Can't remember exactly how long ago we decided we would take a month off over the summer but it's hard to believe we're almost ready to go. It's no exaggeration to say we've spent months on our evenings carefully planning the route, making adjustments based on where we can find somewhere to stay overnight. Freaking out slightly when we couldn't find car insurance for some of the countries not in the EU and wondering how we'd make it work. The route had many iterations, mainly additions as we noticed if we just traveled 1hr more we could add another country to the trip 😂

In the end we've settled on 18 countries in 31 days with an average of 2hrs driving per day. I've been asked so many times now I can rattle off the list a lot faster than I can type it but here goes: France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Czechia, Hungary, Slovakia, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Croatia, Bosnia, Italy, San Marino, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Austria and Luxembourg!

Not the exact route but Google maps will only allow 8 stops

Once the route was decided along with somewhere to stay next all the activities had to be found, some places, like for example Nurumberg, were more of a stopping place between two destinations and after finding something that would entertain us and the kids I then wanted to make sure things that were popular were booked in advance. I know this level of planning would drive some people insane but I'm glad I did as I discovered they were all closed on Monday which of course happens to be the day we are going so with just 1 week to go it was time to find a new plan. Will there be changes along the way, probably and hopefully some hidden gems will be uncovered but it's nice to know I have a rough outline to follow.

Now there's just the small task of packing everything 4 people need for 31 days in a small campervan. Al's love of packing cubes was ramped up a notch as he decided we needed everything in a cube as space and time are at a premium on our packed schedule 😉

I've got lists of lists, still last minute ordering from amazon and don't think I'll ever feel truly ready but in less than 48hrs we should be spending our first night in a car park in France 🇫🇷