PREPARATION -

PREPARATION

FIRST STEPS:

We went out and purchased three cheap light-weight but sturdy indexed divided folders:
One (blue) for our itinerary of outwards tour all the way to Sicily.
One (red) for our itinerary touring back home by a different route.
One (black) for all information and necessary documents, etc.
The black one would hold and all documents except our booking printouts.

EU Health Cards (EHIC cards free from the government.) You can now only order them online. If you do not have a computer, your local library will help. Be careful; some sites charge – but there is no need to pay ANYTHING: the link is www.gov.uk/european-health-insurance-card
All Insurance Documents
Copies of all Car documents. Ownership, MOT, a copy of your driving licence just in case the one in your wallet gets lost. (We actually make copies of all documents and stick them in the very back section of the folder and leave them there. If by accident we should pull out our passport and leave it at an hotel by mistake, at least we’ve got a copy while we go back for the original. Hotels do require you to present your passport. Normally they are photocopied and handed back after a few minutes, but if they are busy they will tell you they will give them back later, and that’s when you can forget to pick them up.
The Rules of the Road for each country. I found these online and printed them out in full for each country we passed through. I will always check for updates.
There is one exception to this: I always keep both our passports in a zipped pocket INSIDE my large holiday shoulder bag. We find it better if ONE person takes responsibility for keeping and producing ALL passports.

A word of caution:

Have ONE person responsible for these folders. In 2011, when we were touring to the heel of Italy we stopped the first night in a cramped room in Bethune. It was not until, weary, 600km on, we reached Besancŏn, on the Swiss border, that we realised we did not have our ONE folder, containing the routes and B&B booking receipts – (our only way then of knowing where we had booked). We knew we must have left it in that little room the other end of France!

I thought Graham was taking care of it – and he thought I was! I said ‘I bet it was on that tiny desk-shelf, which would have been hidden by the open door’.

What to do? The centre of the town was closed, being dug up for new roads, so there was no access to any telephone. A very helpful lady suggested the police station – but we would have to walk. A passing student on a bicycle said he would guide us – it was ‘just up the road’. He set off, and although he was cycling slowly, even Graham had a job keeping up. I panted on behind, cursing my breathing difficulties. The police station seemed at least a mile away. By the time I caught up, Graham was having difficulty making himself understood to the desk sergeant.

We were saved when the captain of the station (or equivalent) strode out. This lovely man phoned the British Embassy in London, who arranged for Graham to access his computer at home, and get a printout of our itinerary. Then the ‘hotel’ was telephoned, but it was one of those places which is left empty, and only the cleaners come and go; and they had finished for the day. Oh, calamity!

The Captain suggested that he find someone to take a message in the morning, and wire the money for fast postage of our folder to the small hotel on Lake Maggiore where we‘d stay three nights. We were so glad I had kept our passports in my faithful ‘travelling’ shoulder bag, and that Graham had his picture driving licence in his wallet. At that time you had to take both that and the FULL driving licence with you. The captain said ‘If there is any trouble, get the border guards to ‘phone’ me and he gave us his telephone number. We had a very anxious time until the folder finally arrived late on our last morning at Lake Maggiore.

(Graham now keeps his photo-card licence on him & a copy of it in the black folder.)

PLANNING ROUTES, EXCURSIONS AND STOPS.

I spent a happy couple of months (February and March) researching all possible routes on Google Maps, starting with our home address, and ending ‘Sicily’. I had a pad for reminder notes.

I then used Google Maps; first to find the most direct route from our door to Matera, our GOAL, where we hoped to stay for SEVEN WEEKS to give time for Graham to thoroughly research. This gave me a rough idea of total driving hours and mileage.

Then I found a place in France to spend our first night. Graham decided he wanted to get further along than Calais.

ENLARGING GOOGLE MAPS.

From then on, I enlarged the map in the area around every starting place, and used ‘Images’ to explore many towns and villages along various secondary roads, but decided to use the main toll road to whiz through the flat part of France, deviating for Reims, where Graham wished again to photograph the cathedral and the lovely little equestrian statue of St Joan, using his new Olympus camera. *** We also could not wait for a third visit to Le Grand Café close by. A survival of the Grande Epoch, the interior is all mirrors and plush,*** while outside the waiters in their ground-length aprons serve you at tables set under large green umbrellas. Their speciality; huge pans full of steaming mussels; you use the deep lid to deposit the empty shells. Heaven! (Details on ‘Tunnel to Adventure’ blog.).

SELECTING COUNTRY ROADS AND B&B SITES.

From Reims I discovered a direct country road to Bourges via Orleans, which looked heavenly.

This, then, was my procedure from then forward. First, I jotted down the major cities on the most direct route. I then enlarged the map, noting the driving time between each of the major towns as I went. I was aiming for around four hours driving time each day. I also noted any places of great beauty or historical interest along the way, and marked them for ‘coffee’, ‘lunch’, etc. Next, I cut out ‘Toll roads’ for each 4hr route, and enlarging each section of each road in turn, jotted down National Parks, Mountains (Graham adores driving in mountains) and other features. I then transferred these details and road numbers and times into a special computer document entitled ‘Holiday in Autumn’. Once we had decided on the first night’s stop, I found a cheap B&B, generally close to a town or city; it generally being cheaper to book just outside a large or famous place. Once I had chosen I set about booking. (People seem to believe they get better deals on ‘Airb&b, but I found this not often to be so – and there were always complications about price, when booking in another country. Also – the price you see is not what you will pay. There is generally a ‘cleaning charge – which can be as much as 4 or 5 Euros a night; and then Vat is ADDED, and also a 10% commission for Airb&B on top.)

COMPARING B&B COMPANIES.

Bed and Breakfast.com have appealing B&B’s, but Booking.com is very good for ‘deals’ and mostly their sites require no deposit, and guarantee free cancellation (but always read the terms for each place carefully, as this can sometimes vary.) With one notable exception (of which more in my ‘TOURS’ pages), we have found their hotels and B&B’s to be attractive and giving good service. AND FOR ONE BAD SITE we received a FULL REFUND.

I AM CAREFUL TO CHECK EACH PROPOSED B&B ON ‘TRIP ADVISOR’, reading several reviews for each place. (We have frequently found sites will have all good reviews bar one; we deduce that this is probably due to competition.)

MONEY.

For several months I would follow the Pound/Euro exchange rates each week, waiting for an upward trend, trying to guess when to buy Euros. Some years, as now, the rate was unfavourable – and I had to bite the bullet and go ahead and buy. On other years I got a fantastic amount of euros for my pounds (I have been buying these euros from my very modest savings – funding a big chunk of our holidays has been my contribution: Graham does all the driving.)

From the very first I have scoured the net for good exchange rates. I found a good’n the first time – and I have never found a better than this family firm. Their rates are always top of the line, and I always enjoy friendly chats with Sam Newberry, who has no difficulty in remembering me. He sends the money straight to me by registered letter so that I get it the next day. I can thoroughly recommend this firm, based in London’s famous Covent Garden. Here is their link: https://www.coventgardenfx.com Telephone number 0207 240 9921.

For that big trip in 2016 I waited a little long, but caught the market just as it started to descend from a relative high. I am now waiting a few months to see how the ‘Brexit Effect’ plays out, before buying Euros and any other currency for our holiday/s this year…

Tell your bank in advance.

It is necessary to inform your bank a few weeks before that you are going abroad: where and when, so that you may use your bank and credit cards. You will get advice on the best cards to use, and how to use them economically. (But do Shop Around on the Internet; new good deals can be had all the time). Some countries may not charge for withdrawals by certain cards; you need this information).

Graham has learned to use his credit card when buying fuel abroad, and sometimes paying in restaurants. For this long trip he arranged for the bank to arrange instant direct debit payment of his and my card debts, so that there would be no enormous charge at the end of our three-month holiday.

REVISITING B&B FRIENDS.

And so this enjoyable though slow process went on, until I had found interesting routes (often on country roads) and advanced-booked our accommodation in each place (two or even three nights in exceptionally attractive places).

We chose some roads in order to stay again with hosts who had become friends (who will all be acknowledged in the ‘ROUTES’ blog.) We had decided to travel down France roughly by the east coast of Italy, as yet unexplored by us, and thence to Basilicata, that was to be our base for seven weeks, while Graham researched the area, and particularly Matera, for a thriller he had planned to write. From there we would make our way down to Sicily; spend a week exploring the island, and tour back by the west coast, making sure to spend four nights with our adoptive ‘family’ in Pompeii, (La Casa di Plinio) and later enjoy the hospitality of two sisters who keep an exceptionally attractive B&B near Carcassonne. As we have found the whole of Italy packed with beautiful and interesting places, and France likewise, it was easy to find yet more to explore around our friends’ homes.
http://www.villelongue-cote-jardin.com/

So each step of the way could (and often did) change our route for the next day, taking us through quiet little villages, over mountains and through forests that were often ‘off the beaten track’, and in that way we discovered some hidden gems – lovely views, amazingly cheap little bistros and trattoria, and small family B&B’s, – and best of all, met lovely, genuine people who were very happy to talk about their area and in some cases, introduced us to their family and friends. We felt we really had a ‘taste’ of each province (county) we passed through…

A MAP FOR EVERY JOURNEY.

I printed out Google Maps for every day’s planned journey, remembering to find interesting places to stop for coffee, lunch, etc. as well as to stay the night. These printouts went with the relevant booking acknowledgment for each place, in its relevant slot in the blue folder for ‘Down to Sicily’ and the red folder for ‘Return Journey’.

PRINT ROAD NUMBERS.

I then transferred these details, including road numbers and driving times, into a special document entitled ‘Holiday in Autumn’. Then I set about finding B&B’s four to five hours driving time apart, careful to book OUTSIDE main towns and ‘tourist traps’, thus saving a lot of money and finding friendly hosts.

Our priority was a tour of Beauty and Interest – Meandering off to explore, was all part of the attraction and journey. As navigator, I designed this ‘check-at-a-glance’ for whilst on the road, and it certainly proved useful. Graham used this to load Miss Sat-Nav.

PURCHASES AND PACKING.

Over the months prior to our trip we gradually acquired a few new items of clothing; in our case, we would be passing briefly through severe winter weather, but most of our three months would be warm to hot. We had a quiet summer, and bought necessary toiletries); small, squeezy tubes of things like 50+ sun block for me; insect repellent, makeup, moisturiser and face creams. I find T.K.Maxx is a Treasure-trove for good products at knockdown prices.

Really good body washes, shampoos and conditioners, too, to tuck into our compartmented wash bags, along with the best of those tiny samples we had picked up in the few hotels we have used in past trips. My best buy that year was a small magnifying makeup mirror in a case.

Over the months prior to leaving Graham climbed up and brought down our two medium-sized suitcases. We bought them two or three years ago at LIDL – and they are brilliant! One fits inside the other for storage. Each lid has retaining straps for trousers – being short, mine can be laid flat out – and there are ample inside pockets and nets for delicate items, as well as two silky bags for soiled clothes. There are two ‘pockets’ outside each, and the lids can be extended.

For this holiday we also bought two backpacks – not the huge ones with poles – just firm-backed rucksacks (see notes further on).

TICK THE LIST.

I made a running list to tick off as I bought supplies, remembering three month’s supply of Steradent for my partial top set, and because on the road, where you cannot always find a toilet when you need one, I decided to wear paper knickers as we would be ‘on the road’ most of the time (men are much luckier in this respect)… These nicely filled in the ‘channels’ at the bottom of each medium-sized suitcase.

In April we took off four days to explore the Heritage sites of West Wales, enjoying the signs of burgeoning Spring. For this short trip we decided to buy our first-ever backpacks, as lugging suitcases about seemed unnecessary.

The best value was in T.K.Maxx, where we found two sturdy, good-sized packs – but not large enough to require frames. One was branded ‘Jeep’, and it unzipped so that you could pack a surprising number of carefully folded garments. The other had more zipped pockets, and was used for books, toiletries, cosmetics, socks, gloves and hankies (and particularly some rather bulky health-and-hygiene items). Papers, etc., went in the padded slot provided for laptops. There were even slots for pens and pencils.

BACKPACKS INVALUABLE ON LONG TOURS.

We were able to take into our accommodation all we needed in toiletries etc. and nightwear and clean clothes for the next day (in fact, the ‘Jeep’ held three days’ changes. We re-stocked whenever we stopped for longer than one night). We also bought a small ‘travel’ kettle and cooler chest, which could be plugged into the ‘lighter’ socket in our VW Golf. In the event we never used this useful piece of equipment to its full extent, though it did keep water cold – but packed odds and ends in it instead…

Our summer clothes came out of their trunk in April: the winter ones were washed and pressed some, sent some to the dry cleaners ready for storage, but I selected enough for a month of cold weather. Gradually I filled the smaller of the two suitcases we would take with us, remembering to stash suitable costume jewellery in the inner pockets.

We had a quiet summer, during which we bought just a very few new clothes – and MOST IMPORTANTLY, told our doctor of our arrangements. She knew our medical histories, and that I can be vulnerable, and so arranged for us to pick up, before leaving, a large box containing three months’ supplies of medications and a comprehensive first aid kit.

During July and August I became unusually domestic: washing, starching, ironing and airing far too many clothes, as usual. I filled the bottom of the large suitcase with sweaters and then laid tissue paper between highly coloured and very thin clothes. I once worked for Jaeger, and there learned to pack, folding garments to fit the box. You get more in your case and they never crease.

NOW WE WERE ALL SET, and waiting for the day when we locked all doors and windows, and I got in the car crowded with bags and packages while Graham set the House Alarm –

Written by – Jackie Usher (aka author Debbie Darkin, & ‘Graham Liverpool’ on Trip Advisor.)
Photographs by – Graham Usher.