While Ju and I have opted to stay put in the UK for the time being, there are plenty of motorhome-based travellers still touring Europe and North America.
Their blogs provide fascinating insight into what life’s like travelling the world during a pandemic. Some of the bloggers endured months of being locked-down in the tiny space of a motorhome, a resilient lot these guys!
Here are a few of the blogs written by folks currently travelling which I follow personally – if you know of others please add ’em into the comments at the end? Jay
The Grey Gappers
David and Karen, aka The Grey Gappers, arrived in Continental Europe on their latest tour in mid January 2020. Travelling in their Elddis motorhome ‘Buster’, their plan was to head from Champagne to Caviar – from Epernay in north-east France all the way to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea, via Greece and Asian Turkey. Ju and I have never been to Asia in our motorhome, and we enjoyed reading Our Bumble’s tour of Turkey in 2018, so were intrigued by The Grey Gapper’s latest tour.
Of course, the coronavirus pandemic hit their plans. While they were in Turkey they were forced to take refuge on a campsite for over 10 weeks, making the best of lock-down by forming a community with fellow travellers on the site. When travel restrictions were finally eased they took the opportunity to cross the Turkish border with Bulgaria, re-entering the EU. From there they spent a couple of weeks in Serbia before heading south back into Greece, and from there across the Adriatic to Italy.
Read The Grey Gappers blog here folks: thegreygappers.co.uk.
The Chouters
Linda and Steve are The Chouters, and having visited 49 states in the US over a four-year period, opted to head over to Europe to continue their travels in early 2019. We met them in south-west Spain, after they’d returned from Morocco just before the pandemic struck Europe in force. After a day-trip to the city of Cadiz with them, they were a tad more clued up than us, and decided to make a run for the French border before it closed while we headed further south into Spain. Whoops!
They opted to wait out the lock-down in France on a municipal aire, spending 93 days in one spot in their Hymer before finally being able to leave in mid June. Their plans for 2020 had included a tour of Norway, but border closures forced a change and they’re now touring Germany and Austria, with a plan to head south via Croatia into Greece for the winter.
To read more about the Chouter’s lock-down experience and their US and European tours, head over to thechouters.com.
Travel with Kevin and Ruth
Kevin and Ruth are long-term travelling Canadians, and their blog’s been up and running for over 12 years. At the end of March 2020 they crossed the border back into the US, having escorted a group of RVs around Mexico for four months.
They’ve since been travelling across the USA and back up into Canada where they’re currently in 14-day quarantine. They’re now selling their long-owned RV in the US and plan to head over to the UK in October of this year to buy another motorhome and tour Europe.
Read about Kevin and Ruth’s incredible travels here: www.travelwithkevinandruth.com.
Esther & Dan
Esther & Dan kicked off their motorhome adventures back in 2014, opting to quit work after a health scare and take to the road. They now share their home with not one, not two, but five dogs, and get some epic hiking and cycling done along the way.
As Spain went into lockdown these guys managed to cross the French border (over a high snowy mountain pass) and were able to secure a house for the lockdown. While they were there Esther knocked out an epic 36 hour turbo trainer (stationary bike) effort, raising over £4,600 for the NHS.
Esther & Dan blog at estheranddan.com, but tend to update their Facebook page much more frequently. They’re currently on a rather long walk in the Alps, taking stunning photos as they go.
Next Stop Everywhere
Claire and Sam had just started a 7-month tour of continental Europe when COVID-19 struck. They’d even got a ferry to Iceland planned (the only other moho bloggers we know who’ve done that are The World is Our Lobster). Sadly that ferry never sailed, leaving them stranded in Denmark, crossing into the country only 30 mins before the border with Germany was closed.
They ended up staying in Denmark for the duration, guests of a very kind British family who own a farm there, and are now back on the road continuing their tour, with the aim to head up to Iceland next year. They’ve a great video blog on YouTube (there’s one of their videos below, or the full channel is here).
To read more from Claire and Sam, had over to their blog: nextstopeverywhere.co.uk.
Hi both,
Thanks for the shout out, we are now in Italy soaking up the heat. Back to France for the end of August for a big family birthday in Champagne. We seem to have a thing for that part of France. After that back south through France and god knows where for winter.
Great to read your updates and glad to see you and your families are good.
Safe and happy travels to you both.
David and Karen
The Grey Gappers’s
Cheers David – happy travels to the both of you. Jay