Nat & Ben Do Europe: The adventure starts

Day 1 - 25th July 2013

After spending 4 days in sunny Amsterdam (with more "short shorts" than I have ever seen), it was finally time to go and pick up the Campervan. But first some photos of Amsterdam.

Smallest House In Amsterdam (just the RED brick)

Scoping out the real estate

Going Dutch

Burger vending machines, luv Amsterdam!

Nats Mum's Car - The ugly car of Amsterdam

YES I AM!

So we set off at 8.30am from Amsterdam to collect the camper, and after bus, train, bus and walk (including a pit stop for Nat which involved a near tetanus scare and a crouch behind an abandoned building) we arrived to pick up BB (Big Bastard) in Emmerich, Germany. Then off we went, first stop petrol station which cost a mere 120 Euro to fill him up. Then gas for cooking...another 30 euro. Filling up the gas bottles was not as scary as we first thought, very simple actually. Drove back to Amsterdam in a rush to grab all our stuff from my mums place to get to the caravan park in time. 30 minutes to grab suitcases and literally empty them out on the bed. It was a mess!

We made it to the campsite and started to pack things away, it was very warm and by the time we finished it was time to test the local bar and beer. We can report the beer tasted great. The great thing about this time of year is that its not dark until 11pm, so having beers and watching the sun go down takes about 5 hours.......longest happy hour ever.

We introduce BB!

My initial thoughts were, shit this thing is big, then you walk inside, shit this thing is small, then you drive it and its back to shit this thing is big! After a while you realise that we have more than enough space, it will take some time to get use to it though.

26th to 28th July – Gaasper Plas Campsite – Holland (25min drive to Amsterdam)

The first three days in the campsite was getting use to the beast and checking that everything works and had been fixed as requested many months earlier. At the moment the lights in the toilet/bathroom don’t work, the tv won’t turn on and the warning lights for the toilet which tell you when it is full and if the container is not in properly was also not working. It was no biggy as we had to go back to Emmerich to make the final payment and sort out some paper work.

We also found out that the campervan is not really catered to hot temperatures. We have windows everywhere so we can get the breeze, but when there is none the temperature only has to be in the high twenties for the inside temperature to be almost unbearable. This is generally ok as we have an awning attached to the campervan that slides out so we can site outside in the shade, and 30 degrees in a relatively dry climate is an improvement from where we were. Thankfully the temp at night dropped to about 20 degrees so sleeping was not problem, actually quite nice without the air-con.

We also had some heavy rain…….like sitting in tin shed! Very loud but again a welcomed change from the UAE, as long as it doesn’t rain for 12 months.

28th to 29th – Almere Holland (40min drive from Amsterdam)

We drove to Almere which is close to where Nats Uncle and Auntie live, from there we visited her cousin Peter and his wife Joan. Awesome place on the water where we had chips with mayo and satay sauce (they even had ketchup for the guests) and croquettes which is typically Dutch.

They took us out on the boat and showed us some of the houses and developments, the whole area is all reclaimed land.

I attached video of Peter feeding the swan, purely because I had no idea Swans made that noise, wait a little bit and you will see.

The next day we set off for Emmerich and was my first go at driving the thing. Lesson number one, don’t try and take off in third gear….it doesn’t like that. For someone that doesn't drive manuals I think I went pretty well...to quote one of my favourite comedians " ...........third is great, once I get into third I'm not slowing down for nobody, I'll run over a guy before I go back to 1st..."

29th - 31th July - Oostkapelle (Holland) to Calais (France)

On our way to Calais where we took the ferry over to the UK, we stopped over in Oostkapelle for a couple of nights, checked the local town...and that's all I have to say about that.

We stayed in Calais before we took the ferry over to the UK, the campsite was all hardstand and pretty basic but it gave us the whole next day to sort our selves out. We hadn't got any tickets for the ferry and would wing it the next day. Photos of the campsite.