US RV to EUROPE

When looking at European RV areas, people there seem to use Add-a-Room tents that go on the awning as their main way of adding space. Slideouts seem relatively rare over there.

I'm curious about renting RV-like vehicles abroad. Sounds like current RV-parks or equivalent in Europe are similar to the way US facilities were in the 50's.

European Van conversions with basic camper amenities remind me of our 72 Dodge Maxi-Van camper with, 2-burner stove, sink with water pump, porta potty closet, a couple of interior lights and convertible rear gaucho/bed. Telescoping bed for two kids, minimal storage but useful as a big SUV.

If you have access to news stands selling international magazines, and read languages other than English, I suggest:

In French,

"L'essentiel du Camping-car" which usually has destinations in every issue.

"Le Monde du Camping-Car" which publishes special issues like "Vacances en Camping-Car" which include where to go, what to see, where to camp, and may include fairly complete lists of camping and RV parking places (in France there is a distinction) for the country covered.

In Spanish,

"Super Caravaning & Camping" for which each issue should have a few trip ideas, destinations, and maybe campground reviews.

In German,

"Reise Mobile International" which I think is a German magazine, though I bought it in Salzburg. This tends to focus more on the motorhomes and technology, but should have at least a couple destination articles, and contains a fair-sized section of classified adverts that include resorts and campgrounds.

I have not picked up any RV magazines in Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands, nor the Scandavian or Baltic states, nor Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic or Slovakia, because I do not read those well enough to make the purchase worthwhile to me.

But in those places I have kept my eyes open for RVs and campgrounds, learning what to expect where, as it is different as you travel through Europe, just as it is in different parts of the U.S. For example, in the agricultural areas of France, I found that towns maintain camping places for seasonal workers traveling for planting and harvest, much like those I find across our agricultural heartland. Different from those places where families go to vacation. Also, in the south of Spain, you will find "snowbird" areas where seniors move to escape winter, much like those we have in our southwestern deserts, South Texas, and South Florida. But in Europe, there is also a North Africa option, which might be comparable to our going into Mexico for the winter.

We stayed in 51 different campgrounds in Europe during the summer mostly in Germany,Austria,Northern Italy and Switzerland. We tented so I am not an expert on RV travel but my observations were:
1) Washroom facilities were deluxe with washing of cloths,dishes,showers,toilettes being used by everyone, not just the tenters.
2) Power was supplied from central distribution boxes with say 6 plugs and RV,s and tenters would bring a reel with a long electrical cord and plug in but as there were no A/C units that I saw, amp breakers would not be over 20amps.
3) Water spigots were placed around the area but were not supplied to each RV.
4) RV,s commonly had cassette toilets and there are facilities to to bring your tank on a dolly to the dumping area if you were in one spot for a long time. There were North American style dump stations at the campgrounds also for people who were moving every day.
5) Did not observe cable but some RV units had dishes.
6) Many units had solar panels on the roof.
7) As I mentioned in the last generator thread, never heard one in 2 months.
8) Grey and Black water drains were not supplied to individual campers.
9) Only saw one communal fire pit in 51 campgrounds. So fires are pretty well verboten.



Dave

Thanks everyone for the input so far! I have a lot to read up on and I will report back :-)

Duties and import fees are not an issue, but conversion fees are and if I end up with a high-class/high price RV that I can barely use than the effort might not be worth it. We'll be travelling mostly to Italy, Germany and France with the RV. We'll definitely stay at camp grounds, dry camping is not an option. I've been in Italy a lot many, many years ago as a kid, but I do not remember any sewer or power hook ups.

Unless you are military or diplomatic, there will be import issues (duties or bonds inlieu of) and even vehicles taken over per armed forces treaties have to be modified to EU safety standards, mostly lighting issues. The RV stuff like LPG fittings and power is different, but you could always modify, replacing components with Euro standard, or adapt.

Going over as a tourist, bringing your own vehicle, is a different regulatory regime, more flexible, than being there as a resident.

My limited experience, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, full hookup RV parks are rare, RVs in campgrounds are largely dry camping. Typical campgrounds I've seem have been fields on flood plains, where the land does not work well for more valuable uses.

Going over for three years, my inclination would be to buy there if I was using the RV a lot, rent if using one occasionally. You could be looking 5000 to 15000 Euros for something in the '90s, maybe 25,000-30,000 under 10 years old, 40-60K new depending on how big and how fancy.

Market values for used American RVs, especially those converted, are pretty high, they are rare and considered luxurious. Thus duties may be based on local market value rather than value in U.S.

29 foot is not small. 7 meters is typical for the RV camping environment, 9-10 meters of length is relatively large and combined with 8 foot width may limit mobility, or at least parking availability.

The Howes (Travelin-Tortuga) have been in Europe for three years. They much prefer to wild camp and use their genset and solar. When they plug in, they use a 2000w step down transformer.

These folks are mostly traveling in less developed parts of the world, but their blog may provide a few tidbits that you'll find interesting or useful:
http://www.travelin-tortuga.com/Travelin-Tortuga/Our_Vehicle.html

Jim, "I've learned so much from my mistakes, I think I'll make some more."

Here's another from a couple that's been traveling about Europe for several years in a Class C (Born Free):

Our Travels with Rover

Here's one internet site to look at. The couple did the trip in 2002 and apparently wrote a book about it.

http://seniorliving.about.com/od/rvtravel/a/rv_travel_europ.htm