From Dublin to Krakow!

bombidol

Hey folks, never driven a camper, never driven in Europe. And yet in 2 weeks I will be driving a Fiat Ducato camper from Dublin to Poland (Via ferry to france)
Any hints or tips? Im scared out of my mind.

650Ginge

bombidol wrote: »

Hey folks, never driven a camper, never driven in Europe. And yet in 2 weeks I will be driving a Fiat Ducato camper from Dublin to Poland (Via ferry to france)
Any hints or tips? Im scared out of my mind.

Never been so far east. You will be bored stiff. Bring audio books our your own music unless you speak the local lingo of the various countries you pass as foreign radio is dire.

If your a caffiene addict make sure to get it when you driving or suffer the withdrawal. Took us a good few trips to realise why we would arrive places after a couple of days drive and have sore heads etc. since have it up.

Motorway stops in Belgium France stink off piss, avoid and don't let the kids by running round in the bushes.

Try to get in behind a truck, never closer than the two second rule but it will improve fuel economy by 20% or more. You are going to use a lot of fuel on this trip.

kelbal

maybe go back on the coffee 650Ging, you sound a bit grumpy this morning

bombidol, does the camper you're driving have a reversing camera? That will help when it comes to maneuvering. Either way, I'd spend some time practicing parking & 3 point turns with someone outside giving you direction so you can get used to the size of it. You'll get the hang of driving it surprisingly quickly, just take it handy at first and keep looking in your mirrors.

How much time have you got to get to Poland, i.e will you have to be on motorways the whole time? You'll have a nicer trip if you can go national roads. Plus there's a massive difference between fuel prices at the motorway stations and the supermarket stations (up to 15c per litre if I remember correctly). You'll even see this difference in a town between a normal petrol station, and a supermarket station 200m down the road.

In alot of French & to a smaller extent German towns (not sure about other countries on your route), they lay on overnight parking facilities for motorhomes. They're called "Aire de Service camping car" in France. Just follow this symbol...

They're a cheap alternative to campsites and you get to be alot closer to towns so you can go for a stroll.
You might see a mention of "Aire de Service" on motorway signs as you're driving and there might be facilities for motorhomes, these are the stopovers 650Ginge is referring to. These are definitely not places you want to stay.

The person you're taking the motorhome from will probably remind you, but you'll need to have the toilet blue liquid for refilling your cassette. How many are travelling in it? As a reference, with 2 adults and 2 small kids using the toilet, we get 2 days before it needs to be emptied. Just be aware of it, in case its nearly full and you're moving to a place where you're not sure there'll be emptying facilities.

Remember that most shops are closed on Sundays, some supermarkets are open on Sunday morning, but you wouldn't want to be counting on it.

Malta1

Sounds like a bit of an adventure.....hope it goes well

munchkin_utd

never did it in a camper van, but have done the spin from munich to ireland a few times now both via Cherbourg and via England to Rosslare and to Dublin (and Dun laoighre)

- The one thing which is invaluable is a proper map with the rest areas marked on it. A sat nav is grand but a map is still a great tool for planning especially if you need to make a detour because of road closures.
- The french rest areas arent that bad and they are unbelievably frequent to be fair. Theres some motorways in Germany where theres a lack of services (but a good map will make this obvious). Belgium is also nowhere near as good as france for rest stops so you do have to sortof plan ahead.
- The point about fuel is so true and the motorway prices are bonkers. If you have a sat nav then you can search for petrol stations at supermarkets in France (Auchan/ Le Clerc/ Carrefour etc) as they are the cheapest and are often just off the motorways. In Germany or Belgium you just need to take your chances at a local village or town, but you'd still save a heap over the motorway prices. Oh, and motorway stations are even more expensive than Ireland for bottles of water/ coke etc so make sure to have your drinks with you.

bombidol

Thanks for the tips. Keep em coming. Travelling with my missus who is Polish so that leg of the trip will be grand. Im planning on just blitzing through Belgium to be honest.

I usually plan big routes with the major legs in the countries with the lowest diesel prices.
If you're stopping for the night at an aire don't park near articulated freezer trucks (look out for the big air-con units between the tractor and the trailer). Their engines auto-start every 30-45mins to run the freezers.
You probably already have them but wide angle mirrors are life savers when yer co-pilot's alseep.

bombidol

Have a reversal camera too.

pedro500

Bombidol,
drove to Gdansk last Summer and the worst standard of driving we experienced on the trip was in Poland. There are a couple of decent motorways there now but outside of that a lot of the surfaces are poor and drivers thought nothing of coming straight for you and overtaking with very short distances to spare in both directions. There is a lot of aggressive, selfish driving and it was easy to see why the mortality rate on the road was twice the European average.
The people were friendly, the city beautiful, the beer was good but I was glad to cross the border again in one piece as in general the driving was poor so keep your distance and be safe.
Would love to visit Krakow...but will fly!

bombidol

Have been in Poland before and I agree, the standard of Driving is shockingly bad. I was convinced I was about to die on a couple of occasions.