Fuel costs/touring economics, strategies and budgets

[Guest martin]

Can I start another strand that comes directly out of the cost of fuel debate, and the question is: "Is there a formula for touring that balances fuel costs?" How long each day you need to travel/run the engine to top up batteries whilst maximising pleasure and minimising cost for those on limited budgets? Is it cheaper to do day long drives, of several hundred k, then stay put in one place for a while; or just do 30 – 40 k each day taking in the scenery, enjoying local markets and wandering around villages or wherever you end up? What is the most economical balance between free ‘passions’, ‘aires’ and ‘municipales’ and the serviced site where you can get all the laundry done – or is the local ‘laverie’ better value? Is it as simple as saying “we either stay on a camp site or spend the equivalent on diesel” if time is not an issue? Simply go as far as (say) €10 worth of diesel will takes us the cost of a night's stay? Or is the difference purely psychological? If you were going away for 6 weeks what would your budget be? Can you still do Europe on €10 a day?

[Guest Clive]

I have risen to the bait! If you want to do a fair bit of camping without mains hookup then its worth the initial outlay for a decent sized solar panel. Ours is a BP 80 watt jobbie and seems fine just mounted flat on the roof. Taylor your heating / cooking / fridge around gas (bulk tank if you like and forget diesel heaters and compressor fridges) and you no longer need to move on to charge batteries certainly on the continent and not during the UK summer either. We go to quite a few UK shows and normally by 10.30 am in the morning the batteries are up to 14 volts and the solar panel regulator is reducing the charge. The other benefit of the solar panel is that during winter it still is more than adequete to keep both leisure and starter batteries topped up. If you are tempted to purchase a panel then look around first, stick to known brand names and haggle! Clive

[Guest Clive]

However if you wont to stick rigidly to the thread then we don,t normally drive more than 4 hours a day when touring. That was always sufficient in the 70,s and 80.s (before Solar) with our Dormobile. Last thought, if you cannot justify a solar panel just ask yourself how you justified the camper in the first place! The same arguement normally works! Enjoy

[Guest martin]

Clive: It wasn't bait! I'd not factored solar panels into my evolving equation yet - so thanks for introducing another variable! And one I'll certainly hadn't considered but will now! But as we contemplate moving to longer and longer trips - how cheaply can you tour these days? I don't want to drive to somewhere and just stay on a site for two months - it's not my style! Can you do Europe on €10 a day still?

[Guest berti]

hello martin ' balance ' appears to be the key word here. the full-timing articles by barry and margaret williamson (nov 2004 - feb 2005) had lots of tips relevent to part/long timers alike. The nov article gave a breakdown of their spending ( complete with example of spreadsheet ) averaging at £17.50 per day inc food, site fees, fuel, eating out, lpg, sightseeing, postage/emails, sundries. Obviously the amounts for the various categories will differ according to individual preferences/interests and type of van (theirs is an american c class ) but the figure seems to give a bench mark to work from. if your budget is limited then eating out/ sightseeing and travelling a fair distance in the the space of one week would call for prudence in the next week. on our first trip abroad 4 years ago we had a budget of £2,000 to cover everything for 70 days from boarding the ferry at portsmouth until we returned to uk soil. We had no idea of the cost of anything at all and had heard lots of negative and off - putting tales. Were aires safe or would we have to stay on sites the whole time? Would the van make it down to our furthest point of gibraltar? Could we wild camp in spain or were the authorities clamping down? How expensive was food / fuel? In the event we had a marvellous time. We decided on our furthest point south and on arrival calculated what it had cost us to get there. We kept the same amount of money in reserve to get us back and then simply enjoyed ourselves. We alternated 3 days wild camping with 2 days site stays in order to wash bedding , empty waste etc we travelled for a couple of days and then stayed put for 3 days, we ate out at places the locals frequented which served excellent and invariably cheaper food than overpriced touristy places, used small local markets and sometimes fell back on our supplies of u.k. staples which we had brought with us in case of emergency... baked beans, corned beef, m&s tinned steak etc, When we arrived back in the uk we had a credit balance of £780, which meant we had spent a total of £1,220 in 70 days equal to £17.42 per day. We don't have a solar panel. We have 2 x 110amp leisure batteries and an onboard genny which was on the van when we bought it and is absolutely brilliant for running the microwave, hairdryer etc. and also recharges the batteries. It was a bit too noisy for running the t.v. so this year we have treated ourselves to an lcd tv / dvd player and a 300watt inverter from maplins. So far, all seems to be working o.k. On our 2005 trip we had the same budget and time scale. We thought that our previous surplus would offset the inevitable increases to our costs. However, 10 days into the holiday , in the middle of rural spain, the van broke down and as it was due to wear and tear ( not covered on our insurance )we had to pay the full cost of parts and labour from our funds. Two weeks later a phone call home meant we had to keep a further 1/4 of the budget for an unexpected expense on our return to the uk. We were in two minds whether to abandon our holiday plans alltogether, but decided to carry on until we had reached the limit of our spending money. We managed to stay for the full 70 days . Our costs were Unexpected expenses £ 780 Fuel 500 Gas 70 Food 300 Sites 150 sundries 200 so our spending came to the same £17.42 per day but knowing that we didn't have a safety net and having to watch every penny became very stressfull towards the end. We boarded the return ferry with a grand total of 1 euro and 1 cent !!!! We found the site fees had increased considerably, the places to wild camp were building sites , the price of supermarket food had also increased and there seemed to be lots more pre-packed food. Whether this is an inevitable consequence of eu membership remains to be seen and of course the recent fuel increases have led us to re - assess our plans for this winter sojourn. We don't plan on travelling so much and may not travel down to southern spain at all if the weather is reasonable further north. So Martin, I am not so sure that one can still do europe these days on 10 euros a day. regards berti

[Guest Clive]

OK Martin, Well this year we spent a month (June) in France as I retired in January so this was our longest excursion ever. I initially booked the Dover - Calais ferry with Sea France as they were normally the cheapest and have for many years given us and a small team of cars tickets for a annual charity run at half of their best offer at the time. The hickup was when I told them I have added a small trailer behind the motorhome and this more than doubled the cost. I phoned P&O and got a price so attractive it was worth putting the Sea France tickets in the bin and going P&O. I then phoned Sea France to cancell and they instantly matched P&O prices so we stayed with them. That was a good start and a lesson worth remembering - always ring around. Of our 4 weeks two weeks were spent on two sites, one in a village called Aguessac near Milhau in the municipal camp site (don,t tell anybody) and the other at La Tamarierre which is part of Agde. The other 2 weeks we toured and wild camped. We covered 2500 miles, had only a couple of lunchtime meals in Restaurants (Moules and frites)as we prefer al fresco cooking. We do lots of local "promenading" on our two small mini 90cc motorcycles that are on the trailer. In the 4 weeks including fuel, camp fees and daily shop we spent £800. Less than half of the cash I took with me. As we had plenty of spare in hand we never considered not doing what we wanted but Euro,s will be fine for next time! Oh yes the Merc Scout did 27 MPG average over the entire trip. Hope that helps.

[Guest PeteC]

Travel to nearest port (Hull) Save 150 Miles travelling to Dover £50 Sail to Zeebruge/ Rotterdam Cost £280 Executive cabin Suplement £100 Fill with Fuel £100 60 days Camping Cheque Fees £570 Fill with fuel for return £100 ________ Total cost Less food for 60 days in Nederlands £1150 compare this with a 14 day £450per person trip to anywhere £900 plus travel to pick up point/airport Obviouse it is more expesive to go on a planned tour with an operator STOP COUNTING COSTS As an after thought the cost of the holiday at the new fuel prices ADD £10 to the above figure £1160 Add similar fuel suplement to the tour operator £80 New cost £980

[Guest Ray]

We usually travel to France for two or three months each year and find it very easy to wild camp or use Aires, the last two trips cost €3 and €6 respectively for aires. We move a relatively short distance every couple of days, to shop for food and look for alternative stopping places, The daily average distances have been no more than 20miles for the whole trip and we have found that the single secondaty battery has always been adequate although we do not use television while away just radio, lights and water pump. Meals are based as self catering but buying the best of ingredients, cooked meal most evenings, plus adequate wine and we usually find that the entire trips cost no more than £1,000 including ferries and a reasonable supply of wine etc ready for the return trip. Eating and drinking out could be your greatest expence, the choice is a couple of weeks being waited on or a couple of months looking after yourself while experiencing new locations and friends for a much longer period, we know which we prefer. And don't forget you are not having the normal expences incurred while living at home. go on enjoy yourselves while you can, age creeps up on you much to quick.

[Guest David]

Hi guys, We retire in 18 months thinking of doing the same long trips etc obver the channel. Not sure what Ray means when he says "not having the normal expenses of living at home" surely you still have the running cost of a house, except lower power bills. Still upkeep, Council tax. Water rates, and possibly have to pay someone to look after the Garden. David.

[Guest Ray]

I was refering to cost of gas, electricity, telephone, metered water and drainage and consumable items such as the weekly shop for food etc. This last item being substituted for shopping while away and still included in our £1000 budget so if you take out all the items that you would have purchesed anyway if you were at home, you see that can live quite comfortably on a very small sum and still enjoy yourself. Our garden is now lawns and shrubs instead of the bedding plants that we would not see anyway and our son cuts the grass as required. Fortunately I retired at 60 and had 7 good years before having a heart attack 4 days after returning from Brittany in 2003, While working in the garden. We hope to be back travelling again soon following a couple of bypasses, that's why we say do it while you can.