Travel smoothly with the help of these apps in 2021

Whether you’re going on a fishing adventure to New Zealand or exploring everything Warsaw has to offer, we all take our mobile phone devices with us in today’s smartphone-obsessed world. It’s understandable, too, of course. Today’s mobile phones offer a range of functionalities, be it taking high-quality images or simply enabling us to locate the best nearby hotels in a foreign location.  

For many modern-day holidaymakers, the smartphone devices of today offer a range of other benefits also. Instead of solely using devices to track down family or friends who are staying nearby or for entertainment purposes like watching a Netflix movie or playing slot games like Chests of Plenty, travellers are downloading an array of travel apps too. Some apps enable a journey to go more smoothly, while others help you get the most out of an adventure abroad. The options in this space are comprehensive too, as developers aim to tap into what is proving to be a popular category of apps. 

Hopefully it will be a quick fix, but I'm not betting on it.

A bit of a frustrating day yesterday.

We left our free overnight spot early Monday morning. We had forgotten that on Sundays the shops are almost all closed, and we had run out of milk so figured we would go into the nearest town that also had a motorhome service point where we could empty our toilet tank.

That turned out to be the town of  Vreden which was in the wrong direction to where we had wanted to be going, but it was only about 12 kms (7 miles) out of our way.

We never thought there would be flamingos in Germany

Sunday afternoon we went for a walk to see the flamingos at Zwillbrocker Venn. One of the trails to the conservation area actually starts right where we were parked with Max.

This area is famous because of a colony of nesting flamingos. It is the furthest north colony in the world. We never would have thought there would be flamingos in Germany.

Arrived in Netherlands... and the world's largest camping gear store!

It was only a 50 km (30 mile) drive from our RV dealer to the Netherlands border... and another 10 kms (6 miles) after that to the world's largest camping gear store.

I am calling it "the world's largest", although that has not been confirmed. But now that we've been there, we don't see how there could possibly be anything bigger! It is quite the place.

Have a look at these European RVs

We relaxed for the morning, but then around noon we got Max packed up and ready to go. We had a 2:30pm appointment for him at the service department, but wanted to pick up a few grocery items before we left.

Of course part of the process of getting ready to go includes the emptying of our toilet casette. The European system is quite different from the North American system.

What a big set of antlers!

There were lots of walking trails where we had been parked Wednesday night, so first thing Thursday morning we went for a walk. 

We are still trying to figure out the best way to install a power inverter so that we can have standard electricity (230VAC here in Europe) inside the house part of the motorhome, running off the batteries. Until we sort it out, I was looking for an inexpensive basic unit that would plug into the 12VDC power socket with just enough power to keep our laptops charged up.

First time driving Max!

We had a good day yesterday. 

It started with doing laundry. We don't have very many clothes to begin with, and we don't mind doing some hand washing to get us by, but eventually the larger items need doing too. It turns out there is no laundromat in the town of Dulmen, and we had to drive a half an hour into the city of Munster to get that job done.

Why are we still sitting here? And a few warranty issues

We arrived here to meet Max last Friday, so we have now spent four nights sleeping in the new motorhome. Yet he still has only 30 kms (18 miles) on the odometer. That's because we haven't driven him yet!

We had explained beforehand that we were in no rush. Plus, we arrived on a Friday so we were pretty sure not much would get done over the weekend. And Monday and Tuesday were Amazon Prime days, so I was pretty busy working during that event, and quite happy to be sat in one spot.

And, it gave us a chance to go over the rig and check out any problems. And there are some minor warranty problems (detailed below) to sort out. But, they are very minor.

A video tour of Max's interior

We think that we have the interior set up the way we want it. A place for everything, and everything in it's place, as they say.

Of course you put things away and store them during travel, but we try to do that even when we're parked up because it's easy for a motorhome's interior to start to look cluttered. 

Exploring Dulmen, Germany

We took a break from the shopping yesterday, although partly because it was forced on us. Here in Germany, the vast majority of shops are closed on Sundays.

So we spent some time organizing and figuring out the best way to store things in Max. And, we were overdue for some exercise so we got out for a long walk.

It is a lot of work to set up a new motorhome!

Another busy day shopping yesterday, but things are coming together. 

We wanted to go to an IKEA store, and I knew there was bound to be a lot of them in Germany. In fact I looked it up and there are 53 IKEA stores in Germany. For comparison, there are 52 in the United States, and 12 in Canada.

But surprisingly, there isn't one really close by to where we are. There were three that were all about the same distance, so we chose one.

Introducing you to Max... our new European motorhome!

We were up early yesterday morning and had a big breakfast at the hotel. It was buffet style, so there was lots of choice for us and we made sure to walk away full since we didn't know if or when we would have a chance to get any lunch.

We had to make our way to the dealership which was located about 10 kms (6 miles) from the hotel. (Or so I thought at the time!) There is no Uber presence in this town, and we asked about a taxi, only to be told it might cost €30 to €40 for the trip. I would walk before I would pay that kind of money!

Arrived in Germany... country #43 for us. And, what have we named our new motorhome?

Not only have we arrived in Germany, but we have arrived at the town where our new motorhome is located!

We were picked up at 9:00am at our apartment in Warsaw by a young couple who were driving all the way to Netherlands... and they were doing the drive all in one day. This worked out perfectly for us, even though it's a long distance and it would be a full day in the car to do the 1,000 km (620 mile) distance. 

But, it goes by pretty quick when you're doing 160 km/h (99.5 mph).

Visit with The Chouters, and a change of plans...

We left the apartment after lunch and began walking downtown. We were actually on our way to meet up with The Chouters, but they were located at a campground on the other side of downtown and the opposite side of the river.

We wanted to see the rooftop garden at the University Library and it was pretty much along the way. Then we could walk across the river and take an Uber from there.

Planning to get to Germany and our new motorhome

Our new motorhome is located in the town of Dulmen, Germany. It's actually quite close to the Netherlands border. So from here, it is still about 1,000 kms (620 miles) away. There are too many restrictions still involved with flying, but crossing into Germany by land is okay since we are already in the EU and have not been in a "risk" country in the last 10 days.

Our current plan is to take the train to the city of Poznan here in Poland. That gets us a little closer to the German border. From Poznan there are quite a few rideshares available to get us to Berlin. There are some rideshares available directly from Warsaw, but it's an 8 hour drive and the ones that are available seem to leave at odd hours.