John's Travel Blogs

Category: Van Life

  • Days 4 and 5 Bremerhaven ( Germany) to Aabernraa (Denmark)

    Days 4 and 5 Bremerhaven ( Germany) to Aabernraa (Denmark)

    our focus in the last two days is to travel North to Denmark which we have achieved. On the way we have past through mostly flat lands crossed by canals and ditches but also through the heavily industrial city port of Hamburg.

    We have changed the date of our ferry from Denmark to Sweden from this Sunday to this Friday. We have been looking for things to do in Denmark and because the big noisy city of Copenhagen does to appeal to us, we have decided to travel through the middle of Denmark to the Northern tip and then down to Freiderkshavn where we catch the ferry to Gothenburg. This will not take the 4 days we originally planned.

    This afternoon we have been exploring the historic old town of Aabenraa with buildings dated from 1711 onwards.

  • Days 2 and 3 Amsterdam to Bremerhaven

    Days 2 and 3 Amsterdam to Bremerhaven

    I successfully picked up Patty from Schipol airport and we spent the first night together in the van about 1.5 hours North East of Amsterdam. It was a nice little campsite in the middle of the very flat and rural Dutch countryside. It gave us an opportunity to catch up and to organise the van.

    Day three we started West and almost immediately found this windmill and shop..

    It was a farm shop full of local produce, at very affordable prices. We stocked up with a few essentials such as goats cheese 🧀 😀.

    We spent the rest of the day driving into Germany and are now in Bremerhaven on tge North West German coast. We went for a lovely meal at a fish restaurant in the port last night (thank you mum 🥰, who paid for it 😘).

  • Day 1, Southampton to Caen

    I am on the Brittany Ferries ship Guillaume de Normandie half way across the English Channel.

    This is a very new ship (2024) and i am very impressed. Everything is clean and bright, there is plenty of room aboard and the food excellent, and is not expensive. I have had Breton fish stew, a raspberry and blackcurrant dessert and a Pepsi for less than 20€.

    I haven’t seen any small dinghies full of people going the other way yet 🫣.

    I should arrive in Caen around 3pm and plan to drive toward Amsterdam. I will probably camp roadside close to Amsterdam, ready to pick Patty up from Schipol airport Around 10am tomorrow. She is flying in from Cordoba Argentina, via Madrid, she is probably in the air by now.

  • Preparing to go

    Preparing to go

    Hi everyone, and welcome back to my travel blog. I am preparing for a 4 week trip in the camper van, leaving in 2 days time.

    Patty will be joining me on this trip and we will be blogging here with notifications going to my facebook page.

    The itinery is:

    • Ferry Portsmouth (UK) to Caen (France)
    • Drive France, Belgium and Netherlands to Amsterdam
    • Shipol airport to pick up Patty
    • Drive Germany and Denmark to Frederikshavn
    • Ferry Frederikshavn (Denmark) to Gottenburg (Sweden)
    • Drive through Sweden, Norway, Sweden, Finland to Lapland
    • Drive South through Finland to Helsinki
    • Ferry Helsinki to Tallin (Estonia)
    • Drive through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, France back to Caen
    • Ferry Caen (France) to Portsmouth (UK)
  • Coming Soon – Scandinavia

    Coming Soon – Scandinavia

    Starting 25th September 2025 Patty and I will be traveling in the Camper Van from the UK to Finland and back. We will be on the road for 3.5 weeks.

    We will be traveling from through France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.

    More details to follow..

  • Back to a ‘normal’ life

    After Patty flew back to Argentina, I was at a crossroads with a number of options.

    1. Lady Cindy had not sold with the Italian brokers over the summer so I could return to the boat, work on it over the winter and sail or sell her next Spring.

    2. I could stay in the van in the UK over the winter and replenish funds with temporary work, like I did at Tescos a couple of years ago.

    3. Get permanent work and settle down again.

    4. Pick a country and fly there.

    I decided to start looking for work in the Southampton area (to be near family) and let fate decide.

    Fate has decided option 3 by presenting me with a job advert for trainee bus drivers in Southampton and allowing me to succeed in the application process.

    So, for the next two years, at least, I will settle to a normal working life. I have already found a flat within walking distance of the bus depot and move in next week. I hope my holidays in the next few years will be exploring the world, and I will blog those trips. But, for the most part, that is the end of this blog.

  • Back in the UK to Lands End

    On returning from our month in Indo China, we settled back into van life and completed our circuit around the UK by travelling to Lands End and back. This was to be Patty and my last trip together. Patty wants to return to, and settle in Argentina. I will be staying in the UK until the right direction for me reveals itself.

  • John Ogroats and back

    After returning from Europe, we traveled up the East Coast of the UK to the top of the Scottish Mainland, John Ogroats and then back down Western Scotland and England back to Southampton.

  • Slovakia, Austria, Czechia and Germany

    After leaving Hungary, we travelled through Slovakia, Austria, Czechia to Bavaria in Germany. We only stopped in Bavaria.

    Bavaria was stunning, I would not have been at all surprised if Hansel and Gretal had come skipping down the street holding hands. We had a meal at a local restaurant. What could be better than eating sausage and sauerkraut in Bavaria? Well, maybe it could have done with a little less of those tummy bugs. I was sick for 24 hours, luckily Patty ate something different.

    We had a short drive the next day for obvious reasons. We stayed at the Grimm’s family farmstead. A working farm with a restaurant and selling their own wine. I had bread and water, Patty had a flan, which turned out to be a thin crust pizza.

  • Budapest with Ed Sheeran

    We left Slovenia for Budapest, it’s a beautiful city, we found campervan parking within walking distance of the arena, we had tickets for Ed Sheeran.

    John went to the house of terror. It’s a museum dedicated to telling the story of Budapest under the Arrow cross (Nazi afiliated) when Jews were rounded up and sent to a gheto and then on to extermination camps and later when they were ‘liberated’ and came under soviet control. This was a time of fear, suspicion,  reporting your neighbour, people disappearing, anything but free. I have often wondered how much of the news we heard in the West of soviet oppression was western propaganda, and how much was true. I have no doubts now it was as bad as we were told, if not worse.

    On a lighter note… Ed Sheeran was great.