Not seen many in Europe

[Maidment_Ocean]

I don't loan to buy a car, nor do I judge people who do to buy their dream or have a strong opinion about it. But this is about the number of Californians one encounters every day. Well, in my neighborhood alone (and I mean within a radius of less than 5 km around where I live, Bruges), there are +10, almost evenly divided between coast, ocean and beach. As in driving to work (about 20 km far away) I know about 10 more 'living' along that road. During every other ride I make with our Cali, I come across at least one. Now: I'm also a little beetle freaky when it comes to small campervans, so it must be just me. In any case: enjoy your cali, fully paid or partly, all the same to me.

And indeed: that 100 km/h restriction during a certain period of the day ensures almost unimaginably economical driving

We were in Bruges 2 weeks ago at camping Memling, probably 10 California/ conversions there.

 

[ThomasHJ]

I'm the only California on today's Harwich ' Hook of Holland ferry, not even any Transporter conversions.

wish you good travels!

 

[calibusje]

We were in Bruges 2 weeks ago at camping Memling, probably 10 California/ conversions there.

I live few kilometres from the camping. Next time you’re there, let me know: I’ll bring you some good Belgian beer

 

[Camperfamily]

@calibusje lucky you. We visited Bruges last summer (stayed at Memling) and it is a wonderful city. I’ve attached three of my favourite photos from there.

We enjoyed 4 hours in Antwerp on the same trip. Concluded I would love to live in Belgium!

 

[calibusje]

@calibusje lucky you. We visited Bruges last summer (stayed at Memling) and it is a wonderful city. I’ve attached three of my favourite photos from there.

We enjoyed 4 hours in Antwerp on the same trip. Concluded I would love to live in Belgium!

View attachment 123268

View attachment 123269

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Nice! If you drank the Brugse Zot at the Halve Maan brewery on Walplein (I suspect, seen the photo), you drank it at its best: direct and unfiltered.

 

[Camperfamily]

Nice! If you drank the Brugse Zot at the Halve Maan brewery on Walplein (I suspect, seen the photo), you drank it at its best: direct and unfiltered.

I did indeed. A great spot!

 

[Kayleigh]

Each time I read about people on this forum trading in there T5 for a T6 and then for a T6.1 after just a few years, I'm astounded at the fact that all British must be millionairs ;-)

You will also have seen people trading in 1 or 2 year old T6.1 Californias for a new one. Partly driven by the finance offers that were available!

 

[willwander]

I don't loan to buy a car, nor do I judge people who do to buy their dream or have a strong opinion about it. But this is about the number of California’s one encounters every day. Well, in my neighborhood alone (and I mean within a radius of less than 5 km around where I live, Bruges), there are +10, almost evenly divided between coast, ocean and beach. As in driving to work (about 20 km far away) I know about 10 more 'living' along that road. During every other ride I make with our Cali, I come across at least one. Now: I'm also a little beetle freaky when it comes to small campervans, so it must be just me. In any case: enjoy your cali, fully paid or partly, all the same to me.

And indeed: that 100 km/h restriction during a certain period of the day ensures almost unimaginably economical driving

Maybe you just live in a posh neighborhood.
Agree Belgium is nice, always been under-rated.

 

[calibusje]

Maybe you just live in a posh neighborhood.
Agree Belgium is nice, always been under-rated.

Yeah maybe, but I live in the darker suburbs of that posh neighbourhood
I like visiting the UK

 

[RockinNRollin]

the answer is make hard choices unfortunately.

This is it really; the current young generation are used to relatively high levels of affordability and accessible (over-accessible?!) finance; it's driven a culture of getting things you want instantly, rather than saving for it. This means those individuals are so much more susceptible to shifts in the financial climate, interest rates climb a bit and everything becomes unaffordable very quicky. A bit of naivety features here I think.

I think back to when I was a kid in the 80s/90s and my folks (who had good jobs) struggled along with one knackered car between them, we didn't have family holidays for about 5 years and after that, it was always a UK holiday (usually a cheap holiday cottage in a far flung corner - great times though), maybe ate out at the local pub a few times a year at most - that was it. But they stayed solvent (just!) by making sacrifices. I think the "youth of today" can't stomach cutting out those luxuries . . . perhaps because they've grown up in a time when such things are the norm and expected. These days everyone seems to think they're entitled to foreign holidays, new cars, nice house etc. whereas in reality, not all that long ago they really were luxuries you could only afford if you scraped together your hard-earned first.

 

[66tim99]

We’ve spent the last week driving through the Netherlands (Hook of Holland) down to Cologne in Germany and back up to Zandvoort in Holland. Whereas VW Campervans are a very frequent sight in the UK, and our Cali’s a common sight, we can count the number of California’s spotted on less than 10 fingers.
on a Dutch campsite we where next to a Dutch converted T6, and a French registered Ocean next to them, and seen three today, but not many more.
on a plus, most of the Dutch motorway is 100kmh speed limits, driving down to Cologne and back, we averaged just under 48mpg.

Yes I did 41mpg at the weekend with 2 bikes on the back and 4 men inside fully loaded, driving Calais to Spa return (for the World Endurance Championships), cruising at 120kph. Amazing really.

 

[Azteccamper]

This is it really; the current young generation are used to relatively high levels of affordability and accessible (over-accessible?!) finance; it's driven a culture of getting things you want instantly, rather than saving for it. This means those individuals are so much more susceptible to shifts in the financial climate, interest rates climb a bit and everything becomes unaffordable very quicky. A bit of naivety features here I think.

I think back to when I was a kid in the 80s/90s and my folks (who had good jobs) struggled along with one knackered car between them, we didn't have family holidays for about 5 years and after that, it was always a UK holiday (usually a cheap holiday cottage in a far flung corner - great times though), maybe ate out at the local pub a few times a year at most - that was it. But they stayed solvent (just!) by making sacrifices. I think the "youth of today" can't stomach cutting out those luxuries . . . perhaps because they've grown up in a time when such things are the norm and expected. These days everyone seems to think they're entitled to foreign holidays, new cars, nice house etc. whereas in reality, not all that long ago they really were luxuries you could only afford if you scraped together your hard-earned first.

You are right and I remember similar from my parents in the 70’s/80’s ……. but that was 40+ yrs ago. I bet your grandparents thought your parents lived a life of luxury compared to the 40’s! Life changes. Society changes. Work and leisure activities have changed. We grew up where money was valued and you worked and saved hard for things, the last 10+ years people (not just the youth, but people of all ages) have had easy credit, buy now pay later and pay per month for everything. An example is I’m currently considering buying a new car - I get a blank look when I say I want to pay cash and not a pcp ‘deal’. Bonkers - but let’s not say it’s the ‘youth of today’ - in fairness it’s all they know.

 

[RockinNRollin]

You are right and I remember similar from my parents in the 70’s/80’s ……. but that was 40+ yrs ago. I bet your grandparents thought your parents lived a life of luxury compared to the 40’s! Life changes. Society changes. Work and leisure activities have changed. We grew up where money was valued and you worked and saved hard for things, the last 10+ years people (not just the youth, but people of all ages) have had easy credit, buy now pay later and pay per month for everything. An example is I’m currently considering buying a new car - I get a blank look when I say I want to pay cash and not a pcp ‘deal’. Bonkers - but let’s not say it’s the ‘youth of today’ - in fairness it’s all they know.

This is true, although the generation prior were dealing with the financial black-hole post-WW2, but absolutely, things were even simpler then (cue the "all I had as a kid was a hoop and a stick"). I don't think social media helps; it creates a false impression of "normal" and one that many (not just younger, but more commonly I think) are keen to aspire to, sometimes seemingly at any cost. The problem is, these "Instragrammable ideas of normality" are often based on stretched/inventive finances anyway and that's by those with the wonga, to the average joe it becomes even more of a leap, but one that in the spotlight (or perceived spotlight) of social media, people are desperate to attain.

 

[ThomasHJ]

This is it really; the current young generation are used to relatively high levels of affordability and accessible (over-accessible?!) finance; it's driven a culture of getting things you want instantly, rather than saving for it. This means those individuals are so much more susceptible to shifts in the financial climate, interest rates climb a bit and everything becomes unaffordable very quicky. A bit of naivety features here I think.

I think back to when I was a kid in the 80s/90s and my folks (who had good jobs) struggled along with one knackered car between them, we didn't have family holidays for about 5 years and after that, it was always a UK holiday (usually a cheap holiday cottage in a far flung corner - great times though), maybe ate out at the local pub a few times a year at most - that was it. But they stayed solvent (just!) by making sacrifices. I think the "youth of today" can't stomach cutting out those luxuries . . . perhaps because they've grown up in a time when such things are the norm and expected. These days everyone seems to think they're entitled to foreign holidays, new cars, nice house etc. whereas in reality, not all that long ago they really were luxuries you could only afford if you scraped together your hard-earned first.

I'm not young but...

Sure you have a point. One I agree with. However, if you are talking about a 'young generation', then who are the generation that raised these young people and tought them about financial choices? And also, who are the generations above them that provide easy accesable finance? That put those structures in place (to get rich?). The world the younger generations live in has not magically appeared. It was build by the choices made by generatiosn before them.

 

[Maidment_Ocean]

This thread seems to have taken a strange turn into the Twilight Zone!

 

[RockinNRollin]

This thread seems to have taken a strange turn into the Twilight Zone!

It did occur to me I was fuelling this a bit by participating, but it is an interesting discussion!

 

[ThomasHJ]

To solve the OP's problem I will drive around in my Cali in NL a bit more then normal the coming weeks. Hope that helps.

 

[WelshGas]

Still not seen another California on my trip to Norway.

 

[scottk]

Lake Annecy last week there must have been 10 at Lac Bleu camping. It was a public holiday though. Currently at Camping Jungfrau and there are 5 or 6 plus a few conversions. Seen a couple of rental Calis and GCs.

 

[pluc99]

The dutch calis are probably all vacationing in Italy and Spain

 

[scottk]

The dutch calis are probably all vacationing in Italy and Spain

LOL. A lot of them were NL but a couple of brits and a Belgium

 

[IanE]

Yeah maybe, but I live in the darker suburbs of that posh neighbourhood
I like visiting the UK

Just massively agreeing with what a splendid place is Bruges - we spent a week there unexpectedly last year and enjoyed every minute exploring the place. Ghent also beautiful!

And then there’s the beer

 

[Corradobrit]

Thanks guys. My next excursion will be to Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges. The last time I visited Ghent was 36 years ago when the ferry companies were offering those ridiculously cheap day excursions. For something like a pound.

 

[ChrisTravel]

Lake Annecy last week there must have been 10 at Lac Bleu camping. It was a public holiday though. Currently at Camping Jungfrau and there are 5 or 6 plus a few conversions. Seen a couple of rental Calis and GCs.

Would you recommend those campsites heading that way in a few weeks

 

[scottk]

Would you recommend those campsites heading that way in a few weeks

Lake Annecy definitely. Massive pitches and good toilets. Camping Jungfrau I would recommend as long as you check out what you want to do beforehand. There are lots of bus loads of day tourists so the town gets busy. Loads of hiking and biking and the train is very handy BUT not much else. The campsite itself is nice with loads of services and a good restaurant on site but it is busy and the pitches are smaller and some are weirdly set out! In both of them, the staff couldn’t be nicer. Lac Bleu also has great kids entertainment if you need that as well as pools. Camping Jungfrau is the most amazing location but we are probably a bit early as the season hasn’t really started and the weather has been a mixed bag.