We took two month parental leave. We used it to travel 6 weeks of this time with a rented VW T6 California Ocean in May/June 2019.
In total we drove 3458 km, through 4 countries.
As you might know, we rented such a Bulli in autumn last year. Back then we drove to Lago del Garda in Italy. Curious? Read more here.
Improvements
During our first trip, we learned a bit. This time we wanted to improve these things.
The org thingy – the trunk
Well, good idea, but how big is the trunk? I had to drive to a VW dealer and to measure it by myself, because I couldn’t find the data. My measurements
34 cm height x 100 cm wide x 78 cm deep
In theory that was enough space for two big euro boxes, a smaller one, and the Quinny for k1.
The last time we had to take the big pram, which occupied a lot of space in the trunk. This time we got a used back frame for carrying k1, which we already had tested during a few walks at home.
Organizer
We bought two organisers for the front seats, to put away all the little things.
Pop up tent
For the stuff like hold car seat, high chair, and all the stuff that we didn’t need inside the van, we bought a pop up tent at Decathlon.
Food containers
The place beneath the kitchen was mostly for food of k1 and cereals for us. We packed everything in IKEA food containers. (We discovered later in Italy how good this idea was, as ants temporarily occupied our van, but found themselves in bad luck.
Where to stay?
We have an app with not only a campground list & map, but with a locator of just official parking possibilities, like the one in Braunfels. We think of it as very useful, because we never know how long k1 is really willing to drive on. Normally we like to stop somewhere in the next 20-30 minutes.
“Where do you want to go to?”
A regular question as we talked about our van travel idea. Our answer: “We don’t know. It depends on the weather.“ A day before we got the Bulli, it snowed in some parts of Germany. In whole Europe the weather was cold and rainy. It was the second week in May!
We decided – because of the bad weather all over Europe – to head north. The reason was, that we wanted to visit family and friends and if the weather should be too bad, we would/could sleep inside.
Our trip
First hop in the direction of the Ruhrgebiet …
Camping Castle Braunfels, Germany
After about 300 km k1 had enough of sitting in his seat. So we looked for the nearest option to stay the night. We found:
Castle Braunfels
Under this quite beautiful castle are four places officially for campers. There is a toilet, fresh water and if you need electricity. The place costs 5 € for the night, or 7,50 € with a 24h excess to the to facilities including electricity.
It rained the whole evening and k1 was to excited to find sleep quickly. The rest of the night was quite and we had sun and blue skies in the morning.
The morning routines took a bit longer as usual. “Where is x?” or “How shall we do y?”, but this got better in the following days.
We paid the 5€ at the Gasthaus am Turm and drove north.
Second hop to
Duisburg
Well, we spend the whole time with my (Tom’s) side of the family. If you would like to know why the Ruhrgebiet is worth visiting even if you haven’t family there, go here.
Third hop to
Arnhem, The Netherlands
We first met our friends in Arnhem during our trip around the world 2015 on the train from Russia to Mongolia. We wanted to meet again and did that in Beijing. Today they have two kids of their own and it is always fun to meet them.
Landerij de Park
We spend our time with them and the kids in a sort open playground café with animals. Really nice and relaxed.
Fourth hop to
Xanten, Germany
WomoPark-Xanten
23,60/night
Close to the city, so we heard a bit of the nearby street. The sanitary installations were small but clean and very new.
We headed back to Germany to pay a short visit to an Uncle of ours. Since he lives near Xanten we took the opportunity to visit the Archeological Park there.
Our campsite was in walking distance to the city and to the Archeological Park.
The Archeological Park
displays one of the important Roman cities along the boarder of the Roman Empire. The amphitheater is smaller than the one in Verona, but the thermal bath – or better what is left of it – is still impressive. The temple remains are like the ones in the Via Appia in Rome. Unfortunately you have to bring a lot of your imagination, because the rest is an open field.
Fifth hop to
Kinderdijk, The Netherlands
Camping De Landhoeve
20,60 €/ night
Small & lovely campground in the middle of to small canals. We found ourselves surrounded by cows – a lot of cows – and frogs – even more frogs than cows. It was lovely to see duck families walk through the high grass only seeing their heads.
Tip
The village Streefkerk is nearby and has the nearest supermarket. Combine a lovely walk on the dike top on the way to Streefkerk with doing your groceries ond on the way back with a visit at Koffie Molen. A café in an old mill, with a lovely view. Very romantic!
Kinderdijk
is really a nice place – at least if you avoid the tourist hordes. 19 water mills from the 18th century are standing along a canal. It’s a beautiful sight and shows how long the Dutch are experts in water management.
Tip
You have the best overview from the Lekdijk. You don’t have to buy an entrance ticket, you can walk by yourself through that area. For families like us there is a short boat trip “cruise” available.
Sixth hop to
Renesse, The Netherlands
Camping Julianahoeve
32,50 €/night
The campground is more like a holiday club, with pool, indoor and outdoor playgrounds, kids animation, free wifi. Very organised and because it was cold and rainy a good choice for us.
Unsuspecting, we covered the dinner table outside for the first time since we arrived in Renesse, when the criminal repeat offender – code name “Seagul” – pushed down and grabbed about 500 gr. of packaged bread. An attempt to apprehend the perpetrator and her prey failed miserably. ????
Renesse – the village
itself changed a lot since I have been here 25 yrs ago. Stil the church is the center of the City. I love the sign in front of it “Santiago 2500 km”. Which reminded us of our stay there in 2015.
Today the city center is full of bars, cafes and shops. Not really traditional, but every tourist need will be satisfied.
Renesse Beach
Nice light sand at this beach, with two bigger beach bars. South South West was the bar next to us. You can enjoy a lot of Dutch fast food, but as well regular dishes.
Tip
Try “vlees kroket” with bread and mustered. You have to smash the kroket over the bread. Yummy!
We stayed longer, because the weather changed from in the beginning 12 degrees max with rain showers to 17 degrees with sun. Though the forecast predicted nothing good. Hence we made up our minds and decided that we wanted to head in the direction of Italy.
K1 catched a fever and we stayed three days longer. We phoned with a Dutch medical center that assured us, that this was just a “normal” fever. Finally he got better and we were on the road again.
Hop to
Brühl, Germany (longer stop in between in the afternoon)
Camping Heider Bergsee
Well, the comparison with Julianahoeve is for sure unfair, but the best thing that we can say here is, that it has a beach house with food and drinks directly at the lake and a small playground for kids.
In the evening hours, k1 asleep, we tried to get some more ks on our clock. We wanted to reach the Ammersee, but shortly before Memmingen we had to stop, because k1 couldn’t find sleep anymore.
Next morning k1’s fever was back again and we decided to see a doctor. Gladly k1 had nothing severe, but we decided to give him and us some more days of rest. Because it was rainy and cold we decided to look for a hotel room.
Hop to
Rot an der Rot
Gasthof zur Linde
We stayed here for two nights.
Rot an der Rot Abbey
founded 1126 was a monastery untilt 1803. From 1497 it was Imperial Abbey.
The imposing structure of the former monastery is situated on a hill between the valleys of two rivers. The monastery church and the convent buildings are an important part of the Upper Swabian Baroque Route. Apart from the actual monastic buildings, a number of other structures have been preserved among which are the gates and the economy building. (Source Wikipedia 05.2019)
Biberach
We paid a short visit to the nearby Biberach, because of k1 – or to be fair – to comfort his dad. The doc assured us, that everything was fine.
Tip
Should you be in town visit Chocolaterie/Crèperie Maya. Tasty crepes and lovely chocolate, tea and coffee.
Still we wanted to go to Ledro near the big Lago di Garda. From here (Rot an der Rot) it would be 5 hours, with k1 during the day nearly impossible. During the night – a gamble.
We decided to take it slow. The only thing that we wanted to avoid for sure, was a overnight somewhere along the Brenner Autobahn. The nights were still to cold in the mountains.
We stopped shortly before Innsbruck.
Tip: Should you have time take the B179 via the Fernpass between Füssen and Innsbruck.
- For one their is no boarder control as on the A12. (Which by the way shows clearly the political nonsense of this directive! #noboarders )
- The views are fantastic and you get a very good look at the Zugspitze – Germany’s highest mountain.
Next hop to
Pettnau, Austria
Camping Tiefenthal
19 €/night
A small campground with trees and lawn. Playground next door.
As we went for a walk, we met an 84 year old woman that waited for her son to lead the young cows to the barn. She told us about her worries, what her 60 year old son would do, once she wouldn’t be here to help him anymore with the farm.
Tip (as well for me)
As I sat in the back with k1 asleep, I thought of buying a neck cushion for the 2nd driver.
Next hop to
Pieve di Ledro, Italy
Camping Azzurro
12€ per night for a spot with lake view.
Nice campground with some trees, lawn and friendly reception team, directly at the lake. Most of the time there was a mild breeze from the lake, so even on really warm days it was nice.
The SS240 to Ledro is really small and was filled with motorbikes, bikers and of course local Italians. This ended almost in a lost door mirror at a traffic sign that showed for both sides green at an extra tricky passage.
The small village nearby was as well worth a short visit. There even was a short walkway with many black and white pictures of the villagers past.
Walk round the lake.
We started clockwise. The walk was easy and had enough spots with shadow. We carried k1 in a “Kraxe”. It took us about an hour to get to Molina. There we ate at the restaurant Del Lago. The pizza with buffalo mozzarella, chanterelles and bratwurst was delicious. The way via Pur took us just a bit longer. Although we had to walk the road for a while, it was okay because there was not much traffic. All along the way we had great views on the lake and the surrounding mountains. The lake was cristal clear with a greenish-blue colour. Memories of Lake Tahoe came up – but to be fair Lake Tahoe was and is a class of its own.
Next hop
SS45bis – street on the western shore of the Lake Garda
⚠️ Some Tunnels – of which there are many – are relatively small. With our VW T6 we had no problem, but you can see the stripes on both sides of the tunnel where unlucky campers ruined their vans!
Tip: Drive behind a local 7,5t truck. They know the street exactly
Lago di Garda
San Felice del Benaco, Italy
Camping Fornella
Are very good, quiet, family campground with lake views, trees, playgrounds and swimming pools and direct access to the lake. Dogs were allowed, most of them were used to the situation.
This time there were children to play with – k1 had a good time. The lake had about 18 degrees, so wonderful refreshing. At dusk there were a few mosquitoes, but really only a few.
San felice del Benaco
We walked to the village about 30 minutes. The village itself has not much to offer, but the church does.
Tip
Chiesa dei Santi Felice, Adauto e Flavia
From the outside you wouldn’t probably expect the baroque beauty inside. It’s really worth the walk.
Porto San Felice
On our way back we paused at the Café del Porto. Nice views directly at the waterfront. If you don’t wanna buy drinks or panini, there are some benches for free.
All in all we had a very relaxed time – maybe just a little to much Germans on vacation for my taste 😉
Next hop
Völs am Schlern, Austria
Camping Seiser Alm
32,10 €/night, outside in a parking lot
This campground has many terraces on different levels, most of them with beautiful views. Furthermore playground, some goats, a pool and a restaurant.
Of course it was already fully booked when we arrived, but they had two additional parking spaces, where we stood with 20 others for one night. Still the price was unbelievable!
The restaurant was quiet good and we could order takeout.
From there we could have driven over the Grödner Joch, but this time we opted for the quicker route over the Brenner. Otherwise we would have driven 4 instead of two hours.
Boarder Control
20 minutes before we reached the Walchensee, we got into a mobile boarder control on the German side. They still are looking for “illegal immigration”, but they told us you that it was for crime prevention. K1 was not amused – so was his father.
Camping Walchensee, Germany
had a sign outside, that it was occupied – at least for vans. So we drove too
Camping Renken, Kochelsee
We were here in autumn 2014. Friends of ours had invited us and we took the opportunity to test our new tent. It rained hard these three days.
The new management of the campground was very friendly and helpful. The campground itself stays a cheap but no thrills spot, with lawn and trees. Some improvements have been made and more will follow, plus they have good coffee from a local roastery in their café.
Last hop to
Munich
Our last stop on our trip. We met some friends and had a BBQ. The next day we headed home.
The bottom line
The six weeks in the van were great. After our first week we had some routine in handling all the stuff like converting the Bulli from driving into sleeping mode. We both knew were everything had its place.
We know now that about 3-4 days at one place is the best frame for everyone in the family.
For our next trip, we will prepare ourselves better in the way, that we know which destinations are worth travelling to. What kind of things can be done there? Hiking, biking, swimming? Or are there cultural highlights that we shouldn’t miss?
Most of all, we’re sure now, that we want a van of our own. We have some ideas about what we need and what not. (We will write about the process of buying the “right” van for us probably in autumn.)
Thank you for reading.
Safe travels!
#roadsurfer #vwcalifornia #vwcampervan #homeiswhereyouparkit #vwt6california #campervanlife #vwcaliforniaocean #ontheroad #travelwithkids #homeonwheels #vanlifediaries #bulli #climateneutral #parentalleave
