GO ASK JOAN: Your travel questions answered by JOAN SCALES
We have three kids (girl 15, boys 13 and nine) and are thinking of hiring a camper van for a free-spirited trip around Europe in late June/July. Could you suggest a couple of itineraries for a four-week holiday, and maybe a suitable type of van? - FE, Down
Where you hire a camper van will affect the cost of your holiday. Take it from Ireland or Northern Ireland and you will have the additional cost of ferries to France or Holland plus fuel and tolls. So you should weigh up the cost of flying to your first point and hiring from there.
A camper van for your family will cost in the region of €1,000–€1,400 per week here depending on size. In France, that can drop to around €900-€1,100 per week. You may want to get a van that will allow for a bit of privacy for your 15 year-old daughter, ie, one with three sleeping areas. See argusmotorhomes.com.
Over a month you could drive to Italy, Poland or the south of Spain and take in a few countries. European countries are well organised for camper van travel and there are plenty of camping places to stay. Overnight pitches cost around €20-€35 per night – pre-book pitches in popular areas. Find a list of campsites on campingeurope.com. Because you have a month, you have time to tour and stay along the way, giving you an opportunity to enjoy the holiday and the children the freedom to explore new places.
Looking at a few possible itineraries, if you drive from Ireland through England, why not visit some theme parks like Alton Towers or Drayton Manor, and then hop to the continent from Harwich to Holland. Stop off at Efteling ( efteling.com), the popular Dutch park, before making your way to Germany and down the Rhine towards Bavaria and the Alps from where you can choose to go to Switzerland, Austria or Italy. You could also make it to the Dalmatian coast of Croatia.
If you were to fly into Bordeaux, Aer Lingus have a daily service and it costs around €150 per person booked early. You could pick up a motorhome here and explore the wine region, heading towards the surf city of Biarritz, then meander toward San Sebastian for a bit more surf and food. Follow the route of the Camino de Santiago across northern Spain towards Compostela, stopping along the way to discover Green Spain. You could make Pamplona for the San Fermin bull running festival from July 6th–14th.
Another French route to consider is the rose city of Toulouse where you can pick up the van and climb into the Pyrenees, shop in Andorra and then drop back down over the mountains towards the coast of Spain, Barcelona, the Costa Brava and south to the Costa Blanca.
Stay in one of the seaside camping resorts like El Delfim Verde ( Eldelfimverde.com) where there are terrific facilities for children. Other towns to discover along this coastal area are Girona, Tarragona, Planes, and Figueres. Take the road around the Pyrenees back towards Toulouse and you could visit Colloiure, Perpignan and Carcassonne. Use viamichelin.comfor planning your routes around Europe. The site will also give an estimation of fuel costs and tolls.
Getting to Gothenburg
My first grandchild lives near Gothenburg and direct flights are just too expensive. I am willing to fly anywhere near and then get a train or hire a car. What do you suggest for travel in June? - DP, Westmeath
There are no direct services from Dublin to Gothenburg so you will have to travel via another airport. However you can get there for a reasonable price – if you are a bit organised.
Ryanair flies from Dublin to Stansted and from there to Gothenburg. It means two flights, two separate bookings and two separate sets of boarding cards. Leave plenty of time between flights.
There are also flights from other airports including Edinburgh, Manchester and Brussels. Watch for Ryanair sales and if you fly midweek the fares are less.
In the sale last week, for flights around your intended dates, the fare to London was €48 and the fare from London to Gothenburg was £36 (€43), ryanair.com.
Luggage I can wear
I am 75 and suffer from arthritis in both wrists (indeed all over). I am trying to find wearable luggage. I want something that can store underwear, T-shirts, etc, so I can just have a carry-on wheelie case for bulky items like shoes and toiletries. I would prefer not to look like the Michelin man. - MH, Dublin
An Irish engineer John Power has invented the very thing you are looking for. Jaktogo is a jacket you wear that has lots of pockets that can hold up to 15kgs of clothes and other personal items. It doubles as a bag and you put it on when boarding a flight. There's a tunic dress version too. It costs around €80 plus postage, from jaktogo.com.
Email queries, with your name and address, to jscales@irishtimes.com