Touring Europe...on a budget

We're in the middle of France now, on day 8 of 60 days in Europe. I think about all that we've seen and done in the past few days and can't believe it's just the first week.

It's hard to know where to begin to describe the experience of what we're doing. We had talked about doing some sort of visiting position at a foreign university for a while. After contacting a friend last summer about opportunities, Ryan was fortunate to be invited as a visiting professor in a business school in St Gallen Switzerland (close to Germany). I was happy with the idea of going to Switzerland, but really wanted a chance to see some other places while we were in Europe. Even though Switzerland is kind of in the middle, I knew it would get expensive and difficult trying to go places on weekends--so I wanted to add in extra weeks to do traveling.

So I started doing some research. I had to figure out how to get 7 people (we brought my niece with us) around Europe without going bankrupt. I looked into websites like HomeAway, but they were too expensive once you got past 3 or 4 people. And I didn't like the idea of taking my children into apartments where they would break things and have nowhere to play.

I looked into farm stays. Turns out they charge you a lot for the privilege of milking cows and feeding chickens. I even looked at the idea of a motor home--but that seemed way to small, and I didn't want to drive my house.

Then I came across Eurocamp. It has mobile home "caravans" at various camping park across Europe that they rent out. The website had great photos of the places, and there were lots of online reviews about the different parks--but you never know quite how it's going to be. But when I priced it out and realized we could have a 3 bedroom, 1 or 2 bathroom caravan with a kitchen for only $60 a night, I began to dream pretty big with my European vacation. If you can call camping in mobile homes "dreaming big".

I took a pretty big gamble on this one. Once we got the dates of when would be best for us to be in Switzerland from Ryan's friend (April 21 to May 20), I began filling in the rest of the trip based solely on where Eurocamp had accommodations that were open and available. So if Eurocamp ended up being a dump, we were going to be in serious trouble.

We also "bought" a Peugot minivan. Again, in order to keep it affordable we took a gamble. It's called a lease buyback, and without going into details, it's about half of what it would have cost to rent it, has full insurance with no deductible, and they PROMISE to buy it back at the end. And they better, because I don't want to bring it home with me. It seats 8 and has a manual transmission that I have slowly become friends with. It came equipped with a GPS that likes to take the scenic route, so I'm glad I brought one along with me.

But I'm happy to say that so far the car and the camping have met our needs perfectly. The camp in Barcelona that we stayed in for four nights was a big park with kids everywhere. But no kids that spoke English. The camp here in France has been better that way, because Mason and Katie have had a wonderful time with two new friends from England that they met on the playground. Each camp has playgrounds, indoor and outdoor pools, a small grocery store, restaurant, etc. We eat breakfast and dinner at home, and are about 50/50 on getting lunch out or bringing it with us. Again, not super glamorous, but I would go crazy waiting in a restaurant with all of my kids every day, and we'd go bankrupt trying to do it.

Ryan usually goes with us one day a week, and on the weekends, but otherwise works at home while I take the kids on excursions. My niece, Megan, has been fantastic to have along. She is my assistant for everything, tells the kids long stories before bedtime, keeps the peace in the car during long drives, etc. I would never have survived without her.

I have chosen my excursions based on what would interest a 6-year-old. So we haven't done a lot of art museums, or anything that has involved a tour guide. But it has gone really well. Andrew and Chloe aren't loving the driving, but they tolerate it. Mason and Katie could go all day long and still be happy. I need to be careful to give the two younger ones chunks of time where they don't have to go anywhere.

Our time here in central France has been wonderful. The countryside is like a postcard. The castle we went to today was a lot of fun to climb around and had a museum of medieval warfare where Mason got to try on a suit of armor, they had real catapults and cannons, and every type of weapon you can imagine. Then we went to a place built into the rocks in the side of a hill that has been used as shelter for thousands of years. The had done a great tour on a pamphlet that had numbered spots to go to--which was perfect for keeping us going and giving us information. Tomorrow we're going to try to get tickets to go into a cave that has paintings from neanderthal times (Chloe and Andrew will be staying home to watch a movie). They only let 200 people in a day in order to preserve it, so hopefully we'll get in.

Wednesday morning we head up to the Loire valley. It will be our one night of not staying in a campground. Then we move on to Paris for 6 nights.

Our plush accommodations. A mobile home in the French countryside. This one is fancy and has an upper loft area where the kids love to sleep.

Chateau de Castelnaud--it was filled with medieval warfare displays. And had amazing views over the Dordogne.

The only way to keep up with Andrew is to put Chloe in a backpack and keep moving.

Exploring La Roque de St Christophe

Mason in a full suit of armor with Katie and Chloe dressed up as "princesses"