8 week European trip with kids….am i crazy

[LAS123]

So have the option to have 8 weeks leave between homes, considering 8 weeks travel round europe during autumn, thinking of buying a campervan to do this.
has anyone done this, am I mad, is there a glaringly obvious better option?

How old are they? Just one adult or two?

I'd do it!

2 adults. 2 kids 3&5

It depends: Which months do you call autumn, and which part of mainland Europe are you planning on visiting. Northern Europe can be pretty nippy by November, not fun for camping with toddlers.
Otherwise, I think it’s a great plan. Make sure you have good Europe-wide health insurance sorted. A lot of insurances stipulate 8 weeks as the cut-off point for a holiday, so you‘d need to ensure that you don’t accidentally overstep that by a day or two.

Thank you thats a useful tip.
Very early stage thoughts are UK- Holland, Germany, Belgium then head south in France in the hope of better weather then either home via Santander or back through France.
would be Sept and Oct.

That sounds like a good plan. The very south of France can be lovely at that time of year, and the campsites will stay open later in the season too. Sepember can also be fairly warm in Germany etc, though Holland is going to be windy whatever the time of year.
Sorry to be a Debby Downer about mentioning the C word, but what contingency plans would you make? Here in Germany there’s a mandatory 10 day quarantine for proven cases (I know because I‘m subject to it right now) and if you were symptomatic I wouldn’t want to be in a campervan with young kids (I‘m struggling with the symptoms crashed out on my sofa, the thought of going through that on a campsite is horrible). What would you do if you both went down with it at the same time? Obviously that won’t necessarily happen, but you need to be prepared for it.

With kids that age I think it could be hard....but I still think it would be worth it. Would be a wonderful experience.
I would advise keeping your expectations low!
What a great opportunity though. Enjoy

When you say campervan, do you mean VW type which are very small for any length of time or a more comfortable motorhome with toilet

Depends on your kids. At that age mine would have been a bloody nightmare on that kind of trip. They really weren’t great on long journeys and were quite tricky sleepers too. But yours may be more adaptable!

Re Covid….not sure how we would manage that, although we have both had it twice and been ok, not to say thats guaranteed.
hollad would be a couple of days, couple of days ? belgium, maybe a few days travelling down through Germany a bit, ive been there lots and lived there so happy to make that brief-ish then majority of the trip in France as Ive only been to Normandy and Paris before.
kids are ok at travelling/sleeping.

i was thinking VW camper but not sure if thats a huge mistake? i am a VERY novice camper 😳

See what you can find, but go for a larger vehicle than you think you can get away with. Prices are still high for campers. Have you got an idea of budget? For flexibility make sure it's fully self-contained - loo, shower, kitchen. Make sure you've enough seats with seatbelts for every traveller (berths is a measure of bed space, not seatbelts). Don't reject a motorhome over a camper, it may work out better value for more facilities.

Keep the daily mileage low, and give yourself enough time to relax when you stop. Even at a leisurely pace you can cover a lot of ground in eight weeks.

I wouldn't make specific plans until you get over the Channel. Look at forecast and head towards the best weather. September can still be very pleasant in the low countries and northern Germany. But, have a few ideas of what you might like to see and do in different areas.

Research aires (France) and stellplatz (Germany), and possibly an ACSI card as you'll be off-season.

Thank you thats great advice, will we be safe not to over plan and not book everything ahead?
i like the idea of following the good weather.
budget approx 20k to purchase a vehicle which we will sell on return.

VW campers are really expensive, from about £30k or £40k second hand, transit converted campers are cheaper, also small second hand motorhome is probably cheaper than VW

In a few weeks we'll be heading over for 3-4 weeks touring. We'll have nothing booked except the Le Shuttle tickets. We might use a couple of campsites, but plan on mostly using Aires. We toured Germany and the Baltics a couple of years ago, rarely booking anything more than a day ahead and usually just turning up and taking a chance.

With a budget of £20k you'll get a lot less campervan than you might think, but perhaps a lot more motorhome than you might expect (just one example). As a general tip, stick to Fiat and Mercedes chassis models (Transits are notoriously insecure), and German/EU conversions.

Another tip, spend a few evenings reading the Our Tour blog, ignore the Finance stuff and go straight to the tours section. You'll quickly understand why you don't need to be booking everything in advance. It's the main benefit of a self-contained camper/motorhome over a caravan or a tent. This blog may also be responsible for us touring in an elderly Hymer!

I'd echo those saying don't try to cover too much ground. It's infinitely more enjoyable having the option to go at your own pace with young kids.

I would book in for some key attractions though. There are some fabulous cave paintings on the north coast of Spain that book up well in advance that could be a good booking at the same time as your ferry home.