Some Details for the Trips, 1970, 1979, 1980

First Trip — 1970

For our first trip we purchased a new Volkswagen Camper Van through a local druggist, of all people. He had a friend who was a VW dealer in Hamburg, Germany. All the arrangements and payments were made in the US, and although our airplane was 24 hours late, the VW was waiting for us in the Frankfurt Airport parking lot.

Our daughter Linda, and her friend Linda, otherwise known as Pupa, slept in a tent most nights. At the end of that 28 day trip, we shipped the VW home and sold it as soon as it arrived. The result was a net vehicle cost of about $500, plus gasoline and campsites for 28 days of travel for four people. We drove 4,500 miles through ten countries, stopping in Rome, Paris, London, Berlin and a hundred towns in between. We spent 19 nights in campsites, and prepared numerous meals and snacks in the camper.

Second Trip — 1979

Several years later our daughter Linda, and several of Emmy’s cousins, met us at the airport in Luxembourg. We borrowed Cousin Bärbel’s car, and with Linda as interpreter visited used car dealers and RV rental offices.

At the US Army Base in Kaiserslautern we were told about a VW for sale at the Benjamin Franklin Village in Mannheim. The VW was found and rejected, but in the PX parking lot we saw a 1977 Dodge Cobra RV with a “For Sale” sign in the window and only 9,400 miles on the speedometer. After contacting the owner, a Colonel in the US Army, we made a deal ($8,000) and went on our way. After 96 days in Europe, 56 nights in campsites, 10,900 miles through 16 countries, we garaged the Dodge in Mettlach, Germany, just a block from the home of one of Emmy’s cousins. “Ein Mark, Ein Tag.” (One D-Mark [40¢], One day.)

Third Trip — 1980

Six months later we returned to Europe and after a battery charge the Dodge started just fine. This time we traveled 171 days and 17,500 miles through 17 countries, and spent 123 nights in campsites before selling the RV ($5,500) to an US Army high school teacher in Zweibrücken, Germany.

The cost for the RV was $2,500 for nine months of travel (both years), including 28,400 miles through 17 different countries, uncounted meals, 179 nights sleeping in campsites, plus gasoline and incidental repairs, a set of tires in Nice, France and a brake job in Vienna, Austria.