Europe a la Carte Blog

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As modern tourists we tend to travel fast. We fly in, grab a hotel room (or hostel bed), see all the tourist sights, try a local meal or two and zip back home again. We stay within cities, we are surrounded by other tourists and we do it all in a hurry before our days or cash run out. We don’t soak in ambience, we dive bomb into it and think that the few drops clinging to our hair are equivalent to the pruney-skin permeation of a long and leisurely exposure.

Personally I’m an exponent of slow travel, a term I thought was particularly nifty until I googled it when writing this article and discovered that I didn’t coin the phrase. My version of slow travel is camping. Travelling leisurely through the back country, off the highways and into smaller towns. Getting to meet the locals in an environment (the communal lifestyle of a campsite) which encourages interactions (unlike the private sterility of a hotel room).

Camping lets you soak in the atmosphere

Of course camping isn’t always feasible. If you go with your own car, caravan or mobile home you are limited by how far you can drive in the allotted holiday travel time. Driving three days across Europe only to have four days there and a three day return journey is not anyone’s idea of fun. Some ways around that are to look at carrying your car on the train – something which saves time, stress and petrol. You can also carry the minimum camping gear with you on a flight and locally hire a car or just rely on public transport to get you around. Or you can rent the entire get up once you arrive.

But the prices do start paying out, especially if you are travelling for a longer period. The average European campsite costs 15€-20€ per night, including electricity, with each person costing around 2€ extra. Showers may or may not be an additional cost (usually 0.50 – 1€). This is similar to a bed in a dorm room of an inner city hostel for one person, but in a group becomes extremely cheap and is far more appropriate for travelling with a family. Finding campsites is easy – decent maps of the country will have many marked and usually your home automobile club will have lists of international campsites, ones which they have even checked out and rated.

You aren’t necessarily limited to remote campsites on the outskirts of town either. If you are travelling in a self-contained motor home there are many sites which allow for short stops, overnight stays and replenishing water/emptying waste. The E6 on the coast of northern Norway is dotted with them, in Germany they are called Stellplätze, in France Aires De Service, and many are free of charge.

The varying sizes of mobile homes

I’m not really encouraging the use of the large mobile homes. These white ships are gas-guzzlers, can be dangerous on narrow roads (especially when driven by people unused to the size) and cannot be driven into European city centres because of their size. Smaller vans, such as VW camping buses, can be and tenting means you have a car available for local trips without having to pack up your campsite every time.

Of course camping doesn’t work for everyone, nor does it work for every situation. It requires a certain amount of preparation and investment in gear, the availability of a little more time and a roughing-it mentality. While northern France’s freezing autumn rains may send even myself into the shelter of a local chateau, as a budget summer travel option it is a relaxed, slow travel affair.

HotelShop are offering 3 night family breaks at the Quality Hotel in Newcastle upon Tyne for only £249 per family until 30 September 2008. This rate includes breakfast, dinner and lunch for 2 adults and 2 kids (aged under 14)., which is great value at £83 per night for full board for a family. This rate was available for any three day period over the next few weeks when I checked on the Hotelshop site.

I think that Newcastle is a great location for a family break. I spent a few days there with our sons when they were young. There’s lots to do and see such as the Seven Stories the National Centre of Children Books and The Centre for Life. You can buy a Metro off peak day travel ticket for £3.70 per adult and £1 per child (aged under 16) or for £3.70 for the whole family on a Sunday.

The Scandic Hotels website does not make it easy for you to find ALL the deals and discounts that this chain currently has on offer.

The English language “current offers” list is rather pitiful. So where are the discounts? On the Swedish language version of the website!

That is not a very nice way of treating potential foreign customers, wouldn’t you say?

For example, the English site lists only five “family” offers, yet there are 24 included on the Swedish page. So what’s a non-Swedish speaker to do?

I’ll let you in on an open secret when it comes to Scandic. In reality, there are even more deals than listed on the webpage in either language. Especially when it comes to Scandic’s family offer.

Hotels in Scandinavia are not cheap. Yes, you can always slug your way through a collection of hostels, or three-star establishments with minimal amenities (forget about complimentary bathroom supplies and you better bring your own facial tissue, too) but that’s not a very fun way of spending your vacation. Especially when you’re traveling with little ones in tow.

That’s where Scandic’s family deals come in handy. What’s a family deal? A room for two adults and two (or possibly three) kids, breakfast (sometimes also dinner) buffet, and either free or discounted tickets to local kiddie attractions. Prices vary depending on the location and the type of nearby attractions, but are always nicely discounted when compared to a normal single or double room, and start at about 100 euro per night per family.

Even if you’re not sure if the hotel you selected has such an offer, it’s worth calling to the front desk and asking directly. I just phoned 3 different Scandics, which according to the website, had no available discounts, yet the family deal was offered when I asked for it.

Scandic Hotel in Skellefteå
photo by Paul in Skellefteå

Kids up to the age of 15 get to experience the Swedish Lappland for free. A new deal from the Kiruna Tourist Office for this summer offers a special option for families with children. And because this is Sweden, the word “family” is very loosely defined as “children accompanied by an adult guardian”.

So what’s in this deal?
For starters, room and board for kids under 15 is free. And the following attractions offer free activities for children:

• Abisko Mountain Station
• Björkliden Fjällby
• Camp Ripan
• Riksgränsen
• Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi (yes, they do have a ton of stuff to do during the summer months as well!)

Plus, both tourist offices in Kiruna and Narvik (yes, Narvik’s in Norway, and I’d say, anything in Norway they offer for free is a good thing, considering local prices) have special summer activities for kids, too. In Kiruna that includes the Esrange Space Center, where Richard Branson plans to launch his Virgin Galactic, and the LKAB Iron Mine. (I love the mine, by the way! Been there several times.)

Just look for the “Barn Fri Entre” (or its English equivalent) icon on participating websites, or contact the Kiruna Tourist Office for help. They haven’t done a great job of promoting this offer and are somewhat disappointed with the response so far. So if Sweden is in your travel plans this summer, take the kids and go North! It’s well worth it! Incidentally, Lappland is also my favorite part of Scandinavia. Though midnight sun season is already over (it ended in Kiruna on July 18th), the nights are still white and the weather very agreeable. I’m heading there myself in two weeks!

The deal is valid until the end of August, and SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) even offer free flights to Kiruna for kids under 15 from any Swedish getaway.

Torne River in the village of Lovikka (yes, that’s the village where Lovikka mittens come from).
Photo by Anna Etmanska

PS. In Swedish “Lappland” is spelled with two “p”, so in order to make your google searches easier, I kept the Swedish spelling here.

Hiring a boat to cruise around Ireland is a great way to see the country at a relaxed pace. With the recent renovation of the Shannon Erne Waterway, there is access to the longest inland waterway in Europe. There are hundreds of mooring points along the rivers Shannon and Erne so there’s plenty opportunity for stops. You can fish from your boat with no licence required on the Shannon. There’s also the option to play golf as 20 golf courses are within easy reach of the waterways.

River Shannon by IrishFireside

Carrick Craft offer a choice of well equipped, comfortable boats from 2 - 8 berth all with onboard cooking facilities, shower and toilet. The have three pick up locations Carrick-on-Shannon, Banagher and Tully Bay. It’s possible to do one way trips, It’s fairly easy to pick up how to operate your boat and you’ll receive instruction and an onboard demonstration before taking to the helm.

I had a quick look at prices and found a 2+2 berth boat for 756 euros for a one week hire from Saturday 23 August with a start and finish at Banagher. There is a separate charge for fuel which is estimated at 100 - 150 euros for a one week hire. There are other offers such as 10 day hire for the price of 7 in April and October, child discounts and 2nd week discounts.

If you are flying with kids you should look carefully at the total cost of your flight. Airlines policies of charges for children vary a lot and you need to work out the true total cost to find the best deal for your family. APH have investigated the infant and child charges and policies of 10 airlines flying from the UK. They looked at categories such as charges for transportation of buggies and car seats, luggage allowances, provision of kids meals and entertainment.

It is worth while spending some time doing research e.g. an infant under 2 is charged 10% of the flight cost with British Airways but kids under 12 years of age are charged 60-80% of the adult fare, with Easyjet an infant is charged £20 for a ticket but a child aged two and over has to pay the full fare. So get out the calculator especially if you have more than one child to see which airline will have the lowest total cost.

If there’s one thing that always being highlighted to me, it’s that you do have to be prepared to do some research and comparison to find the best deal for you in travel. It’s not only about cost it’s also about convenience, e.g. are you prepared to travel 3 - 4 hours to an airport where offers a cheaper flight if that’s going to double your overall journey time from home to your destinations or entail paying for an overnight stay close to the hotel?

Photo - Plane Wreck by berbercarpet

When I read about a company called Tots to Travel I thought it sounded a really good idea to have a selection of accommodation chosen for families with young kids and asked the founder Wendy Shand to do a guest interview.

1 What is the aim of your business?

The central aim of Tots to Travel with Totstofrance and Totstoitaly is to provide parents with genuinely family friendly holiday accommodation so that they stand the chance of having a relaxing and peaceful holiday! All our self catering properties have been vetted to ensure that they are safe and fully equipped for families with small children and babies whilst still appealing to our adult sensibilities about what makes delicious holiday accommodation!

2 What prompted you to start your own business?

Personal experience! We went on holiday to France with my two small children and got there to find that it was just seriously hard work and a bit scary - no stairgates, tiled floors, no equipment and so on. The bit that sealed it was when my little boy, then aged 2.5 fell into an unenclosed pool - thankfully we were all sitting around the edge and we were able to pull him out - but it was then that I had the sharp realisation that this was not a game and that things can go horribly wrong on holiday. The Houseowner then sent me a feedback form which I helpfully filled in with all my thoughts and therein was the seed of the idea. It really was the holiday that changed the path of my life!

3 What has been the hardest aspect of having your own business?

There are lots of bits that pose a challenge but I think the hardest bit is that it is just such hard work and never goes away! We have only recently begun to be able to take a holiday without dragging the laptop with us… In many ways it is like having another child. I had not envisaged the emotional rollercoaster, the immense highs and profound lows, but overall I have to say that it has been the most exciting and satisfying thing that I have ever done in my professional career and would not have changed a moment of it.

4 What is the funniest thing that has happened to you running your own business?

In the early days we identified that we wanted to grow our database of contacts so set up our ‘Tots Club’ which would keep interested parents up to date with new developments. As an incentive we offered a free branded bib to every new club joiner which worked well and really helped to grow the database. The problem came when we were hit by a scam called FreebieHunters ie. a website devoted to people who just want to get things for free. All of a sudden we saw a surge in new club joiners and thought thatour luck was in! It did not take long for us to realise that we had been scammed and had to take swift action to remove the free offer before it got out of hand. At the time it was really quite stressful but I can laugh at it now and I suppose that out of every challenge you learn more to take you to the next stage.

5 Is there anything you would do differently with the benefit of hindsight?

Hindsight is a marvellous thing! I think on balance that I am pleased with most of the decisions that we have made. Many of themistakes that we have made are due to the fact that we could not have predicted the sheer growth of the business - 6 fold growth in year 2 and double in year 3. Every six months we have found ourselves in a completely different place from where we had been only six months earlier. I am fairly pragmatic about this, you can’t make decisions based on information that you do not know. With the benefit of hindsight I would have started to register our trademarks much sooner than I did as when we came to do it, one of the names that we wanted had already gone. C’est la vie!

My comments - This brings back memories of going on holiday to Greece with our 13 month old twin sons. The accommodation had stone flagged floors. Our sons couldn’t walk and were still crawling around. Therefore they had to spend most of their time indoors in their cots. Coming from a carpeted home in the UK, we really hadn’t considered the hazards of a stone floor. We’d also assumed that they could crawl around on the beach but the sand was too hot for most of the day. To make matters even worse the brake on their twin buggy had been damaged in transit, so if they were sitting in the buggy someone had to hold the buggy securely.

I know exactly what Wendy means about the highs and lows of running your own business which is why I have entitled my Twitter updates “Everyday agony and ecstasy of a non techie Scot running a travel business and blog”.

If you’re looking for a budget break on the coast in the south of England Park Holidays have 23 caravan parks, where you can have a short break from as little as £69. You can choose between lively or quiet parks in Devon, Dorset, Essex, Kent, Suffolk and Essex.

I stayed in many static caravans for holidays when our sons were young and thought that they were excellent value for money. I never fancied camping and youth hostelling as budget options but static caravans with protection from the elements, running water, toilet, shower and cooking facilities were an acceptable budget option as holiday cottages and hotels can be rather expensive.

If you’re thinking of a holiday in the UK, why not try a boating holiday? It’s generally the Norfolk broads which spring to find for this type of holiday but Hoseasons have plenty of other options such as the Union or Forth and Clyde Canal in Scotand, the Llangollen Canal in Wales, the Yorkshire Waterdays and the Oxford Canals.

The Avon Viaduct, Union Canal, near Linlithgow, Scotland

Boats can sleep from 2 - 12 passengers and have all creature comforts such as flushing toilets and showers. You receive expert tuition before you take the helm and there are on board manuals to consult.