Anyone had their van delivered to Eastern Europe?

[captain Byrne]

Hi All,
We're thinking of a holiday in Eastern Europe this year - Romania, Bulgaria etc. It's a flippin long drive there so we're thinking of having the van 'delivered' somewhere, then flying over, picking up the van and having a slow drive back through Romania, Hungary Czech Republic etc. I remember reading a post a couple of years ago where someone had their van put in the back of a articulated lorry and when it reached the destination they picked it up. I know it sounds very risky but if anyone's had any experience in doing this I'd like to find out how you'd go about it.
Cheers.

[AdrianC]

When a mate of mine moved to Croatia, he hired a container, filled it with all his gumf, and got it shipped by an Artic on it's way back home. A tin-top or pop-top should fit in a standard 20' with room to spare. Containerising it makes it a LOT easier for people to get their heads around, and increases the security no end.

Other than that, just point it on the m'way and drive. I know that the mate mentioned above does the run with a single overnight stop only. Dull, but fast. Zagreb's less than 800 miles from the channel.

I'll warn you now, though - car insurance might be your biggest issue. I'm starting to look into it, a bit late, since we're close to Bari & the ferry, but better now than later... Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech, Slovakia are all EU, so no problems. Serbia _should_ be part of the standard insurance countries already, so no green card needed, but you might need to prod your insurer to recognise the fact. Croatia is an easy, usually free, green card. Any others, and I think it's down to buying insurance at the frontiers. I'll post a round-up of what's (officially) what as soon as I've got to the bottom of it, hopefully by the end of the weekend.

[jed the spread]

I think the long drive is down to how you plan your holiday, if you can do a three-four week one you will be surprised how little driving you do to cover loads of ground. We treat every stop off on a tour as an important stop off and not to class any one of them as a final destination before our return to the UK and have found that the time you travel and arrive at the next place to be key to not noticing the driving. It also helps if you have a vehicle that doesnt require filling up on a none conventional fuel such as LPG that gives 180ish miles between fill ups rather than 450 + miles between fill ups that I get at the moment with our set up, or if you do have LPG not to get to precious about it and use petrol anyway and get upset when you cant find gas. I could drive from Dover to Pisa in Italy and as well as getting there only stopping for fuel once I would probably have enough to drive around the place for a week or so too Thats not really the main point, I just like saying it

If you get up from your first overnight stop off before nine, drive for an hour, stop for breakfast after driving an hour when you see a nice place to pull in, drive for two hours, call in at a shop/supermarket then head off for an hour to where your going to stop next then have lunch. This way you have a nice afternoon and evening doing what you want (exploring/swimming in rivers or lakes/picnicking/bike ride etc) then head off the next day if you have had enough or stay if you want to do more. Once you get into the rhythm and take in all the views and stuff you dont really notice the driving at all.

We have traveled in Europe with mates in vans as a group a good few times and although they were all a cracking bunch of people and we had a great time but, by the time we all got up, washed, ran low on fuel at different times using different fuel types (4 vans all requiring LPG and as most services only have the one pump it can take quite some time), needed shopping at different times, always a toilet stop at different times needed to change money at different times, needed to do laundry at different times etc I felt I was driving a hell of allot of the time.

If you travel on your own and stick roughly around the way we potter around I would give the driving a go, it will work out miles cheaper so you can stay away longer, especially if you use the Aires and stuff and you dont notice the miles at all really. There are a set of 6 videos on http://www.campervanculture.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; if you want to take a look at our last Europe trip.

Hope this helps

jed

[AdrianC]

We have traveled in Europe with mates in vans as a group a good few times and although they were all a cracking bunch of people and we had a great time but, by the time we all got up, washed, ran low on fuel at different times using different fuel types (4 vans all requiring LPG and as most services only have the one pump it can take quite some time), needed shopping at different times, always a toilet stop at different times needed to change money at different times, needed to do laundry at different times etc I felt I was driving a hell of allot of the time.

Gawd, yes. I _hate_ convoying with a group of mates, for precisely that reason. Sure, it's a damn good laugh at the overnights, but the sheer ballache of just getting moving in a morning. Or after every fuel stop. Or major junction. Or...

If you travel on your own and stick roughly around the way we potter around I would give the driving a go, it will work out miles cheaper so you can stay away longer, especially if you use the Aires and stuff and you dont notice the miles at all really.

I'm really not convinced about the cost savings from Aires. Last night's campsite (Agriturismo) was €20. Tonights (ACSI) is €12. That's not ridiculously high compared to cost of food & drink, and ESPECIALLY the cost of fuel.

[jed the spread]

In season in France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia etc the savings can be quite substantial if you hit the Aires or equivalent. Saying that Czech Republic when we nipped in wasn't to bad at all as far as campsites went at all especially like you say when fuel and beer and food is really cheap.

jewd

[AdrianC]

In season in France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia etc the savings can be quite substantial if you hit the Aires or equivalent.

Yes, I'll admit I'd forgotten about the high-season prices... But even in August (despite spending a good chunk either in a hotel at ADAC's expense or staying with that nice man in Sarran), we paid probably an average of ~€20 for sites in France.

[jed the spread]

In season in France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia etc the savings can be quite substantial if you hit the Aires or equivalent.

Yes, I'll admit I'd forgotten about the high-season prices... But even in August (despite spending a good chunk either in a hotel at ADAC's expense or staying with that nice man in Sarran), we paid probably an average of ~€20 for sites in France.

Thats not bad for campsite i guess but I am really weighing up the most the OP could get for his/her money regarding shipping and how to manage the time the best. Value for money is to be had via a free Aire of course or even better wild camping in remote surroundings but that isnt everyone's cup of Darjeeling. Take this trip for example, It was just over three weeks down to Spain and including everything (fuel, food accommodation, sun cream, blah blah blah) it cost £1000,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buI7Xd3OzOE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The three weeks + holiday has got to be worth the shipping cost surly?

jed