Invitation to Italy Forward
How We Travel
Invitation to Italy describes our travels through that wonderful country (117 nights in 63 different places) during our eight visits, from 1970 to 1995. Since our manner of travel is different than most, this Forward will “set the stage” and give the reader some background that may make our book more understandable and interesting.
Invitation to Italy is not about camping, although the major portion of each of our trips through Europe was made in a small recreational vehicle. We are not “professional” campers, we are tourists and sightseers and the RV is an especially convenient way for us to travel and see the most for the least amount of money, and in the least amount of time.
HOW WE TRAVEL
The RV and a campsite make a convenient, quiet, comfortable place to spend the night so we are rested and ready to sightsee again in the morning. We arrive at the campsite in late afternoon or in the early evening, fix an easy supper, perhaps pop some popcorn, read novels, study guide books and maps of the area, then continue on our way the next morning after a good night’s sleep. Newspapers, printed in English and available “everywhere,” include USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The Herald Tribune. Sometimes, in a small town in the Yugoslavian mountains, or in a distant village in Greece the newspapers were two or three days old, but it was still news to us.
Some mornings we eat breakfast before we leave the camp, other times we have a piece of fruit as we leave, then stop for a late breakfast or an early lunch in some beautiful scenic spot. Whenever possible Jim parks the RV in a place where the view from our dining table is as grandiose as can be imagined. Those views are not accidental, they are carefully selected. Lunch right under the Eifel Tower, within the arms of the Louvre, next to the Brandenburg Gate, in the shadow of Mont Blanc, across the Danube from the Parliament Building in Budapest, next to the rail of a ship as we sailed the Adriatic from Italy to Greece, right below the Parthenon in Athens — ah, the convenience of the RV.
If we arrive in a town a few minutes after the lunch hour begins, parking is generally available. The RV provides a place for our lunch and a nap until everyone returns and is looking for a good parking place. Now that the town is again open for business, we already have our parking place.
Both in the US and in Europe, we have met people in campsites who know more about their vehicle and the number of gallons of waste their RV will hold, than they know about the town nearby, or the scenic area where they are camped. We are just the opposite. The camping and the equipment are not important, the sightseeing is.
Our vacation is not a destination, it’s the journey. Fortunately we have been able to travel with the idea that “… IT has been here for many years, and if we miss IT this time, IT will still be here the next time we are in the area.” Relax and Enjoy.
WHY AN RV?
The trips we have taken could have been made in a car, a bus, or the excellent train system in European countries. Hotels, Inns, Bed & Breakfast’s, pensions and restaurants are available in towns and villages, large and small, but for us the RV means:
• Quiet — believe it or not, the campsites are quieter than the hotels where we have stayed. People gather and talk, children play ball, etc., but by dark all is quiet.
• Convenience — a place to rest anytime anywhere, a snack, a meal, a fresh change of clothes — and our own transportation.
• Stove — simple cooking, and fresh popcorn in the evening. Restaurants are still available when needed or wanted. Many campsites have snack-bars and restaurants.
• Refrigerator — works on propane, 12 Volt, and 220 volt electricity, so we can keep food and drinks cold, and even make ice-cubes. Ice is hard to find in Europe, but so necessary for Iced Tea, and Coca-Cola American style.
• Beds — we sleep better when we’re in the same bed night after night, and we are more comfortable with our own familiar pillow and blankets.
• Chemical toilet — very handy, nothing like a clean private restroom after hours of walking; and it beats going down a strange, cold, dark hall in the middle of the night.
• Shower — our own soap and shampoo, we don’t have to add a coin for hot water, and we know the floor is clean.
• Clothes hangers — we don’t have to pack and unpack wrinkled clothes every day, and if we are caught in a rainstorm, dry clothes are waiting for us.
• Storage — for all the items we buy at flea markets and antique stores, and wherever.
• Costs — There is no way we could afford our nine trips to Europe if we had to pay the cost of hotels and restaurants, plus rental cars or train tickets. In earlier years, campsites were $2 to $5, and everything did cost less than it does today. By 1995, $5 to $20 per night for the campsite plus $3 to $4 dollars per gallon of gasoline, or $2 to $3 dollars per gallon of diesel fuel. Over the years we have averaged driving only about 115 miles per day.
Compare that with the expense of a rental car or train tickets, hotel room, three meals a day in restaurants, and you can see the cost advantage of the RV. We are convinced we spend much less time shopping for groceries and finding a campsite, than the time it would take to find all those restaurants, check in and out of hotels, and pack and unpack suitcases. As you might imagine, the owner or a clerk in a bakery or a grocery store is happy to “meet” a tourist. The waiter and the bell-hop are happy to get a tip.
FLEXIBLE ITINERARY
Travel by RV provides the ultimate freedom in our itinerary. Turn here, explore there, with little concern for where we will be tonight or tomorrow. Most larger towns are serviced at least once or twice a day or week, by train or bus, but some very interesting, fascinating villages and many scenic spots are well off the beaten path, some are even difficult to reach by RV or car.
One year, after spending a couple of weeks behind the “Iron Curtain” in Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Poland and East Germany, we pulled into a rest-area on the German Autobahn, pulled out a map, studied a few moments, then said, “Let’s go to Stockholm.” And until that moment, Stockholm had not been mentioned as a destination. Similar “accidental” decisions have been made dozens of times.
For us, clothes on a hanger, goodies in the refrigerator, and our own toilet and shower, are the final seal of approval for RV travel.
WHY WE TRAVEL
For some people a vacation to Europe means music festivals; others want to visit the theater and the opera; for some, museums are the main destination; others head for the Alps, the fjords, the rivers and lakes. We have a friend who asked, “Why would you write a book about travel in Europe? I already have one book that tells about restaurants, and another with hotel information, what else do I need?”
In travel, as in life — different strokes for different folks. We don’t say that our way is the only, the best, or even an acceptable way to travel, for anyone but us. We have no argument with any style of travel. Our only disagreement is with those who travel and come home with little idea of where they’ve been or what they’ve seen, and can only complain about the people they have met and the countries they have visited. When we travel, we know it’s “their home,” we’re visitors, and if we don’t like it, we can leave. We’re there to learn about “their country and way of life,” we’re not there to change anything, and we try not to brag that our way is obviously best.
Have you seen this cartoon: In a posh restaurant, one lady leans to the adjacent table and asks, “Settle an argument for us, is this the London Hilton or the Paris Hilton?” That’s not a knock at the hotel; it makes a nice change to stop at a Sheraton or Holiday Inn or Hilton for lunch, for the night, or just to look around — but we wouldn’t want to live there.
As we mentioned earlier, our travels through Europe have been in a small recreation vehicle. We rarely stay in hotels (23 out of about 1,000 nights in Europe, the last hotel was in Prague, in 1985); we infrequently eat in restaurants (perhaps lunch); we almost never leave the campsite at night (there goes the theater); and we think the building itself is the most interesting part of many museums.
When we visit a museum, many of the items on display seem to be there just because they are old. Not because they are beautiful or useful or even particularly decorative, but just old.
When we see city walls and gates, fortified castles, basilicas, the amphitheaters, cathedrals, and the old theaters, we see beautiful, useful, works of real art. Perhaps this explains why we are more interested in seeing where people live(d) and work(ed), now and in the past, than just to see items someone chose to put in a museum.
At first glance that doesn’t appear to leave much, but for us it leaves the most important, the most interesting parts:
• The people — where they live, where they work, where they shop, where they worship, and how they get from one place to another.
• Architecture and antiquities — cathedrals, homes, apartments, stores and other buildings, from ancient ruins to brand new. Stone walls, bridges, castles, abbeys, amphitheaters and aqueducts that were constructed in ancient times.
• Geography — the layout of cities old and new, the marketplace, the streets and the country roads; the farmland and industry; towns on the tip of a hill or in the depth of a valley; the mountains and rivers.
We actually do what many people talk about and what few are able to do — when we see a fascinating village, or a road that heads in an interesting direction, we just turn and go, exploring endlessly. Reservations for nightly accommodations are never made, and when we leave a campsite we often have no idea which country we will be in by evening, but we do know it will be a delightful day. Fortunately we have been able to do this for months on end.
Our Trips to Europe,
so Far
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 26 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.
FOURTH TRIP — 1983
When we arrived in Europe on our next trip Emmy suggested we travel in a rental car and sleep in hotels and in bed & breakfast homes, instead of buying an RV. Three days was all she could stand of: “Look for restaurant after restaurant, find a (noisy) hotel room, pack and unpack” — so back we went to several US Army bases.
This time we found a 43,000 mile, 1978 Dodge Transvan ($6,000) owned by a US Army Major at Nellingen Barracks, south of Stuttgart. After buying a water pump in Merzig, Germany and a 220V refrigerator in Luxembourg, we drove 8,000 miles through ten countries and camped 50 nights (total of 87 nights in Europe). We again garaged the RV in Mettlach (40 D-Marks per month) expecting to return in six months.
FIFTH TRIP — 1985
Our plans changed and we were not able to return to Europe until 20 months had passed. The Dodge started easily after the battery was charged, and there was no need to even add air to the tires, or water to the radiator. The only problem was that mice had feasted on paper bags of cocoa, chewing gum, and other such goodies.
Off we went for another 16,400 miles in 15 countries, 102 nights in campsites (156 nights in Europe), a set of tires in Losheim, Germany and a new starter in Wettenberg, Germany. With the RV in the hold of the ship, we boarded the Polish liner T.S.S. Stefan Batory in Rotterdam, spent a day in London, ten days on the Atlantic Ocean to Montreal, then drove to California. (No Jet-lag this time!)
This Dodge supplied 24,400 miles of touring, 189 days and nights of eating and sleeping in 17 different European countries during two trips, plus much more of the same coast to coast in Canada, and coast to coast (multiple times) in the US, until we sold it a few years later.
SIXTH TRIP — 1988
Emmy’s Cousin Josef had worked for the Renault Automobile Company in Brühl, Germany, and two colleagues at the office wanted to sell a Renault vehicle with a Pilote RV. We paid about $12,500, then drove 8,400 miles through eight countries, and spent 70 of our 130 nights in Europe that year, in campsites. We parked it in a farmer’s barn in Borg, Germany, for about $1 per day.
SEVENTH TRIP — 1989
We returned to Europe about three months later. The Renault started just fine, and we were ready to travel 8,700 miles through 12 countries with 77 nights in campsites, out of a total of 115 nights in Europe. Most memorable was the 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, past the Greek Islands to Patra, Greece. An outstanding campsite.
We sold the Renault RV to a dealer in Saarbrücken, Germany for $9,300. That means we paid $2,700 for 245 days and 17,100 miles of driving, 147 days cooking, and 147 nights of sleeping, during the two trips that we owned this vehicle. Add the cost of a couple of tires (one near Bordeaux, France, the other at Agrínio, Greece) and a front brake job in Merzig, Germany, and it cost maybe $13 per day; about the cost of renting a bicycle.
When we returned home this time we found a Visa bill listing all of our charges for about a month in Italy. We computed our overall average travel cost per day (plane tickets, campsites, groceries, RV, etc.), 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.
EIGHTH TRIP — 1991
This is the only time we rented an RV for our trip through Europe. We rented from the same company that had purchased our Renault in 1989, and they gave us an excellent price of $50 per day. We were in Europe 78 days, spent 53 nights in the RV, drove 6,800 miles and visited six countries.
NINTH TRIP — 1995
This time we bought an RV with a buy-back provision. That would have been just great, but while we were in Europe the Dollar/D-Mark exchange rate changed for the worst, and our cost was about $60 per day. We drove 5,300 miles through eight countries, and spent 55 nights (total of 107 in Europe) in the RV.
COMMENTS ON THE RV
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. We have driven an RV nearly 87,000 miles during the nine trips to Europe, and have spent 605 RV nights in 406 spots in 26 countries. There were no campsites in Monaco or the Vatican, and we visited several other countries or islands by airplane or cruise ship. We spent 23 nights in hotels, and another 326 nights with friends and relatives in several countries.
Three nights were spent on ferry boats, eleven nights on cruise ships to the Greek Islands, to Istanbul and into the Black Sea, and ten nights on the Atlantic to Montreal. We have spent at least one night in 452 places, and crossed international borders more than 227 times during these trips. We rarely see another American in a campsite (a half-dozen times at most), and many times we have been told we are the first Americans who ever stopped at that place.
Including countries visited only by ship or plane (Morocco, Turkey, Iceland, Ukraine, Crimea, several Mediterranean Islands), we have visited in 33 countries, including all of the “little ones” Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, San Marino and The Vatican.
BACK TO METTLACH
Our vacations to Europe have always ended in Mettlach, Germany where we started months before. Raincoats, and other garments not needed in Southern California; cooking utensils; table ware; tools; electrical cords and plugs; electric heater for cold weather, electric fan for warm; paperback books to be re-read next time; pillows, sheets and blankets; and all the paraphernalia that accumulates over several years, fill a closet that has been reserved for us, first by Cousin Toni, now by Cousin Bärbel. We make arrangements to store, or otherwise dispose of the RV, then pack and mail our purchases. We catch a plane at Luxembourg or Frankfurt (on one occasion, a ship at Rotterdam), and head for home.
But however long we’ve been gone, and however good home looks when we arrive, it is not too long before we are ready for another trip to somewhere in wonderful, fascinating Europe.
We hope you enjoy reading of our travels as you plan your journey to Italy. But on the other hand, perhaps our essay will provide an “armchair” journey through the beautiful, enjoyable country of Italy.
P.S. Daughter Linda just reminded us that all this was possible because while we were gone on each trip she took care of our home, our mail, wrote checks to pay bills, etc., etc.
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