CAMPERVAN HIRE

If you’re travelling in Western Europe, Germany is the cheapest place to rent a campervan. Even companies that have offices in multiple countries have cheaper rates in Germany than other countries.  We chose McRent and hired from their Rheinfelden office in SW Germany, close to Swiss and French borders and Basel airport. The staff there spoke/wrote good english and were very helpful. It’s worth negotiating if you’ve found more competiive pricing and if you’re a non-EU resident ask about any tax concessions that may be available. Other companies I obtained quotes from were DRM and France Motorhome Hire  plus there’s a whole slew of different sites that seem to simply act as agents selling from the physical companies. These include Motorhomerental Germany, Motorhome and RV Travel, Senior Motor Home Rentals, Compass Campers, Pure Motorhomes Germany and there are many others. Many seem to be run by the same company – Motor Republic based in the US. I have no reason to believe these sites do not do a good job but ultimately I felt more secure renting directly from a long established company that actually physically owned campervans. As far as insurance goes – campervan companies will often try and sell you CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) insurance, as part of the package, which reduces your excess in the event of an accident. This can be quite expensive and is often covered under your travel insurance policy anyway so check that out first before accepting.

TRAVEL INSURANCE

For many years now I’ve taken advantage of the complimentary travel  insurance that comes with my credit card – ANZ Qantas Platinum Visa. Many premium credit cards offer this facility, as long as you have used your card to pay for 50% of your pre-paid travel costs. If you travel often it’s worth paying the extra for a premium card (mine’s $150/year annual fee) as this complimentary insurance plus other benefits, such as airmiles, more than covers the annual cost of the card. The ANZ card offers cover for my partner as well, as long as we’re travelling together. On this condition they are very strict and you must be travelling together throughout the whole trip. At one point Neil was going to come back on an earlier flight and this was going to invalidate the insurance for him across the entire trip – not just the section when we weren’t travelling together! A solution was to make him an additional cardholder on my account ($50/year) it meant he would always be insured, even when not travelling with me at all. It’s also worth noting that there is usually a limit on the duration that you can be away on these policies – ANZ have recently increased this from 30 to 90 days.

CAMPSITES/AIRES

France, in addition to very good campsite facilities, also has a network of “Aires”. These are low-cost legal places to park usually provided by the local municipality. They vary from the basic to full facilities such as waste, water, grey water, power and wi-fi. Generally they are low cost and in some cases free. Campingcar-Infos is probably the best guide to Aires, and more traditional campsites.The site is in French and somewhat user unfreindly but lists a huge variety of spots from Aires to full blown campsites. Also many listed places have photos and user comments. It’s coverage of France is extensive but it also covers many other European countries. The site is free and only available online – i.e. no book available. However, you can download an offline version to a USB for a few Euros to avoid paying data charges when browsing on the move. Other useful guides and sites are: All The Aires France – This is a comprehensive guide to French Aires, written in English and updated annually. It’s published by Vicarious Books who are also UK distributors for a number of the other guides shown below Le Guide Officiel Aires Camping Car – a very comprehensive guide to French Aires, written in French. ACSI Camping Card Guide and Card – a discount scheme where, by purchasing the guide, you can stay for a fixed reduced price at over 800 campsites in France and more than 2000 in Europe. France Passion– a guide to vineyards and farms where you can park the campervan free of charge overnight and, if you wish, sample some local produce. Stop Accueil – a free downloadable guide, written in French, to over 500 campsites offering the “Stop Accueil” tarif. This is a reduced tarif for campervans for a single night stop but you must arrive after 1800 and leave before 1000 the next morning. Aires Camping Cars – a comprehensive personal guide written in French.

DRIVING LICENCE/PERMITS

Whilst you can legally drive in France, and most of Western Europe, for up to 12 months on a NZ driving licence it’s not a bad idea to get an International Driving Permit. This is just a verified translation of your NZ licence, available from the AA for $20 – $30 and should avert any potential problems with rural police who may not be familiar with the format of a NZ licence. The other thing to be aware of is that to drive on the motorway system in Switzerland your vehicle requires a motorway tax sticker. Check with the hire company that your campervan has this sticker as not displaying one can result in a fine. If the hire company do not provide one you can buy them from petrol stations on the way into Switzerland or at the border.

PHONE/DATA CONNECTION

Roaming charges for using a NZ sim card overseas are verging on the criminal. To avoid a nasty surprise on your account, if you’re travelling for more than a few days, it’s advisable to obtain a local sim card at your destination. We both have tablets and whilst there’s plenty of free Wifi cafes/outlets in France we wanted to have the ability to be online while on the move and in more remote locations. We also wanted to be able to text/phone each other and friends and family and make a few local calls in France/Europe. At first we thought of tethering one of our phones to make it a wifi hotspot but some operators don’t allow that and all the data/phone packages seemed to be quite expensive for data. We also wanted the ability to use our phones while in UK (about 4 weeks) but we didn’t really need data during that time.

The solution for us was to buy a 3G Wifi Hotspot from Orange for 44.90 Euros. This includes 500mb of date and allows you to connect by WiFi to the Hotspot which in turn connects to the 3G network. You can then buy extra data as you need it. For mobile phones we ordered a free SIM for each of our phones from Giff Gaff. You’ll need a UK address to despatch to and once activated you can add “Goodybags” from £5 per month depending on what level of calling/texting you’ll be using. One great feature of their offer is that all calling and texting in the UK between Giff Gaff customers is free so this was perfect for us to keep in touch with each other while in UK. Roaming charges in France/Europe are reasonable at 8p/sent text, 24p/min for making a call and 7p/min for receiving a call. Receiving texts is free.