Finvarra
Free Member
For those who may be planning a long trip too France the following might be of interest. I kept a record of what we spent,more for my own reference than anything, to help plan future trips. This was our first trip abroad in the moho, and we had never driven abroad before, plus in forty years of marriage only been abroad twice, to Italy and Greece, due to having loads of dogs and holidaying in the UK (we had five scotties at one time, altogether). So we were very green. All the advice on this site was very helpful, but it’s still a culture shock when you actually get there!! The first ten days were grim, because we weren’t used to the satnav, having only used paper maps before, it rained all the time for ten days and was freezing, Dave was getting used to the driving etc. But we survived, and it got better and better. Here’s a map of our route, clockwise, from my sketchbook.
Stopovers
We took a week to drive from Scotland to Dover, visiting friends and rellies on the way, wild and four nights on campsites, cost £41.60, and on the way back from Dover it cost us £65.28 for four nights campsite, total £106.88.
In France we spent ten nights on campsites, which cost £109.41 with the ACSI card. The rest of the times was on aires, passions, or about seven nights wild, and cost £38.07 on aires. Total in fees £143.48.
Mileage
We spent £544 on fuel in France, and did about 3,900 miles. Diesel was cheaper in France, but got progressively dearer as we went south.
LPG
Before leaving we installed Gaslow, and very glad we did. It was so cold we had to use the heating and would have used the Calor up in no time. Although some aires did have electricity, it was usually already nobbled by the French, so we mainly used gas for cooking. We spent £58.57 and used about one litre a day.
Food
We mostly cooked for ourselves, and shopped in supermarkets or markets, plus small boulangeries etc. Spent around £1200 over 13 weeks, an average of £97 per week, but we did buy nice unusual french things, and the falling down juice was consumed rather more than usual! We spent around £135 eating out, plus half a dozen macdonalds (for the wifi).
Entertainment
We spent £210 on entry fees for museums, gardens etc. Museums are very good value in France, much much cheaper than here.
Laundry
Having only been away for three week stretches in Britain and saving up the washing, plus the initial bad weather in France, the first camp stop took a lot of money for washer and dryer. So after that we hand washed our smalls each morning, along with a Tshirt on alternate days and dried them outside, so we only needed machines for towels and sheets, and the odd pair of jeans. We spent £58.57 on laundry, this would have been less without the first megawash! I discovered you need less clothes for a long trip as it’s easier to hand wash. T shirts from Edinburgh woollen mills are very good for not needing to be ironed, drying without creases.
TOTAL
The whole trip, leaving home on 17th March, ferry 24th March, ferry back 18th June, home 22nd June, cost £2,570, average £197.75 per week. Bearing in mind we would have been spending the same on food anyway, that’s around £1370 for a three month trip. Can’t believe how cheap it was.
EXPERIENCE
PRICELESS!!!!!!!
Stopovers
We took a week to drive from Scotland to Dover, visiting friends and rellies on the way, wild and four nights on campsites, cost £41.60, and on the way back from Dover it cost us £65.28 for four nights campsite, total £106.88.
In France we spent ten nights on campsites, which cost £109.41 with the ACSI card. The rest of the times was on aires, passions, or about seven nights wild, and cost £38.07 on aires. Total in fees £143.48.
Mileage
We spent £544 on fuel in France, and did about 3,900 miles. Diesel was cheaper in France, but got progressively dearer as we went south.
LPG
Before leaving we installed Gaslow, and very glad we did. It was so cold we had to use the heating and would have used the Calor up in no time. Although some aires did have electricity, it was usually already nobbled by the French, so we mainly used gas for cooking. We spent £58.57 and used about one litre a day.
Food
We mostly cooked for ourselves, and shopped in supermarkets or markets, plus small boulangeries etc. Spent around £1200 over 13 weeks, an average of £97 per week, but we did buy nice unusual french things, and the falling down juice was consumed rather more than usual! We spent around £135 eating out, plus half a dozen macdonalds (for the wifi).
Entertainment
We spent £210 on entry fees for museums, gardens etc. Museums are very good value in France, much much cheaper than here.
Laundry
Having only been away for three week stretches in Britain and saving up the washing, plus the initial bad weather in France, the first camp stop took a lot of money for washer and dryer. So after that we hand washed our smalls each morning, along with a Tshirt on alternate days and dried them outside, so we only needed machines for towels and sheets, and the odd pair of jeans. We spent £58.57 on laundry, this would have been less without the first megawash! I discovered you need less clothes for a long trip as it’s easier to hand wash. T shirts from Edinburgh woollen mills are very good for not needing to be ironed, drying without creases.
TOTAL
The whole trip, leaving home on 17th March, ferry 24th March, ferry back 18th June, home 22nd June, cost £2,570, average £197.75 per week. Bearing in mind we would have been spending the same on food anyway, that’s around £1370 for a three month trip. Can’t believe how cheap it was.
EXPERIENCE
PRICELESS!!!!!!!
