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You will by now have vehicle Insurance /travel insurance (personal choice) B/down assist? (same) motorhome serviced check passports for expirary dates, you are going on a long Holiday! not leaving the uk for good? .
Dont carry to much cans/ bottles/ ect, you dont need .we worked on the principle that we always had 3 days meals in stock . just in case. you will soon enjoy shopping abroad large or small shops /markets or at the roadside . basic products are all the same just different labels. if you like marmite take it with you, you can buy it in Spain , France no?. use motor home stops (Aires) where you can stay off autoroutes if poss . save money .because unless you have mega bucks , it can be very expensive compared to uk, Supermarkets are the same everywhere. large French hypers can slightly more expensive, (In fact in the uk you have a fantastic choice) but fuel cheaper, vehicle parts are top price in EU as against uk , forget the wine and beer bit thats not what its about, if you do not have a pull out Awning buy a £19.99 Gazebo , brill for siting out, which you will do all day in summer, small camping GAZ 2 burner cooker + bott, Camping gaz without a return can be as much as 54€ in France, cook out side if you can/ look out at markets for second hand gas bottles , french propano bottles same fitting as uk propane and in spain you buy a freeflow regulator which fits all spanish gas bottles then feed it through you van regulator , you can buy a spanish Repsol bottle for 25€, at street markets ,orange for butano/ black band if its propano/ Gas is about 10.80,€ Propano/ 11.50/ Butano, REMEMBER Its a learning curve you will make mistakes we all do. But you will have a Journey of a lifetime. Security? stop where you feel safe, trust your Instincts, dont look like Tourists dress as locals do , last one you need Internet banking you can acccess from any internet cafe, Nationwide best bank FOR no charges for you using ATMs or currency charge, PHOTO copy every document you need to take from passport to driver licence, use photo licence as ID card keep passports safe, A new one will cost you 95£ and you'll have to wait weeks for it, British consulates will not give you a passport only give you a travel visa to get home??. from both of us GO FOR IT AND ENJOY
The following members of MHF thanked silversurfa for this posting
We left the UK for a long tour of the US last year - the last month or so was full of doubts and last-minute hassles.
We are coming to the end of our 14 months away now - and can you believe we are having those same "nerves" about coming back to the UK. If we had the choice, we would stay here.
To help you in your situation, may I suggest that you write a list of all things you still need to do - spread it out one line at a time, with a space between each - and include your "worries" on that list too.
(It is amazing how less daunting it appears when spaced out on a page or two rather than as "one big problem")
Sit down together and move each item onto a new list in the order you feel things need to be done (what MUST be done urgently, what needs to be done before you go, what you would like to get done before you go and what can wait for now).
Don't worry if you don't agree on the exact order, it doesn't really matter.
Then, work down the list ONE ITEM AT A TIME and tick it off when completed (you can tackle a job each if there are that many).
Don't move onto the next item until the preceding one has been completed (or in the case of vehicle repairs, is booked in to be completed on a set date).
Hopefully, you will find yourselves shooting down the list must quicker than staring at a huge mound of problems.
Good Luck - and enjoy your tour !!
Paul
The following members of MHF thanked UK-RV for this posting
Remember you are not going for ever - you have a roof over your head, if you don't like it you can come back. I had similar dilema in 1985, sailing fulltime, couldn't face it, but if I had said to myself well if I don't like it I can always come home, which was more difficult cause it would cause more fall out with partner. But with a mh he can drive no problem.
On in information point. In france everything you would need for spares will be at www.narbonneaccessoires.fr, if you can call in at one (there everywhere) you can pick up a cataloege to have with you. Good luck.
The following members of MHF thanked ambegayo for this posting
First off.. apologies for not responding sooner. It's all Quickgetaway's fault.
Both Bill and I have been overwhelmed by your responses and would like to sincerely thank you all. There's so much good advice in there it's difficult to know where to start... but I'll have a go.
I think Damondunc hit the nail on the head with his ...
"Sounds like perfectly normal "pre fulltiming" behaviour
Lots of wailing,knashing of teeth,frantic arm waving and a few choice swearwords for good measure i bet"
I think we'd just got our knickers in a real old twist. After all the months of preparation it all just got too much and we couldn't see the wood for the trees. And yes.. the odd swearword did get thrown in from time to time.
Thank you Quickgetway for this...
"my best advice would be to drop everything, forget about it for a few days and agree that you will not feel guilty about 'doing nothing' and get yourselves away in your van for a short break, pick a good tranquil site and you should remember why you wanted to go on your adventure in the first place."
What a wonderful piece of advice. Our van is stored 5 miles away and, apart from bringing it back from the UK we hadn't spent any time in it over the winter. After reading your post we loaded up and spent the night there(and the next and the next and the next and the next and the next!) The surroundings are wonderful and we came home truly energised by the whole experience. Your were right. It reminded us of why we made our decision in the first place and was just what we needed.
Thanks too to those who mentioned priorities and making lists of essentials. Since we returned we've done just that and have made a lot of progress.
Takeaflight's comment:
"could your panic be more to do with your home"
was spot on. We plan to rent and have gone with a local estate agent who will manage the whole thing. We were advised that there would be no problem as rental properties are thin on the ground at the moment. Despite this we've only had two viewings and could see our departure date of May 1st becoming fairly unlikely. We've calmed down about that too. At the end of the day - we're going. If we go on May 1st/June1st or even July 1st it's not the end of the world.
And Spacerunner:
"Might I suggest that you spend the first couple of months in the UK."
What a damned good idea! I think another of our 'panics' was that we don't really know the van and need time to aclimatise to it. There are things we would like to have done and it would make sense to have them done in the UK before we brave foreign climes. There's no huge panic to cross the water. The UK is a wonderful place and we haven't seen even half of it so it would be an excellent start to our adventure. Thank you.
We love the idea of doing a blog on our travels. We had thought of doing something that our family and friends could log onto, and the Global Online Motorhoming Community is as good a place as any to do it!
And Grandma.. surely you are not trying to perpetuate that old myth that says that just because we are a small Island community (pop. 70 000)
everyone knows each other.. are you?
But yes... of course I know who you are. And I'm guessing you now know who 'Bill' is too?
Thanks again to all. This is a wonderful community and we're proud to be (a small) part of it.
Jackie and Bill
The following members of MHF thanked JackieO for this posting
Hi, this is my first post - just looking for our first M/H, doing the rounds etc with a view to what you are doing in due course. I hope you are feeling calmer and looking forward to your great adventure. I too have the 'collywobbles' and we havent even got our M/H!
The following members of MHF thanked carolndave for this posting
Thanks for the update, Jackie, which brought it to the top of the pile.
Well done on getting through it so far, and it's good news on the rental front. I hope that goes OK.
Spending time in the UK is a brill idea, and you can book a crossing anytime (almost), but you can do it when you're good and ready to. Then you won't feel so far from home, which I would imagine is the cause of at least some of your concerns.
I'm going to move this thread to the "Fulltiming Chat" forum since, well, that's what it is. A lot of the questions and advice will be pertinent to prospective fulltimers, and will be more easily found later.
Gerald
The following members of MHF thanked geraldandannie for this posting
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