about differences between caravan holidaying in the UK and Abroad so Valda's post is very relevant.
K
Too true K, so the italian, French & Spanish groups of Children I have encountered in Chester, York & Hull were obviously Brits speaking fluent French, Italian & Spanish as they ran riot pushing & jostling fellow visitors. I know from experience that all
over the World most Children of all nationalities are decent, the few who are not do not make the whole bad, well, to the majority of us They don't. PS-a Frenchman in York apologised for His fellow French folk pointing out they are not the norm.0 -
Vovlvoman9, it sounds like you've had some negative experiences, reading between the lines of your post; it certainly comes across that way to me when I read it.
I agree that SOME French people aren't friendly, also that SOME French people won't talk to you unless you are "prepared to try and speak the lingo". But doesn't the same apply to SOME English people? I've met some unfriendly people on UK campsites as
well as on Dutch, German and French ones. Equally I've met some very friendly and helpful people in the same countries.The language issue to me isn't an issue, people get by in any way they can if they don't speak the language, but what I don't understand is the expectation that everyone outside of the UK should speak English.
Dont get me wrong Ian i,m not saying its just the french we can get good and bad everywhere which again makes the continant nothing outstanding from most other countries.Yes i have had the odd negative experience but then again i,ve been over there many
times so its bound to happen sometime.What i,m saying too Husky is dont take too much as gospel from those that think its the be all and end all once you cross the channel.Its got its pro,s and cons like everywhere else.peter.
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"Nothing special over there", says Volvoman.
Only the telepherique up to the Aiguille du Midi, the Pont du Gard, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the hill towns across Umbria, all those Van Goghs in the Kroller Muller Museum, the mechanical elephant in Nantes, the Musee d'Orsay, camping at the foot of the Eiger in Grindelwald, the open air opera in the arena at Verona..... and Venice was certainly more than a bit special.
They are just other countries with their own sights the same as we have in the uk.One mans special is another mans yawn
peter.
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Volvoman9 thinks its "nothing special" well even after nearly 40 years of doing it i.e. travelling on the continent it still seems pretty special to me.
This year we are planning to more or less repeat last years travels, Bird watching in the Extremadura, 6 weeks on the Algarve, some time in Aquitaine and cycling in the Vendee. Then we come home until the hoards have gone back to work and school before
a North Sea Ferry crossing to Holland where we then dawdle through, Germany Austria and Slovenia to Croatia where we intend to spend another month pitched 20 meters from the Adriatic where we can swim before breakfast and enjoy lazy days in fantastic surroundings.Yes nothing special
Good for you.
peter.
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