August Expenses - an expensive month, with a big bonus at the end!

At the end of July, I had mentioned that we were expecting an expensive month in August, with a forecast budget of $4,500 CAD ($3,400 USD).

We ended up coming in only slightly higher than forecast, which is pretty good because there were a lot of variables in my original guess. But then, right at the end of the month we received a big bonus which dropped us well below budget!

Finally, back in Ottawa!

We originally planned on three legs to this trip back to Ottawa. Leg 1 from Dulmen to Dusseldorf, leg 2 from Dusseldorf to Paris, and leg 3 from Paris to Ottawa.

But leg 4 turned up when we volunteered to be bumped from our original Paris to Ottawa flight.

Well that was an eventful and profitable travel day!

We caught our shuttle bus from our hotel to Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport Thursday morning at 9:30am right on schedule. 

What a maze CDG airport is! We have never flown in or out of there, so had no experience. There are three terminals, and each terminal has several mini terminals that in themselves are large. Glad we didn't send grandson Cameron off on his own into this airport. We had a hard time figuring out parts of it ourselves!

Welcome back to France!

Yesterday was leg two of our journey back to Ottawa. We had to make our way from Dusseldorf, Germany to Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) near Paris, France.

I had researched all the ways to make this happen, and decided on a BlaBlaCars private shared ride.

Leg number one of our trip back to Ottawa

Pretty hectic morning yesterday as we felt a bit rushed trying to make the 12:20pm train from Dulmen.

And we did actually make it to the train station in time, but only because our motorhome dealer offered to drive us. Normally we walk because it's only about twenty minutes away.

Our last evening with Max

We were up at 6:00am yesterday morning to make our way to the nearby laundromat that opened at that hour. A nice laundromat, with decent enough prices, however they didn't take credit cards. The last few laundries we've used in Germany were all fully automated with credit card paying.

We were lucky we had enough cash! We've purposely been using up our euros knowing that we're going back to Canada for six weeks.

On the way back, the skies really opened up.

Not a very exciting day yesterday, other than when the skies opened up on us! 

We did the drive north to Dortmund area. Lots of construction zones where lanes were closed and they were rebuilding bridges. Because it was a Sunday there was hardly any truck traffic, so it didn't really slow us down too much.

A pretty hectic end of the month!

We will be flying direct from Paris, France to Ottawa, Canada  on August 31st, only four days from now.

Our home town of Ottawa kind of gets left out when it comes to international flights. Despite the fact that it is the capital of Canada, and home to over a million people, almost all international flights depart from either Toronto or Montreal. So you normally have to connect in either one of those cities.

One of the most beautiful castles in Germany

When I originally started researching some of the things we wanted to see during our European travels, I came across the fairytale setting of the magnificent Eltz Castle.

And besides the architecture, the actual story is fascinating. Eltz Castle is privately owned, and has been in the same family for over 900 years. The castle and surrounding estate is currently in the hands of the 34th generation of uninterrupted lineage since the mid 12th century.

Welcome to Germany!

Of course Germany is not a new country for us, but it is country number 9 for grandson Cameron.

Cameron is now tied with his 37 year old mother for number of countries visited. And he's well ahead of his father. And they have a family trip planned to Dominican Republic this coming winter, so he will then surpass his mother because she has already been there.

Welcome to Netherlands!

Once again, Netherlands is not a new country for us. However for grandson Cameron, Netherlands is country number 8!

And while Ruth and I spent six weeks here in June/July of 2021, we never made it to the big city of Rotterdam. So that's where we headed yesterday morning.

Fresh strawberries. From a vending machine!

Just a relaxing day yesterday, which I think we were all in need of. Both Bjorn and Freya had to go to work, so we were on our own at the house. We got some laundry done and Cameron was quite happy playing some games on his tablet most of the morning. 

We did make it out for a walk in the afternoon, just in this area by one of the canals.

A beautiful day in Bruges, Belgium

It was about a 45 minute walk from where we had been parked to get to the center of Bruges, so we drove in to try and find a closer spot. If it was only Ruth and I, we probably would have walked it. But we figured with Cameron, we should probably try to get closer. 

And we got lucky, managing to find free on street parking that saved us a half an hour walk each way.

Welcome to Belgium!

Belgium is not a new country for us, but it is country number 7 for Cameron.

3 countries in 3 days. Kind of reminds us of that old 1969 movie "If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium" where a group of American tourists do a 9 country European tour in 18 days.

We had to get up at silly o'clock!

Welcome to France! Of course France is not a new country for us, but it is country number 6 for Cameron.

He has already been to Canada, US, Mexico, Morocco, and England. And he'll be adding three more countries during this trip. Belgium today, then Netherlands and Germany.

We had to get up yesterday morning at 3:30am. Silly o'clock!

Max is sold!

Yesterday, we got up at 5:30am, and less than half an hour later we were on the maze of highways around London's Heathrow Airport to make our way on the southern ring road avoiding most of the city.

But we were all amazed by the amount of traffic at that hour. What are all these people doing already on the highway at 6:00am? We purposely did that to avoid the heavy traffic. I suppose we did though, because it would have been much worse later on.

So much to see in London

The big cities of the world require much more than two days to properly see the sights. In fact, we've often said that you need to spend a full month in places like New York City and Mexico City. And of course London.

But, when all you've got is two days, then you just make the best of it!

We did a quick tour, then got the heck out of there!

Ruth and I have been to London many times, but of course this is the first time for our grandson Cameron (age 12). So it made sense to take in some of the more popular tourist attractions and sights even though Ruth and I have seen them before. 

We left Max at the pub parking lot near Heathrow airport and walked the 20 minutes or so to the Elizabeth line tube station that should have taken us to Tottenham Court Road. But there was some kind of problem on the line.

Grandson Cameron has arrived!

We had overnighted in a small village near Stonehenge so we had about a two hour drive from there to London's Heathrow Airport where we were picking up grandson Cameron.

We took our time though, and didn't leave until after 10:00am. Then we stopped at a highway rest stop for lunch, then again at a grocery store.

Our visit to Stonehenge

We said goodbye to Julie and the pups at around 10:00am. First stop was at a computer service and repair shop just as we were leaving the town of Wellington.

Last year when we bought new laptops in Norway, we kept our old ones. Mine was still working fine, except that the battery was done. And the casing on Ruth's was falling apart, although it still worked as well.

We're headed for Stonehenge

Another mostly cloudy day with a few raindrops but nothing too wet. We took the dogs out for a good run before lunch.

It's amazing how much a dog can run. We did almost 5 kms, but I'm sure they did 50 kms or more, and most of it at full speed. Their little hearts must just be beating like crazy!

We have a plan...

I spent several hours yesterday working on our plan to get to Paris. 

Travel during July and August is expensive no matter how you do it, but I was surprised that the train was going to cost so much. From Dulmen, Germany to Paris was almost €200 ($295 CAD, $220 USD) per person for the one way trip, and with two connections and not very suitable running times.

Meet our companions for the weekend...

First up though, a travel planning update.

Our life is a logistical nightmare sometimes. But, it's part of the life we chose, so we simply deal with it. And ultimately, this most recent issue will work itself out, although always at a cost!

We finally had a day of summer!

Well, a few hours really, but we'll take it! 

With a forecast high of 21C (70F) and sunny breaks, we took the short ferry ride across the bay at Dartmouth and made our way to the popular Goodrington Beach tourist area.

A good day in Dartmouth, Devon

Again, we drove first thing in the morning, and good thing. While Dartmouth itself has more modern roads, the roads getting to Dartmouth are narrow, and big trucks use them as well.

There aren't a lot of decent motorhome options in Dartmouth. But someone told us about a popular parking app here in the UK called "Your Parking Space". It lists a variety of paid parking spots ranging from private driveways to grocery stores... at a variety of prices, some really cheap. We ended up choosing a 24 hour one in a Sainsbury grocery store parking lot for £4.60 ($7.85 CAD, $5.85 USD).

Devon and Cornwall are not very easy for a motorhome

Yesterday morning, we once again departed as soon as we woke up. It was about a one hour drive to Restormel Castle, just outside the village of Lostwithiel.

The castle is fairly remote, even though it's only a mile or so outside the village. We got there, and the gate was closed!

So many sea caves to explore!

Once again we were on the road before 7:00am making our way through the narrow country roads to the coastal village of Tintagel. We arrived at a large, totally empty parking lot with a "pay by app" sign listing prices. I had already done the research in advance and so I knew that motorhomes are allowed to stay overnight and that the cost was £8 ($13.75 CAD, $10.25 USD). 

There are several other places in the village where motorhomes can park overnight, but they all work out to approximately the same cost. This one is furthest away from the attractions, and while it was busy during the day, it was empty and very quiet overnight.