This week we’re taking our motorhome on our biggest road trip yet… we’re heading to Europe for the very first time, and things aren't exactly going to plan... it’s a disaster before we’ve even left the UK 😳🚐

We’ve got four kids, no real plan, no return ferry booked...and somehow we’ve already missed our ferry before the adventure has even started.

After months of talking about travelling Europe in the motorhome, it’s finally time to leave the UK and head for France… but things go wrong almost immediately.

We leave home late, stop overnight at a service station outside Birmingham because we’re too tired to carry on, and after only a few hours sleep, we wake up to realise we’ve missed our ferry to Europe.

Not exactly the dream start 😂

With no idea what to do, we decide to keep driving towards Dover and hope we can somehow sort another ferry when we get there. But after a long drive, a scary driver weaving dangerously around the motorhome, crossing the Dartford Bridge, and arriving at Dover ferry port with no ticket for the crossing we need… we end up going straight through customs and getting the motorhome pulled aside to be searched.

This is not how we imagined our first Europe motorhome trip starting.

Somehow, after missing our original ferry and turning up late, Irish Ferries manage to get us onto another crossing without charging us for a brand new ticket, saving us over £180… but even then, the chaos isn’t over.

Our ferry is delayed, which means we’re now going to arrive in France late, miss check-in at our campsite, and turn up in a 30 degree heatwave with no electric hook-up, no air con, four tired children, and absolutely no idea what we’re doing.

Then it’s Mark’s first time driving the motorhome on the other side of the road in France… and let’s just say we quickly realise we might have underestimated this trip.

In this first episode of our Europe motorhome road trip, we leave the UK, miss our ferry, get through Dover customs, cross from Dover to Calais, arrive in France, drive to Camping Château du Gandspette, and try to settle into our first stop before heading deeper into Europe.

After all the stress of getting there, the campsite turns out to be exactly what we needed. The kids get to swim, we finally get chance to slow down, we discover fresh croissants and baguettes at the campsite in the morning, and we even attempt a very hot walk to a French supermarket for milk because apparently no brews is where we draw the line 😂

This is honest family motorhome life… four kids, one old motorhome, no proper plan, no return ferry booked, a missed ferry, customs, heatwave chaos, driving in France for the first time, and us wondering very early on whether taking our motorhome around Europe was brave, stupid, or a bit of both.

We love reading your comments so let us know…
Where in Europe do you think we should go?
Or tell us where are you watching from! 🌍

Thanks so much for watching 💛

Mark, Ashlie, Henry, Alfie, Bertie & Charlotte
Six In A Van 🚐

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