First time abroad as a 9/10 yr old kid, Antibes /Biot by coach to a tent at Camp du Pylone 30 hrs from Bristol and had trouble stopping at Aires as an English football team had played in France the week before and the hooligans that travelled with them in the early 1980's rampaged so British coaches were persona non grata.
Fantastic holiday got to do Nice/Cannes/Juan le pins/Monaco+ Monte Carlo and Ventimiglia
lots more of these coach/camping hols over the next 6-7 yrs more Cote de azur, Italian Riviera, Catalonia.
then usual late 90's couple hols Greece/Spanish island in hotels too much beer and ouzo etc
Then back finally to the outside life !!!
2004 St Hilaire du Ray (wifes first camping try out eurocamp)
2005 La tranche sur mer ( EC again)
2006 Lido De Jeselo ( getting adventurous but drive was killer Ec again)
2007 RV up the East Coast of OZ and a week on the west coast
2008 La tranche sur mer ( EC again)
2009 La tranche sur mer ( EC again)
2010 La tranche sur mer ( EC again)
2011 La tranche sur mer ( EC again, bought a trailer tent before this holiday but crashed it oops)
2012 La tranche sur mer ( in fixed trailer tent )
2013 La tranche sur mer ( TT again)
2014 La tranche sur mer ( TT again I think I can see a pattern forming )
any guesses in 2015 ??
2015 Lacanau- Ocean + La tranche sur mer ( in own caravan)
------------- 2022
North and West wales grand tour (in T5)
Matlock (in T5)
New forest and IOW (in T5)
New Forest
La tranche sur mer
jevea (Valencia)
2023
Cotswolds
Tenby
(added a Compass Rallye to crew)
Royan
La tranche Sur Mer
2024
royan
La tranche
'Wyrd bith ful araed-Fate will out'
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
How did i miss this thread!
We have been to France so many times i have lost track, not always camping, sometimes in villas. We have been to the Dordogne (lots) the Vendee (lots) Brittany (lots) Les Mathes area, Ile D'Oleron, Ardeche, Uzes, Provence, Nice, Paris, Valras Plage, Carcasonne,Normandy
but still got so much to see.
Our first time abroad was in Austria on a package holiday. We flew from Southend to Ostend and then coach to Austria stopping in Germany and Switzerland. It was for 10 days and I think it cost £29
I took this to mean first camping trip abroad - but if it's the first trip ever, then it was a Thomson 'Wanderers' holiday to Corfu, where you got a flight, a book of vouchers for accommodation, and 'wandered' where the mood took you around the Greek Islands. We intended to camp, but it was so hot and such short nights that we didn't sleep. We 'wandered' into the nearest bar, and met a travel agent named Spiro, who got chatting. He had rooms to let on the top floor of his house in Corfu town, and was more than willing to take our Thomson vouchers in exchange.
It was a lovely place with our own bedroom, sitting room, kitchen area, bathroom and roof terrace. Because of his travel agency contacts he arranged all sorts of activities for us - free of charge. We went out on his friend's boat, used a holiday home at the top of the island on the beach, and hired bikes at a very reduced rate!
We did the same holiday two years running - Corfu the first year and Crete the next! Fantastic holidays!!!
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
My first trip EVER abroad was Tunisia. We stayed at the Sahara Beach Hotel, I distinctly remember they were filming 'Jesus of Nazareth' nearby, and they were filing Starwars in the troglodyte oasis in the desert.
Fascinating place, but I remeber being very, very ill. I was anorexic in my late teens, and was so proud of the fact that I was just under 7st , I wore a white bikini and must have looked emaciated. Top this with dysentry, I was 6.5st by the end of the first week and they were going to fly me home. I spent a week in the hotel room, then in their hospital on a saline drip.
On returning home I was in hospital and underwent phsychiatric treatment until I was a healthier weight.
Not a trip to forget.
My next trip was Italyl, looking at thepictures I was still painfully thin.
I'm paying for that time now....I have digestive issues with thinning of the lining of my sigmoid colon. All those laxatives and crazy diets.
I'm not fat now but I do have a healthy attitude to eating. Food is fuel, if you dont excercise it is stored in all the wrong places.
------------- CAT
Favourite site:
Camping Nanzel, Limone, Lake
Garda..perfect for MTB, Kayak, SUP and fell running training.
Favourite areas: Provence, French Alps, Savigny (as a stop over for Southern France: Rhein valley as a stop over for Italy. 78
1st trip was meant to be camping in north west Italy in 1976. Yes, we did choose one of the best ever summers over here...we hated that area of Italy, must admit I did no research, somehow assumed it would be lovely. Vastly over priced and rotten beaches,and it was raining when we first arrived, so swapped for the South of France, at a place called La Napoule, which was a lot better, in spite of our saucepans being stolen! Took a load of Heinz tinned food, OH's mate worked at their factory at the time.
First time abroad was a package holiday to Malta in 1976.
First time camping abroad was in 2000, when a friend asked me to accompany her for a weekend to initially, Milan, but this developed into 2 weeks driving to Rome and back. She borrowed a van, filled it with bikes, tent etc. We were so naive, neither of us had driven abroad before, and we spent the first night driving round in circles because we mis-interpreted the road signs in the dark, and friend was petrified we would build up a huge bill on the tolls. Altogether we slept 8 nights in the van in laybys, the rest we found campsites.
However, I loved it, found a side of myself I didn't know about, and have been back to France many, many times since.
First trip abroad in the early 70's on my own on a scooter for just over a month. Went through France, Holland, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland.
Has a few adventures. Was nearly killed when a large deer ran in front of me in a forest in Germany. In France, fortunately on a rest day, the campsite entrance was closed for the day as the Tour de France went past.
Was woken up in the middle of the night in Paris with someone trying to get into the front of my tent. Turned out the be a hedgehog with its nose stuck in a yogurt pot. Went down Die Romantische Strasse, visited Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, etc.
... All on a budget of £50 including food, ferry, petrol, campsites etc.
Our first time abroad was in 1994. 7 of us, Cary, 5 kids (aged 14,12,10,8 and 6 crammed into a hired Nissan people carrier with a frame tent and lots of other camping equipment. We had chosen Brittany and arrived on the 6.00am boat at Roscoff. We originally had been considering a site near to Roscoff
However, we didn't like the look of that site following the "Which? Guide to Normandy and Brittany" headed down to Benodet. After a lot of searching at the end of the day we opted for Camping Du Letty for most of the 6 week Summer holiday. We loved the site and for many of the following years the kids never wanted to go anywhere else. We have been back many times, more recently as caravanners. Our last visit was in 2013 but only the 2 of us now! Southern Brittany is much warmer than the northern coast.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Where did you go 1st time abroad?
