I still remember the first time I drove abroad was during a four day, three nighs (long weekend) vacation in Sicily, Italy. It was an extremely unplanned (some might say spontaneous) trip with two work colleagues, booked out of the blues with a strict budget as an adventure the aim of which was just that of driving a fine car around Sicily and ENJOYING IT TO THE MAX …

The tight budget consisted of €250 for the three nights including going from Malta to Sicily €180 (€60 pp) car rental €340, fuel €110 and food / entertainment (the rest €120) … it did in fact work out, but for one small problem (guess), exactly LODGING. But then again what was the problem, it was just 3 nights, 3 friends, earl twenties for two and slightly less for the third, what was the issue?

Since then I went on many other road trips driving in, (apart from Malta):

England, Scotland, Wales, California, Italy, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, Poland and South Africa.

X – I enjoyed driving most, Scotland whilst admiring the view through the scenic land.

X – I was scared most whilst driving in – South Africa, being alone, after a sleepless night and not knowing the place it was hard to drive and read the map at the same time (yeah no gps not too smart!!)

X – I saw most reckless driving, Malta (obviously I contributed to some of that when I was a teenager myself), what do you expect :), although I must say, I’ve seen some bad stuff in Sicily too.

X – The most polite drivers, Austria, people are just considerate, appreciate giving them way and thank you even whilst driving at 100 miles per hour.

X – The most annoying police – Slovakia, giving you wrong directions because you are driving a hungarian car.

Driving abroad is in my opinion the best way to enjoy the most out of any place, but remember, drive safe, drive careful and also, if you are tired, rest!!! Read here

day 0:
London Victoria to Canterbery by bus (National express bus service is THE CRAPPIEST EVER BTW – drivers are EXTREMELY RUDE and UNCOOPERATIVE)
Drove the camper to Heathrow (2hrs) to pick up my family then hit the road for another 6hrs up north.
Stopped in a petrol station (somehwere on M6) for the night.

day 1:
Passed through Gretna.
On to Caerlaverock Castle.
Visited Sweetheart Abbey in New Abbey.
Went to Dumfries.
Next stop was at Drumburn Viewpoint.
Drove to Rockview.
Ended up in Girvin – parked for the night.

day 2:
Left for Glasgow.
Stopped at Cuzlean Castle
Went to Loch Lomond. A nice walk along the beach in Luss.
Drove to Kilchurn Castle. Stopped there for dinner … BBQ.
Drove to Connel – parked for the night.

day 3:
Drove to Oban – Port.
Drove to Port Appin – Castle Stalker.
Kept on going to Fort William.
On the way to Inverness – passed through Invergarry.
Left for Skye and stopped to see Eilean Donan Castle (beautiful).
Crossed the bridge to Skye Isle.
Camped at Sligachan Campsite – a very rainy & stormy evening/night.

day 4:
Passed through Man of Storr – saw the mountain of the pointed rocks.
Drove to River of Lealt (waterfalls).
Passed through Staffin.
Drove through Uig Pier.
Kept on to Dunvegan. Saw Dunvegan Castle from afar.
Next stop – Neist Point – lighthouse.
Drove to Talisker Distillery (unfortunately was closed).
Drove to Glenbrittle Campsite and settled for the night. (A rainy night).

day 5:
Left Skye and headed for Inverness.
Stopped at Eilean Donan Castle again since the first time it was raining.
Reached Lochness.
Visited Urquhart ruined castle.
Drove south to Edinburgh – a night walk around the city.
Parked in a quiet road for the night.

day 6:
Left my family in Edinburgh and drove off to a nice quiet beach for some peace and quiet time :).
Started our way down to the Lake District.
Stopped at Gretna Green for a 2-hour break.
Reached Lake District.
Kept on going to the Quiet Site Campsite in Lake Ullswater.

day 7:
Left the campsite and stopped on the way and walked along the river.
Went to Aria Falls.
Stopped to see Castlerigg Stone Circle (kinda Stonehenge).
Went to Keswick Lodge – went for a 2-hour walk and lunch along the beautiful garden and lake.
Drove to Borrowdale and stopped at Ashness Bridge.
Passed through Ambleside – saw the Mill House.
Arrived in Windermere. Campsite was full, so we drove to Bowness.

day 8:
Drove to London(6 hours drive) and left my family at my flat.
Drove anther two hours to Canterbury to return camper.
Spent the last night in the camper.

day 9:
Went back home:
National express again, CRAP SERVICE!! Bus driver (total idiot) left early so I had to pay again for another ticket ….. (that will consist of yet another blog titled (Nation Express – National Crap) only to find a mess of shopping bags and clothes. My family had gone to a shopping spree in London!!

End of my family’s holiday … I finally could start my holiday :) :)

Map:

map

The full itinerary of the trip is not available yet but I promise I’ll post that soon. The trip was something I had been promising my mother for a while since she longed for an overland trip, yet since I left Malta in January, she thought it wouldn’t happen and yet … here we are, me writing about it, and you reading!

It did take a bit of planning before, that is agreeing on dates which suited people (we were seven in all), as well as suiting the best weather as we didn’t want it to be too cold nor have the famous Scottish midges bugging our asses throughout the vacation thus mid to end of September seemed the best compromise for all concerned (including the midges).

The first idea was to rent a van, drive over to north scotland, rent a cottage and spend 9 days of peace and quiet in nature … how naive :).
It eventually evolved over the first few weeks of preparations, into renting a camper for seven people and drive it all over the UK whilst spending most of the time up north Scotland. It was cool, different from anything we had ever done and kinda `more adventurous` than the standard vacation! Agreed?

Having seven people, spanning ages 2.5 to 84 years in a single camper proved to be an interesting challenge yet nowhere near as bad as it sounds! we had plenty of room to sleep, facilities were slightly less comfy, but hey … what you expect??? this isn’t the Hilton is it? :).

The gallery can be found here

Welcome to this blog where I’ll be documenting my experiences with anything related to travels from airlines and restaurant to hostels, guided tours, travel agencies etc.

It’s a place where you might learn from other people’s experiences and possibly take up suggested places. And if you do visit or have already visited a particular country which there is a blog about feel free to comment about and share your experiences with us so we can all learn from each other.

In the posts you’ll also be able to find images of the places visited so you have a better idea of what the post is talking about. Having said that, a good way have an idea where you are going beforehand is to use google maps or check out the panaromio images, the place you want to visit is tagged with, on google earth.

If possible, and if you are a person local to the place the post is talking about, I’d urge you to comment constructively about the place so you might help people, who are looking at potentially visiting your whereabouts, with suggestions about transport, security, lodging etc.

Hope you’ll like the blog and possibly it’ll help you with planning your travels.

Cheers,
Darren