Four Trips in European Campers

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by Jim Humberd

In 1988 Emmy's Cousin Josef worked for the Renault Automobile Company in Brühl, Germany, and we bought a Renault vehicle with a Pilote RV, from two of his colleagues. We drove 8,400 miles through eight countries in 130 days, then parked it in a farmer's barn in Borg, Germany, for $1 per day.

When we returned to Europe three months later, the Renault started just fine, and we were ready to travel 8,700 miles through 12 countries in 115 days. One night we drove the RV onto a ship, and an elevator took the RV to the top deck. We prepared our meals and camped at the rail as the ship sailed the Adriatic from Brandisi, Italy, to Patra, Greece.

We sold the Renault to an RV dealer. Including the cost of a tire near Bordeaux, France, another at Agrínio, Greece, and a front brake job in Merzig, Germany, our cost for 17,100 miles of driving, was maybe $13 per day, the cost of renting a bicycle.

When we returned home we found a Visa bill listing all of our charges for about a month in Italy. We computed our overall average daily travel cost (plane tickets, campsites, groceries, RV, etc., minus the cost to live at home), and determined we had spent nearly a month in Italy, from the Alps and including several days on the Island of Sicily, for $15 to $20 per day more than it would have cost to just stay home.

In 1991 we rented an RV (a Peugeot truck), the only time we have rented, from the same company that had purchased our Renault in 1989. They gave us an excellent price of $50 per day. We drove 6,800 miles through six countries in 78 days.

In 1995 we bought an RV (a Fiat truck) with a buy-back provision. While we traveled, the Dollar/D-Mark exchange rate changed for the worst, so our cost was about $60 per day. In 107 days, we drove 5,300 miles through eight countries.

The RV was our hotel, restaurant and rental car while we were on the road, and it still functioned as our rental car when we stayed with Emmy's cousins. There were no campsites in Monaco or the Vatican, and we visited several countries or islands by airplane or cruise ship. In 9 trips we spent 23 nights in hotels, another 326 nights with friends and relatives, and 605 RV nights in 406 different places in 25 European countries.

Every problem was solved or forgotten within the hour.

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