Uk Motorhome Hire

What Our Nomadic Travel Lifestyle Looks Like: Family FUN!

This is our 5th year of extended  European road trips ( 3 to 7 months long) , so we have seen much more of Europe than most, including Europeans, thanks to  slow travel. We anticipate coming back for many, many more years, which makes our investment in our motorhome ( before starting our world tour) one of our smartest moves. When we are not here we store it securely in a garage for just 70 euros a month..an amazing true-value way to keep a vehicle/home/storage unit in Europe.

Amongst families from Spain, France, Germany, Holland, UK, Ireland, Belgium,Denmark,Switzerland, Poland, Slovenia etc, we Americans are celebrating an idyllic 4th of July weekend at this beach resort in Barcelona. Under a canopy of shade trees, our 3200 square foot "pitch" - outdoor living room... holding our RV, large tent, hammock, lounge chairs, Italian table and chairs, BBQ, and bikes... makes for an ideal summer paradise to relax in and rejuvenate. The beaches, the three huge pools, the restaurant, store, the fresh baked croissants and baguettes gathered by kidlet via bike every morning, the sauna, exercise room, massages, steam room, whirl pool, kids club, kids disco, regular buses to central Barcelona, weekly outdoor movies etc makes it perfect for families and we just pay 17 euros a night here. Seeing my pareo purchased in French Polynesia on the line or Italian table cloth bought in Tuscany are happy reminders that makes me smile. Better yet, because this is our 14th time here in 5 years, (often for a month or more at a time) we always know many people here because like us, lots are regulars. We're so happy to see our many Spanish friends and also German, Holland, UK and Switzerland friends.  It always seems so odd to me that some traveling families struggle for friends on the road , because our travel lifestyle prevents travel burn out, creates deep lasting friendships with locals and easy, fun, deep language and cultural immersion.  We've always had a little tent as a private play space for kidlet , but just bought a large one, now that she is a tween and wants more space for regular sleepovers and international PJ parties. She has favorite babies/toddlers that she's played with for years  and loves the multilingual Dutch teens who do creative things at the kids club ( they adore her trilingualism and Mandarin), but she also has a Spanish  BFF here and many Spanish friends that live nearby who come every summer, so she has known for years. It's the perfect place to have a lot of freedom in a safe environment and people on holiday are happy. Of course, we do some formal road schooling every morning after our alfesco breakfast under the trees, like math, journaling, science reading, Mandarin, violin, and piano practice and my bookaholic loves to cuddle and read all summer long as usual (in all three of her languages). Sometimes she does her school work study time with her Spanish friend who has summer homework sheduled to do from her Catalan public school. Three mornings a week, Mozart does an hour of Mandarin Chinese lessons with her wonderful Dean of Studies at her Mandarin school in Asia. In this photo he is testing her on writing words in Mandarin and she is showing him via the webcam camera. She won the white board at the kids club here by bowling the highest score, ( a thrill for her like when she wins at bingo) so it is getting good use.

Tips for creative writing: First Time Motorhome Hire

It was the summer of 2009 and I was living in The French Alps, Serre Chevalier in the Hautes Alpes to be exact. My eldest daughter was 5 years old and my newest baby girl, nearly 2 months. I had lived in the French Alps for about seven years and both my parents and my parents-in-law were all still very much alive and reasonably well, but not great travellers now that they had reached their mid 70s. As they all live in the UK, the only real option was to visit England so that they could meet their new granddaughter. I thought long and hard about how to do all this: it was my plan to drive my car to England, but then what? This was August, which is prime time holiday season in the UK - places to stay would be either booked up or just simply too expensive. So I thought about camping, but only for a minute, before my wife pointed out that this very very impractical with a newborn baby. I had to think of something else... I decided to hire a motorhome hire from a UK based company. The company had nearly 500 motorhomes dotted around the UK and surprisingly enough still had some available for August even though I was making my enquiry at the end of July. I chose to hire a motorhome in Reading, Berkshire which was a fairly central location for our travels. I called a UK Freephone number, 0800 612 8719 to make the enquiry and I spoke to the very pleasent Sheena who helped me with my booking. I was surprised how easy it all was, a credit card number confirmed the booking and then there was a minimal amount of paperwork just to provide the 'legalities' for the motorhome insurance. On arrival in the UK I decided to drop my family off at my brother-in-laws in London, I then went off to the motorhome hire pickup point in Reading where I met Anne who showed me around the motorhome, a 2004 Eldiss Autoquest 200. She showed me all the features that I would be using such as hot and cold running water, gas central heating (yes it can get cold in the UK, even in summer!). My only concern at this point was how I would fit my child car seats into the motorhome for when they are travelling along. Lap belts were provided in the rear but they weren't facing forwards, which meant I couldn't point my kids in the right direction. I decided to 'work something out later' as it was getting dark now. I left my car at the pick up point as agreed. The drive back to London was fine, I've driven some quite large vans in my time, so the size wasn't a problem and indeed the 2.

Scotland

Frommer's Brittany with Your Family, From Rural Charm to Seaside Fun

Frommer's Normandy with Your Family, The Best of Normandy from Charming Villages to Best Beaches

The Rough Guide to Montréal

Montreal