Back in January 2024, we went on the biggest road trip to date since living full time in our self-converted van. Due to the 90 day rule for travelling in Europe, we made the decision to maximise our travel and complete the full 90 days. This was our biggest road trip with the children, therefore it was very exciting but also slightly nerve racking as we did not know how they would respond. If you are thinking about planning a road trip around Europe then my advice is to just do it! Read on to find out how we planned, budgeted and travelled through 8 countries in just 3 months.
Planning the road trip
Where do you begin when planning a 3 month road trip? Firstly, we needed to decide a rough route of where we wanted to go. We knew we wanted to travel to Spain (hello winter sun!) and decided that we would save time by booking a direct ferry to Spain. Once we had a rough idea of the countries we wanted to visit, we began to make a note of specific places we wanted to visit/ things we wanted to do. Like with all of our travel plans, we knew that these were flexible and likely to change. Therefore, the only thing we booked prior to our travels was the ferry to Spain.
Budgeting for a 3 month road trip
I had left my teaching job back in July therefore knowing we were planning to do this road trip, I tried to put some money aside. Without including the cost of the ferry, I managed to save £3000 for the 3 months. Now, we had absolutely no idea if this would be enough but we decided that we would see how far it would go. This meant that as a family of 4 travelling around Europe, we would have £1000 per month to cover everything. Having travelled on a budget before, we knew what the key things were to ensure we stayed in budget.
Countries visited
Our route changed multiple times as we travelled. We were totally fine with this and kept an open mind as to where we ended up on this trip. Originally, we had planned to spend some time in Andorra and Italy however as the trip progressed, we prioritised other countries to ensure we stayed within our budget. During the 3 months on the road we visited 8 countries:
Portugal
France
Switzerland
Germany
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Belgium
Travelling around
We were extremely lucky to be travelling with our good friends The Road is our Home for the majority of the trip. Whilst we didn't really have any idea about places we wanted to see and visit, they came up with some incredible places to explore. Whilst on the road, we always enjoyed a slow morning before heading off to a new spot. This was a routine that we fell into and it worked well for our rhythm. With the kids, it also allowed us to squeeze in some informal learning/journalling before heading off to explore.
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We mostly stayed in free park ups using Park4Night and Google Maps to help us find spots. However, we did include the occasional aire or campsite when we were in need of a shower/laundry.
Campsites
Spending the odd night or two on a campsite turned out to be a nice little reset for us all, especially the kids. As I mentioned above, we did not spend a lot of time on campsites but the ones we did were great! I have put together a list of campsites we used during this road trip here.
Trip Highlights
We had so many incredible moments during this trip from splashing about in a mud bath with flamingos to watching the most beautiful sunset in the Algarve.
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One of my favourite highlights of the trip was seeing what the kids got out of it. Every interaction and experience was precious. After spending 2 months in Spain, the boys were beginning to communicate independently in Spanish, ordering their own drinks and talking to other children. It opened my eyes to the importance of traveling with kids and just letting kids be kids.
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We are a family of 4 living and travelling full time in our self converted Luton van.Â
Our aim is to provide other families information, guides and top tips to help them on their next adventure, whether that's world travel, van life or home education.