# Is using an American RV in Europe easy



## 97615

Okay, Newbie alert........

I am selling up, and want to travel with my wife, and 2 kids for about 8 to 12 mths around Europe
I love the American style RV's, purely for the size difference. But I keep reading "don't take an RV to Europe, it's too big, electric probs, etc"
Is this true, will I have probs with hook ups, etc


I am thinking about max 30ft, budget of max £25,000, not too flashy a unit. Anyone recommend a particular make or model that they enjoyed using.

I would very grateful for your exp, advice and guidence

Many thanks


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## johnsandywhite

:lol: Hi *COG* Welcome to the MHF Forum. We have been travelling throughout Europe in a 32ft RV for over 5 years. Only ever had one problem with any tight spots. Just a double shuffle on a French 'B' road and we were on our way again. We have been to many small villages on Spain and had no problem. It's just a matter of common sense. You will soon get the hang of it. However if your intention is to mainly go on Camp sites? Then that amy need a little more planning. We're Wild Camper's in the main. So that problem doesn't exist for us. :wink:


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## Scotjimland

COG said:


> "don't take an RV to Europe, it's too big, electric probs, etc"
> Is this true, will I have probs with hook ups, etc


We have a 36ft RV , not as much experience as JSW .. but no probs with sites or hook ups.. you will meet plenty of rigs just as big or bigger with trailers or cars in tow... good planning and a little research before travelling ..

Good luck, we are going full time in the summer .


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## olley

Hi cog welcome to the forum, I will second the others statements, ours is 30' and we didn't have any probs on sites.


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## 97615

thanks for the reply's so far guys. Nice friendly site.

Wild Campering that's a naked hunting thing isn't it..........lol, just kidding dude, 
How do you find that, is it safe, i would like to do that a bit, to add even more flexability to the journey, and ease the pressure on the wallet. I would like to learn more about when and where is ok and not ok.

ScotJimland

I am trying to get as much info as poss, this is my first site i have joined though
Can't wait for the adventure, soon as my business sells, we off, are there any things you are nervous about.


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## johnsandywhite

:lol: Hi *COG*. In all the time we have been Wild Camping. We have only ever once had anything stolen or broken into. We left the RV un-attended in what we thought was a secure Lorry Park while visiting Spanish friends in Vallirana. We did stay away rather a long time. When we arrived back at the RV and went to bed. We awoke in the night to find our Mountain Bikes had been stolen. They must have broken off all the locks previously and then came back and lifted them off while we were asleep. We got one back but it was too damaged to use. Other than that? Nada (nothing). Just take care and be aware. :wink:


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## 97615

Maybe an electrofied bike rack...........only kidding, just had a friend that was sick of peole nicking his prize rose bush's from his garden at night, so put some sort of electric wiring around the garden to shock the offenders, mind you, the postie was none too happy the next morning..............LMOA


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## Scotjimland

COG said:


> are there any things you are nervous about.


Everything I guess :lol: 
It's a huge step but one we have planned for several years.. Now it's on top of us it's quite scary.. 
It would be easy to retire, carpet slippers, TV remote... then die of boredom.. :roll: 
Good luck and welcome to MHFs .. :wink:


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## johnsandywhite

ScotJimland said:


> It would be easy to retire, carpet slippers, TV remote... then die of boredom.. :roll:


 8O Nay, nay, nay Jim Lad. We have been retired 10 years this October and the only boring day's are when we are waiting to go. All packed up. Goodbyes said. Tears dropped. Promises made. But we just can't wait for the until we are off. :wink:


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## Scotjimland

Yes indeed JSW :lol: :lol: 

I'm retiring early from the rat race to enjoy life, not to sit back with the remote .. to travel, to do stuff most people only dream or talk of doing..

I echo the "Nike" slogan ... JUST DO IT :wink: 

It's later than you think my friends !


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## DABurleigh

Jim,

There is much planning just to get to Day 1. But how firm are your plans for where by when? Have you got a firm itinerary for which parts of which country month by month, or is it a grander version of our main sojourn of the year to France; we hit the other side and may go here, or perhaps there, or even over there, probably decided by what the Sky News weather sub-channel says?

Dave


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## billym

We have been in Rv since 2000 with our two children & have spent our time in France, Spain & the UK firstly with a 27'er now with a 36'. 

You just had to do a little more planning with this size of vehicle - some sites wont have a pitch big enough but most will try to find you somewhere to park.

In Spain the major problem is the height rather than the length, we have had no trouble in France. 

We don't 'free camp'.

Both vans have been converted from the American electrics so have had no problems with that. I do know that some dealers are selling Rv's complete with USA electric items & not bothering converting the vans but we didnt fancy that idea. 

Be careful with some dealers, we only have d/licences to drive up to 7.5 & were looking for van with slide outs, one dealer said ' don't worry, we've never heard of any one being stopped & weighed'
Not a good idea!
:roll: 

Needless to say we took our money elsewhere.
John & Julie


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## Scotjimland

Hi Dave 

It's a bit of both I suppose, the idea of a fixed itinerary doesn't appeal, it will be as you suggest.. a grander sojurn of our normal summer break to Europe. 
Go south as the season gets colder and north when it's warmer. 
This year we may to go to Morocco for a month or so, we leave these shores in October and work our way south down the west coast of France then through Spain. 
That's the extent of our planning, I work on the premise that the more plans you make the more things that can go wrong, ...wandering with purpose is a better way to describe it.. 
Next spring we will head back to the UK to spend the summer months wandering around the shows and as many MHFs rallies as we can fit in.. 
All our working lives we have ran to schedules, we want to leave that behind and do things as the notion takes us... 
Who knows, one day we may even go back to Scotland .. :lol:


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## DABurleigh

"wandering with purpose"

Nice term, I'll use that.

"one day we may even go back to Scotland .. "

You're winding me up now, I can tell 

Sounds lovely.

Dave


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## 96489

Hi All,

We have finally reached the point where we are now living in our RV full time. We sold our house and moved in on the 16th January. We have been living on a friends garden and sorting out the problems that have occurred and now feel ready to get on with it.
It has been quite fortunate that we did decide to stay local for the first couple of weeks as we have had to sort out a few things:
The charging unit failed on the first night.
The alarm has taken 4 visits to the auto electricians to get right
We had a mains cable chaff through and almost catch fire on us, that was when we realised that when the electrics conversion was done an RCD was not fitted. I have now fitted one
I broke the handle off the TV aerial.

However I have learnt my way around the coach and now feel a lot more confident with it.

We are heading to Dover this weekend and are going to meander down to the South of France for the summer and then probably Spain or Portugal for the winter.

We intend to wild camp wherever possible on the way down, but we will see what happens on the way.

We have been dreaming (and planning) for this for the last 30 years, but as Jim says, when you get close it is all a bit scary.

We will keep in touch with the web site as and when we can.

Hopefully we will meet up with a few of you along the way

All the best

Mick & Pat


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## 88927

Congratulations Mick and Pat
We are glad everything went fairly smoothly for you both and that you are finally on your way, don't forget to send us all a postcard so to speak :lol: :lol: :lol: 

Good luck and safe travelling to you both

Keith


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## 97615

sounds like a growing trend with all these folks full timeing it.

We plan to go asap, our route is planned to follow some of festivals around Europe like the Bull run, the tomatoe festival, the fire festivel, etc.

With two boys, i'm a little nervous, but they are game for it.


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## Scotjimland

Good Luck Mick and Pat, 
keep in touch and with a bit of luck we might bump into you in Spain..


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## Rapide561

*Green with envy*

Hello

I am green with envy!

Can you fit another one in your RV?

I will do the washing up etc

Rapide561


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## johnsandywhite

:lol: Sounds like we may bump into one or two new RV's this Winter in Spain then. We (all being well) will be sailing sometime mid-September through to June or July 2007. Hope you enjoy your many travels and hope your problems are few. :wink:


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## 97932

*us to*

Some time in the summer my job ends. time to sell the house and go fulltiming [be it on a shoe string] We are goin to buy an american rv but can't decide on slideout or not. any thouhts


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## Scotjimland

*Re: us to*



wogga said:


> We are goin to buy an american rv but can't decide on slideout or not. any thouhts


Go for slides if you have the budget, they give a lot more space for a given length but there are a lot more decisions to make other than slides..

Length 
Weight 
Engine 
Pusher/Puller 
LPG/Petrol/Diesel 
Chassis 
etc 
Have you looked at any, seen anything you like/dislike ?


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## Arizona

Hi COG

Good for you, 'i think you'll love it and so will the boys, ours do. We have a 28ft, fleetwood, it's a great size. Our rig has no slides and while I do think they are great we found it hard to find a 28ft with slides, most of the rigs with slides tend to be a little longer.

We're motorhoming over 2 years now and had no previous experience which is why we went for this size rig. I think it's a good size, it gives you the space and facilities of an RV without being hard to handle. We spent last summer in France and had no problem driving or accessing any sites. We prefered using the municipal sites which tend to be a lot smaller and still had no problem fitting it!!

Take a look at our homer - www.donegalmotorhomes.com . We hope to upgrade to a newer rig this year and while I would like a slide we'll not go any longer!

Good luck & enjoy

Arizona


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## 98108

*Fulltime Lifestyle*

We are fulltime RV'rs from the USA. I'm a retired Navy Chaplain. I was stationed in SHAPE Belgium in 1973. My wife and I (we were only 20 years old at the time) loved traveling Europe and the UK in our converted VW Van. Those were great adventures. We now live in a 34.5 5th Wheel with 3 slide outs. We love this lifestyle, we are able to visit friends, grandkids and live how we wish. It's a great adventure! Inexpensive as well. No house payments, lower taxes, etc. We've been gone from Europe and the UK since 1976 and are so glad to hear that so many people are now enjoying the full time RV lifestyle. We are planning to purchase a 30 foot motorhome and ship it to the UK, have it converted (advice please) for propane and electric and then use it several months out of the year (every year for the next 5 years or so) for touring. We plan to store it somewhere in the UK or the Netherlands and use it as an RV summer home. I'll take all the advice you have on this. Looking forward to meeting you on the road. Jim


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## 88927

Hi Jim
Another ex navy guy eh??? Didn't know many skypilots when I was in submarines so sorry.....
Keep in touch

Keith


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## BERTHA

Ours is neither American or over 30ft, its 27ft in fact so small to American standards but it is very high, I would say nearly as high as a RV.

Once we got used to the width and Length it was the height (11ft+) that has caught us out a few times, low trees in campsites and one or two low bridges and weight (5000Kg) restrictions in some villages.

But in terms of width and length no problems although I have heard somewhere that a ideal RV/MH length for touring around Europe was around 31 to 32 feet

H


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