Our Favorite, Fabulous France

We started liking France in 2007, our first time RVing in Europe.  We found that we were wrong in our perception - that France is an expensive country.  We discovered small markets like Lidl, Aldi, Penny and a lot more selling cheap but quality products, groceries and food.  Even the big ones like E.Leclerc, Carrefour and Auchan's prices of meat, seafood and bread are cheap too.  I, of course, am speaking from my experiences shopping in Canada, which to me now seem unbelievably expensive.

Last year, our second time RVing in Europe, we found and discovered a spot in Dunkirk where motorhomers can park legally.  It is an assigned space for motorhomers, a few stops to the sea, there is washroom facility, a water source, poissonerie (seafood shop) is not far where prices are really cheap, free wifi is available and it's free to park there as long as one wants.  One wonderful bonus is that in August, the month we were there last year, the climate was wonderful, it was mild, not hot at all.  It was heaven.

This year, is our fourth time in France and our fourth time to see the sites in Paris.  We liked that we can park right in front of the Eiffel Tower illegally but the police swarming the place did not ask us to move.  We experienced that last year, so we did it again this year.  Hah, same thing -  the police are the nicest in Paris.  We were meeting with friends so I cooked pork and chicken adobo and fried maquereau (mackerel); our friends brought rice, vegies, ice cream and 2 bottles of champagne.  We had a blast and stayed up to 12 midnight exactly. We revisited places in Paris one day when we bought a day pass for Euros6.40 per person; went to see Sacre Coeur for the first time, joined the mass of French people in the grass/grounds beside The Louvre and the giant ferris wheel, had dinner at Chinatown; rode the bus going nowhere couple of times just to see Paris from a bus, got back 'home' at midnight.

In France, they have what is called municipal camping in most towns and cities - designated camper parking where motorhomers can park for free or for a minimal amount per day (from 7-10 euros).  Our experience is that we can park anywhere there is no height barrier and stay overnight, no problem.  This year, we have not paid a cent staying in a paid camping while last year, in our 6 months rving, we paid 3 nights in a municipal camping for 8 a night.

Picture Perfect Austria

The first time we visited Austria was in 1998, we were back-packing and using mostly trains to go from one country to another.  On our way to Vienna in 1998, we were astounded by the seemingly perfect landscape of the land as we travel aboard the train.  We wonder how it is possible.

We have visited different cities since and been to this country four times now, still we are awed by Austria's beauty.  Now that we are traveling in a motorhome, we get to drive, which actually is our preference,  mostly on secondary roads allowing us to see and experience the unexplored parts, to see the majectic Alps, the scenic villages, the perfect landscape and the colorful fields and farms. 

Romania's Image an Old Cliche

Romania is unfortunately labelled wrongly and unfairly.  Her reputation is not repaired despite economic changes, progress, modernization, etc.  I guess the government should launch a massive campaign to improve her image.

We have read in blogs and forums about bad roads, gypsies, poverty, dirt and trash everywhere, feeling of not being safe as a tourist and similar feedback which discourages potential visitors from visiting the country.

Our route to Romania coming from Szeged, Hungary was through:
Timisoara
Caransebes
Drobeta-Turnu Severin
Craiova
Bucharest
Bran
Brasov
Sighisoara
Targu-Mures
Cluj Napoca
Oradea

and then we crossed the border and entered Hungary again in Artand after exactly two weeks in Romania.

There was about two kms of really bad, heavily cratered road in entering Craiova, some uneven roads elsewhere and that's all about bad roads - the rest was either good or very good.

In all the cities we had been to, we see modern malls and supermarkets, people well dressed, lots of coffee shops and lots of people in it, we see progress and wealth.  In all of Europe, we were impressed most by Iulius Mall in Timisoara.  Coffee shops with plush chairs or leather sofas are everywhere in the mall.  The lobby coffee shops is even lovelier compared to 5 star hotels with its three stories high ceiling.  The food court was awesome, tables wide spaced, high ceilinged and really huge which gives a feeling of being free and relaxed.  There was free wife and sockets for computer.  Food was cheap and there was about 20 food concessionaires - plenty of food choices.  Most importantly, the washroom was modern, very clean, soap smells good with 19 sinks but only 10 toilet cubicles. 

Trash and littering is not a problem although I saw isolated cases of it.  Cities are not dirty - they're clean actually.

We were approached by one gypsy kid and one gypsy man in Sighisoara.  Anywhere else it did not happen.   We free-camped every night and we did not feel unsafe nor threatened.

The cities of Romania are beautiful, the country side are marvelous and majestic even.  I love the hills, mountain ranges, smaller hills on top of bigger hills, red roofed homes on valleys and plains, small and huge rivers and lakes - the landscape is unbelievably amazing. 

Our favorite city in Romania is Timisoara.  The city is clean and the park and square is impressive and obviously well cared for with plenty of trees and blooming flowers.  Our favorite country in Europe in terms of nature and landscape is Romania and France for being RV friendly and the exquisite and bluer than blue Meditteranean sea.

Romania
Capital - Bucharest
Currency - Romanian Lei
Size - 238,391 square kms
Population - 19.04M

Take Two in Budapest, Hungary

We first visited Hungary in 2007 and when I recently reviewed our photos of that visit, I was not happy with the quality of our photos.  We used a Lumix Panasonic point and shoot camera back then and now we have upgraded to DSLR Canon with 18 - 200 mm zoom lens.  I wanted better pictures and so two days ago, we went back to where we were parked in 2007 - at the foot of the historical, beautiful and at-night mesmerizing Chain Bridge connecting Buda and Pest below which is the River Danube.  Mar took new photos and I am happily content with the results.

We visited the cities of Pecs, Szged and the capital Budapest.  All these cities are with a long history and those are evident in the architecture of the historical buildings and churches.  The cities are beautiful.  The country side are wisely and productively used to grow and raise plants and animals.

I might as well mention here that here in Europe all countries are actively and aggressively into farming which I did not see much in the Philippines.  People here are seemingly hard-working.  Last year in France, there was a news of drought which affected crops in France and which the government is giving aid in the billions of Euros.  This news is a huge source of amazement to me but what I do not know probably is how much all countries here are subsidizing food production and farming.  Food here is cheaper than in Canada - examples of which are the following:

In Romania:  pork legs chopped are 8.8 lei a kg or Euros 2 or Cad $2.6.  
In Canada: same item above is Cad$6.6

All over Europe, pork is cheaper at an average of 30%.  Eggs and milk by about 40%.

Hungary
Capital -Budapest
Currency - Hungarian Forint - Euro1.00 = 296.66 Forint
Size - 93,030 square kms.
Population - 10,014M

Croatia But Not the Adriatic

I am sure Croatia is famous for her beaches along the Adriatic Sea like the beaches of Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik.  Like I said we are always changing our route and this time we decided to miss those beaches.  We do a lot of research of our routes, road conditions, toll fees or vignettes, border controls, etc. and we deliberate and agonize sometimes where to go next and what roads to take.  Based on blogs and forums, we know what the experiences of the other motorhomers have been and we learn from them.  In going to Bulgaria and Romania from the coast of Croatia, we needed to cross through Albania which is infamous for the long stretch of super bad roads or Montenegro and Serbia which would require us to cross through the mountains.  Not wanting our Brenda the Camper to suffer those difficulties, we visited the capital Zagreb and left town. 

Croatia
Capital - Zagreb
Currrency - Croatian Kuna - 1 Kuna = .1325 Euro or 1 Euro = 7.5 Kuna
Size - 56,594 square kms.
Population - 4.290M

Small Slovenia

I have wanted to see Slovenia since 2007 when we first did RVing in Europe but for reasons I already forgot, we were not able to.  Last year, it was not on our route so we missed seeing the country again.  This year it is country No. 1 on our route - finally.

After suffering the diesel prices in Italy which was over Euros1.7, it is a great source of happiness when we filled up our tanks at Euros1.33 a liter.  So we started off on a happy note in Slovenia.  The country is clean, people are friendly I think - due to the fact that we did not feel threatened nor felt racial bias.

We went to the capital Ljubljana and parked in a mall outside the city called Super Nova Mall.  We like hanging out in malls and supermarkets and one of my favorites is E.Leclerc which was the one in the shopping area near the mall.  In France which E.Leclerc originated from, it sells the cheapest diesel and food and grocery prices are the lowest.

Slovenia's capital must-see's pale in comparison to the grand and even not so grand cities of Europe we have seen so far so there is nothing to write about.


We spent 7 nights in Slovenia free-camping all nights in service stations and the mall parking lot.

I would like to start writing basic but important details of the countries we visited like the following:

Slovenia - capital Ljubljana
Currency - Euros
Size - 20,000 square kms
Population - 2.057M

I say small in comparison to the size of:
Canada - 9,976,000 square kms
Philippines - 300,000 square kms

One Month on the Roads of Europe

It has been over one month since we started RVing.  It is still spring and so far we have experienced 30 degrees C temperatures.  We kept changing our route and one time we decided on doing Greece extensively after Bulgaria - we were then in Romania.  One day after experiencing extreme heat (extreme for people living in Greater Vancouver, Canada), we were sad but we changed our route again.  We dropped Bulgaria and Greece and headed back to Hungary with target destination - Dunkirk and the towns and communes in the Celtic Sea of France - facing the English Channel.  We were in the beaches facing the North Sea and part of the Celtic Sea last year in August and we were extremely surprised but happy that the temperatures were warm at the worst and cool on most days.  So that is where we want to go.  We are Filipinos by birth and has grown tired of the heat and for the last 11 years enjoyed the cool and pleasant wheather in our home in Surrey, BC.

We have travelled 5 countries so far and roughly 2500 kms with an expense of Euros 420 for diesel.  Since we do eat home/RV cooked meals most of the time, I don't consider food as an extra expense due to the fact that we do eat whether we are at home or here RVing.  Eating out at home is about once or twice a week so it's about the same here.  LPG is Euros 20-30 for a month but we do not need to pay for electricity and heating which we normally do when we are home-based so LPG expense is a lot cheaper comparing.

We experienced - unknown to us at the time - an attempted break-in which was unsuccessful obviously.  Mar discovered our habitation door (door of the house part of the RV) is broken and was tampered with.  This has happened once in our six months of RVing last year on the driver side door.  The attempt was also unsuccessful.  We consider ourselves very lucky because a lot of successful break-ins are happening here in Europe especially in the South of France and in Spain.  Some motorhomers are claiming they were gassed because they did not wake up during the burglary but a lot disagree on the story of gassing claiming it is impossible.

In 2007, our first time RVing in Europe, we were with our 19 year old daughter then, when we were broken into - our daughter's back pack was taken and was ransacked outside (bits of grass clung onto the bottom) then returned after.  Her wallet and passport was not taken but her more than Cad$100 was taken.  We slept through the whole thing not hearing a thing.  Mar woke up the following morning and was shocked to discover we were robbed and a thief or thieves were actually inside our camper while we were deep asleep - all three of us.  We were quite relieved and thankful later on that we all were unharmed. 

More stories later.

Cruising and RVing - C'est La Vie!

Our 3rd time cruising the Atlantic Ocean Europe bound was from April 14 to 29, 2012.  Total number of times we crossed the Atlantic was 5 times including the ones USA bound.  This might indicate how much we enjoy cruising, but actually, the last one in April seemed boring already.  We were aboard Navigator of the Seas of the Royal Caribbean International fleet.  We boarded in Fort Lauderdale with several ports of call and got off at Civitavecchia (Rome Port), Italy.

Our home base in Italy is at Gazoldo degli Ippolitti, Mantova, where my niece has built her huge home.  This is also where we left our Fiat Ducato Camper which we bought last year in April, used RVing several countries in Europe for six months and parked to hibernate in autumn and winter last year.

Brenda the Camper is what we call her.  She had been burglarized in hibernation and when we came in April 29, repairs and maintenance routine was done in preparation for our RVing 2012.

So in May 11, 2012 we kicked off with day 1 of our 3rd time RVing in Europe.   We've been to Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and now we are in Romania.  More stories later.

Exactly Five Months in Canada

Coming back from our two cruises and exactly 6 months RVing in Europe last year, we arrived home past twelve midnight making it Nov. 12, 2011.  Tomorrow, April 12, 2012 we are leaving our home in Surrey, BC to cross the border and fly from Bellingham Airport to Los Angeles, California and from LAX fly to Fort Lauderdale, which makes it exactly 5 months we stayed home and did almost nothing but cook, bake, watch movies and tv shows downloaded from the internet.

We will spend the night of April 13 in Fort Lauderdale before joining our cruise which departs Fort Lauderdale on April 14 for a 15 night trans-atlantic voyage which will end in Civitavecchia, Italy on April 29, 2012

We will be reunited with our RV and we hope to start RVing on May 1 which we plan to do for six months.  Our European route is open and as of now we only have an idea where to go but depending on the weather, we will go where it is most comfortable, not too cold and not too hot.  We hope to visit countries we have not seen yet but we liked France where RVers are most welcome and we want to explore a lot more of France, so most likely we will be seeing France again.  My maiden last name is Cantal and in France there is a Cantal Province, a Cantal Mountain and Cantal cheese, which explains my feeling of connection with France.

2012 Day 1 Happy New Year

May we all be blessed with good health and wealth so we can pursue our goals and dreams with strength, energy and means, good amount of happiness to keep us out of depression or loneliness, good friends to hang out with and loving and supportive family who loves us unconditionally.