14 May 2006
Due to the new arrangements with the campervan, here is a rough outline of our updated itinerary.
07 May 2006
Campervans, oh Campervans!
We got some absolutely amazing news a few days ago! Our wonderful friends Edda and Johnny in Dusseldorf have really come through for us. Edda had a chat to her parents about us and our trouble finding a campervan, and her parents had a think about this for a couple of weeks. About 10 days ago we got a very unexpected email from Edda telling us that her parents would like to lend us their lovely Renault campervan. We were flabbergasted, what a very generous offer!
Of course there are some conditions as you would expect of anyone lending their prize possession to someone, but it means we both gain from this. They get some cash for their campervan that would otherwise be sitting idle and to compensate for depreciation, and we get to borrow a lovely, big, nearly-new campervan with lots of features. We would never be able to afford to rent anything this nice otherwise!
Looking for a decent campervan for our 4 months in mainland Europe had been a huge saga. We have been trying to arrange something since last October. After the campervan of our friend's grandparents in France fell through finally at the end of February, we had to find some alternatives. We found the company in The Netherlands that offers to sell one to you and then to on-sell it for you on consignment later. We started emailing to arrange something. During a long period of over 3 weeks when we kept waiting and waiting for feedback from them, I decided to do some more searching on the 'net for other options just in case. I found one other similar "buy-back" company and three budget rental places across Germany and the Netherlands. I started emailing all of them, with mixed success. One or 2 responded immediately and promptly, others frustratingly sporadically. It was a very frustrating experience, and I just wanted to sort it all out finally.
But then, Dr Edda the Magnificent came to our rescue! We are looking forward to chatting to her parents on the phone to finalise the arrangements.
Of course there are some conditions as you would expect of anyone lending their prize possession to someone, but it means we both gain from this. They get some cash for their campervan that would otherwise be sitting idle and to compensate for depreciation, and we get to borrow a lovely, big, nearly-new campervan with lots of features. We would never be able to afford to rent anything this nice otherwise!
Looking for a decent campervan for our 4 months in mainland Europe had been a huge saga. We have been trying to arrange something since last October. After the campervan of our friend's grandparents in France fell through finally at the end of February, we had to find some alternatives. We found the company in The Netherlands that offers to sell one to you and then to on-sell it for you on consignment later. We started emailing to arrange something. During a long period of over 3 weeks when we kept waiting and waiting for feedback from them, I decided to do some more searching on the 'net for other options just in case. I found one other similar "buy-back" company and three budget rental places across Germany and the Netherlands. I started emailing all of them, with mixed success. One or 2 responded immediately and promptly, others frustratingly sporadically. It was a very frustrating experience, and I just wanted to sort it all out finally.
But then, Dr Edda the Magnificent came to our rescue! We are looking forward to chatting to her parents on the phone to finalise the arrangements.
