So… we’re driving to Greece… as you do!
We have a villa booked in Corfu for 10 days in the middle of September, and in some Cliff Richard-esque Summer Holiday vibe, we decided to reduce our carbon footprint and drive instead of flying.
Unlike Cliff though, we had planned to do the trip from the outset, rather than picking up a singing-trio in the second scene and diverting from the South of France. And given the stuff we’ve packed, there won’t be any room for hitch hikers anyway.
While the trip has been in the diary for a few months, we have been very flexible about when and where the trip will be. We’ve told everyone we’re leaving in August and will be back at the end of October. It’s only been in the last week or so that we’ve crystallised the outward date and settled on Monday August the 5th to get going. And while we’ll set off from Bristol on the 5th we don’t hit the Chunnel until the next day.
Once in mainland Europe we’ll be heading to Ypres for a few days and from there we don’t really have any plans at all. There’s a few things we’d like to hit on the route but we’re not planning too much in case we decide to stay longer in one place or not.
The Balkans
The one fly in the ointment is our route across the Balkans. We have Van insurance for the UK and all EU countries, but couldn’t find any reasonable insurance to get from Croatia/Serbia to Greece.
Te get between Croatia or Serbia and Greece we have a choice of Albania, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro or Bulgaria.
We need to stay to the west of Greece to get to Corfu, so either Albania or Macedonia would be the ideal route.
Depending on who you talk to and what experience they’ve had travelling in those countries, you’re either going to have a fantastic time, or you’ll loose your ride and end up in jail. It seems things have got a lot better with travelling in those countries, but from extortion on the border, driving practices, random policing and out and out skulduggery we will certainly have to have our whits about us if we venture through these countries.
If we do, then Albania is tough to get insurance for (it seems). But we could find insurance for Macedonia or Montenegro. For both countries though insurance quotes were well north of £1000 pounds for the trip. In the end we’ve decided to wing it a bit. We’ll see what the Tourist Info says when we get to Serbia and possibly see if we can get insurance on the border of Macedonia. Macedonia is only around 100 miles north to south, so some “border insurance” and dash across the country with no stops might be our plan.
If we don’t fancy that cash-and-dash option, then we have options to get ferries from Dubrovnik (Croatia) to Italy and then from Italy to Greece. But that’s a decision for future Sue and John.
The Steed – OliVANder
Our transport, accommodation and companion for the trip is a 2019 VW California camper van that we named Olivander… Ollie-VAN-der… geddit!?
We’ve taken Ollie on a number of trips around the UK and even a trip to Nice in the South of France last summer. So, we’re used to longer trips in Ollie and we’re looking forward to our time together this summer.
We’re also no strangers to long road-trips, having driven to Italy in 2016 and many trips to France over the years.
We also took an ancient (even then) converted Ambulance, painted red and graffitied, to France in the early 90’s! So, road trips are in our blood!
And that’s the overview. I’m hoping to put a blog post up for each day we’re away, so stay tuned for updates and antics.
J&S
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