So it was the first unusually hot day in the UK that we decided that Ed Sheeran (our car with an intermittent A/C fault and Taylor Swift (our caravan with a fan but no A/C) were not going to take their tour on the road to Spain.

Let’s go to Estonia!

Never been there, apparently great and we can clock up four countries if we are sneaky and have a quick blat into Belarus.  But before we head east we wanted to go to Normandy and see the beaches where the allies fell and always remember them.

So we hopped on the ferry in Dover, they are actually quite pretty those white cliffs but not a lot of bluebirds on the day we went. Across the channel and finally Ed Sheeran was driving on the right side of the road. Drive on the right, drive on the right became so much easier when you have a left hand drive car! 

Children speaking French are the cutest children in the world. “Bonjour madam! Blurblarablarblurblareblu?” We had great conversations.

Considering my father was a language teacher and I was sent to Tahiti when I was 14 to learn French, my French is shit. Enough to get myself into a campground and order a baguette but not enough to get a refund on a washing machine token. 

We wanted to see Normandy and the beaches that the allies landed on. Nigel also wanted to check out the oysters as they are apparently the best on the world. Well, according to oyster connoisseur Nigel they are about as good as a Mahurangi oyster and nowhere near as good as a Bluffie.

So after we stocked up on French wine we headed across the border to Germany. Autobahns are great, but very boring. We looked forward to our little narrow street encounters even though the caravan needed to cede to the rest of the road. 

So German campgrounds have stupid fucking rules that make no fucking sense, and the Germans love to come and reprimand you about them.

No driving your car between 1pm and 3pm! Why? Can you drive at 1.01pm? Or maybe 2.59pm? What if you have all your groceries? Makes no fucking sense. Standing in the middle of a campground with more than one person telling you in German that “das ist verboten” is not the most relaxing way to spend an afternoon.

What we have encountered is some lovely lake swims. As you know I need water temperature to be high enough to hit a Jen score before I get in. A 1 being the Swedish archipelago and 10 being Bahamas. So when we found a 7/10 lake in Berlin it was all on! Beautiful after a 30 degree day. 

Anyhoo…. Poland next! Google translate to the ready

So life is an adventure and when you’re traveling you add an extra level of complexity that you don’t normally encounter. You don’t know the names of the chain stores to buy the things you need. In NZ you know what Bunnings has and Super Cheap Auto and Briscoes. In the UK we now know what a Halfords is and a B&M store and a Tesco Superstore and a Camping Go store.  We visited all of these multiple times and now we’re loyalty members of them all.

So after gleefully picking up the car which we had pre bought (which is an American imported left hand drive, so not overly compatible with UK standards) we headed off to a hotel in Bedford (as it was close) to sort things out. We had no idea how long we’d be in Bedford, but we were there until we were done. We also managed to have fish and chips with curry sauce and mushy peas and watch England lose to Spain in the UEFA while we’re were there, very British. 

Day one and we had our list of things we need to do and a smile and a good attitude and we headed out for the day. Got in the car and click click click dead battery, we suspected it was old and buggered when we got it. Bugger. 

Anyway one day of researching what sort of battery we need and buying a battery charger so we could start it to get to a battery place we headed off to the nice chaps at Bedford batteries. Sweet! Now for the tow bar attachment! The nice chaps at Bedford American car parts obliged with that. Now we need various bits and bobs so Nigel can wire up the lights for the caravan so Bedford Halfords saw multiple visits. We got to know Bedfordshire pretty well as we trundled about from here to there and usually ended up at the same Sainsburys Superstore intersection where we would say “Hey kids look, it’s Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament” a niche pop culture reference to National Lampoons European Vacation.

We also beetled about and looked at two places for caravans until we found the one! She’s a Swift caravan so we have named her Taylor Swift and we’ve named the car Ed Sheeran as they hang out together but aren’t a couple so it won’t matter if one stays on their European tour and the other heads off to NZ. We decided on Taylor Swift pretty quickly and went back the next day to put the deposit down. They needed five days to get it serviced and set up for us so we moved to a quiet remote little Air BnB near St Albans so Nigel could spend the days wiring up the electric for the caravan and I could catch up on Brigerton and watch the full series of Baby Reindeer (highly recommended).

We had squirrels in our little garden and wood pidgeons and Kites (the bird) flying around. We did washing and had catch up’s with Stefan as it was a direct line from where he lives out to St Albans. We got a five star Air BNB rating when we left to go and finally get Taylor Swift. 

So if you are ever interested in buying a UK caravan we can highly recommend Bedfordshire Caravans. It was there that we met Laurence who is the spitting image of Nigel’s best man Andrew.   When we arrived the caravan had been fully serviced including wheel bearings and he had accumulated a whole lot of stuff to give us. “Here’s a European plug adapter, here’s a European gas bottle so you can swap it when you get there. A brand new battery and an added awning, did you want the steps too? Oh, no tent pegs no worries here’s a bag of mixed ones you can have”. We were blown away with the added extras that they had thought of. He explained that he had been to NZ many years ago and bought a car. “Lots of people helped me then, so what goes around comes around” what a great guy. 

So then we spent UKs hottest day getting everything ready and cleaning and sterilizing Taylor Swift so we could  head off on our big adventure. The tow bar turned out to be a bit too low for the caravan so with a bit of kiwi ingenuity Nigel turned the whole thing upside down and we now have added clearance. We had our first couple of nights nearby to make sure everything worked and went and bought some last minute things to make life more comfortable. This is where we encountered the English caravan park people. 

Firstly they all have a little dog (that they can’t control), secondly they are very chatty (how ya doin alright?) and thirdly they do not like Pikies! Pikies (our neighbor on the first night explained) are travelers who are not Romany gypsies (who are equally as bad apparently). They are travellers with no fixed abode (sound a bit like us).They are also all thieves! “ (not like us). “You better put everything away or the Pikies will thieve it!  I’ve seen four by the entry gates and I think that one next door is one too. All thieves they are, thieves! Mark my words, they will take anything not locked down”.

So after surviving a night without loss to the Pikies we headed off to Calais, next stop France. Even we don’t know what we will do next! Eat a baguette?

The most important person in the world to us is Stefan and we are really glad we both have a great relationship with him and we all care for each other so much. So when we saw him at the arrivals hall at Heathrow with a sign saying Welcome Mum and Dad I promptly burst into tears and grabbed my boy. It was also very useful to have an extra pair of hands to help with the four suitcases (one of which was filed with Stefan’s tramping gear and the other filled with stuff for the caravan. He negotiated our way from Heathrow via the more comfortable Elizabeth line to his flat in West Hampstead, where we could catch up and sort things out before going out for a really lovely dinner.

It was so great to be the three musketeers back together again. It was a really long day and we chatted well into the night but it was such a great feeling.

Next day we met up again and went off to see ABBA Voyage. Wow, this really is what the future is like. The 3D projections of the band looking as they did when they were young were amazing and truly tricked your mind into thinking you were seeing the real thing. Add the aerial lighting experience and a live band and it was pure joy on a stage. You don’t have to be an ABBA fan to love it so if you ever get the opportunity to go, do it. You won’t regret it.

The rest of our five days in London was spent going to some of Stefan’s favourite places to drink craft beer and chat and catch up. We also managed a fairly spectacular prank on one of Stefan’s friend’s Sophie who was out on a date. Long story short I “surprised” Sophie, who we’d never met before with her long lost auntie from NZ who she’d never met but seemed to know a lot about her. I’ve never seen anyone so confused. We laughed, she laughed the date she was with was just confused.

Nigel and I went to Greenwich to see the meridian line one day which was really interesting and we spent every waking moment we could with Stefan. Grabbing lunch while he was working playing trivial pursuit and watching football in bars at night. Meeting his flatmates and using his flat to do washing before we headed out to the airport. See you soon, we said as we left him in London and we did.

Another great family connection we have in Europe is Nigel’s cousin Chris from NZ who has lived in Vienna for 30 years with his Austrian wife Ulla. They have two girls who are similar in age to Stefan so there has always been a connection for them as well.

We have always kept contact over the years and visited with each other often in Austria and New Zealand. They also came to Sweden to stay when we were there and we have lovely videos of the three kids all dancing to the Wiggles in our lounge.

So we arrived at the airport and Chris was there to take us to their lovely home and promptly welcome us with a very large schnapps! We had arrived the weekend before their daughter’s graduation and so we had a party every night. We met her friends at a Viennese summer house party and met the extended family at her graduation party. We met the boyfriends and the aunts and the grandparents and everyone was just lovely. We learned some Viennese sayings and saw squirrels in the garden and swam in the pool.

Oh yes, we went sightseeing one day and got to see Schönbrunn Palace for the first time (despite having been to Vienna many times). We also got to catch up for brunch with Stefan who happened to be at a music festival in Vienna at the same time. It was lovely to see him again, he was having quite a different Vienna experience at the music festival. And as we left we said “Love you, see you soon” and we will… tomorrow!