trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

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hicks
Posts: 1879
Joined: Thu May 26, 2005 9:00 pm
Location: Chesterfield

trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by hicks »

me and a freind are planning a jaunt through europe visiting some fantastic roads and places along the way. the plan is to go to monaco to the top marques car show, then over to modena to vist the home of supercars, up and over the alps visiting the stelvio pass along the way then through germany to the nurburgring.

the trip will take a total of 11 days
will cover over 2300 miles
you will need around £800 - £1000

this cost includes fuel and the ferry there and back, it also includes accomadation (camping where possible or staying in cheap b and bs) as well as food but doesnt include health insurance or any extra cost for your car insurance.

i am not pre-booking any accomadation only the ferry going which will be on the 19th of april.

if you are interested then you are wlcome to come along but i am not organising this as a event for everyone to come merely something i was doing anyway and thought some of you might be interested.

more details to follow .........
Last edited by hicks on Mon Feb 13, 2006 6:51 pm, edited 2 times in total.
hicks
Posts: 1879
Joined: Thu May 26, 2005 9:00 pm
Location: Chesterfield

Re: trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by hicks »

the folowing posts will give a run down on each day of the trip to give you and idea of whats planned in more detail and the sheer scale of the journey.

DAY 1

the first day of the trip will be one of the hardest and most boring. the plan is to get an early ferry from dover across to calais and then drive down the french motorways to dijon where we will find some accomadation for the night.

we will be covering 355 miles not including driving to dover (as this will be different for everyone) and will take approx 5hrs. for us this will be the worst day as we have 230 miles to travel before we get to dover and will take us aprox 4 hrs to get down there.

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DAY 2

day 2 is another day of getting to monaco but only has resonable short stretch of motorway driving, the rest is some nice country roads including the famous route napoleon which evo magazine did there car of the year test on and rave about it. ive put the stop off point down as grasse which is just outside nice where we can find some where to camp. we will be staying here for the next 3 nights.

total mileage will be 367 miles with an estimated journey time of 8 hrs (please note the mileage and journey time is based on the michelin route planner and may differ)

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DAY 3

after 2 days of hard driving day 3 will be a day of rest with a short drive to monaco to sample the wealth and veiw some of the best cars in the world in the top marques show. i have a pair of free vip tickets but will cost anyone else 29 euros.

the show takes place in the grimaldi forum in the heart of monaco.

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see www.topmarquesmonaco.com for more info.
hicks
Posts: 1879
Joined: Thu May 26, 2005 9:00 pm
Location: Chesterfield

Re: trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by hicks »

DAY 4

after a day in monaco i thought it would be nice to stay around the area for another day before pressing on into italy. this will be a day of choices as there are some nice places you can visit or if your like myself you will be back in your car hooning up and down route napoleon and its surrounding route stopping off to see the sites and get some nice photos of the scenery and each others cars in action.

ive guesstimated the mileage for the day at 150 miles but that could change depending on what you do with the day.

DAY 5

its back to another boring day slogging up the motorway along the french and italian cost from grasse over to postoia which is just south of modena. the plan is to camp around here for 2 nights.

its not an awfuly long journey at 269 miles and an estimated journey time of 4 hours but we can stop off along the way and soak up the sun and have a stroll along some of the beaches whilst having abit of a lie in after what could have been a potential hangover from the night before.

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DAY 6

between postoia and modena are what looks like some fantastic mountain roads. the plan will be to run over these roads to modena sample the ferrari museum and maybe squeeze in a factory tour. then do some ferrari spotting and drive back down for the night.

total mileage will be roughly 150 miles.

look at this :twisted:

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DAY 7

from pistoia we head back over those roads between modena and take the scenic route up to lake garda staying there over night with what should be some fantastic roads and spectacular scenery, covering a total of 173 miles and an estimated journey time of 5 hrs we should be able to take our time and enjoy it.

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hicks
Posts: 1879
Joined: Thu May 26, 2005 9:00 pm
Location: Chesterfield

Re: trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by hicks »

DAY 8

from lake garda up and over the alps with the stelvio pass being around half way there it will make a great stop off point then we head over to switzeland and stop off some where towards zurich.

total mileage will be roughly 245 miles and a journey time of 7 hrs. oh and if youve never heard of stelvio pass take a look at this

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hicks
Posts: 1879
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Re: trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by hicks »

DAY 9

day 9 is another ball ache with 293 miles and 5 hrs of motorway/ autobahn miles to cover upto nurburg although will give you a chance to legally max you car :P .

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DAY 10

this will be a day at the nurburgring. i only plan on doing 2-3 laps myself as i dont want to put my car through too much but we can take it in turns to go round and pasenger in each others cars then wath from the side as we see some of the machinery being put through its paces.

DAY 11

the final day of this epic journey will be another boring drive along motorways to calais then home. cover a final 267 miles (plus dover to your house) it will be another long day and im sure you will sleep well.

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if your interested in joining us then put you name down on here. if you have any questions or suggestions for the route then reply on here or contact me through msn.

EURO BASH

1.hicks(mr2 turbo)
2.rob(supra tt)

right im gonna have a lay down after typing all that out :shock:
stu148

Re: trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by stu148 »

that sound wicked mate ,,,wish i could come but the wife would kill me !!!!
blue2
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Re: trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by blue2 »

Sounds amazing!! :D Its my ambition to do something like this myself just not this year im afraid. :(
nitric4k
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Re: trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by nitric4k »

would love do this myself too have see how cash goes
Caroline MacDonald

Re: trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by Caroline MacDonald »

Sounds great and you have obviously put a lot of time and effort into thinking this one out. I love the picture of the pass, Kirkstone pass in the Lake district, looks like a walk in the park compared to that!! Good luck and keep us updated with your progress. =D> =D> =D>
Icsunonove
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Re: trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by Icsunonove »

:shock: Alex, that looks fantastic! :D

If I had a grand spare, I'd sign up straightaway.
stu148

Re: trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by stu148 »

right iv just shown the wife and she got a few concerns,, but it looks like a 60/40 chance of comming,,,,,this is what she wants to know ,, break down cover (£),,insurance cost (car) think you get 3 weeks included in you annual cover !!!,, personal insurance (£),,and how you getting back if you car packs in for good,,,,,,,,and could i ask how you have worked out the 800/1000 total cost

sorry about all the questions but i really want to do this little jaunt

thanks stuart
hicks
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Joined: Thu May 26, 2005 9:00 pm
Location: Chesterfield

Re: trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by hicks »

Sounds great and you have obviously put a lot of time and effort into thinking this one out. I love the picture of the pass, Kirkstone pass in the Lake district, looks like a walk in the park compared to that!! Good luck and keep us updated with your progress.


you wouldnt believe the amount time its taken me to sort this out and im not done yet.

If I had a grand spare, I'd sign up straightaway


wish i had a grand to spare aswell to be honest. the thing is this trip has just suddenly apeared from no where. I got 2 free vip tickets from evo magazine as im a subscriber for the top marques show in monaco and thought to myself how much i would like to go to it, so i had a tinkle on the internet and found out flight and accomadation costs. it would cost £120 per night to stay in the cheapest place in monaco and the cheapest flight i could find was £320 return. if i stayed a couple of nights plus food and drink it would have cost me around £650 :shock:

so then i thought how about driving down, spoke to a freind at work who owns a subaru and he said he would be interested but has always fancyed going over the alps and around the ring. spoke to my mate (the supra owner) who said he was up for it and its just escalated from there. ive put the route to henry (subaru guy) who is seriously interested but like you is trying to get his head around the cost so there might be 3 of us going now.

i should beable to save between £500-£700 cash before i go as im having a couple of good wages going in and have a few mr2 bits to sell and the rest will be my flexible freind i.e ferry cost, some petrol etc which i can pay off at a later date but i, like many have always wanted to do something like this and but have always been "next year". i dont thing i will get chance to do it again and dont want to look back and say "i wish i had done that"

if you are seriously interested then seriously consider it as it will be a trip you will remember for the rest of your life.

right iv just shown the wife and she got a few concerns,, but it looks like a 60/40 chance of comming,,,,,this is what she wants to know ,, break down cover (£),,insurance cost (car) think you get 3 weeks included in you annual cover !!!,, personal insurance (£),,and how you getting back if you car packs in for good,,,,,,,,and could i ask how you have worked out the 800/1000 total cost


at least she is considering it. regarding your questions i dont have many answers right now as these are all things i need to investigate, break down cover and personal insurance are thing i will find out and update you with as with the car insurance but that will vary from company to company. if you break down over there and cant get it started again then it will be a case of getting it fixed asap. this will always be a risk but i intend on giving my car another service before i go as well as a rolling road test to make sure the engine is healthy and a good run a couple of weeks before hand just to give the car a good work out, my mot is also due in april which will help. im also a fully trained technician and have done everything you can think of to a car including a full engine rebuild and have kitcar building experience. i will be taking a good selection of tools just in case but hopefully wont need them.

regards my calculation of £800-£1000 it is a tricky figure to work out ive worked out a fuel cost of £450 for the journey based on your car doing 25 mpg. there are 4.5 litres per gallon and if we say it costs £1 per litre then that makes it £4.50 per gallon divide that by 25 equals 18p per mile and with a total mileage of 2300 it comes in at about 436 i think it is which i rounded up to 450. the ferry will be less than £120 but im over estimating on my calculations as its better to be over rather than under. plus were staying a total of 9 nights and if we say average cost for accomadation based on camping as much as possible with b and bs where neccesary at £30 then you get £270 again probably over estimated gives a total of £840 plus you have food ontop so will probably be more likely to be the £1000 figure.

another thing my subaru owning mate mentioned to me today was toll roads which there are alot of in france apperently and swizeland has to have some sort of sticker in the window which isnt cheap which could bump the cost up plus all the tings you mentioned previously overall it wont be cheap but will investigate these things further and do have 3 days off this week so should be able to get everything sorted for you.

at the end of the day i plan on living for today and sodding the expence, dont get me wrong im not stupid with money but feel that its there be spent and enjoyed.

any thoughts/ input/ questions are welcome.

kind regards

alex.
stu148

Re: trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by stu148 »

no probs mate just let me know as soon as youve sorted things out,,,by the way my chances of comming have gone up to 80/20 (the wife loves me lol)

by the way what have you got for sale as im looking for a few things for my mr2 rev3

thanks stuart
BenF
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Re: trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by BenF »

Alex, that looks like a fantastic road trip. I'm just gutted I can't come - I think for me if I go it will be this summer - and maybe a trip to the Nurburgring too..

The best roads (IMO) you can find anywhere to drive are just inland from Monaco - I've been down there during the summer a few years now and spent a lot of enjoyable afternoons exploring the twisty smooth tarmac heading up into the Mountains there.

Drive From Menton on the coast to Sospel, and then up to the Col du Turini - great, great roads, and some Familiar names if you are a WRC fan and watched the Monaco WRC a month or so back.

In terms of breakdown cover and insurance - your normal UK inurance is fine, make sure you take your car registration documents as they may be needed to as you cross into Switzerland or if the Police just want to check you over. Make sure you keep your insurance documents in the car at all times.

Breakdown cover - its normal run of the mill AA or RAC European cover (Say about £80 for 3 weeks) - if your car can't be fixed for whatever reason they'll arrange for it to be taken back to the UK (may take upto 14 days) and they'll sort you a hire car.

Normal travel insurance should cover you without any problems driving your car abroad - your household insurance may also cover items away from home (eg Camera etc) that your travel insurance won't cover.

In terms of tolls etc - travelling through France last summer from Calais to the Italian border would cost around £50 in toll fees. You can usually pay on plastic at toll booths on the motorwary, ditto paying for fuel. ON entering Switzerland the guards will make you cough up the equivalent of £25 for a sticker that goes in your windscreen which is basically a tax sticker saying you can drive on Motorways there. Germany, Belgium - no tolls to pay.

Last thought - Super Unleaded is nearly impossible to get hold of in Italy, so make sure your car is OK running on 95 Octane (or turn boost right down) - it means the drive from Italy to Switzerland over the alps has to be done at low boost - no biggie ..

Have a great trip!
hicks
Posts: 1879
Joined: Thu May 26, 2005 9:00 pm
Location: Chesterfield

Re: trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by hicks »

just spent ages righting a post out with new info and figures only to close it before pressing the post button #-o

it was much the same as bens with toll figures and insurance/breakdown quotes ive got but will post it tomorrow as i cant be bothered typing it all again now.

thanks for the info ben and helpful advise

take a look at this http://www.bugeurope.com/transport/driving.html

very informative sight.

regards

alex.
michael
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Re: trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by michael »

I'd love to do something like this if my car was a bit better on petrol :(

Maybe I could come in the Punto.... nah, not quite the same.
hicks
Posts: 1879
Joined: Thu May 26, 2005 9:00 pm
Location: Chesterfield

Re: trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by hicks »

ok, bit of an update.

got some firm prices for ferry, travel insurance, tolls and breakdown cover.

traveling with p&o ferrys departing at 8:25am will cost £30 with the trip back being no more than £50.

eurotunnel do a personal insurance policy covering 8 people plus european breakdown cover for £91.99 for 14 days.

tolls will be £40 for france £17 for italy as they use a via card which you have to purchase and swipe as you go through the tolls but not sure if we will hit any as we are only going on a short strech of the autostrada. switzeland dont have toll they use a sticker which you put in your window called a vignette which costs £15. well worth it as if you get caught without one you get hefty fines.

so nothing to expensive overall.

dont forget if you can get a mate to come with you, you can share the driving and halve the costs.

check this vid of an elise storming up the stelvio pass
http://www.daveakerman.com/~tchurly/2003.wmv

p.s. the guy is abit of a willy but gives you an idea.

kind regards

alex.

oh almost forgot might be meeting up with some skyline gtr owners at monaco as they are going to top marques show same date as us.
hicks
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Joined: Thu May 26, 2005 9:00 pm
Location: Chesterfield

Re: trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by hicks »

another pick of stelvio pass
Image
come on guys you know you want to :wink:
stu148

Re: trip across europe (driving holiday) CANX

Post by stu148 »

top,,top,,top
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