We arrived in Ringsted on the 1st of May.

Europe takes it’s May day holidays seriously and everything was pretty much shut.

Ringsted itself is a bit of an industrial town, though there are the usual tourist attractions that most towns fling up the most entertaining thing Luke and I found was a Jolly Roger flag flying high over the tow from an abandoned old warehouse.

Our stellplatz is nice enough, tucked away at the back of a clean industrial estate.  Our host this time has his own campervan, house and campervan repair shop all in a reasonably large plot.

We plug-in to allow us to use the heater, the nights are definitely getting colder now.

Our host soon arrives on his bike (most Danish people seem to be more adept at riding their bikes than driving a car) and instantly tours into a tourist information office, offering us leaflets for here, there and everywhere.  Unfortunately with it being May day our drive out to an open-air museum is just a drive-out.

Our sink is playing silly buggers again so our host turns to role number 2 and quickly becomes repair man.  About ten minutes, some pressure testing and 10krona later we have a sealed and working sink, brilliant!

Parked next to us is a strange campervan that looks as if it is being used as a mobile piercing studio, I do believe that a man is not equipped for some of the piercings that the paper signs advertise.

A walk around Ringsted provides today’s entertainment and photos can be seen below.

Hello all, how are you?

Well I have been doing some planning for my travels recently.  Which makes a change to messing around with the look and feel of this site. (Which I hope most of you find ok).

So, what have I been up to?

Well I have come up with a “first draft” of the route, this is by no means finalised and there are going to be a few changes to it, but here it is draft numero uno.  Official Travel Route of Overland Wannabe.

Any suggestions of places along this route are very welcome!

A weekend break filled with Scottish bars, delicious pancakes and lunchtime soups, and some hidden side streets.

I’ve never really liked France.  So when my friend suggested a weekend in Lille I was very prepared to not like it.

I don’t really have any reason to not like France.  I suppose it all came from a holiday many years ago when we crossed the border from beautifully clean and efficient Switzerland into a rather backward looking French countryside with the old “hole in the floor” toilets, rubbish strewn everywhere and absolutely no efficiency – in fact almost everyone was sitting back, drinking wine and not doing any work.

I’m ashamed to say that I reverted into some sort of British Army Major, and started sprouting thoughts such as “who do they think they are, lazing around, not working, you should be working”!  Of course another reason I had a dislike for the French is their love of disruption.  A cleaner was sacked, so the natural course of action is to block the port of Dover, causing chaos in England and ya de ya – oooo I feel a rant coming on, but that’s not what you want.

So we left on a Friday evening after work, sailing with Norfolk from Dover to Dunkirk (the ports weren’t blocked by striking fishermen this time).  2 hours later we rolled out of the ferry and onto French terra firma, Vive la France!

Lille is only an hours drive from the port, and with the sat nav bleeting out her instructions it was fairly easy to navigate to our youth hostel.

Parking at a youth hostel is a rareity, especially in a city, but we were lucky enough that ours had a small car park round the back.

We had pre-booked our hostel through hostels international, making the check-in procedure incredibly swift and without so much as a wiff of brie we were safely unpacked in our rooms.

Being young folk in a city and in need of a good cold beer to distract reward ourselves for actually making use of a weekend we headed off towards the bars of Lille’s “Rue de Solférino” and happily plonked ourselves in the authentic French bar called “The Highlander”.

This was indeed a happy little place.  the bar had more beers on tap than any other bar I have seen and whilst my travel partner picked a rather fruity cherry larger I opted for the rather more manly 1 litre of larger! After scratching my armpits, beating my chest and uttering a few good grunts I slaughtered my large beer, thrusted my manly glass at the waitress and said “Un autre, s’il vous plaît“.

Polite and manly.  I was on a winner here.

Until of course the tiredness kicked in, and I wanted my bed.  France, and Lille in particular, are looking on the up.

Stay tuned for the next part coming soon…..

You can subscribe to this site at the top right of this page.

Hey all, how are ya doing?

I’m really tired after my first day back at work after the holiday. Still – only four days to go, I think that’s the only thing that is keeping me going currently. Things aren’t exactly rosy and I have never had so many problems trying to teach people bloody simple things. Anyway – musn’t grumble (in the word of Terry Wogan!).

Four days until the real hard work begins. But this will be working for myself. Which makes it a seem so much easier.

For now though have a look below at some of my skiing photos. Some of which are wonderful sunsets, of course, you could never guess which time of day I most admire!

That’s all for now folks – will update more later!

Happy Travelling
OverlandSi

Guest post…

Hey all, you may remember I offered a guest post a while ago seeing as I am off on holiday this week and connections can not be guaranteed.

This post is from Kevin Littleton, you can find a link to his blog at the bottom of this post. Right, that’s enough from me….. enjoy!

Splashy Splashy

The rains have left me sometime last night while I slept after visiting for a couple days. I awoke this morning to find sunshine pouring through all my windows. I miss the gloom that I danced in yesterday and the puddles that splashed all around that seemed to dance with me. All the puddles are slowly dying as I type this and I can’t help but feel a sadness for them and their mommy who floated inland with the gentle breeze. The weather man says more rain is coming for the weekend and that gives me hope.

Yesterday I sat on the corner of the street with my girlfriend and a cup of tea. It was lightly drizzling and there was a huge puddle in the street before us. We sat there for a long time all bundled up and just talking about nonsense. Lots of cars went by and through that puddle. But the puddle was next to a stop sign so all the cars had to stop before turning onto the main street. This halted any big splashes that could have ended in disaster with the two of us sitting there. We were both surprised that the splashes from the cars were not even making it to the sidewalk, let alone where we were… We both had mixed feelings about that though. When we got up to leave I stomped the puddle…

I didn’t hit the sidewalk either.

They say the rains are coming back for the weekend. I really hope so because my feet are dry and this can’t last for too much longer…

Kevin Littleton
http://www.kevinlittleton.blogspot.com/

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!

Hello to all my new stalkers, some of whom I know, most of whom I don’t. Glad you decided to follow me – and remember please comment, even if just to say hi!

So – I am looking at ways to make money whilst travelling; I don’t have the luxury of being a lottery winner of having any substantial funding behind me.

I will of course be making money from blogging, through Google ads and others, as well as making money writing for others.

But then an idea struck me, how about offering a truly alternative Holiday experience. A fairly cheap holiday as well, and it wasn’t until my friend Tara suggested that she wanted to come join me at some point that I thought about the fact that other people might want to join me as well.

So how about it?

I haven’t confirmed anything yet, but who’s up for joining me on the first leg?

London to Oslo, a month long holiday, prices to be confirmed or negotiated. Serious offers will be considered, leave a comment and I’ll get in touch!

Happy Travellin’
Overland Si

Gruss Gott alles – or – hello faithful readers.

I keep apologising for having late updates – so new rule. An eternal apology, I am useless at writing down my thoughts, have had loads of work on and been working away on other stuff. That’s it though, from now on all posts will not include an apology if they’re late.

So where the crap am I at now?

Well grab a coffee and sit down. This may take a while….

First off – Overland jobs.

Not going so well on this front. It is an understandably hard industry to get into, which is good because it means that if you do take a trip with one of the reputable companies you can almost guarantee that you will get experienced and knowledgable staff.

So that put me back into after a series of knock backs I started to wonder if there really was a possibility of getting out and living the travelling life.

Well luckily for me a good read through www.adventurejobs.co.uk reaffirmed that there were hundreds of positions available, just in slightly different areas.

From there I decided to start off small, perhaps just book some of the more adventurous travel holidays, gain experience through that whilst still in my current job and then eventually after a few years move on and go ful throttle into what I want to do. This idea was almost settled upon and I was just getting prepared to shift into full gear at work so as to be able to save up enough money when the Credit Crunch came and swallowed this plan whole, bastard didn’t even chew.

At the firm I work for we all know things are tough. Then we lost a big big contract. The managers are predicting losses although they are trying to keep hold of staff for as long as possible, which they see as the correct move and I can understand why.

But this leaves a predicament, to go out and find a position now and then quit or wait around for redundency use the settlement to fund a bit of round the world travel.

Should I tell my boss that I’m looking to leave and will go quickly and quietly for a smaller redundency package? Or will they just say that if I want to quit I should quit? Or do I just go for it – I want to leave anyway so what  am I hanging around for?

I am lucky enough not to have a mortgage, or any debts. I have always saved money but this was for a “rainy day” fund – does this count as a rainy day? Or should I save it for when things are more dire? Can they get anymore Dire?

Usually I am able to make a decision in seconds – just go with gut feeling, but I have no real gut feeling on this one. Yes I’d love to travel but can you really live on the salaries made doing travel jobs?

Too many questions and not enough answers at the moment. I’m just stuck at the moment, not wanting to be somewhere but not knowing where to go. Any questions, comments or slaps in the face are duly welcome. Actually – no more questions!

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