Ok, so I promised you a post on car / van insurance for Europe and here it is!

Please remember that this is only my own findings, if you have been told something different to what I have written here then please let me know – It might be something I have missed out on!

Travelling Abroad

Two Europes

Again though be careful of which countries you want to visit. “Old Europe” will cost you less whereas the “New Europe” countries will cost you more.

As usual please post any questions in the comments and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible.

Happy Travelling
Overland Si

Howdy all,

I am not sure if Blogger has issues or if it is just me but the last post seems to have some sort of issue accepting comments. Bizarre! Try this one – hope it works!

I be off on me holidays in about 5 hours (and counting) and I need one of those “split-screens” that they have on the rather brilliant 24 series to clearly demonstrate just how many tasks I am trying to do all at once so that I can get going!

I have been looking through the Google Analytics package to see how most of you are finding my little piece of bloga firma and have found (without surprise) that it is from the wonderful Blogs of Note.

Then I found out that some of you were also arriving from Search engines. So i thought I would be all clever like and actually answers one of the questions from the search phrases, seeing as they are related to this blog anyway.

One of the most popular is asking “How long to drive round Europe?”

Well I think that this is the wrong way to approach it. There is just so much to see that you could spend months, years, decades or centuries just travelling round Europe.

The best thing to do is select a few destinations (and not whole countries, yer we’re gonna DO Italy, Yuh huh… quite a LOT to DO!) Keep it down to individual campsites / areas. “Doing Rome” is a plausible statement. You could spend a couple of days in Rome then move on to your next destination.

The trick is to have a plan about how you’re going to plan bear with me it does make sense.

If you have a few people travelling with you then all try and pick on destination of your own. Set all the destinations then see how far the journey is.

If they are a few of you doing the driving then you can do many more miles, If it is just one or two people then make sure you get a good nights sleep otherwise you will be seriously affected by tiredness. Also, remember that in a lot of European countries you can stay in motorway service stations overnight, sleep in your van if you want to – save money!

If you haven’t got a set plan then take a map and a dart or something that makes a mark and lob it at said map, this must be done over your shoulder and well away from any livestock. These have heralded some of my greatest adventure travels. As you may end up in some quirky place you must be prepared to enjoy everything you see and accept the choices.

Alternatively, and currently my favourite destination planning device is Google Earth. Scroll over and just have a look at some of the photos (Panoramio) until you see something you like and then go there! Works brilliantly!

As for timings though – Plan some sort of plan first then work out how long you can take to drive round Europe.

Unless, of course, you have nothing to get back to. In which case put your right foot down and get that van rolling.

Speed limits in Europe.

UK motorways are a ludicrously slow 70mph (112kph) The rest of Europe is mostly at 80mph (130kph). Then of course there is Germany. Their Autobahns have no set speed limit (on some sections only) and you can expect a lot of BMW’s and Audi’s and Merc’s to be passing you at 130mph (209kph).

Beware though that Germany has also brought in a new rule for many parts of these de-restricted motorways and enforced an 80mph (130kph) limit between 10pm and 6am.

Equipment

Yes – something that has caught a few people out. Most countries in Europe require the following equipment by law, else you may face a fine. And there’s no point blaming it on the rental company. It’s your responsibility to be safe. Also for your own safety carry them. You never know, it might just save your life.

• First Aid kit
• Reflective Jacket
• Fire Extinguisher
• Sticker stating where the vehicle is registered (GB / D etc.)
• Spare Light bulb set
• Warning Triangle

Not having any of these could lead to be fined, or just hassled, there is also possibly more. Check before you go with your motoring association, they should know or be able to find out.

Lights

In Austria, and some other countries, you are required to have your lights on all the time, Day or Night. Don’t argue, just do it. Put a post it note, or make a sticker, to remind you and put in on the windshield or somewhere prominent.
Update – this is no longer the case in all of Austria, only certain counties – better check or just leave ‘em on! – thanks to Susi @ 2girlsincalifornia for the info

Also – a note for American visitors.

A note from a previous experience. Please remember that us lot over here in Europe mostly drive manual (stick drive) vehicles.
If you are looking to get a van to travel in then I can almost guarantee that this will be the case.
Automatics are very few and very far between, and will cost you a lot more to hire or rent.

Next time I will do some sort of information on the Insurance policies and how they work in Europe, Feel free to post any questions you may have in the comments.

That’s all for now. I hope this helps some of you. I will update you guys from our glorified car park some time next week.

Happy Travelling
Overland Si!

Insurance, Campervan Conversion, Planning and Budgets!

Short post today folks. I am suffering from information overload at the moment so just trying to grab some “brainspace” and unplug myself from the laptop for an evening!

As is normal here is where I say please leave a comment, even if just to say Hi - it’s nice getting to know you all. I am slowly getting round to replying everyone.

Well I have had a fun day of talking to insurance companies. And actually it has been a lot better than I expected

Bonus points to Nick @ Herts Insurance today for explaining everything simply and giving me loads of advice and options. I’m going to go for 3rd party fire and theft, purely for budget reasons!

Bit of a roundup and scary list below

• I must re-register the van as a campervan, for both insurance and other legal reasons
• The van must be valued at more than £2,000 for it to be insured by Herts Insurance
• Fitting the van with a gas supply is just asking for trouble!
• My brain hurts
• I have only 10 working days left
• I need to sell my current van
• I need to buy the LDV van
• I need to plan some sort of route
• I need to book a ferry crossing
• Also need to plan the layout of the van and “spec” it up
• My brain hurts
• Get travel insurance
• Oh and need to price the conversion of the van as well
• Need to get some writing done, see if I can get some query letters off to publishers
• Get something done for MatadorTravel – they are offering some reasonably articles.
• Budget, Budget, Budget
• Sleep
• Eat
• Stop brain pain

Despite that list I am still remarkebly excited and upbeat. I have just come up against my own biggest flaw – organisation.

To put it into perspective – spare a thought for all those in Australia right now.

Picture below is for the dreamers of us out there, to all travellers, the world over.

From Skiing

Me out – Happy Travelling guys and gals.
Overland Si

Hey followers and finders!

I have been trying to find some insurance for my van for travelling through Europe. What a bloody hassle!

I have two main problems.

1. The proposed van, an LDV convoy, is registered as a commercial vehicle, so until I can re-register it as a personal vehicle it is hard to find a proper quote
2. Travelling in Europe – yes, although the UK is supposedly part of Europe our insurance companies still enjoy ripping people off for daring to venture abroad.

Most UK insurance companies have clauses in them stating how much time I can spend abroad in them. These range from between 2 and 180 days included in the cover price, more days though starts adding more money, a lot more.

TheAA.com charges roughly £10 per day extra spent abroad.

Also, as an aside, now I am classed as unemployed my premium has gone up. I’m sure I have been lumped into some “category” or other, but still what a pain. Here is the time when I should be whinging about being “numbered” or “categorised” but to be honest, with insurance companies, it’s just not worth it.

So after a lot (and I mean a massive ginormous lot) of searching I think I might have found a company that could insure the van throughout Europe. I will find out tomorrow if they call me back, fingers crossed everyone.

Oh and that company – Herts Insurance, I will of course let you all know how it goes.

Please leave a comment, even if just to say hi!

I had better start this post by saying a big thanks to all who left a comment on yesterdays post regarding my update for everybody coming across from Blogs of Note (Yes this blog is noteworthy…apparently!) I will get back to you all soon!

I’m still feeling a little surprised that my random scribblings have been nominated for anything, but that’s the way this twisted blogosphere works!

Anyways, enough of blowing my own trumpet – How are you all?

This is kind of an update, part deux, on my plans.

I have been chatting away to some other bloggers who travel and work, and they seem to be convinced that you can make money whilst travelling. One of the guys to do this is WorkingNOMAD, strangely enough he is also a fellow Brit! I have his book on how to live this life, and for only £10 I think it’s a bargain, you can find it here.

So I am going to attempt to be doing some of that. I think a lot of it revolves around writing, which I enjoy anyway so shouldn’t be too much of a stretch.

The other way I am looking to make money is by working in bars or other temporary jobs such as picking hops, strawberries, grapes or anything else that is pickable. Whilst travelling in Europe I do not need any working Visa’s or permits, making this a whole lot easier.

I have been thinking a bit about the route as well.

I have always wanted to travel through Scandinavia. The sheer beauty of the Fjords, lakes and mountains combined with the bizarre isolation has always appealed to me. If anyone knows of anywhere that is a definite must to visit then please leave a comment and let me know.

So I will most probably be heading up there first. The route will take in England, France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland then back down from Helsinki to Tallinn (Estonia) and back through to Germany.

As I speak German it will make getting a temporary job here a lot easier. This will hopefully bolster my income, allowing me to travel more.

So – What will I use to travel round Europe.

Well, nothing is confirmed yet but I am looking at a 1999 LDV high roof van. It seems to fit all my criteria, as shown below.

My Campervan Criteria:

• Be tall enough to stand up in
• Have a reasonably comfortable bed
• Be diesel powered
• Be 3.5ton gross weight or under
• Have a shower, or somewhere to put a shower / toilet

(Photo Credit)

I am still looking through a few web sites but as soon as I find something I like I will let you all know.

And for those of you who have commented that they don’t think they have the money for this -
My van budget is £1,000
My travel budget is also £1,000

I will explain more about where I am planning to stay in the next post and how I plan to get away with my budget.

Oh and also -7th March – Stop Work, Start Life

(Photo Credit)

Happy Travellin‘
Overland Si

Just back from the marvelous French city of Lille, well worth a visit for everyone.

I have no confirmed offers, no job come the end of Feb and very little in the way of plans.

Depends on your view point but I’m quite happy to be like this!

But life must go on as they say and it is fair to also say that I mustget something done soon, otherwise I may as well condemn myself to a life of just doing nothing, again depends on your point of view….

The Plan Part 1

Find a job for April

Whether this is a travelling job or a “normal” job I definately will need a job in a few months time. Unfortunately my earlier plan of winning the lottery did not work, even when I bought 5 tickets. Lady Luck has probably seen my reputation and decided she’s better off without me.

The Plan Part 2

Find and kit out a cheap van to convert into a campervan.

Although this will come first time wise (as in from Feb to April) it is the later part of the plan. I am currently looking for any type of van between £500 and £1000, using some of my savings to kit it out with a bed and mattress and some other “essential” features.

Anyone got any suggestions or reliable vans? (European, UK vans)

Am lookin for something that isn’t too rusty and might have a bit of resale in a couple of months, bit too much to ask for? Probably – Will I ask for it anyway – Definately

Happy Travellin’
OverlandSi

Wooo – so I have finally managed to tear myself away from applying for jobs, packing for my skiing holiday, trying to build a better template for this blog and my normal daily work to bring you guys all an update – see the things I do for you ey! haha!

(That was of course sarcasm, unfortunately the internet does not have a sarcasm button – I think I might invent one)

So – how are you wonderful people?

First stop is a little life lesson. Don’t worry I’m not gonna get all self help on your ass!
I have just one thing to say… Rule Number 6. This is the only rule you really ever need in this life.

This rule comes from Benjamin Zander you can watch the video here. If you are having a crap day, or just an ordinary day, or even a good day. Go and watch this video. You will feel good afterwards. That I promise you.

I shall tell you all what Rule Number 6 is in the next post – it will spoil the video other wise.

After that life afferming lesson, how is the hunt for jobs going I hear you ask?

Well – I have found out that getting an overland job is going to be a lot harder than I thought (I never thought it would be a walk in the park by any stretch) and that some of the companies that were interested in me were a little “shady” and were known about the internet as bad payers, poor on safety and a whole host of other issues.

Since then, and after some replies to my post on the Thorn Tree Forum, I have decided to focus more on starting off within Europe. First hit on this was Busabout.com

These guys offer a “Hop-on-Hop-off” service throughout Europe and pretty much looks like a bloody good job.

You can download their 2009 brochure here (click clunk)

I don’t know about pay or anything as yet, but I’ve never really been in it for the money. Which is possibly one of the biggest problems I have being a salesman as I am currently!

So – a slight change to the original plan, but I told you it was going to be a long journey. I am most probably going to start off in a non-driving job whatever path I choose. Most insurance policies start from 23 or 25… which is just a mighty pain in the rear!

I’m off now to find more of these types of companies and keep the fires burning, but before I go….

There probably won’t be anymore blog posts until after the New Year. I’m off skiing!

We shall be driving down to Garmisch Partenkirchen and staying in the Alpencamp Wank – yes you did hear that correctly. We shall be skiing on Mount Wank.

I will offer a prize of 100 Entrecard credits to the person who gets the best joke about skiing in wank by the time I return – the 8th January 2009! Post your entry in the comments section below.

Oh and below should be the daily webcam image from where we are staying in our campervan in Wank… I’m starting to wonder if the use of this word will increase the search engine statistics or just get my blog blocked by all this NSFW stop things. OOPS!

And here’s another image of the pistes we shall be on…

I am hoping that these images will keep refreshing. They are taken from the webcam’s feed and that location is put into blogger directly. So you never know. I suppose the only way to find out is to keep coming back!

Well, I’m off back to work now – and to planning the ski-trip.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Happy Travellin’

Overland Si

To start with I thought I would just explain myself a little…

Why do i want to do such a “crazy” thing.

Well its damn well not actually – think about this for one second…

We live in a world where the amount of money that exists doesn’t really exist,

• Where everyday you go into work to make money yet seem to spend half of it just getting to work,
• Where adventures must be completed by Sunday evening at the latest so you can be back at work on Monday morning bright and early to give your all for the company
• Where most of your efforts at work do wonders for the company, but somehow not for you.
• Where you are so tired in an evening after your long day and long commute that family activities are limited to eating tea together.
• Where your ‘life‘ revolves around making sure this routine is carried out

Now i don’t want to sound like some sort of hippie (which I’m really not, I listen to German Hardcore music for christs sake!)

So I decided that this wasn’t worthwhile, nor something I really wanted to do.

Why have i got to where I am now?

Fair question, why have I not already made this decision already. Why did I not up sticks and leave straight after school?

Well really I believe there are two factors to blame here: Me and the education system.

Let’s start with me shall we?

I take 90% of the blame here for not shifting things on. I have always wanted to do things like this but have never really been able to plan anything in advance, nor have I ever managed to save enough money for a big old overlanding adventure.

So I went down the normal path without really saying anything. Off to Uni (Because the schools in the UK are all basically jusdged on how many people go to university this was the route that was “right for me”, hated that, left…

Off to work, started off Okay.. it was an ‘adventure’ in it’s own right as all of life is of course, but now I have come to the realisation that I could flit around ‘normal’ jobs treating each one as it’s own adventure or I could actually go out there and do what I really want to do and what I have always wanted to do.

Me and Trucks

Ask anyone who knows me. I love driving.

I also love any large vehicle. I grew up with my father in the army. He was in the REME (auto technicians in camoflauge). This meant that there were always lots of big vehicles around, from Landrovers up to Tanks and everything in-between.

Since then I just seem to have some sort of admiration for large vehicles, and a want for driving them! (please feel free to use the comments box to remind me how sad I am and the fact that I am compensating for something hehe!)

————————————————————————————————

Above: at the annual Campervan mecca (the Camping & Caravan salon @ Dusseldorf, Germany

Me and Travel

Whilst my sister and I were gorwing up our parents had a variety of caravans and campervans. Our holidays consisted mostly of travelling hundreds of miles, stoppping, travelling more miles, stopping and so on.

I have never really grown out of this “windscreen tourism” – traveling through Europe whenever possible in my own van, stopping off here and there whenever an opportunity presents itself and stopping over in campsites in a tent for a few days when somewhere that is ripe to explore presents itself, A bit of a European ‘softcore’ overland experience really.

Me and Overlanding

I have always wanted to travel, but i have always dreamed of actually being able to make a living out of it, passing on stories to others and generally providing a service.

This is where overlanding comes in. It provides all the things I could want. Endless scenery explore, a reasonable dollop of “windscreen tourism”, a group of eager travelers as companions and lashings of driving in a large truck.

Well thats how the ideal situation would go anyway…

The reality is probably more like this – ridiculously long drives, crap weather meaning hours are spent crossing just a few miles of terrain, eager companions turn into whining and rebellious and tired hordes and the scenery keeps on trying to kill you, especially the wildlife.

Wake up tomorrow morning, the rains gone and everyone is exhausted. But you’ve made it… Smile!