Getting More Serious About Shipping Truck Camper to Europe
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?
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?
