How far and how long have you been away with your California?

Fiskar · Feb 14, 2016

Am in Ireland and looking at buying either a VW Cali - Ocean or a motorhome. For practicality and ease of
manoeuvring the VW - Cali is the way to go but how practical is it to use as a home from home for say 3 months abroad on the continent?

How far have you taken your Cali and for how long. Am thinking just 2 people with a Cali and not a family of 4 but open to hearing stories.
Are the campsite facilities and prices suffice to moor a Cali and enjoy the usual creature comforts?

WelshGas · Feb 14, 2016

My longest trip so far has been 22 nights and 5,324 miles, to Nordkapp, Norway, from South Wales via Euroshuttle.
Most European sites have all the facilities you require and prices to suit all pockets. If the weather is good then you'll have everything you require.

Hotel California · Feb 14, 2016

Hard to beat WG , but....
5000km round trip , Norway
19 days from home , 18 sleepovers in the Cali in a row.
Details,
http://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/three-weeks-south-and-mid-norway.10354/

Btw , welcome on your first post!

BerndRos · Feb 14, 2016

15 months on the go, 22 countries, as far as Turkey..Tunisia....about 25000 miles.

WelshGas · Feb 14, 2016

BerndRos said:
15 months on the go, 22 countries, as far as Turkey..Tunisia....about 25000 miles.

Winner so far. :thumb

Fiskar · Feb 14, 2016

BerndRos said:
15 months on the go, 22 countries, as far as Turkey..Tunisia....about 25000 miles.

A real home from home!

Hotel California · Feb 14, 2016

BerndRos said:
15 months on the go, 22 countries, as far as Turkey..Tunisia....about 25000 miles.

Realy , one trip ...no return home ...no hotelrooms...?

Take my hat off....

:thumb

BerndRos · Feb 14, 2016

Yes, one trip, no Hotels, aim was to live like a 1960s bum and see whole of Europe and some beyond. In Tunisia went down as far as and a little way into the Sahara.

Experience of VW was..DPF failure in Czech Republic..New brakes all round in Turkey..New Tyres in Athens...oh and a rip off first service at Faro Portugal where they charged me from memory just under 300 euros for the first oil change..avoid that VW garage at all costs..!

Fiskar · Feb 14, 2016

hotel california T5 said:
Hard to beat WG , but....
5000km round trip , Norway
19 days from home , 18 sleepovers in the Cali in a row.
Details,
http://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/three-weeks-south-and-mid-norway.10354/

Btw , welcome on your first post!

Many thanks Hotel California, nice dog and good that you could travel with the dog without any issue. Read through your blog and many thanks for the useful travel information, costs and locations. It makes a plan for a Norway visit a must, some wonderful scenery.

Fiskar · Feb 14, 2016

WelshGas said:
Winner so far.

Thanks WelshGas, I must look at your trip blog, useful to know the time away as that is probably the most time off I could take from work but what makes it for me is the variety in scenery and not being tied to one spot for too long.
I suppose with the network for VW there is always somewhere to get the Cali serviced or repaired.

kave · Feb 15, 2016

BerndRos said:
Yes, one trip, no Hotels, aim was to live like a 1960s bum and see whole of Europe and some beyond. In Tunisia went down as far as and a little way into the Sahara.

Experience of VW was..DPF failure in Czech Republic..New brakes all round in Turkey..New Tyres in Athens...oh and a rip off first service at Faro Portugal where they charged me from memory just under 300 euros for the first oil change..avoid that VW garage at all costs..!

Any report from this trip?

flyingQ · Feb 20, 2016

28,000 miles across North, Central and South Americas in 7 months? Thread in 'out of Europe' in this forum.

Fiskar · Feb 20, 2016

Excellent flyingQ, will check out your thread.

Fiskar · Feb 20, 2016

WelshGas said:
My longest trip so far has been 22 nights and 5,324 miles, to Nordkapp, Norway, from South Wales via Euroshuttle.
Most European sites have all the facilities you require and prices to suit all pockets. If the weather is good then you'll have everything you require.

Wow, that was some trip, your thread was so good and the photos I read it twice. Nordkapp is some spot and I can see from your avatar what it means. There are just some parts of the continent that a campervan can go to that there simply isn't a hotel or town. My only question for you, how do you top thta trip and what have you planned for this year?

WelshGas · Feb 21, 2016

Fiskar said:
Wow, that was some trip, your thread was so good and the photos I read it twice. Nordkapp is some spot and I can see from your avatar what it means. There are just some parts of the continent that a campervan can go to that there simply isn't a hotel or town. My only question for you, how do you top thta trip and what have you planned for this year?

My youngest son is getting married in Florence at the end of July, so driving down over 3 days, staying in a hotel for the wedding celebrations with the rest of the family, then a week camping on the Italian Riviera and a slow drive back through the centre of France staying a few days here and there and onto Paris to visit the Monet gardens etc: and then back home , about a month in total. Next year I'm driving to Bodo in Norway and back south through Norway. In the meantime we are visiting the other children in California and Australia.

jts46 · Feb 21, 2016

France, Corsica, Sardinia, Siciiy, Italy, France. 55 continous nights in cali. 5000 miles

John

BerndRos · Feb 21, 2016

John, that would have been a good trip.

Can you please advise on the various ferry routes you took and the companies used and crossing times ?

Kmann · Feb 21, 2016

johntowers46 said:
France, Corsica, Sardinia, Siciiy, Italy, France. 55 continous nights in cali. 5000 miles

John

We are planning a trip from Denmark to Genova - Corsica - La Maddalena - Sardenia - Rome and from there on back- 3-4 weeks in all.

Would love to get a few experiences from your trip, regarding this area ;-)

snowy55 · Feb 21, 2016

The longest trip so far is 28 nights.
Midlands to the ferry at Plymouth across to Santander in northern Spain.
Drive down Spain to Algeciras, ferry to Tanger Med in Morocco.
10 nights in Morocco. Details in this thread.

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/holiday-to-morocco-sept-2015.11465/

Tanger Med ferry to Algeciras, headed west to Portugal then back up Spain to Bilbao for the ferry to Portsmouth.
About 1500 miles in Morocco, total mileage 3600.
Fantastic trip.

Aidy P · Feb 21, 2016

Try this thread...

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/how-extreme-have-you-been.11497/page-4#post-113416

Fiskar · Feb 21, 2016

johntowers46 said:
France, Corsica, Sardinia, Siciiy, Italy, France. 55 continous nights in cali. 5000 miles

John

Now that is a nice long trip, do you plan long stopovers at the one campsite? How many campsites will that involve and are they as easy to book as a hotel room in advance?

Fiskar · Feb 21, 2016

WelshGas said:
My youngest son is getting married in Florence at the end of July, so driving down over 3 days, staying in a hotel for the wedding celebrations with the rest of the family, then a week camping on the Italian Riviera and a slow drive back through the centre of France staying a few days here and there and onto Paris to visit the Monet gardens etc: and then back home , about a month in total. Next year I'm driving to Bodo in Norway and back south through Norway. In the meantime we are visiting the other children in California and Australia.

You will enjoy Florence, best to do on foot. We stayed here http://www.ecvacanze.it/en/camping/camping-village/norcenni-girasole-club in Figline Valdarno, 4 restaurants and accessible to train and road to Sienna and north to Pisa and Bologna. End July will be hot so you are probably best to head for the sea. Enjoy, will enjoy seeing the trip report for that area.

Fiskar · Feb 28, 2016

flyingQ said:
28,000 miles across North, Central and South Americas in 7 months? Thread in 'out of Europe' in this forum.

Wow that is some trip, I do love America having been to California 9 times, 7 with work and 2 on holiday. Am up to Yellowstone on your blog which is on my future bucket list. The Camper certainly gives you more freedom to stop and go as you like.
When we went to the West Coast in 2014 we did California LA to Palm Springs to Phoenix to Grand Canyon to Monument Valley to Utah (Zion and Bryce National Park to Las Vegas to Death Valley to San Fran) . It simply is an incredible country.
Now to read some more!

WelshGas · Feb 29, 2016

Fiskar said:
You will enjoy Florence, best to do on foot. We stayed here http://www.ecvacanze.it/en/camping/camping-village/norcenni-girasole-club in Figline Valdarno, 4 restaurants and accessible to train and road to Sienna and north to Pisa and Bologna. End July will be hot so you are probably best to head for the sea. Enjoy, will enjoy seeing the trip report for that area.

Thank you. Spent 10 days in Florence having travelled by train, pre-California. This time though we're staying in a 5* hotel, but we're camping on the way down and afterwards head to the Italian Riviera for a week before returning back through France in the California.

clarinetbcn · Jan 26, 2021

Thought I'd wake up this thread to give us something to dream about when this is over...5 weeks in Scotland from Barcelona, 7000km total, 2000km and 3 days each way up and back, the rest of the time alternating Munros with mountain bikes.

5 weeks hiking in the Austrian Alps. That was the essential advantage of having the Cali, because we were 4 hours from the ferry from Denmark to Norway (entrance to Norway from Sweden was already closed) when Norway closed its borders due to corona. Spent a great weekend with friends in Copenhagen, then headed south to the Alps. Total just over 7000km.