MY LIFE IN CANADA, MY TRAVELS by MALOU CRUZ

Our Favorite, Fabulous France

2012-07-27T04:13:00.002-07:00

We started liking France in 2007, our first time RVing in Europe. We found that we were wrong in our perception - that France is an expensive country. We discovered small markets like Lidl, Aldi, Penny and a lot more selling cheap but quality products, groceries and food. Even the big ones like E.Leclerc, Carrefour and Auchan's prices of meat, seafood and bread are cheap too. I, of course, am speaking from my experiences shopping in Canada, which to me now seem unbelievably expensive.

Last year, our second time RVing in Europe, we found and discovered a spot in Dunkirk where motorhomers can park legally. It is an assigned space for motorhomers, a few stops to the sea, there is washroom facility, a water source, poissonerie (seafood shop) is not far where prices are really cheap, free wifi is available and it's free to park there as long as one wants. One wonderful bonus is that in August, the month we were there last year, the climate was wonderful, it was mild, not hot at all. It was heaven.

This year, is our fourth time in France and our fourth time to see the sites in Paris. We liked that we can park right in front of the Eiffel Tower illegally but the police swarming the place did not ask us to move. We experienced that last year, so we did it again this year. Hah, same thing - the police are the nicest in Paris. We were meeting with friends so I cooked pork and chicken adobo and fried maquereau (mackerel); our friends brought rice, vegies, ice cream and 2 bottles of champagne. We had a blast and stayed up to 12 midnight exactly. We revisited places in Paris one day when we bought a day pass for Euros6.40 per person; went to see Sacre Coeur for the first time, joined the mass of French people in the grass/grounds beside The Louvre and the giant ferris wheel, had dinner at Chinatown; rode the bus going nowhere couple of times just to see Paris from a bus, got back 'home' at midnight.

In France, they have what is called municipal camping in most towns and cities - designated camper parking where motorhomers can park for free or for a minimal amount per day (from 7-10 euros). Our experience is that we can park anywhere there is no height barrier and stay overnight, no problem. This year, we have not paid a cent staying in a paid camping while last year, in our 6 months rving, we paid 3 nights in a municipal camping for 8 a night.

Picture Perfect Austria

2012-07-27T03:36:00.003-07:00

The first time we visited Austria was in 1998, we were back-packing and using mostly trains to go from one country to another. On our way to Vienna in 1998, we were astounded by the seemingly perfect landscape of the land as we travel aboard the train. We wonder how it is possible.

We have visited different cities since and been to this country four times now, still we are awed by Austria's beauty. Now that we are traveling in a motorhome, we get to drive, which actually is our preference, mostly on secondary roads allowing us to see and experience the unexplored parts, to see the majectic Alps, the scenic villages, the perfect landscape and the colorful fields and farms.

Romania's Image an Old Cliche

2012-06-15T08:43:00.001-07:00

Romania is unfortunately labelled wrongly and unfairly. Her reputation is not repaired despite economic changes, progress, modernization, etc. I guess the government should launch a massive campaign to improve her image.

We have read in blogs and forums about bad roads, gypsies, poverty, dirt and trash everywhere, feeling of not being safe as a tourist and similar feedback which discourages potential visitors from visiting the country.

Our route to Romania coming from Szeged, Hungary was through:
Timisoara
Caransebes
Drobeta-Turnu Severin
Craiova
Bucharest
Bran
Brasov
Sighisoara
Targu-Mures
Cluj Napoca
Oradea

and then we crossed the border and entered Hungary again in Artand after exactly two weeks in Romania.

There was about two kms of really bad, heavily cratered road in entering Craiova, some uneven roads elsewhere and that's all about bad roads - the rest was either good or very good.

In all the cities we had been to, we see modern malls and supermarkets, people well dressed, lots of coffee shops and lots of people in it, we see progress and wealth. In all of Europe, we were impressed most by Iulius Mall in Timisoara. Coffee shops with plush chairs or leather sofas are everywhere in the mall. The lobby coffee shops is even lovelier compared to 5 star hotels with its three stories high ceiling. The food court was awesome, tables wide spaced, high ceilinged and really huge which gives a feeling of being free and relaxed. There was free wife and sockets for computer. Food was cheap and there was about 20 food concessionaires - plenty of food choices. Most importantly, the washroom was modern, very clean, soap smells good with 19 sinks but only 10 toilet cubicles.

Trash and littering is not a problem although I saw isolated cases of it. Cities are not dirty - they're clean actually.

We were approached by one gypsy kid and one gypsy man in Sighisoara. Anywhere else it did not happen. We free-camped every night and we did not feel unsafe nor threatened.

The cities of Romania are beautiful, the country side are marvelous and majestic even. I love the hills, mountain ranges, smaller hills on top of bigger hills, red roofed homes on valleys and plains, small and huge rivers and lakes - the landscape is unbelievably amazing.

Our favorite city in Romania is Timisoara. The city is clean and the park and square is impressive and obviously well cared for with plenty of trees and blooming flowers. Our favorite country in Europe in terms of nature and landscape is Romania and France for being RV friendly and the exquisite and bluer than blue Meditteranean sea.

Romania
Capital - Bucharest
Currency - Romanian Lei
Size - 238,391 square kms
Population - 19.04M

Take Two in Budapest, Hungary

2012-06-15T06:39:00.001-07:00

We first visited Hungary in 2007 and when I recently reviewed our photos of that visit, I was not happy with the quality of our photos. We used a Lumix Panasonic point and shoot camera back then and now we have upgraded to DSLR Canon with 18 - 200 mm zoom lens. I wanted better pictures and so two days ago, we went back to where we were parked in 2007 - at the foot of the historical, beautiful and at-night mesmerizing Chain Bridge connecting Buda and Pest below which is the River Danube. Mar took new photos and I am happily content with the results.

We visited the cities of Pecs, Szged and the capital Budapest. All these cities are with a long history and those are evident in the architecture of the historical buildings and churches. The cities are beautiful. The country side are wisely and productively used to grow and raise plants and animals.

I might as well mention here that here in Europe all countries are actively and aggressively into farming which I did not see much in the Philippines. People here are seemingly hard-working. Last year in France, there was a news of drought which affected crops in France and which the government is giving aid in the billions of Euros. This news is a huge source of amazement to me but what I do not know probably is how much all countries here are subsidizing food production and farming. Food here is cheaper than in Canada - examples of which are the following:

In Romania: pork legs chopped are 8.8 lei a kg or Euros 2 or Cad $2.6.
In Canada: same item above is Cad$6.6

All over Europe, pork is cheaper at an average of 30%. Eggs and milk by about 40%.

Hungary
Capital -Budapest
Currency - Hungarian Forint - Euro1.00 = 296.66 Forint
Size - 93,030 square kms.
Population - 10,014M

Croatia But Not the Adriatic

2012-06-15T05:53:00.000-07:00

I am sure Croatia is famous for her beaches along the Adriatic Sea like the beaches of Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik. Like I said we are always changing our route and this time we decided to miss those beaches. We do a lot of research of our routes, road conditions, toll fees or vignettes, border controls, etc. and we deliberate and agonize sometimes where to go next and what roads to take. Based on blogs and forums, we know what the experiences of the other motorhomers have been and we learn from them. In going to Bulgaria and Romania from the coast of Croatia, we needed to cross through Albania which is infamous for the long stretch of super bad roads or Montenegro and Serbia which would require us to cross through the mountains. Not wanting our Brenda the Camper to suffer those difficulties, we visited the capital Zagreb and left town.

Croatia
Capital - Zagreb
Currrency - Croatian Kuna - 1 Kuna = .1325 Euro or 1 Euro = 7.5 Kuna
Size - 56,594 square kms.
Population - 4.290M

Small Slovenia

2012-06-15T05:27:00.001-07:00

I have wanted to see Slovenia since 2007 when we first did RVing in Europe but for reasons I already forgot, we were not able to. Last year, it was not on our route so we missed seeing the country again. This year it is country No. 1 on our route - finally.

After suffering the diesel prices in Italy which was over Euros1.7, it is a great source of happiness when we filled up our tanks at Euros1.33 a liter. So we started off on a happy note in Slovenia. The country is clean, people are friendly I think - due to the fact that we did not feel threatened nor felt racial bias.

We went to the capital Ljubljana and parked in a mall outside the city called Super Nova Mall. We like hanging out in malls and supermarkets and one of my favorites is E.Leclerc which was the one in the shopping area near the mall. In France which E.Leclerc originated from, it sells the cheapest diesel and food and grocery prices are the lowest.

Slovenia's capital must-see's pale in comparison to the grand and even not so grand cities of Europe we have seen so far so there is nothing to write about.

We spent 7 nights in Slovenia free-camping all nights in service stations and the mall parking lot.

I would like to start writing basic but important details of the countries we visited like the following:

Slovenia - capital Ljubljana
Currency - Euros
Size - 20,000 square kms
Population - 2.057M

I say small in comparison to the size of:
Canada - 9,976,000 square kms
Philippines - 300,000 square kms

One Month on the Roads of Europe

2012-06-15T04:46:00.001-07:00

It has been over one month since we started RVing. It is still spring and so far we have experienced 30 degrees C temperatures. We kept changing our route and one time we decided on doing Greece extensively after Bulgaria - we were then in Romania. One day after experiencing extreme heat (extreme for people living in Greater Vancouver, Canada), we were sad but we changed our route again. We dropped Bulgaria and Greece and headed back to Hungary with target destination - Dunkirk and the towns and communes in the Celtic Sea of France - facing the English Channel. We were in the beaches facing the North Sea and part of the Celtic Sea last year in August and we were extremely surprised but happy that the temperatures were warm at the worst and cool on most days. So that is where we want to go. We are Filipinos by birth and has grown tired of the heat and for the last 11 years enjoyed the cool and pleasant wheather in our home in Surrey, BC.

We have travelled 5 countries so far and roughly 2500 kms with an expense of Euros 420 for diesel. Since we do eat home/RV cooked meals most of the time, I don't consider food as an extra expense due to the fact that we do eat whether we are at home or here RVing. Eating out at home is about once or twice a week so it's about the same here. LPG is Euros 20-30 for a month but we do not need to pay for electricity and heating which we normally do when we are home-based so LPG expense is a lot cheaper comparing.

We experienced - unknown to us at the time - an attempted break-in which was unsuccessful obviously. Mar discovered our habitation door (door of the house part of the RV) is broken and was tampered with. This has happened once in our six months of RVing last year on the driver side door. The attempt was also unsuccessful. We consider ourselves very lucky because a lot of successful break-ins are happening here in Europe especially in the South of France and in Spain. Some motorhomers are claiming they were gassed because they did not wake up during the burglary but a lot disagree on the story of gassing claiming it is impossible.

In 2007, our first time RVing in Europe, we were with our 19 year old daughter then, when we were broken into - our daughter's back pack was taken and was ransacked outside (bits of grass clung onto the bottom) then returned after. Her wallet and passport was not taken but her more than Cad$100 was taken. We slept through the whole thing not hearing a thing. Mar woke up the following morning and was shocked to discover we were robbed and a thief or thieves were actually inside our camper while we were deep asleep - all three of us. We were quite relieved and thankful later on that we all were unharmed.

More stories later.

Cruising and RVing - C'est La Vie!

2012-05-31T12:30:00.002-07:00

Our 3rd time cruising the Atlantic Ocean Europe bound was from April 14 to 29, 2012. Total number of times we crossed the Atlantic was 5 times including the ones USA bound. This might indicate how much we enjoy cruising, but actually, the last one in April seemed boring already. We were aboard Navigator of the Seas of the Royal Caribbean International fleet. We boarded in Fort Lauderdale with several ports of call and got off at Civitavecchia (Rome Port), Italy.

Our home base in Italy is at Gazoldo degli Ippolitti, Mantova, where my niece has built her huge home. This is also where we left our Fiat Ducato Camper which we bought last year in April, used RVing several countries in Europe for six months and parked to hibernate in autumn and winter last year.

Brenda the Camper is what we call her. She had been burglarized in hibernation and when we came in April 29, repairs and maintenance routine was done in preparation for our RVing 2012.

So in May 11, 2012 we kicked off with day 1 of our 3rd time RVing in Europe. We've been to Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and now we are in Romania. More stories later.

Exactly Five Months in Canada

2012-04-11T23:59:00.002-07:00

Coming back from our two cruises and exactly 6 months RVing in Europe last year, we arrived home past twelve midnight making it Nov. 12, 2011. Tomorrow, April 12, 2012 we are leaving our home in Surrey, BC to cross the border and fly from Bellingham Airport to Los Angeles, California and from LAX fly to Fort Lauderdale, which makes it exactly 5 months we stayed home and did almost nothing but cook, bake, watch movies and tv shows downloaded from the internet.

We will spend the night of April 13 in Fort Lauderdale before joining our cruise which departs Fort Lauderdale on April 14 for a 15 night trans-atlantic voyage which will end in Civitavecchia, Italy on April 29, 2012

We will be reunited with our RV and we hope to start RVing on May 1 which we plan to do for six months. Our European route is open and as of now we only have an idea where to go but depending on the weather, we will go where it is most comfortable, not too cold and not too hot. We hope to visit countries we have not seen yet but we liked France where RVers are most welcome and we want to explore a lot more of France, so most likely we will be seeing France again. My maiden last name is Cantal and in France there is a Cantal Province, a Cantal Mountain and Cantal cheese, which explains my feeling of connection with France.

2012 Day 1 Happy New Year

2012-01-01T22:51:00.000-08:00

May we all be blessed with good health and wealth so we can pursue our goals and dreams with strength, energy and means, good amount of happiness to keep us out of depression or loneliness, good friends to hang out with and loving and supportive family who loves us unconditionally.

Christmas 2011 Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T00:24:00.000-08:00

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas.

I liked the past 10 Christmases we experienced here in Canada which we celebrated with our small group of Filipino friends. Tomorrow is our 11th which, like always, there is plenty of food, there is gift giving, games, singing, dancing, catching up about each other's lives and basically fun and enjoyment of everyone's company.

All these to celebrate Jesus' birthday but I am not sure about that. I think Christmas is a tradition which most people can't escape or else you or your family might be considered weird or worst an anti-Christ; or a holiday which most people enjoy because there is no work and not about Jesus at all.

This doesn't mean I am complaining but the Jesus/religious/spiritual message is lost on me. Perhaps it is best not to think about the true meaning of Christmas but to just simply enjoy the holiday with family and friends period.

Gone for Seven Months, Home Finally

2011-11-12T20:00:00.001-08:00

Our United Airlines flight touched down yesterday at the Vancouver International Airport just 3 minutes before 11/11/11 is over. We are now back home after being away for seven months and 11 days.

I thought of the following questions and came out with the following answers:
Do I miss our adventurous life in Europe? Yes
Do I miss our pampered life on cruise ships? Yes
Do I like being home? Yes

This means I like all facets of my life. At home, I get to watch all my favorite tv shows, marathon style, no commercials in my big screen. I also get to watch a lot of movies; I especially like watching foreign movies, particularly European movies.

I also like cooking for my children. My eldest already asked me to cook beef tapa for him. I am determined to cook healthy stuff for husband and myself to hopefully get rid of all the cholesterol from eating greasy food while cruising.

My life in Canada is very relaxed and peaceful. I like it.

Arrivederchi Europe

2011-10-25T08:20:00.000-07:00

We will be onboard Mariner of the Seas tomorrow around noon. She will sail through Europe then will cross the atlantic ocean and finally will be in the United States of America on Nov. 11 in Galveston, Texas.

This is actually goodbye to our life in Europe travelling in an RV or a camper which is how Italians call our little home on wheels.

We spent exactly six months in this little home on wheels free camping every night except for 3 nights we paid Euros7.5 per night in a municipal camping in France.

My husband Mar and I are proud of ourselves having completed this journey without any problem except for the one time we were fined about Euros100 in Cremona, Italy for having parked in a Zone 1 area where campers are not allowed and the one time we were fined Euros41in Prague, Czech Republic for the same parking violation.

Mar got sick in the beginning with pollen allergy while I got neck cramps and pain in my right arm but that was all. We were in good health almost the whole time.

We spent only for food and diesel mostly which was not a lot considering we spend the same amount of money in our home in Canada. Food prices here in Europe are cheaper than in North America but diesel is so much more expensive.

Our camper which is a 2002 model with Fiat engine is in very good condition and did not give us any problem at all during our travel. Everything inside the camper like heater, water heater, cooking stove, refrigerator, cassette for our body waste is all in good working condition.

In summary, we had a lot of fun, seen and hang out in a lot of beautiful towns, cities and countries, had a great experience driving around Europe, met and talk to a lot of people and most importantly, we learned how to appreciate simple pleasures of life which does not involved spending money. We love nature and we love hanging out, relaxing, looking and marvelling how beautiful nature can be.

C'est la vie.

Europe 2011 - Part 2

2011-10-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

My husband Mar and I are ending our RVing tomorrow, exactly six months since we officially started on April 25, 2011.

We are taking the train tomorrow from Piadena, Italy to Civitavecchia, Italy arriving the following morning to join a trans-atlantic cruise which will end 16 nights later on Nov. 11, in Galveston, Texas.
After midnight on Nov. 11, we will be home sweet home.

Part 1 of our RVing in Europe 2011 was a round trip from and to my niece's house in Gazoldo degli Ippoliti in Mantova, Italy travelling through Italy, Switzerland, Austrai, Liechtentein, Germany and France.

Part 1 was two months and 2 days with 3 days rest in Gazoldo and over 4,000 kms.

Having rested for 3 days in Regie's (my niece) house, we were ready to go again and so on July 1, 2011 we left Gazoldo for Part 2 of our RVing in Europe 2011. We travelled through Germany with a plan to visit Scandinavian countries but changed our minds. From Germany our new route was Netherlands, Belgium, France, back to Belgium and Netherlands to meet our daughter who flew in from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to join us for exactly 4 weeks. From Amsterdam, Netherlands, we passed through Germany again because our daughter wants to see Poland and as a bonus, we wanted her to see Czech Republic so that was where she ended her trip in Europe. In Prague, daughter Cha, flew to London to meet a friend before flying to the highlight of her trip which is India, where she will backpack for two months.

We continued our Part 2 by travelling through Germany, Austria and finally Italy. We are now back in Gazoldo having completed a round trip from and back to Gazoldo degli Ippoliti.

Part 2 was 3 months and 15 days with 10 days cleaning, detailing, rubbing and waxing the camper, bonding with family (1 brother, 2 nieces, 2 kids of niece) and resting. Mileage was 5,500 kms.

Total mileage is 9500 kms.

We definitely enjoyed our RVing in Europe 2011 and we are coming back for more.

Food Shopping - LIDL and E.Leclerc Our Favorites

2011-09-10T06:10:00.000-07:00

LIDL is a German based small market which can be found all over Europe. It is the kind of market very popular in Germany known for cheap prices. It is small though but it has all the basic food stuff and all kinds of drinks - water, different kinds of fruits and tea drinks, soft drinks, wines and alcohol. ALDI is LIDL's main competitor - both are very similar, both have cheap but good quality food stuff and groceries.

E. Leclrec is a huge market, sometimes it is called E.Leclerc Supermarche or E.Leclerc Hypermarche depending on its size. It is founded in France by Edouard Leclerc in 1949 Inn 2007 it has an annual sales of Euros30 billion.

Sometimes the building is like a mall accomodating all kinds of shops - from clothing to jewelry but the biggest part obviously is the supermarket. We like E.Leclerc because of its cheap prices, good seafood selection, huge parking lot which we sometimes use to stay overnight without a problem and another very inspiring feature, E.Leclerc has gasoline pumps which sells the cheapest diesel so far in our 4.5 months touring Europe this year.

In Germany and Netherlands, huge super and hypermarkets are non existent and I can simply assume it is due to the fact that they are known for being frugal in nature.

In France, we like that they have several super and hypermarkets like Carrefour, Casino, Auchan and E. Leclerc. They have huge parking spaces and they tolerate free camping.

Books, Sudoku and Movies while RVing Around Europe

2011-09-10T05:09:00.000-07:00

Several weeks before leaving our home in Surrey, BC for this year's European tour, my husband downloaded hundreds of movies to my computer. One of my favorite things to do in my home in Canada is watching downloaded tv series' which I can enjoy watching non-stop and without the need to watch the commercials and of course watching downloaded movies, not really the Holywood American movies, but what is typically called "foreign movies" which means European, Korean, Japanese, etc. I am actually overwhelmed and indeed extremely happy knowing that thousands of movies are available to me in the internet anytime I want to watch a movie - we have a super fast internet connection which enables us to download anytime, all the time.

So for this trip, I have hundreds of movies in my computer. It turned out, I will not be watching much. I am not fond of watching a movie in my 17 inches screen. At home, I have a recliner and a huge screen.

Another favorite thing to do is playing sudoku. In 2007, we accidentally found our favorite sudoku book in Germany. I have bought and tried several other books but I found the German sudoku book to be quite challenging and it has puzzles from light to medium to hard to extremely hard which I like. In Canada, last year, we found the book in Amazon and had it shipped to our home. So this year, we made sure to buy it and while having difficulty finding it in bookstores, we bought some other types which turned out good but not as good as the German sudoku.

Books are bulky and takes up a lot of space - but not anymore. We are too cheap to buy Kindle though but we both have Blackberry (gift from our son Ryan). My technical support, my husband Mar of course, downloaded lots of books in his and my Blackberry. He said our Blackberry can accommodate 3 thousand books with its current 2 gb memory card. Wonderful thing about reading books using the Blackberry is that light is not needed - Blackberry screen is lighted. This is actually great because most times we are out of power having used up all our juices using the internet, doing emails, FB, googling and researching towns, cities and countries in Europe and reading Phils., Canada, Europe and US news.

The authors we are reading now are James Patterson, John Grisham, Janet Evanovich and Tara French. Mar and I have finished about 10 books each.

IKEA - Our Favorite Place for Breakfast

2011-09-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

We discovered IKEA breakfast in Innsbruck, Austria around the first week of July this year. What I like about it is - it's cheap and coffee all you can. I am a coffee drinker in the morning and I usually take two mugs.

Another good thing is IKEA's huge parking lot - not to mention their washroom is also huge and clean.

We have been googling for IKEA locations ever since and whenever there is one on our route, that is where we go first.

Euro 1.00 breakfast at IKEA Lille, France

Every country has their own version of IKEA breakfast - Austria has the most content - smoked salmon, 2 slices ham, 2 slices cheese, 2 bread rolls, butter and jam packets for Euros1.95 while France is Euro 1.00 with a croissant, orange juice and coffee only.

Swedish meatballs with Fries Euro 1.95

In France, they have a promotion for their signature dish - swedish meat balls and fries - reduced price at certain hours in the morning and afternoon. So if you want your meatballs meal price reduced by Euros 2, the time to come for lunch is between 11 and 12 noon or between 2 and 4 pm.

We like IKEA Lille, France better because they have free internet for 20 minutes which actually is free wifi unlimited since 20 minutes is never enforced. IKEA locations in Austria, Germany and Netherlands do not have free wifi.

Euro 1.00 breakfast at IKEA Gent, Belgium

Motorhome, RV, Camper Friendly Dunkerque, France

2011-08-28T04:58:00.000-07:00

My husband found from motorhomers' forums two free camper parking in Dunkerque. We went to the first but because there were about 5 static caravans with children and about 6 men clustered, talking, we thought they were Romanians, we left to check out the 2nd free camper parking hoping to find a more peaceful and quieter surroundings.

It was a very pleasant surprise - this free camper parking is huge with two sections with a total of about 40 parking spaces, just steps to the sea, there is free water, a shower and free washroom/toilette on the sea walk/promenade. We were happy campers.

Our first try with Free Wifi from this location (we were given a log-in and password by a friend from Paris) was unsuccessful so to use the internet we had to go to McDonalds which was about 3 kms. On the third day of trying with Free Wifi, we connected and so we enjoyed all our needs and wants all from one location everyday.

Dunkerque is (also spelled Dunkirk) a stress free city, camper friendly, beautiful with both old and new buildings and condos and the sea is beautiful, the sea walk/promenade which was several kilometers long was very clean. Fresh seafood is cheap and parking is free near the fresh fish market.

The sunset was great, changing colors as the sun fades, from several hues of purple to several hues of orange and finally to an exquisite deep red orange.

One more thing we liked was the fact that Policie do a lot of roving in our free parking site; we see them several times a day in their police car.

Mackerel was an unbelievable Euros 4 for two kgs. one day and because I still have fish marinated in vinegar, I did not buy. The next day it was Euros 3 per kg. and because I thought it is still very cheap and besides I did not need two kilograms of mackerel, I bought 1 kg and another half kg. of an unnamed fish which was very fresh and white priced at Euros 6 per kg. The unnamed fish was indeed fresh and delicious and the mackerel as always was very good. A few days ago, mackerel was Euros 9 per kilogram in Oostende, Belgium. From E.Leclerc my husband bought already cooked big shrimps at Euros 9 per kilogram, which was also very cheap from our experience in our already 4 months rving this year in Europe.

We liked Dunkerque so much we did not want to leave, but we had to move on and see other places. It is the first town/city/commune where everything we needed and wanted was all in there in our free camper parking. We stayed 6 nights.

We Liked Bruges, Belgium - UNESCO World Heritage Site

2011-08-22T08:29:00.000-07:00

The whole city centrum of Bruges, Belgium is UNESCO World Heritage Site. That means all the buildings in the city center is included in this prestigious recognition. It is quite impressive so we decided to visit this city.

We were not disappointed, the city is quite beautiful especially at night with the dramatic and romantic effect of lights. We drove through the city twice during the day, and once at night which we were fortunate to be able to park very near the church and the most important buildings. By experience, we learned that visiting towns and cities at night is when parking is available and free. Free parking usually starts at 7pm.

Lindt chocolate was my favorite. Now I am converted - Belgian it is. I bought one small box for Euros 7.25. Super creamy and delicious.

For wild campers/RVers, free parking just outside the city center is so many, there is always available parking whenever we went. We did not see signs not allowing campers to park or stay the night. Bruges is camper/rv/motorhome friendly city.

Wherever we park, open internet connections are available. We enjoyed internet the whole time we were there.

My husband found the new bike in Bruges he was looking for - priced below Euros 100 - his budget. He got it from Carrefour Saint Kruis.

I went shopping, first time, for some clothes and blouses. They were nicely priced too at Carrefour.

We enjoyed Bruges so much, we stayed 4 nights.

Weeds While in Netherlands?

2011-08-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

I was doing my laundry in Vlissingen, Netherlands and while waiting I chatted an older lady who was doing her laundry too. She told me her life story, where she came from, how and when she started living in Netherlands, her opinion of Netherlands and the Dutch people and her business.

She is a shop owner, three shops in all, where she sells weeds = marijuana - legally. I asked her how much and this is what she told me:

1 roll Euros 3.50 or 4.00
1 package Euros 8 (makes 3 rolls)

Did we buy and had fun? Nope!

Laundry for up to 7 kgs is Euros 4.00
Dryer Euros 2.00 just enough minutes to dry my one load

Getting Sick While Travelling

2011-08-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

My husband and I were on a Mexican Riviera cruise in 2009 when I got sick. I was with colds and coughs and one morning, I woke up with a very bad asthma attack and I asked my husband to bring me to the ship's doctor. I was seen by the resident doctor immediately, x-ray was taken, some more test were done and I was diagnosed with COPD = Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. I was given oxygen and a bed. More tests were taken and when the doctor was confident that my oxygen level was close to normal, one hour later, he released me from his care with antibiotics and Ventolin puff. He emphasized this instruction that I should go the the ER immediately (hospital ER on land) if I had another bout of breathing difficulty. This happened on the morning of our last day on the cruise ship which means it was check-out time. We were actually hurriedly delivered to the customs check-out area, I on a wheel chair, Customs Officer waiting, we were his last clients from the ship. Our bill from the ship's hospital was US$500 plus.

This month here in Europe was my second experience being sick while away from home. My whole right arm was painful day and night for a few days already and one morning, I had a severe spasm on my neck and I can't get up from bed. I was already taking paracetamol for my painful arm but we knew we needed the right medicine for me to get better. We went to a pharmacy in Middelburg, Netherlands and explained my medical problem and asked for the right medicine for stiff neck. She can't give me anything other than paracetamol and suggested we see a doctor whose office was nearby. We went and ask at the reception to see the doctor. We were told he has a full schedule but he can see me tomorrow. We agreed and so I was seen by the doctor and was given strong meds which was obviously highly regulated. The pharmacist needed to ask for my full name and address and record it on her computer before she sold us the drugs. We spent Euros 25 doctor's fee and Euros 25 for 10 days of medication for a grand total of Euros 50. Huge but pleasant surprise was the price of paracetamol - 50 pcs. 500 mg. is only Euros 0.95.

It was funny though because I was happy to be given a "pain-killer med" which some people are addicted to so I was waiting for the "addictive effect" which I expected to be all positive meaning a "high" or a generally happy feeling. Nothing of the sort happened. I slowly got better though.

Help from Stangers in Europe

2011-08-14T04:28:00.000-07:00

Europeans are kind and helpful when a foreigner/tourist needs help, an observation derived from first hand experiences while we we RVing this year in Europe.

The first time we were helped was in Austria when we were out of LPG and our GPS led us to a place where no LPG station existed as confirmed by a man whom my husband approached to ask. He told us to follow him in his car which we did and he brought us to the right place which unfortunately is out of a proper gasket to make the LPG tank work so he called another shop to confirm we can be helped there. He gave us the adress and so we went and finally we were able to buy an LPG tank and a fitting.

The next was when we were out again of LPG in France. We went to a lot of shops and gasoline stations but they would not accept our tank from Italy and Austria. So we were ready to again put a deposit on a new tank to be able to have LPG. Now, the problem is communication. The lady cashier does not speak nor understand English. A gentleman behind my husband helped with the translation and offered to take us to where we can buy LPG and make a deposit on a tank/bottle. We drove not quite a short distance, he even got out of his car to talk to the cashier to discuss our requirement. He left only when he was sure we were fine with the purchase.

The third time was when I needed a pharmacy to buy something for my painful arm but it was a Sunday and the pharmacy was closed. A gentleman noticed we were having a problem and approached us in our camper. We told him what we needed and he told us where to go to buy the med which was a gasoline station which he said sells paracetamol. He changed his mind later, got into his car and asked us to follow him. Once we were at the gasoline station, he even got out of his car to accompany my husband inside to make sure the shop has the med, only then he left.

We have good experiences aside from the above examples like people smiling at us, talking to us, waving at us which are small things but means a lot when one is a stranger in Europe.

Veere, Netherlands is the Best

2011-08-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

One of my previous post mentioned RVers who are free or wild campers' needs such as a free and safe place to park for the night, WC for water closet = washroom = toilet, free wifi, water and not to mention food and diesel.

We have been reading conflicting feedback from motorhomers' forums about whether or not free camping is allowed in Netherlands. One night we were approaced by two police officers who informed us in Middelburg there is s fine of Euros170 for parking in areas not designated for campers. They were kind enough to point us where to go to sleep and park for free for the night.

We visited Veere one day out of our more than one week stay in Middelburg. In huge parking lot by the marina which they signposted as GRATIS, we were accompanied already late at night by two motorhomes. My husband ask both the gentlemen of the motorhomes if they are staying the night and they said they would. We were not really confident but took the risk and stayed the night. There was no ticket the following morning, hallelujah.

The town center provides free wifi and where we were parked exactly, there is free wifi despite being not in the center of town. There is also a clean WC for 20 cents per use, which is the cheapest so far in our experience here in Europe.

Veere, Netherlands is now our favorite town. We went back another day and slept there again with no ticket the following morning.

Dams, Dikes, Bridges and Barriers in Netherlands

2011-08-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

We liked Netherlands after all. At first we thought we would pass by quickly through Netherlands to Belgium and finally to France where we enjoyed our almost month-long RVing in June this year.

We visited Groningen and liked the old buildings and the cheap breakfast at IKEA. We then drove past Amsterdam because we had been there twice. We were not in a hurry though and stopped at a beach which GPS showed to be interesting, so we made a detour and found Brouwersdam beach and it's gigantic parking spaces. We were amazed - there were a lot of RVs parked vertically or horizontally along the beach seemingly not concerned about occupying too much space. It was a very pleasant place to park because everyone seems to be having a good time swimming, watching the sunset, just relaxing and at about 10pm there was about fifty hook and line fishermen in a row in an opening from the other side of the dam. We watched most of them caught one of two salmon, we guessed. We hang out till about 12 midnight then we went to a small village of Scharendijke and park there to spend the night.

We started liking Netherlands and reading about the country. We learned that 25 percent of their land is below sea level and 50 percent is just 1 meter above sea level. We read about Delta Works which is a series of dams, bridges and barriers designed to protect their country from flooding. Due to global warming, should the North Sea rise, these Delta Works should be able to protect them, at least this century, their government said. I then, admired the Dutch people for their resilience and tenacity to fight the nature as best they can and their being able to be a rich country despite this huge challenge.

We drove to Middelburg where by stroke of good luck, we where pointed to where to park legally at night for free by a policeman, so we made Middelburg our homebase. We visited neighboring villages/town mostly along the coast like Vlissingen, Westkapelle and Veere. Some more towns we visited are Oostkapelle, Zoutelande and Biggerkerke, Goes, and Krabbendijke..

Coming to Middelburg, we crossed Dammenweg, Brouwersdam and Pijlerdam. We became very impressed with Netherlands. So we decided before leaving Zeeland, we might as well cross the other dams/briges/barriers. One sunny day we did - we crossed Zealandbrug, Rijksweg, Philipsdam and finally Oesterdam (Oyster Dam) which is the longest dam with a length of 11 kms.

We have a huge respect and admiration for the Dutch people and even ourselves were surprised, we like Netherlands.

Encounters with Police In Europe

2011-08-13T07:32:00.000-07:00

We did our first European tour of Europe in an RV in 2007. We had two encounters with law enforcement agencies - one with two traffic policemen in Czech Republic and the second with Douane in Germany (Customs).

We were driving towards a mall early morning when these two policemen came out from their hiding place. We were signaled to stop so we did. We were informed our violation was that our headlights was not on. We were told if they wrote the ticket the fee would be over Euros100 or something but they can settle for half. We told them we only have Cad$20 and even showed them my husbands wallet. Of course we have more money with me but we know how to get out of this situation having learned from the same experiences while living in the the Philippines. The two parties did some haggling but eventualy the two policemen accepted the money and so we went to the mall. In the mall's food shops level, we saw them about to spend our money for their breakfast. How similar is this to the Philippines? It's so funny.

Second and last encounter in 2007, out of 5 months of being on the road in Europe - we were getting out of a parking space when a Duane car pulled us over. We stopped, they approached and asked for our passports. We showed them and we were sent on our way.

This year, we also have two encounters so far - out of 3.5 months of RVing.

First was in Kiel, Germany. My husband was taking an afternoon nap and I was in the driver's seat, deeply engrossed solving a sudoku puzzle, totally oblivious to my surroundings. I did not notice when the police car stopped right in front of our camper. I looked up for no apparent reason and saw two policemen, inside the police car, smiling, obviously they found something funny or amusing. I recognized their presence by looking at them and showed them my sudoku book cover. They nodded their heads still smiling. I wanted to ask them, what's wrong or what's funny, but I decided to wait for them to tell me. Still both smiling, they signaled me to move on. I confirmed my understanding of what they wanted by signaling back. They nodded in agreement and so I showed them I understood and they left. We left that parking spot and went to the mall.

Second encounter - We parked and slept in a Mcdonalds parking space on our first night in Middelburg, Netherlands. On our second night, at around 11pm, we were ready to go to bed when a police car drove past us then came back. One policeman and one young policewoman approached the passenger seat where I was at combing my hair. I opened the door and we were asked if we intend to sleep right there. We said yes and asked if it was ok. He said no and there's a fine of Euros170 if we did and it would be a very expensive sleep for us. My husband asked where we can park for the night. They pointed the locations on the map which my husband provided - there were three options which they said we can park and sleep for free. We went to the nearest one and once we were parked, the police car drove past and signaled "ok" with his thumbs up. For over a week, we kept coming back to that location to free camp.

Seaside parking in Kiel, Germany

Train Station Middelburg, Netherlands