Longer Tour in France
Hi All,
this year we are going to France for a month, staying at three different sites, generally small and basic, good CL type or as near as we can get. SW, SE and ESE of Limoges. We are experienced caravanners but pre-retirement were always limited to a fortnight. I was wondering if anyone has any tips or observations that might be handy for the longer adventure which might be handy.
Thanks in advance for any contributions
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The practicalities of living in France for 4 weeks instead of 2 should be the same. You still have to shop or travel around.
We used to go for 2-3 weeks when working and now go abroad for 4-8 weeks. We take the same amount of clothes etc.
The only things that you may need to consider are the implications for insurance and medications. Travel, Car and Household insurers may restrict coverage to 30/31 days so check with them if your time will spill over. Make sure you have sufficient supplies of any meds. I always take a prescription form just in case I need to prove what medication I am on.
If you are going for longer you may be able to spend more time in one place if it takes your fancy rather than trying to cram everything in but all it needs is for you to enjoy the extra time you have available.
Edit - You might find one of the moderators will move this thread to the Overseas section where it will get more attention.
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As above, 2 weeks or 6 we take the same stuff and have always taken out Red Pennant.I think the only extra is more books
One of our must haves is a second fridge, not a cool box. With temperatures hitting high 30's keeping stuff cold is a must.
Colin
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The immediate advantage of staying longer is that the cost of the ferry forms less of the cost so its not that much more expensive other than site costs to stay longer. If you are going out of the high season campsite prices will be modest compared to the UK. Not so sure about CL's as that tends to be a very "English" thing and many of those you find in France are often English owned. Nothing particularly wrong in that but their sparsity might limit where you stay. There are lots of smaller campsites in France with under 100 pitches that will be quiet out of main season.
David
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The only thing I would say about the price of the ferry being "spread" further if going for longer David is that my insurer gives me 31 days cover for travel insurance but charges extra for any stay over that, both for breakdown and for Medical section so it's swings and roundabouts. Other insurers may be more flexible but price for these aspects does tend to increase after a month.
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One thing that does need to be planned carefully is how you will keep in contact with family and friends now that many phone providers are doing away with free EU roaming.
When you're away for a month, you can soon rack up substantial bills with the new roaming tariffs that are coming in around April.
I'm on the look out for a 10mb per month mifi data package for my forthcoming trip to Italy in May - does anyone have any suggestions ?
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Hi, As said there is little difference between two and four weeks but, as DK says, it does make the pro rata ferry cost much lower.
Way back in 1995 when considering buying a brand new van one point I repeatedly made was that it was a nonsense to do so if buying new left no money to use the darned thing!
On insurance, we are with Nationwide and their charges for trips over 31 days we’re not a lot when I enquired late last year.
We always take magazine and books and have a newspaper subscription so can, usually, download the daily paper and will usually “go out” every third day or so to sightsee, shop etc but we tend to be content to just sit and watch the world go by otherwise.
We do eat out around twice a week, at least, and still consider this a holiday not, as our MH buddies call it, a ‘lifestyle’, and consider it unlikely that we will ever go for more than six weeks which would just be a long “holiday”!
Oh, and it’s a big yes on the second fridge!
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KingG, Take more money. Or more credit cards. Enjoy your opportunities.
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Hi Tammy,
We pay for our Grandsons Smarty monthly rolling plan and they have just doubled his data to 60gb for next 12 months.
Its highly likely I will swap to Smarty, from 3 who’s network they use, in the future.
AD, should work OK but think Smarty/3 restrict data use to 12gb/month.
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Yes mine has double to. OH is still in contract with 3 for a few more weeks then he is going over to Smarty.
It was interesting when we were in Spain last October my phone automatically changed over to the best network but OHs 3 phone wouldn't allow him to use that one and the one they would allow wasn't as good a signal.
Yes they restrict you to 12gb a month overseas but that's ample unless you want to stream films etc.
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I wonder if that’s the downside of stopping on motorhome Aires with no free and open access wi-fi?
On mid range campsites, both municipal and family owned, we rarely paid . We could usually get a free wi fi connection in or around the campsite reception area, adequate enough for e mails to reassure friends and family of our whereabouts.
And if that failed there were nearly always free wi fi connections in or close to shopping malls, bars, MacDonalds, public libraries, motorway service stations, and tourist offices. Worldwide !
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I would say then that being on an Aire in the middle of a town you would likely have more chance of free wifi than on a remote campsite? Many restaurants such as Mc Donalds and coffee shops etc have free wifi. Some Aire's are attached to sites and have free wifi and even those standalone ones some have free wifi.
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Camping-Car Park Aires nearly all have free wi-fi. I use aires (of all types) a lot and have rarely had to buy internet access.
However, with the imposition of EU roaming charges by many providers, I am now going to have to re-think how I get my internet fix as my Three sim is about to have a daily charge made for use abroad.
Tammygirl's suggestion of a data sim from Smarty looks interesting and that, plus phone calls via WhatsApp, should keep us connected at minimal cost.
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Hi, So far as I am aware the £2 per day charge only applies if you started or upgraded after October 1st 2021.
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We've been using Three 24GB Pay As you Go Data SIM Card for the last few years. It's 24 Gb or 2 years, whichever comes earlier., so not limited to a month. For us this works fine, or at least it did pre-Covid when we went to France twice a year!. Might look into the Smarty TG mentioned when this has been used up though.
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I have had a monthly 20gb data plan with Three for many years and it worked very well in the UK and all over the EU (with 12gb limit).
In November, I had an on-line chat with their helpdesk to see if it was worth keeping it, as I suspected that by the time I wanted to use it again in May 2022, they might have introduced a daily roaming charge like Vodafone and others.
Despite repeated requests, the helpdesk couldn't reassure me that existing plans would have charge free roaming , so rather than pay £60 for nothing, I cancelled the contract.
We will see what happens but I feel the writing is on the wall.
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Hi Tammy, I presume it’s limited by whatever partnerships your provider has with networks abroad?
We both have iPhones and usually leave network selection on auto but when we have looked we have different networks available as options as we are with different providers.We choose to have mobiles on different networks so we have the best chance of getting a signal when we need it but Jeans is a monthly SIM deal with a lower data allowance.
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