Remembering when travelling abroad was so much simpler... (2 Viewers)

[cyberyacht]

I remember the faff of having three different lots of currency just to get to Holland.

 

[The Coops]

The old 2 shilling coin was the same size as a deutsche mark and remember feeding slot machines in Germany as we got a better exchange rate using the florin that the Mark!

 

[hja]

There was a downside to the easy life, however. We used to tour around, with the caravan, as you do, usually three weeks in school summer holiday. Just a vague area of what ever country as our goal. Something my brother could never understand, his holiday was always a flat in Dartmouth or a villa in Portugal.
At a time when mobile phones were only just coming to ordinary people, and only if you really needed one, so we didn’t have one. In France for three weeks during which my mother became ill, went into hospital, died and the funeral took place. We returned to loads of messages on the answer phone. No one knew where we were and couldn’t contact us any way. My Dad was ok about it, but I don’t think my brother ever forgave me! We did get a mobile phone!

 

[daventess]

When you used to go into a travel agent and just get given an envelope containing a holiday.

"Here's you are Mr Smith. You are now Sven, a travelling hoover salesman from Sweden going to The Costa Del Sol for 2 weeks in August."

RIP Jeremy Hardy

 

[scotzsue]

Not counting a school trip to France and belgium when i was 12
First proper holiday abroad was to Turkey when I was 49 not long after John and I met. Was an interesting couple of weeks. Had few holidays touring on the beemer, B&B mostly, already knew we would be getting a motorhome for retirement. (I had had a few including a romahome, when We met.
First trip abroad January, was an experience, only had a couple of litre of water with us, were going to fill up when we got there, campsites and aires closed as were the supermarkets on a sunday, road works and all the aires book, tried to find any of 3 aires but kept getting diverted, eventually landing at the first one we had tied to find. Headed for Portugal and turned back when we met folk coming back because the weather was so bad.
didn't put us off we loved it.

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[Abacist]

Another trip with Mum & Dad was in 1963 in a Rover 3 litre Coupe. Nothing booked we just assumed we would get an hotel when we got there. Broke down on the way down and a french mechanic fixed the Rover in no time at all - a metal pipe leaked or something and was brazed or welded up. Got to Biarritz and absolutely no vacancies anywhere - even the tourist board office said the town was sold out. Then a message came in to say that a French family had been held up at gunpoint on the way down and all their money stolen and now could no longer afford to come. We took their accommodation which was in a four star hotel and Dad did not have enough money and had to cable the bank to get them to send more money.

There was an old guy in the hotel who drove down in his Bentley Continental. He used to leave our hotel every day and spend the day at the 5 star hotel down the road at the pool. He preferred our hotel to stay in but it had no pool!

Saw surfing on big boards for the first time ever and got my first skateboard on that holiday.

 

[Abacist]

When we had kids we used to go ready erected tenting with Carefree to Les Mathes just north of Royan in France.

The couriers used to put up a list of good places to eat. One such place was cheap but came highly recommended but came with a warning to ignore the less than salubrious surroundings. It turned out it was basically a shed with a green corrugated iron roof called Chez Tonton! The woman running it was of indeterminable age but unkempt and wore no shoes and had filthy feet and toenails.

The starters and main course were fabulous but when it come to dessert she ran out of steam and handed out commercial ice creams on sticks in their wrappers!

On the first trip to the beach my very young daughter ran ahead and when she got to the top of the sand dune at the back of the beach at St Palais-sur-mer she turned and shouted back that there was a man on the beach and he was only wearing a hat!

The sun was so hot that you could not walk in the sand without flip-flops on for risk of getting burnt feet!

 

[Gaston aires]

First trip abroad to Spain in 1968. I went there with my friend Conrad and we saved up all our pennies and Flew to Barcelona eventually ended up in Estartit. Ran out of money on day three and managed to get a bar job just to survive until we got home.. Still managed to party and loved it.
Phil istine

 

[Gaston aires]

My first was as a 7 year old with parents and Dad drove us in his MG Magnette to Riccione in Italy for a summer holiday. You got your route from the AA like rally pace notes and I used to read out the instructions for him. Stopping for picnic lunch with a baguette, ham butter & mustard and a little primus to make tea.

Coming home, the red wine he bought exploded in his suitcase staining all his clothes when coming back over the Alps.

My friend had a similar experience but not with wine but a can of shaving foam which exploded at the airport in his case. hilarious but messy.
Phil

 

[Casper46]

1972, Vauxhall Viscount, tent, tins of Campbells Meat Balls.
Hull to Rotterdam, we each had to share a cabin with a same sex stranger as we weren’t yet married.
Yugoslavia,Bulgaria, East coast of Greece, up West coast, Italy, France. Front Wheel collapsed as we were 100yds from Ferry. We limped onto ferry and called AA out in Dover. The wheel bolts were loose, we hadn’t noticed a problem.
We covered 4000 miles in 3 weeks and it cost us £50 in petrol

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[robnchris]

One trip to France in 1988 we pulled up at Mont-Saint-Michel Chris said you pay the car park whilst I get something out of the boot, Oppps i said you'd better pay, Why you have all the money, I don't actually it's still in my bedside drawer at home.
We drove to the nearest small village with a bank, which looked like someones house, we explained our predicament much to the amusement of all those present asking could we phone Chris dad to get some money transferred, within an hour dad's bank had sent the funds and we were on our way but not before someone had offered us meal and a bed for the night. Don't think that would happen today.

 

[Abacist]

Driving on the other side of the road is normally fine but I bet most of us have got up in the morning and set off on the UK side of the road by mistake.

On one occasion I came off the 401 motorway in Ontario and promptly joined a deserted side road on the wrong side of the road. Out of a dip ahead came this monster 18 wheeler truck with all horns blazing as I swerved back to the right hand side of the road!

 

[wiff2110]

Do you remember the 'good ol' days' of traveling abroad, using Travellers Cheques, a phone box to call home using a phone card.. no internet .

You left Blighty and were out of touch for weeks .. wandering and getting lost, no sat nav, just Michelin maps to navigate, life was so much simpler.. and the roads do much quieter..

I recall being short of cash and couldn't cash a traveler's cheque over a four day French bank holiday weekend, four days with no cash .. and shops wouldn't accept or cash a cheque

My very first trip was in 1972.. MG Midget with a two man tent, with my GF, and future wife, we drove to St Tropez and came back via Switzerland. they say the your first road trip abroad s the best.. can't argue with that..

What do you remember about your early days of travelling abroad .. when was your first trip and where did you go ?

4 up in a Renault Dauphine to Sitges and back, lost the windscreen in France on the return, was a bloody nightmare.

 

[The Old Man]

4 up in a Renault Dauphine to Sitges and back, lost the windscreen in France on the return, was a bloody nightmare.

Back in the 70's it was fashionable not to have a windscreen for overseas travel.

 

[Bubba]

My first time abroad was a 8000 mile cruise followed by a 56 mile hike carrying 58lb of kit. With 3 firework displays.
June 1982. The Falklands.

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[trophychap]

That first trip of ours we were in a pub in Dover most of the evening, we were catching the midnight boat to Ostend. My Mate was playing on a one armed bandit and kept winning, we had to say come on Mick leave it we will miss the boat!

Well that pocket full of Shillings came in handy in Switzerland as they were very close in size to a Swiss Franc, good enough to work an on street cigarette and a chocolate bar machine. We had quite a few packets of Phillip Morris Cigs and also lots of chocolate Bars too!

We went past the Machines a couple of times while we were there but they had not been refilled! Quite a shame really as he still had lots of Shillings left LOL.

 

[smallg]

I set off using just my thumb and no destination with my then girlfriend in the mid-1980s. Ferry across to Rotterdam, then on the road for three weeks down through Germany, Austria and into Italy. We made it to Rimini, although I was trying to get to Greece across the Adriatic. We were skint and sometimes a little dirty, kipping in some unusual places and getting into some risky situations.

One time in Italy someone pulled a gun out after we'd gotten into their car and stuck it on the dash next to the steering wheel. They must have realided that we literally had no money as we were dropped just off the motorway.

We, of course split up on the road after that and she pulled out an undeclared 'emergency' credit card, jumped on a train and left me in Frankfurt to make it back on my own.

I ended up sleeping on a beach somewhere near Rotterdam for a few nights and eventually reverse-calling my mum to beg for a ferry ticket back to Hull.

I used to hitch-hike all over back then (I didn't have any money, life was rubbish at home and so it was a necessity rather than a life-style choice) and it got me all over the place.

Simplier? Not sure about that with all the border checks that were in place, restrictions on travel across Central and Eastern Europe, different currencies to deal with and threat of war hanging over Europe, but it was certainly easy sticking the old thumb out to get part-way to somewhere and walking the rest of the way.

Lol

 

[Carpmart]

I’m a good bit younger than many so my First family Euro canping trip came in 1997. Seven year old and three year old kids, a MK2 Golf GTi 16v company car, which I fitted a tow bar to and a wooden box trailer with all the camping and fishing gear in.

Off we went, through Paris en route to south of Bordeaux to fish a 100 acre carp lake.. lots of laughs, the wife crying trying to get us off the Pereferique on the right road, the kids screaming as lizards were running up and down the inside of the tent, huge (for me) carp caught and many francs spent.. but looking back on it, we all loved it!

Since then, other than 2020 (obviously) we have never not spent at least four weeks away in Europe. Sadly the kids don’t come anymore, but we are now able to travel for nine months at a time!

Great memories.

 

[Towat101]

Do you remember the 'good ol' days' of traveling abroad, using Travellers Cheques, a phone box to call home using a phone card.. no internet .

You left Blighty and were out of touch for weeks .. wandering and getting lost, no sat nav, just Michelin maps to navigate, life was so much simpler.. and the roads do much quieter..

I recall being short of cash and couldn't cash a traveler's cheque over a four day French bank holiday weekend, four days with no cash .. and shops wouldn't accept or cash a cheque

My very first trip was in 1972.. MG Midget with a two man tent, with my GF, and future wife, we drove to St Tropez and came back via Switzerland. they say the your first road trip abroad s the best.. can't argue with that..

What do you remember about your early days of travelling abroad .. when was your first trip and where did you go ?

Must have been a bit cramped in a Midget with your GF AND future wife.

 

[Geistguy]

Myself and my now wife and her her brother in our late teens went touring france for a week in an Austin Maxi, we had a cooking stove but no tent we slept in the car, still look back with fond memories.

Drove to southern Spain in my Maxi with a pal towing my ski boat, the rear of the Maxi folded down into a massive double bed which was just as well as my pal was ex Mr Universe and a massive chap. Ended up staying in Lloret del Mar water skiing every day, not allowed say what we did in the evenings

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[Carpmart]

Drove to southern Spain in my Maxi with a pal towing my ski boat, the rear of the Maxi folded down into a massive double bed which was just as well as my pal was ex Mr Universe and a massive chap. Ended up staying in Lloret del Mar water skiing every day, not allowed say what we did in the evenings

We can guess shagger!

 

[L' Hobo]

Life and travelling can still be simple especially when I'm in my 1989 T25 VW California.

It has very few electronics but has a gas/12v run fridge and gas blow heating from single battery and 25ltr underslung gas tank.

No fixed TV, Solar etc. just books and Radio.

Yes I do have running water, two ring cooker & grill + toilet.

In my 70's, I did a 8 week tour of Sweden, travelling through France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and back via Poland in 2015
+ D-Day in 2014 and another to Spain & Portugal and back via France in 2017 so nothings impossible!

Yes, I now have a Murvi Morello with all it's complicated luxuries but I still have my VW and have just spent the last 3 days underneath it fixing the gearbox with SPANNERS, now there's a novelty!

 

[Brummie64]

The old 2 shilling coin was the same size as a deutsche mark and remember feeding slot machines in Germany as we got a better exchange rate using the florin that the Mark!

Went to a rock festival in Germany in 1986, I remember where we stayed a lot of bars had cigarette machines outside attached to the walls, 3 x DM coins would dispense a pack of 20, one of our gang discovered you could use a 10p (2s) coin instead of a DM, so 30p instead of almost a pound for 20 cigs !

 

[L' Hobo]

Went to a rock festival in Germany in 1986, I remember where we stayed a lot of bars had cigarette machines outside attached to the walls, 3 x DM coins would dispense a pack of 20, one of our gang discovered you could use a 10p (2s) coin instead of a DM, so 30p instead of almost a pound for 20 cigs !

Zay have ways of making you die!

 

[Brummie64]

Zay have ways of making you die!

LOL! I’ve long since quit that habit now

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[Mike Rivers]

My very earliest memory goes back to when I was about 6 or 7 and doing a tour of France, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg in a Morris Minor. Dad would pack the car through the day and we’d set off from Nottingham (self & brother, Mum & Dad) around 11:00 pm, drive through the night to get an early crossing from Dover. I do remember Dad had written to the AA (I think) for a route to the south of France which all came in a folder marked ‘Top Secret… ’ (forget that last bit!). Hats off to Dad as we had three weeks touring. Quite where he got the energy from is beyond me looking back, but it must have been as exciting for parents as it was for us. Driving on the ferry always stuck with me. I guess this is where I got the touring bug which you’re able to do on your own in later years funds allowing. Have to say, even though I’m now 71, I still get excited driving on the ferry, only way to go !!

 

[BobilG600]

1976. A two week camping tour of Norway in my 1961 mini traveler. We took the ferry from Newcastle to Bergen sleeping?? on a couchette (never again!). It was early days of the North Sea oil so the money had yet to filter through to large infrastructure projects, the roads were much slower and more interesting to drive. Many high mountain roads were unpaved above the snow gates. And there were tunnels that were unpaved and unlit full of potholes. There were no toll roads, tunnels or bridges so a much simpler though slower travelling experience. Not very much conspicuous wealth about either. We had two weeks of beautiful weather, but it was the summer of 76.

 

[ashley 1340]

Do you remember the 'good ol' days' of traveling abroad, using Travellers Cheques, a phone box to call home using a phone card.. no internet .

You left Blighty and were out of touch for weeks .. wandering and getting lost, no sat nav, just Michelin maps to navigate, life was so much simpler.. and the roads do much quieter..

I recall being short of cash and couldn't cash a traveler's cheque over a four day French bank holiday weekend, four days with no cash .. and shops wouldn't accept or cash a cheque

My very first trip was in 1972.. MG Midget with a two man tent, with my GF, and future wife, we drove to St Tropez and came back via Switzerland. they say the your first road trip abroad s the best.. can't argue with that..

What do you remember about your early days of travelling abroad .. when was your first trip and where did you go ?

In 1966 with 3 friends we put our cycles on the train to Paris and in those days you had to cross Paris to the station to go south. We arrived 5pm on a Friday evening and rode across Paris to catch a train to Brive le Gaillarde where we toured for 2 weeks. In our naivety did not realise there were so many mountains in that area. Great trip we still laugh about it today

 

[sluhgulper]

Do you remember the 'good ol' days' of traveling abroad, using Travellers Cheques, a phone box to call home using a phone card.. no internet .

You left Blighty and were out of touch for weeks .. wandering and getting lost, no sat nav, just Michelin maps to navigate, life was so much simpler.. and the roads do much quieter..

I recall being short of cash and couldn't cash a traveler's cheque over a four day French bank holiday weekend, four days with no cash .. and shops wouldn't accept or cash a cheque

My very first trip was in 1972.. MG Midget with a two man tent, with my GF, and future wife, we drove to St Tropez and came back via Switzerland. they say the your first road trip abroad s the best.. can't argue with that..

What do you remember about your early days of travelling abroad .. when was your first trip and where did you go ?

1977 in a Triumph spitfire. Summer after leaving uni. Me and wife to be. Vango mountain tent. Billy cans and gas stove. Drove through France. Car screwed in La Rochelle with a knife used to slice open the hood. Lucky it was sunny!. Drove down the med cost of Spain. Radiator went. Garage wouldn’t take RAC vouchers. Two weeks stuck in Palamos for new radiator to be obtained. It was hell lying on the beach and swimming in the med for those two weeks.
Drive home through Andorra to arrive in France on bank holiday weekend. Nowehere to cash travelers cheque and survived on packet soup for two days. Tuesday morning at tha bank pronto to cash an cheque then did a fry up in the municipal car park in front of the bank. Remember that meal even today. No phones. Hassles overcome. Memories.

 

[seasideBill]

1977 in a Triumph spitfire. Summer after leaving uni. Me and wife to be. Vango mountain tent. Billy cans and gas stove. Drove through France. Car screwed in La Rochelle with a knife used to slice open the hood. Lucky it was sunny!. Drove down the med cost of Spain. Radiator went. Garage wouldn’t take RAC vouchers. Two weeks stuck in Palamos for new radiator to be obtained. It was hell lying on the beach and swimming in the med for those two weeks.
Drive home through Andorra to arrive in France on bank holiday weekend. Nowehere to cash travelers cheque and survived on packet soup for two days. Tuesday morning at tha bank pronto to cash an cheque then did a fry up in the municipal car park in front of the bank. Remember that meal even today. No phones. Hassles overcome. Memories.

At least there was an odds on chance you could fix the Spitfire roadside, rather than £1,000 bill because your adBlue system had gone t**s up!

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