Minutiae!
"small, trivial"
Found myself pondering on how different we all are as tourers (caravans, MH, tents) this morning! Not what kind of outfit we choose, probably a good many of us have done the lot at one time or another, but more how we are so different in approaching the
planning, setting off, being on site and then getting home aspects.No right or wrong method, it is what suits the individual doing the touring!
We are about as laid back as you can get over most aspects, sometimes changing our destination the day prior to setting off! So not much advanced booking of sites goes on, unless we know it will be superbusy,
such as a favourite 5 van site for a whole month in June! But stop offs can be random, route will change, and what we take with us usually boils down to absolute necessities such as dog food, dog bowls, dog beds and leads! Vehicle checks are done, that is
a safety issue, never skimp on this, but after that we tend to wing it! Makes for a very relaxed holiday usually, there isn't much that can't be bought or borrowed, sent on by post. (Much more difficult if overseas I appreciate by the way, talking staying
in UK here.)
We probably have to plan more if we are going in a cottage, trying to fit everything we need plus our two hounds into essentially two seater cars, then it does get interesting!
What do others do in way of planning and preparation?
Comments
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We in the CC are not tourers in the true sense of the word.
The CC used to have a motto" Hitch up and GO" which was also the motto of the true tourers. The CC no longer support this means of caravanning.
They are running their sites like package holiday locations where customers have to plan and book a set number of nights in advance.
All sense of independent touring by staying at a location because you are driving through an area and like the look of it has been totally ditched. Also the ability to move on to another CC site when we are ready has gone.
The Minutiae of Booking Booking Booking, to a certain extent negates the idea of real touring.
K
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I have had to get a tad more organised this last couple of years, mainly planning linking train journeys to meet up with my OH as tourer moves around, but have actually found this very interesting. Have to say that the mysteries of doing joined up rail journeys
in this country are not for the faint hearted, especially if looking to keep to a decent budget. But there are some real bargains to be had! It cost me more to get a taxi from home to Doncaster station last year, than train ride to Berwick! That was a bargain!OH probably makes a few lists when setting off alone, but booking sites is hardly ever done more than a couple of days in advance.
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Agree to a certain extent K, but there are just so many million more touring, (in and out of Club) and of course a lot are having to juggle with work commitments as well.
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I don't think the need to book and losing spontaneity can be laid at the door of CC. Vanning has become a victim of its own success in that respect so that at popular times there is a need to book. The same applies to C&CC and many privately owned sites.
I much prefer the get up and go and see where we end up attitude but, with so many vans out there and so many sites full at times, it's often not possible now.0 -
I do book in the UK, have a nice CL (well hopefully) in North Yorkshire towards the end of July but as for abroad, I book the last site of the trip normally to ensure we have somewhere to stay a few days before the tunnel, and to get the dog treated and passport stamped.
I do do lists before going away, not overly so but mainly for essentials, only because the memory is not what it use to be and me forgetting my wallet with money and cards etc last year.
Also we travel fairly light regarding food etc, these are things we can buy locally.
In the UK we aim to arrive on any Site/CL mid afternoon, we are not into very early starts just to arrive at 12.00 or 1.00, much rather wait until the rush is over and settle on whatever pitch is available, quite laid back in that respect.
Routes is usually a scan of my desktop on google but nothing written down or detailed planning.
Preparation, well the van gets brought home from storage and parked on the driveway about 3 days before the off, exterior washed and cleaned inside, electric hooked up and fridge cooled down. Then its a case of loading up the night before, hitching up and off we go.
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I sense that many people have got into a mindset which 'dictates' that they
must have a booking before setting off, even though common sense and experience suggests that site(x) in location(y) at time of year(z) will have plenty of room if we simply turn up unbooked.Of course, if you MUST stay at a particular site (maybe even pitch on a commercial site) and are absolutely certain about dates then you may
choose to book.(CL/CS sites are a bit different because of the limited capacity and because it may not be possible to readily contact the owners if arriving 'on spec')
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We rarely decide on more than one trip at a time and if its in the UK we can leave it to a few days before we go before booking. As we tend not to take the motorhome off site I tend to do quite a bit of research on the loacal area, can we walk, is there
a bus etc. That doesn't mean that we will make use of all the information but it gives us options.Going abroad is a different kettle of fish as it involves a lot more planning like insurance, what crossing and regrettfully at our age will we have enough medication to last eight weeks. The converse of that is that we hardly ever book a site and if one
that we arrive at is either full, not to our liking or not even open (yes that has happened to us!!!) we just move on. We don't travel so far in a day that we have no flexibilty left to decide to use another site.David
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Back when we were both working, we also seemed to have a small zoo at home as well, horses, dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens and ducks! Boy did that lot take some organising for a three week stop away! I had to start planning who was doing what, buying in feed,
checking everything was as healthy as could be, did we have a back up plan etc..... Finally convinced my OH that getting another horse, and more chickens and ducks and going away for weeks on end were not compatible! Just two dogs are bad enough nowadays!0 -
We tend to book sites just a couple of days in advance, unless we want a particular site in a particular (popular) area.
I do remember though, when I first started caravanning with my parents. We would just turn up at a site, book for one night, then decide whether or not we wanted to stay. If we liked it, my Dad would go to the site office the next morning and book us in
for another night (or 2 or 3) This was during school holidays
I don't think that would happen nowadays 
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I think if I was going as far, and for as long as some of you are, then there would need to be a bit more planning.
I never actually intended thread to be about booking in advance, but I suppose this is quite an issue for some at certain times of year, so a natural thread progression. I am more fascinated by all the tiny prep things that happen prior to going, setting
up and then leaving really. Makes us all very different. We travel very light, even in times of dubious weather such as now, and keep routine stuff in MH on drive. We used to keep caravan on farm where we stabled our horse, but found it a total pain having
to fetch it, clean it, fill it, and then reverse procedure when arriving home. We sold that van last year. Now keep MHZ at home, and small van on drive at Mum's.0 -
We planned a lot of this current trip but only actually booked the 2 CLs in England and the first night in Holland. We have written to the site we're moving to tomorrow in Northern Germany as it is a huge national holiday (Ascension) on Thursday and sites
can be booked solid for 5 nights, to make sure they had room. We plan the area we want to visit based on available nature watching opportunities, good walking, good cycling and some other interesting bits of history.In the area we're moving to there are only 3 campsites in a reasonable distance to satisfy most aspects so we've plumped for the centrally located one. If we left it to chance we could have to change tack or travel miles to get to our area.
I wouldn't be bothered booking outside of any holiday period for anywhere in Europe but the UK does present different problems and Mrs WN would be an unhappy bunny if we went ad hoc.
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We tend to book as touring without a booking has got very difficult. For what to take my wife has a detailed list on her tablet. Basically we get everything ready and then check it against the list. We have packed and hoped for the best in the past but we
left so many things at home a list became an essential.0 -
For me, half the fun of our caravanning tours is the planning back in December/January. Researching sites and routes really whets the appetite. So, we choose an area we want to visit, research sites, work out roughly how long we want to stay to do the walks
we want to do and visit the sights we want to visit - and then - yes, we book!
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We do a lot of looking at maps, EH, NT, HHA books to decide where to go, I must admit. Got a small four day tour sorted, provided our MH is back on road after our glitch last time away! But no sites booked yet, will be a couple of CLs, one we know, one
we don't!0 -
We're quite creatures of habit with the half terms holidays and we use a small number of sites that are about 2 hours towing that we have been to many times before, usually Melrose, Troutbeck head, Bridlington/Scarborough. For our main 3/4 week summer holiday we'll pick an area in December, look at the club sites, look at what there is to do in that area, then choose a central site that will allow us to do as much as possible. It has to be a site with service pitches so that narrows the sites down even more, and then book on booking day. Last few years was Norfolk Boards site near Wroxham and Burford in the Cotswolds. Planning the route is a fun thing to do and we like to get as close as possible to our main site on the first day of travelling so as to arrive just after 12 on the main holiday site on the second day. Coming back we just do it all in one day.
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I've always been of the opinion that camping & caravanning should be an adventure with the freedom to come and go where and when you please. We only do the minimum of planning with a rough idea of where and when we're going. The only thing we book are ferry
crossings. We do spend time at home looking at maps and the internet, but this usually bears little resemblance to where we go. Routes and stops are decided as we travel. We never take a TV, smart phone, Satnav etc.. I grew up without them and I don't need
them now. Give me an OS or Michelin map any day.This year was interesting because we downsized our van and had to decide what we needed to pack. We still ended up taking more than we needed.
Not sure when we're going next. The van is due for its MoT soon and then we'll see what the weather is like.
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As nearly all of our trips are for extended periods, and are bound to coincide with all bank holidays except for Easter, we book most of our sites, after having planned where we want to be and a route. We will then book the remaining sites for our homeward
journey as we go along.0
