Our long awaited moment has finally arrived. After another year in the magical land of Andalusia, the summer heat drove us out. . . northward. . . just for a little bit. We are once again on a summer camping road trip to Poland (and back). (this was of course before the coronavirus/covid-19 pandemic).
But first a slight logistics hiccup–Leaving on a Sunday morning on June 30th was not such a good idea because there was a marching bad slowly gathering in the Plaza where we would load up the car, including putting the luggage cargo box on top of the car. This whole process would take about an hour after staging everything by the door. This time we had to do it in a Speedy Gonzalez manner before the whole plaza got jammed up. . . and we did, but the band was not happy and getting out felt like a Semana Santa (Holy Week) parade.
During this second family camping road trip we will be hugging the northern part of Europe, climbing los Picos de Europa, crisscrossing the Pyrenees, tasting the Bordeaux wine, admiring Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower (hopefully), checking out what’s unique about Luxembourg, getting our endorphins going by eating Belgian chocolate and enjoying the Dutch beer snack called “Hollandse Nieuwe”.
A little NOTE on blogging hiccup: we are having problems uploading photos to the blog while on the move (must be the lower internet speed or bandwidth using free camping WIFIs. So, we’ll have to add them later. We will be sending photos to Facebook/Instagram (if we can).
We will still use our previous plan (PLAN 333) for the same reasons: driving 3 weeks up, 3 weeks in with family and friends, and 3 weeks back; driving for no more than 4 hours each leg and taking no-toll roads.
This time we will keep it even more low-key and definitely keep closer to nature by avoiding big cities, as much as possible, except for Paris (which is a must for Karol) and a couple of others.
Also will are making the entire 6-week, round trip, family fun trip. . . all in camping tents! What?!?! Yeah! sounds fun, doesn’t it?!?! Well it’s the cheapest way for us to travel.
Also, this year we decided to stay flexible and not pre-book/reserve anything. We just packed the car, got into it and drove away. We have an idea of where we want to stay, generally after about 3 or 4 hours of driving. But we are leaving room for last-minute inspirations (or screw-ups. . . that may also hopefully turn into an adventure).
This first leg of the trip took 318 miles (512 kilometers) between 10 in the morning and 1730 with a two-hour break for lunch and the Monastery.
Kids are really excited and getting their muscles ready to help out with setting up the camping gear. They have just gotten an opportunity to revisit their camping skills at Las Cañadas camping site in charming little village called Baños Montemayor–about 500 km north of Jerez.
It worked!! A record-breaking time putting up the tent and jumping to the pool right after, and I mean 10 seconds after!! This is what they, Karol and Kaj, had been waiting for. Pure and simple joy!
This camping site as the number one on our list, with a couple of back ups, just in case (JIC). Since it is summer season, we knew that there was a risk of not getting a spot. Sure enough, once we arrived there were only 5 camping spots left. It is good to have a back up. We always plan on staying in places where there are at least two camping sites near each other, JIC.
NEXT: Stay tuned for much more! What’s next???!! Videos of cooking with Six at the camp and a unplanned trip to a monastery??
LAST: “Hey, Babe! What do you think about driving up to Poland this summer?” Here’s another one of those wild ideas that enters the 1.2-kilogram, gray matter inside my hard head, flutters its fairy wings, grab on to a chunk of dying amygdala-gobbledygaga while in there, and just won’t let go!
“Are you crazy?,” she says. . . THE RESULT? Here it begins: Our first family camping road trip in Europe.
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