Touring Europe in a Caravan Top 10 (Starter Kit)

After spending a while working out what my caravan starter top 10 gadgets were going to be, I’ve decided that this list isn’t going to be just gadgets, it’s all sorts of things that I found useful.

Memberships

Membership of the Camping and Caravanning Club https://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk

Camping card international. This is a great way to get discount on off peak campsite rates   https://www.campingcard.co.uk

Membership of ADAC. A very good European breakdown service. https://www.adac.de

Cooking

Single Electric ring. If you’re paying for electric hook up, then why not make the most of it by using and electric ring. Some newer Caravans and Campers have these build in, but if your van doesn’t have one, they are very useful. In some counties the power in the site isn’t as strong as in the uk so, more powerful rings can cause your pitch electric to trip. For more information on this please read our article on paying twice for the energy you use.

Power

Europe to UK plug converter. This one I didn’t realise till after we’d left home, but if you buy any electrical items in Europe they will come with a European plug, but your caravan is likely to have UK 3 pin plugs in it.

Keeping it level with a leveller

If you are like me and have problems sleeping on an uneven bed then a leveller is must have. The leveller we chose was an https://andersenhitches.com/Products/3604–camper-leveler.aspx  This wasn’t or isn’t the easiest item to buy in the UK but reversing the caravan on to it was easy and it was hugely adjustable in how it could level.

Route planning

Tomtom

Tomtom sat nav. I’ve already got a Tomtom system and even though it isn’t a Caravan specific system, I found that with a little care and planning it was fine. Having a paper map and checking the route in advance made things a lot easier. Tomtom have how also introduced an online a way of entering your Van / Campervans dimensions to help with this. For more information please read the article on route planning

ViaMichelin

Michelin Route planner. Not strictly something you pack as it’s available on line, but I found it a very useful way of working out how much each route would cost as it gives an indication of how much the tolls on your journey would be. For more information please read the article on route planning

Security

Hitch Lock

Milenco hitch lock. Security is a very subjective thing but we went for a hitch and wheel lock, in order to keep our weight down we went for the http://www.milenco.com/products/security/hitchlocks/lightweight-aks-hitchlock which offered good security but without weighing too much. For reference Milenco do also sell a heavier duty version of this lock. To find out more, we have a seperate article on caravan security

Wheel clamp

Milenco wheel clamp. The wheel clamp we went for was compact, but offered good security . To find out more please read our article on caravan security