That adds a whole new dimension to the phrase "lick road clean wit' tongue".
Whats the longest you have lived in your van?
- Thread starter paulfr
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Yes - 6 month stay. Not hugely difficult although the French gov have farmed out visa processing ( not the decision making) to a bunch of eejiits called TLS-Contact who don't make life hugely easy. I wrote a little guide on how to do it, so if you were interested would be happy to PM it do you.
I'd be interested in that too, care to post it on the forum or do you want to keep it quiet?
On a separate note, speaking of Eejiits. We went skiing in January & entered France via Dieppe, 3 weeks later we left via Calais. As we were going through passport control, the Gendarme is looking at our passports, fiddling with his phone, looking at us, back at the passports. After a couple of minutes I asked " un probleme?" He asked when we entered France & where, I replied "Dieppe, 3 weeks ago" He asked to see our ferry ticket, which luckily was still in the glovebox. He examined the ferry ticket & eventually stamped us out. He explained that when we entered Dieppe, the Gendarme had stamped our passports with an EXIT stamp rather than an entry stamp, so technically there was no record of us entering France. So we now have 2 exit stamps in our passports....did someone mention eejiits?
@kipperman I’d love a copy of that guide too please if you don’t mind.
There was me thinking 3 weeks in Europe in the van by myself night be too long 
Never. That said, after about 7-8 weeks I start to get the going home feeling. I think after a certain time period, the novelty wears off and it becomes “normal”. Also we have to make an effort to live a “normal” life, in as much as that we can’t get pissed every night, and eat like were on a normal fortnight holiday. We try to keep the eating and drinking at sensible levels, as we would at home. It’s the same when we go skiing, there’s a world of difference between having the traditional 1 week ski trip & a 3-5week van skiing trip.There was me thinking 3 weeks in Europe in the van by myself night be too long
Curiously people say "are you enjoying your holiday?" - to which I invariably reply it's more a way of life rather than a holiday, and I think that is a good mind set to be in from that point of view of being sensible about food/alcohol etc etc. My wife and I are keen cyclists and walkers, and that takes up a lot of our time. Personally I love the sociability of being on a campsite and have made some good friends that way. The only real reason we return home is largely by end of September the campsites have largely started to close and the weather of course isn't quite as tempting.
Agree re the food/alcohol on longer trips, our van layout makes self catering easy. The roof bed has a 150 kg limit so wouldn’t take long to overload eating out too often. We just enjoy life on the road, travelling, meeting people, and only come home when we have to. With the E.E.S system starting in October which will replace manual passport stamps with fingerprint checks and facial scanning on entering the Schengen zone. I am sure that’s going to go well never mind the ETIAS visa system in 2025.
Really like Berwick.....nice big car park for the van!One of many trips while we have been waiting for the house.....Seahouses,Beadle,Warkworth,Lynmouth to name a few......of to Edinburgh next Thursday for a show at the fringe.......so not all bad!
You’re not actually too far off the mark.
As we all know farming is bad for the environment so we’re doing away with that.
So the powers that be are now developing food made from bugs, worms and maggots for all us expendable workers to munch on while they’re eating steaks and lobsters.
I read a few reports about it
The EU recently authorised "insect-derived protien additives" for use in the human food chain, so best get checking those ingredients lists!!
Tuck in and be grateful to your mas'ers.
All a lobster is is a huge underwater insect. If you were sat watching telly & a lobster crawled out from under the sofa, would your first thought be “ooh, that’ll go well with a salad & some garlic butter”? Or would the missus scream whilst you clubbed it to death with your shoe?
We were in Mexico earlier in the year, & grasshoppers are served with your beer as a snack, they’re actually quite tasty.
Prawns are only underwater grasshoppers.
How this stuff is being mandated sticks in the craw - pun intended - more than the actual insects.
This is being pushed by supranational, bodies (WEF, EU, UN, etc.) that are largely/completely undemocratic and unelected, so good luck pushing back on it if you disagree.
The World economic Forum has also developed a personal carbon tracker. So you can monitor how badly you are damaging the planet with your nasty diesel van and those un-required summer holiday flights.
So Mr. Bav I see you went to Spain on holiday this year and did x amount of miles in your camper so you have used up all your carbon. So for the next 3 years no flights for you and your only permitted to drive 2000 miles each year.
And we thought all this was just a conspiracy a few years back.
I think you'll be able to increase your annual mileage cap provided you agree to sign an NDA in the 'unlikely' event that a couple of asylum seekers are billeted in spare bedroom.
