Does anyone else think their motorhoming in France has finished.

chaser

chaser

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Up until this week, as I have said on the numerous threads, I have been confident we would be booking the tunnel any day now for what would have been our final big tour of Europe, should have been last year , but obviously didn't happen.
Now with age catching up, and legs not what they were, and to put the top hat on it ,these latest figures and regulations it looks as if we might have done our final tour.
Won't be the end of holidays abroad hopefully but probably by other means if we are ever allowed, and to be honest air travel as also lost a lot of appeal now.
To be honest lockdown hasn't troubled me a lot, as I didn't go out much anyway, but this last lot of circumstances has really put a damper on all my plans now.
Does anyone else think the same or is it just miserable old Chas. :(
 
I posted in another thread that I was sad because funsters weren’t allowed to travel into France etc and I know lots of people are desperate to get away . I was informed that it is only for the summer and that travel in the autumn will be allowed .

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chaser said:
Up until this week, as I have said on the numerous threads, I have been confident we would be booking the tunnel any day now for what would have been our final big tour of Europe, should have been last year , but obviously didn't happen.
Now with age catching up, and legs not what they were, and to put the top hat on it ,these latest figures and regulations it looks as if we might have done our final tour.
Won't be the end of holidays abroad hopefully but probably by other means if we are ever allowed, and to be honest air travel as also lost a lot of appeal now.
To be honest lockdown hasn't troubled me a lot, as I didn't go out much anyway, but this last lot of circumstances has really put a damper on all my plans now.
Does anyone else think the same or is it just miserable old Chas. :(
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We are in strange times, but just because you cant travel at the moment, dosent mean you cant go at the end of the year or next year!
As for your legs! Im sure youve got a good few years of travelling in you. Just pace yourself, before you know it, you will be parked up in your favourite parking place in Gravelines👍
 
It’s miserable old Chas.😀 You just need to adjust your targets abroad, and maybe add an electric bike to your essentials. One of the many reasons we have a MH is that in our opinion it’s the most comfortable way to travel, and as long as you are ok driving it should remain so. Even if you limit your movement to an hour a day you are still travelling.The mere thought of airports horrifies me. I used to travel to Western Europe a lot, and even then sometimes spent longer at airports than in the air, and it’s even worse now.
 
jessthedog said:
We are in strange times, but just because you cant travel at the moment, dosent mean you cant go at the end of the year or next year!
As for your legs! Im sure youve got a good few years of travelling in you. Just pace yourself, before you know it, you will be parked up in your favourite parking place in Gravelines👍
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Hope so mate, really hope so (y) :sun:
 
We gave up any thoughts of an early return to France ages ago.
But, I’m still hopeful of going back there in September.
Just have to wait and see what happens with the French vaccine rollout and how the different Covid versions take effect.
The way they are cocking up their vaccination program at the moment it looks as though it might be 2022 before we get back there.

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Come on chaser things will be looking better soon, the weather will be picking up and pray virus numbers and restrictions will allow travel.
It looks like numbers in mainland Europe will remain higher than UK so everyone will need to assess their level of risk.
Air travel doesn't hold much appeal as you say but hopefully you will be able to do your last big Euro trip either later this year or early next (y)
But whatever happens, stay optimistic and be thankful for what you have and the memories of previous travels.
 
chaser Only you know how your health is likely to affect your future plans, and you could well be right that you've had your last big European tour. Do you have a plan b? Are there things you always planned to do once your touring was over, or places you'd like to visit that don't involve long periods of driving? I'm you have a lot of life left to enjoy, just maybe in a different way, and maybe once you've accepted it you could start to feel excited again about making plans for the future. I wish you all the best. And you never know, you might be able to revert to plan A if the situation improves.
 
Twogirls said:
chaser Only you know how your health is likely to affect your future plans, and you could well be right that you've had your last big European tour. Do you have a plan b? Are there things you always planned to do once your touring was over, or places you'd like to visit that don't involve long periods of driving? I'm you have a lot of life left to enjoy, just maybe in a different way, and maybe once you've accepted it you could start to feel excited again about making plans for the future. I wish you all the best. And you never know, you might be able to revert to plan A if the situation improves.
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I wasn't trying to sound morbid about this or looking for sympathy or anything, just that it's beginning to look like a fact that we can't do anything about.

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I don’t think ours is finished or at least I hope not as we’re only in our early 50s, hopefully when we retire in a couple of years all will be back to normal or as close as it will ever get.
 
Is it just me or does anyone else think that if the only restriction left is no foreign travel then why worry? We are the first generation in the UK who have been able regard foreign travel as a right rather than a privilege - my parents didn't feel deprived or restricted because foreign travel was special, expensive, and regarded as indulgence. If all our generation has to worry about is foreign holiday restrictions we've got it easy and should be grateful we're otherwise unaffected.
 
Keep your chin up Chaser, it's on france 24 news at the moment that france is mobilising a vaccine rollout
they are drafting in the army and firemen to vaccinate.
Macron is saying he wants vaccines "morning noon and evening"
I don't know what that means for travel this year, but it seems to be much better than their vaccination rate recently
At least it seems to be "better" news than recently, if there is such a thing nowadays.
 
I don't think it's 'off' the list for the future but certainly for now, hence why we're going to do a nice holiday up in Scotland instead for early summer and take it from there. If we can get abroad for a winter holiday again, all things considered, then we will.

As we're not now in the EU the requirements to go there and return related to covid, plus the new rules for non-EU member countries' citizens, are likely to be a pain for a while we don't think its worth the extra hassle or concern to go there at present. We also appreciate, for us at least, that holidaying in the UK will require a lot less preparation work than if we were going abroad (dogs etc) also less expense (although that's not a major consideration).

We are already planning for Scotland (hopefully allowed over the border!) and not having to worry about the extra stuff for a foreign holiday has lifted quite a weight off my shoulders especially so for the first time in over a year I feel almost 'excited' about being able to have a lovely holiday, even if the weather isn't brilliant I don't care!

Put simply we want a relaxing break and that's what staying in the UK for the time being will hopefully give us.

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Spriddler said:
At 76 it has crossed my mind but I'm not quite old enough for a SAGA coach trip for the 'Young at Heart' to the Lego 'Sol et Mar' hotel at the Costa del Concrete (even though the coaches have loos on board).
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I would not mind having a go on a coach holiday. It would have to be a coach like the football teams use, with less seats and more room on it. Dropped outside of the hotel, no stress. Never done it so I cannot knock it.
 
We cant compare last years infection rates to this.
But at this stage last year there was more chance of winning the pools than going away on holiday
In the middle of May Macron was saying no border opening til October.
June 15th they opened and they are well in advance of last year's death figures.
In terms of death figures (which can be compared) they are currently about May 5th equivalent to last year. So maybe 6 weeks behind last year.
There is an awful amount of time to look back and consider the reports of today.

They may end up being true that we cant travel. I havent changed my booking.
Keep an eye on the infections I post every day.
That will give more idea as to whether travel will be possible or not.
At the moment it is nowhere near being possible. End of May, I foresee a different scenario.

Keep your chin up fella and keep safe
 
I definitely don’t think it’s the end, we just have to be patient.
 
HI chaser , I'm like you in two minds , frustrated just coming up to 75 b,day , me & wife with medical issues , just gonna lose our June euro tunnel crossing as been moved and extened a couple of times , now they won't extend anymore £250 worth of tesco tokens down the drain , still hopefull of possibly going 2022 for 1 or 2 trips ( I say hopefull ) ,then passport runs out early 2023 not sure we will bother renewing.
Thankfull for all the times we have been over to France and really enjoyed there aires & hospitality generally. Glad I was born just after the war & gratefull to have been able to do the things I have , with health limitations .
 
This year is looking like a non starter for foreign travel this, but things will get back to normal sooner or later.

I firmly believe that this is the fault of our European neighbours being in the huff with the UK & sadly their own citizens are currently paying with their lives.

Don't fret chaser things will get better & I'm pretty sure you'll get the chance to head over the channel again, in the meantime you'll be able to get out & about in the UK.
If I was you, I'd make it my business to explore areas which you've never been to, look upon it as an adventure.
The nooks & crannies you can find might become favourite spots for a few nights away & you've got the perfect vehicle for doing so.

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Due to the well publicised uptake of motorhome and caravan purchasing , for staycation use , for the forseeable future campsites are probably going to be absolutely and continually rammed and booked to capacity . I think well in to next year at least . Our main preference never has been and never would be , sitting in one of these campsites . Pre lockdowns , our campsite usage was at most 10/12 nights a year on one particular site , purely as a convenience when visiting family. If that was the only option for using the van , it would be sold , pronto . Probably not bought in the first place .

European travel in the van is off the menu , with the travel ban law kicking in soon . But only for a relatively short time hopefully ...... Even with UK being overcrowded there are still countless options for travel here without resorting to using crowded campsites at all .

So for example , our cunning master plan is to upgrade our MH to take in to account that we rarely use campsites and now going towards offgrid touring . Will soon be saying hello to the world of lithium batteries and another solar panel .

When Euro travel opens up again in the hopefully not too distant future , we will be in that tunnel pronto.
 
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FIDGET said:
HI chaser , I'm like you in two minds , frustrated just coming up to 75 b,day , me & wife with medical issues , just gonna lose our June euro tunnel crossing as been moved and extened a couple of times , now they won't extend anymore £250 worth of tesco tokens down the drain , still hopefull of possibly going 2022 for 1 or 2 trips ( I say hopefull ) ,then passport runs out early 2023 not sure we will bother renewing.
Thankfull for all the times we have been over to France and really enjoyed there aires & hospitality generally. Glad I was born just after the war & gratefull to have been able to do the things I have , with health limitations .
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Yes my passport run out last year , I was going to use it to the hilt and probably not renewing, anyway circumstances decreed that I would have to have a new one just to go this year :doh: , will it ever get used?:unsure:
 
tomm said:
So for example , our cunning master plan is to upgrade our MH to take in to account that we rarely use campsites and now going towards offgrid touring . Will soon be saying hello to the world of lithium batteries and another solar panel .
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Lithium is a big expense which you might not actually need ... might be worth starting a thread about your power needs to gather info from others as to what they've done and found they needed.
 
Spriddler said:
At 76 it has crossed my mind but I'm not quite old enough for a SAGA coach trip for the 'Young at Heart' to the Lego 'Sol et Mar' hotel at the Costa del Concrete (even though the coaches have loos on board).
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We used to go on Wallace Arnold coach trips years ago, and very good they were too, been to the south of France and Italy on them, and loved it, great going but the coming back seemed to take for ever.
In fact we have also been to the sol e mar in albufeira that is the next best to the motorhome. (y) :sun:
 
Minxy Girl said:
Lithium is a big expense which you might not actually need ... might be worth starting a thread about your power needs to gather info from others as to what they've done and found they needed.
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Appreciate your thinking and reply Minxy , thank you for that . We"ve explored our travel usage , van usage , where we go, for how long , also our power needs and usage. Well in front with our decisions , so lithium it is , as it suits and meets our needs and future plans.

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