Getting More Serious About Shipping Truck Camper to Europe

[HadEnough]

After doing some research, it seems very expensive to rent or buy motorhomes in Europe. I already have a completely paid off 2002 Dodge ram with arctic fox truck camper. Manual transmission. The truck is running really well now. I have done lots of repairs.

One of the things I’d like to do in life is return to Europe for a while and live there. So I would be for timing in the Arctic Fox. I have a few questions. Hopefully we have some European members also that could steer me in the right direction as well as experienced Americans.

1) Length of stay

I am American born. My girlfriend is also American born. However, I am an Irish citizen. In the foreign birth registry. I did not get my Irish passport yet, but I should probably do that soon. My girlfriend has only the American passport. Is there a way for me as a citizen of Ireland and the EU to get some sort of extended travel visa for my girlfriend? Something that would allow us to stay there for a year or two? Even six months?

2). Requirements as an international driver.

I know my license is good there. No problem. I have seen plenty of Europeans here in the states doing the same thing. They have European plates and some of them those huge uniMogg motorhomes. LOL they drive around after importing it. No problem. However, what are the insurance requirements?

3) Safety as an American and mixed White/Muslim couple

I haven’t been to Europe in probably 15 or 20 years. I know things have changed a lot. Lots of immigration. I’m wondering how dangerous it might be to drive around as an obvious American in some crazy thing like an American truck camper. We would be very unique over there. There are very few Dodge Rams and very few truck campers. I don’t know if some of the more violent newcomers to the area who have recently immigrated might cause problems as they can plainly see we are from the United States from The truck camper.

Additionally, we are a mixed race, far apart in age couple. I am older, she is younger. I am white. She is of Bangladeshi descent And she is Muslim. But not so strictly. This could either work very well for us, or very poorly for us. Either the people will accept the other half of the couple because we are with one another, or the purists may be upset that we are mixed race couple. Is this going to be an issue at all?

I am used to blending in when I travel. People will often come up to me and speak French, or Hebrew, or German. They assume I am local. They assume I am a native. I like that feeling of not standing out. But this would be standing out in the extreme. Any advice about any of this?

4) American RV dump versus cassette toilet.

I see there are a lot of places to camp. Small parking spot type things. This is great. This is what I do in the states and Canada anyway. I squeeze the truck camper into a single parking spot most of the time. However, some of these sites listed as having a dump. For the waste. Do you think I will be able to maneuver my truck camper up to the waste dump and use my American dump hose? We only need to do this once every couple weeks. Because we have huge tanks. So maybe this would work?

5) Availability of Dodge Chrysler parts

Certainly, there may be some problems with the truck. Always something to fix. Will I be able to order parts for the truck? It may be easiest for me to order these online. Just have the delivery address in Europe somewhere. Also, is there much support from Diamler Chrysler for these parts? Can I get them at the parts counter in Europe?

6) Cell phones and Internet

As we travel all around Western Europe and possibly eastern Europe as well, will my T-Mobile phone work? It works all over the United States and Canada and Mexico without any additional charges as I travel. I am hoping I can get something similar for Europe. I currently have 48 gigs of data before they slow it down. This is LTE 4G data. Is there something similar in Europe where I can get a good amount of data like this? And that covers all of Europe?

[joerg68]

They sure mix. Slower traffic keep right, though.
We are used to that here in Germany - but when we travel to another country where these speeds are not normally driven, we always admire the relaxed long-distance driving.

[HadEnough]

joerg68 wrote:
That is just what we deal with whenever we go somewhere. Collect information and pay. Mainly pay, that seems to be the important thing...

I just remembered one thing: generally, over 3500, the truck speed limits apply to you.
Thats 80kph/50mph max. - I believe everywhere.
But, being a motorhome, you may go a little faster - 100kph or 62mph. That could vary by country...
Whether a pickup with a truck camper is legally a motorhome or not is in the small print, but I am pretty sure the police would take your word that you are actually an RV absent local paperwork.
The actual big rig trucks tend to run at 89 to 93. We just stay with the flow. We are legally an RV, but usually feel no need to hurry.

Ha ha ha!! The first part is very funny. You are good at jokes in all languages it seems. 🙂

I don't think I should post my USA cruising speed on here, but I will anyway. The truck camper I drive now cruises very comfortably on the highway between 110kph and 130kph. This is my typical cruising speed in the United States and Canada. At least on the highway. When I am on secondary roads of course I need to slow down quite a bit.

Do they mix the very slow trucks and the very fast cars on the autobahn? I have driven there before. But it was in a car and I don’t remember the trucks being that slow. I do remember driving what I considered to be fast and having several very nice Mercedes fly by me at much faster speed. Same on the Italian autostrada.

[joerg68]

That is just what we deal with whenever we go somewhere. Collect information and pay. Mainly pay, that seems to be the important thing...

I just remembered one thing: generally, over 3500, the truck speed limits apply to you.
Thats 80kph/50mph max. - I believe everywhere.
But, being a motorhome, you may go a little faster - 100kph or 62mph. That could vary by country...
Whether a pickup with a truck camper is legally a motorhome or not is in the small print, but I am pretty sure the police would take your word that you are actually an RV absent local paperwork.
The actual big rig trucks tend to run at 89 to 93. We just stay with the flow. We are legally an RV, but usually feel no need to hurry.

[HadEnough]

Wow! I cannot believe what I just read. They charge you a toll to be off the road in a campground? So you have to pay a toll every day you are in the country even if you are parked?

Americans often complain about crazy regulations in Europe. I have always said it is almost the same thing. Not a big deal. Surely this thread is changing my mind. Ha ha ha.

I'm shocked at the concept of paying a toll just to exist.

[joerg68]

Swiss motorway toll sticker for vehicles >3500 kgs:
https://www.motorhomevoyager.co.uk/know-how/how-to/swiss-motorway-tolls-larger-vehicles/

info from 2013... beware, they may have upgraded to another bureaucracy since
Only needed if you use Swiss motorways. Even accidentally.

[HadEnough]

Interesting! And I found out Switzerland has no lez areas. I guess this will be doable. On the upside, sometimes it is nice to go the long way around on the small roads when you are a tourist. You find undiscovered things.

[joerg68]

You might get lucky w.r.t. toll road stickers in Germany:
https://www.euronews.com/2019/06/18/german-highway-toll-for-cars-breaches-eu-law-eu-court

[valhalla360]

HadEnough wrote:

Typically that's what we do anyway, but what about these cases where you are trying to travel through places and the entire area is a low emission zone? In Germany, looking at the app, there are many, many Autobahn routes that motorhomes are prohibited on.

Am I really making too big a deal of this or will this make travel really difficult?

There are tons of MH around Europe including Germany. Yes, learn the local rules but they manage without a great deal of issue. You might have to take a bypass around the city to get to your destination.

I wouldn't get too hung up on the exact weight. If you get the 3500kg check on your international driving permit, you are good for drivers license.

[HadEnough]

Yes, we have the same problems in the states. Each state has its own laws. So you have to know what you’re doing going from state to state. It can be confusing as well. So I understand that.

Thanks for your input again. I looked at an app. I put in all of the information for my RV. Euro Class 1 diesel, no retrofit, USA registration, 3991kg.

It shows you in real time where you can drive. So, all of France is open to me today except Paris. All of the LEZ areas seem to be in effect only when pollution is bad in France. For some reason, the app does not have information for Italy or Switzerland. It does however, show Germany. The zones are permanent in Germany and do not seem to depend on pollution levels. And they are more numerous. However, it looks like I can drive around them for the most part.

And I hate to break laws, but I wonder if they have a connection to send any type of fine to me in the states. It would seem the local authorities there and my local authorities probably do not talk to each other. LOL

[joerg68]

At this time, it is usually not enforced, with some very local exceptions - e. g. Stuttgart.
With a truck with US registrations, I would not really worry. Unless you get stopped for another reason and the police really really want to find something, I do not think it will be an issue for you.

That is Germany, 2019. Things may be different two years from now, and in other countries.

We are supposed to be getting toll stickers here. Their price will depend on the environmental impact of the vehicle. Many other countries have similar systems in place already (I wonder how many countries you can visit before you run out of sticker space in your windshield).

I have no idea how they are going to classify your truck. They may not even know themselves... Sell you the most expensive class? Maybe.

Long distance highways ("Autobahn") will be fun in some of the countries, anyway. The Austrians require something called a "Go Box" when you are over 3500 GVWR. Other countries do similar, funny things. Europeans like to bicker about the EU and how it takes their freedom away by making EU-wide legislation. Well, the highway toll systems are not harmonized so far, and I really wish they were. Every country gets do do it their own way...

[HadEnough]

valhalla360 wrote:

HadEnough wrote:
I think the pollution sticker is what will kill this. All the places you try to go seem to exclude my RV.

Seems no major or secondary cities will allow a larger diesel truck to visit.

Pollution stickers would typically be to enter the city centers. If you stay on the outskirts and use transit to get in, you should be fine.

Typically that's what we do anyway, but what about these cases where you are trying to travel through places and the entire area is a low emission zone? In Germany, looking at the app, there are many, many Autobahn routes that motorhomes are prohibited on.

Am I really making too big a deal of this or will this make travel really difficult?

[valhalla360]

HadEnough wrote:
I think the pollution sticker is what will kill this. All the places you try to go seem to exclude my RV.

Seems no major or secondary cities will allow a larger diesel truck to visit.

Pollution stickers would typically be to enter the city centers. If you stay on the outskirts and use transit to get in, you should be fine.

[zcookiemonstar]

HadEnough wrote:

zcookiemonstar wrote:

HadEnough wrote:

joerg68 wrote:

Unless the places I looked up the curb weight and the Arctic Fox weight were wrong...

For your own entertainment, I strongly suggest to have your rig weighed in travel-ready configuration.

So of course you can add about 417 lbs for water, another 300lbs for diesel and 1000 more for food and tools, 500 lbs for misc junk.

I'm going off the dry curb weight for the truck and camper. Those are what is listed by Dodge and Arctic Fox.

It doesn't really matter what it all weighs. As you said, it's the GVWR that matters.

Exact weight, which changes before and after grocery shopping is completely irrelevant to the classification of the vehicle.

If the GVWR is all that matters your trucks GVWR alone is 8800 lbs

Yeah. That’s what I said.

What the argument here??

No argument

[HadEnough]

zcookiemonstar wrote:

HadEnough wrote:

joerg68 wrote:

Unless the places I looked up the curb weight and the Arctic Fox weight were wrong...

For your own entertainment, I strongly suggest to have your rig weighed in travel-ready configuration.

So of course you can add about 417 lbs for water, another 300lbs for diesel and 1000 more for food and tools, 500 lbs for misc junk.

I'm going off the dry curb weight for the truck and camper. Those are what is listed by Dodge and Arctic Fox.

It doesn't really matter what it all weighs. As you said, it's the GVWR that matters.

Exact weight, which changes before and after grocery shopping is completely irrelevant to the classification of the vehicle.

If the GVWR is all that matters your trucks GVWR alone is 8800 lbs

Yeah. That’s what I said.

What the argument here??