So.. The almighty trip has begun. All went well yesterday, we got to the hotel safe and sound, no problems at all! Today is a slightly different story. Room was a bit of a tip after some drinks last night but that got sorted, breakfast went well… (McDonalds), couldn’t find a Nurf (like an American football with a tail). We have to arrive at Dover 1 hour before departure (14:00) as I post this we are not there! with traffic, really bad weather and road works,it’s going to Br a Top Gear style finish. Not far away now so back to the speeding ah erm…. I mean careful driving and not trying to make up time…..

Hello from all the guys to the people who are following out trip on the website.

We’re doing it again, albeit in a slightly different way. Call us stupid (you’d be right), call us brilliant, either way it’s going to end up as good, or as bad as last years trip.

We’re driving in a car this time (Fiesta). No moving bed, no onboard toilet, no fridge, no television, no table, but more speed! We’ll be covering 1400 miles on the road, which is more than last years trip as we are venturing deep into German territory by visiting the Hockenheim Formula One Grand Prix.

We’ll only be stopping in two countries though this time, Germany and Belgium. This is because of our tighter deadline of 5/6 days rather than the longer 10 days we endured last time. Along our route we’ll be smashing the Nurburgring Nordschleife, hammering Frankfurt on the way back from Hockenheim and stopping twice in Belgium.

We’re also hoping to stop at the Pistenklause Restaurant for one reason, and one reason only…

It’s going to be entertainment all round…

This post is just about saying thank you to all the boys Mark, Kyle, Jan, Fisher and Mike.  These five lads gave me the the best experience of my life and for that i will always be grateful.

To Mark I say thanks for sorting just about everything out for the trip.  I was left to sort out only two things which were the booking of the RV and the campsite in Germany, only one of these things turned out good, the RV.  When we turned up to the campsite in Germany they wanted 24 euros per person for one night, this along with the key problem led to mine and Marks drive through the night to Amsterdam.

Legend

To Jan I say thanks for the one liners…. One that still makes me laugh now is “OK bye guys, have a safe trip…” this was said to one man cleaning his tent.  The “We are Sparta” when we got the key from the RV is yet another fine example of the one liners from this guy.  The rest of us were shouting ” WE GOT THEM, WE GOT THEM, GET THE F**K IN !!!!” and Jan says that.  HA HA.  Also thanks to him for photos like this…

Lets not forget about the morning we were setting off back home, I came up with the idea that seen as it would be our last shower on holiday, that me, Kyle, Fisher and Jan should walk to the showers at 5am wearing nothing but our boxer shorts.  As I turned around after picking my things up I saw Jan stood there with a towel wrapped around him i said “Wow, wow, wow, what do you think your doing, its either the towel or boxer shorts” he replied with “Towel it is then”.  As we left the RV it turned out to be quite cold, but we stuck with it.  For some reason we had a the video camera rolling as we walked to the shower and for good footage a ripped the towel from Jan, what was to come would be one of the funniest things I would ever witness…. Jan running away but naked shrieking “Oooo, oooooo, ha ha, ooooo” the only thing I could compare it to is the greased up deaf guy from family guy. So many funny memories of this guy.  When you read this Jan *high five* and shout “Ooop there it is!!!”

To Fisher for making the most unrealistic noises from his little ares…  I know this is immature but when he farted, I could do nothing but laugh, they sounded just like someone ripping bed sheets or the farts from South Park.  Simply amazing.  Also want to say thanks for his singing, which was just fantastically bad although he did pull out all the stops when we have a group sing a long to ” Roll out the barrel” by Milburn.

Mike, although not as loud as some of the others, he was none the less funny.  when we were one the beach, I had a little walk to find some shells but Mike to it to another level he walked to far out to see, that we could no longer see him…. after a few minutes of still not being able to see him me, Kyle and Fisher set off out to sea to find him which let to this….Jupilar

Also thanks for the kick ass Nurf action, we really had some good sessions.

Last but no means least, thanks to my best pal….. Kyle!  No one but Kyle talks as much S**t as me, throughout this trip some new words have been used frequently, the first being “Ro-sham Bo” which doesn’t mean anything yet it can be used to describe everything.  Thanks to you for always hitting everything hard with me whether it be drinking, rowing, singing or dancing, thank you.

I know this is all starting to sound a bit soppy so onto some funny stuff from kyle, like using the toilet in the RV literally seconds after picking it up also whilst moving.  For some reason being sat in the drivers seat with nothing on but a t-shirt with the door wide open for everyone and anyone to see.  For kissing the track at the top of Eau Rouge and getting in some sort of go-kart type thing in the super market just to name a few.  One of the funniest things from Kyle was when he was hung over on the bus on the way to the Grand Prix track, every time I look at the photo it makes me laugh purely just because i remember the noises he was making and how much he wanted to hit me because I kept talking about food and sick.

I know there are things I have missed out but its better to talk about them with each other whilst looking at the photos or watching all the video footage.  We need to have more regular meets and nights out for no reasons other than to see each other, get drunk and talk about Dorris.

Thanks again boys, these memories will stay with me forever.  I onyl hope that This first RV trip is not the last because I honestly cant think of anything else that would be able to best what we have just done/accomplished.

Thanks!

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So, here we are in the uk. We returned the motorhome to Motoromer (who were brilliant sports even when we turned up late and had broken one or two things) after having an awesome finish to the holiday in Dunkirk. We stopped at Middlekirk on the way where we has a MASSIVE pizza and a nice journey to Dunkirk where we had a second bash at Karting! We had a bit of Nerfing, football, beer and a photoshoot while the sun went down on the beach in Dunkirk.

We highly recommend a trip around Europe in a motorhome but make sure you plan for the worst (and sometimes don’t for a bit of fun)

Took a few photos over the last couple of days to show where av been etc… Most have been taken in Germany including a few from hot lap around the Nurburgring!

Just a quick update in yesterday first…. We rented some kayaks, which seems a pretty normal thing. Seen as were not in the uk and the health and safety guys aren’t here to rape us, it was just a simple case of hand over your tokeno’s and grab a kayak, no life jacket, no helmet and no lifeguard!

Our campsite is on it’s own island so we decided to check out the open water surrounding us, we had me and dan in a 2 manner, jan and mark in a 2 manner and then Fish and Mike in singles…

We got a long way out, even rowing under some of the motorway bridges that we’d come over driving to the campsite! It was very surreal. Then dan topped it, as we were surrounded by motorway traffic he stood/knelt in the back edge if the boat, to have a piss… And while doing so, pretty much tipped us in the drink! We headed back and the boys rocked the boat as I was getting out, I binned it straight into some black, shitty, syphilis infested mud!

Off karting now… And seeing as I am Ayrton Senna, the greatest of the great, i WILL win….

All I’m saying is,

7 foot stick, taped to another 3 foot stick, taped to wire, taped to magnet + 1 twenty year old Poland powerhouse + 1 Jurgen the German = the best story and best day of my life

Yesterdays events were simply mind blowing and not many people are going to believe what has happened.

It started well with a good nights sleep, an early set off from Spa to get to Germany, Nurburg. We made it within two hours but struggled to find the entrance to one of the greatest racing circuits in the world. Once we finally arrived it looked dead as a dodo. One car in the car park and no cars on circuit. We found out that the circuit was only open for 20 minutes that night. So we had to find something to occupy us (see the burger below).

Skipping forward a few hours we were finally ready to explore and headed off to the Nurburgring museum. It was very good and involved standing next to Ayrton senna, watching a 4D film about the ring and looking at some awesome cars.

We returned to the Nurburgring entrance after the museum to find Porches, Ferraris, Exiges, BMW’s and many more cars with big engines driving around. We quickly locked the doors and set off only to find the keys locked in the RV. Problem. This was the start of a 6 hour marathon of phone calls, shouting, standing and generally fearing for our life. We had locked the keys in.

We phoned the AA which we were told would be there ‘in the hour’. We decided to try and get round the Nordschliefe and five of the lads went in a 911 GT3RS, Focus ST, Mercedes AMG 6.3 and a V6 Golf. I got in nothing waiting for bloody ADAC.

2 hours later we decided to phone back. ‘there in ten minutes’. Half an hour later the ADAC arrived and after telling us to turn the camera off and talking us through a French TOS he started on the door. Ten minutes in we remembered it was dead locked. 1 hour later we were no further and it ended up with the ADAC van leaving us saying Ford Assist were on their way. They didn’t turn up. After another lengthy phonecall we were told they aren’t coming. We were told to expect a phonecall with hotel and unlocking details. It didn’t come. We were then told (after another lengthy phonecall) that they would come in the morning! I gave up on hoping for Ford Assist and said 9am.

Meanwhile when I was on the phone Jesus turned up. It was dark and again we feared for our lives.

Jurgen The German (Jesus) saw mike pulling out a large branch to try and grab them. Jurgen dissapeared and returned with an axe. We feared for our lives. After stripping down the ten foot branch Jurgen The German pulled out a piece of wire and simply said ‘hook’. We taped it on, climbed the RV and stuck it in the roofs vent. Jurgen then dissapeared once more and returned with a magnet. ‘Very Strong’ he said. We taped that on and proceeded with an agonising twenty minute ‘hook a duck’ competition. Fisher hooked them on, dragged them to the back and hey presto! They were out! We thanked Jurgen The German (who wouldn’t even accept all the beer we threw at him! We then ended up deciding that midnight was too late to find a campsite and ended up driving through the night. Me (Mark) and Dan split it and here we are. Sat in the Amsterdam campsite ready to take on the city. Or maybe have a quick sleep.

So then, we drove all the way to Belgium to see the F1 and the guys went to see, Hamilton, Button and Grojean bummed it at the corners before ours!

A cracking day it was, and it was cemented in the history of greatness after we managed to get on track! We were STOOD on the TRACK!!!

Were packed up and the on the road to the Nurburgering! Goodbye Spa D’or hello Camping AM Nurbugerimg

Introducing Ro-sham-bo, the most used ‘word’ of De reis van Europa! Dan came out with this and is now in the dictionary, and depending on the accent it works in all languages!!!

Anyway, I’m writing this as I lay on the grass at the track in the sun watching some Porshe supercup…

I think last needs a massive mention on the site, we went off to Spa (the town) for some steak and beer. We went to the casino but they wouldn’t let us in because Jan was too young… This was a bad hit to the night and there was only one thing what could sort it… Tequila!

Going into the next bar we tried ordering some creak (fruit flavoured beer) but ended up with with some strong tar like piss called Kwak. Hmmm… After seeing a local getting thrown out of a bar for been drunk we moved over to the Havana club as it had a neon palm tree in the window… We walked in and were told to to ‘keep it down’ by this massive big guns magoo when we said we were English! After getting a drink, we noticed that there was only men in the bar….

We were in a GAY bar…! Rather than moving on we decided to stay in the mixer and bust some shapes… Bad idea. First of all I (Ky) got my arse patted and cupped by someone resembling kimi raikkonen. Then 2 mins later Fisher got pulled to one side and into the middle of a group of men, literally they just grabbed him… Narrowly avoiding gang rapage! Then more antics when dan went to the toilet and he caught a guy staring at his man meat… At this point we decided to leg it! Back to base we went, where at 2 we had a French chap come and tell us off. All in all, a jolly good time!

Peace.

It’s been a long one. Last nights events saw us eating what can only be described as ‘meat, garlic mayo, bread’. It was heaven.

Today we made it to Spa Francorchamps for the f1. The food and drink was VERY expensive but eaten none the less. After talking to a very drunk Finnish guy with a bottle of wine we settled down at Blanchemont to watch the cars fly round at 160mph.

Last nights events were probably too eventful to describe but involved beer and the projector. After watching a film we settled in for a quick five hour kip before we were up for today.

Tonight involves a taxi to Amsterdam (and he speaks no English at all), taking in some sights and sounds before the race tomorrow. The WiFi is very unreliable (which explains the long pause between posts).

We will update tomorrow night if possible on the days events!

Well eventually, after the M25 royally shafted us last night, we’ve landed in Ben Dover, just had more grease for breakfast and ready for the off.

Last night was rather special, Jan fell through a bed… Dan fell over in the shi**er and Mike was sleep talking saying ‘are we there yet’… Good times…

Well, here we are…… Just got on the ferry! We’ve left Dorris down in the hold with all her old friends so he can catch up on old times.
We moved up onto the top floor of the ferry and what a view we have!
I must admit it felt rather odd drivng onto a huge boad.

This will be our last post from the UK, so fingers crossed we make it.

As I post this, the ferry has just come alive and started moving, HERE WE GO!!!!!!

The boys are in the shuttle and starting our 250 mile journey to Folkstone! Ferry in the morning (10am) so it’s party time tonight! More photos later!

So then, it’s almost here…

58 weeks of waiting, 58 weeks of not so carefull planning and 58 weeks of explosive, tormenting excitment forever ticking down to first turn of the keys.

Then comes the next number to throw in the mixer. 1300 – the miles to travel, some of which I predict, will be long and painfull filled with headaches and stomach gurgling relapses of the night before, but we shall battle through the pain and sickness onto our next destination, the next night out…

For me, this trip is something iv always wanted to do, I love culture and travelling, seeing things iv not before. Being a designer, I’m a very visual person, and I’m ready to take on the sights, sounds and smells that our various destinations have to offer…

58 weeks has certainly been a long time to wait for this trip, the 1300 miles is no world record but neither a walk in the park, but the numbers surrounding this trip mean nothing, apart from 6.

6 mates together with an unrecordable ammount of laughs ahead of us.

We now officially go on holiday tomorrow! And I bought a Jenson GB flag for spa!

As time draws closer (2 days) I thought I best make a post. The last couple of days have been final planning and washing clothes ready for this amazing trip. The only problem with this time of limbo is that you are already there in mind but most defiantly not there in body yet.

As the excitement builds then Dan drops the projector on you (not literally, the idea) you just can’t keep it in anymore. The ideas been thrown around wouldn’t be out of place on pimp my motorhome. Some of our driving hats are still a secret and from what I’ve heard about some of them they will defiantly be worth the wait.

That’s over and out for me for now.

It’s not just a case of taking some clothes and underpants. Careful meticulous planning must go into things such as what gadgets we must take, which possessions we must remember and what odd objects can we carry into the motor-home. We start off with a list. Some things you may think are obvious others a bit odder.

1. Driving Hats – A dead cert. If you don’t bring your hat, it’s forfeit time baby.
   

   Dan's Hand + Projector

2. Clothes – we can’t all walk round naked!? Or can we?
3. Beer.
4. iPhone chargers – We do have 4 iPhones after all. How geeky.
5. Some sort of sound system – for our tooooooons
6. 720p Projector
7. xbox
8. Pants
9. Passports
10. Drivers Licence

Did anyone notice the BIG anomaly in the list? If not re-read number 6. How many people have been to Belgium, in a motor-home, after watching the F1, gone back to the campsite and watched “I Love You Man” on 720p PROJECTOR! ? If anyone has done that please post a comment. We want to meet you. Just image this. It’s dark. You’ve enjoyed Jenson Button secure a pole position for Spa on Saturday, you whack the projector on, kick back with a beer and WATCH THE FILM ON THE SIDE OF THE MOTORHOME. Dan, your a genius mate. 2 days, 11 hours, 34 minutes to go!

Today myself, Mark and Kyle had our final meeting before the trip, we need to sort out the places we were going to stop at on the second leg of our journey.  Although things went well and the remaining campsites were chosen all three of us found it extremely hard to contain our excitement especially me and Kyle as every now and again we would scream and shout “I cant F*****g wait boys, I cant F*****g wait!!!!”

The first thing on the agenda was looking into the night life in Belgium.  As it turns out Central Spa is the place to be or so we think :-S.  Kyle to his delight found that there is a casino bang in the middle of Spa.  What’s funny about that is Kyle seems to have the worst luck out of the six of us, so you can guess how he will feel the morning after when he has to drown his sorrows in the bar after splashing all his cash on “Black” and it coming up “Red”.

The first campsite which I cannot spell ha ha! is on the West Coast of Europe.  A reason why we chose this one is because it’s only 200m away from the beach but the main reason is because on that beach the hire out jet ski’s. When i found that out, I began to shout “Jet ski’s, jet ski’s jet ski’s” at both Mark and Kyle which I think made it apparent that I wanted to stay there.

Party man

On another note, just going back to the post from Mark about the DRVE Playlist, I must add “Andrew W.K – Party Hard and We Want Fun”.  Any music that makes you want to jump in the air every time you hear it is a must and these two are some of the best.  I mean look at the guys face he MUST! party all the time.

The fact that the start is now only three days away, having a BBQ and watching the European Grand Prix didn’t make it easy to contain ourselves as that is what we will be doing next Sunday.

Right…. not bad for the first post of my life, although earlier in the day i did say “I’m not into blogs and that sort of s**t” quite fun actually, more to come.

To celebrate our European drive (which we are now referring to as the Road Trip through this post) we have assembled a list of things you should do, and shouldn’t do on a road trip. We have also referenced the great film “Road Trip” starring Seann William Scott and Tom green to add to the mix.

Things you shouldn’t do…

1. Take a snake
   In a closed environment with plenty of snacks, beer and, well, snacks a Snake can get very aggravated. A great example was in the film Road Trip. Scary!
2. Piss off a red neck waiter in a dirty cafe…
   Again, in the film it happened. This could be a bad idea when your food is returned with hair, sweat and other body fluids included. However, if it’s returned and tastes better, who cares?
3. Piss off dirty motel staff drawing Zebras…
4. Take Tom Green with you
   Depending on the kind of person you are, this could go in the “should do” section…
5. Run out of fuel in the middle of nowhere
6. Get lost in the middle of Europe
7. Incorrectly connect the gas, electricity or water supply…
8. Let Jeremy Clarkson cook (same video at 7 but different time)

Things you should do…

1. Take some beer, but don’t drink and drive!
2. Take lots and lots of food
3. Take your drivers hat (see previous post)
4. Take Tom Green with you (again, depends what kind of person you are)
5. Drive the Motorhome in Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands
6. Leave some locations “unplanned” so it’s an official road trip
   We don’t actually have anywhere booked in Germany, Belgium (coastline) and Dunkirk. Should be fun!
7. Stop in as many places as possible
8. Do something that scares you
9. Take an AK-47
10. Make a playlist of driving songs

And now we include the short playlist of some songs you MUST have on a road trip, key tracks highlighted…

1. Twisted Sister – I wanna rock
2. Steppenwolf – Born to Be Wild
3. AC/DC – Highway to Hell
4. AC/DC – Back in Black
   
5. Madness – Driving in my car
6. Wilson Pickett – Mustang Sally
7. The Who – Pinball Wizard
8. The Who – Baba O’Riley
9. U2 – Magnificent
10. Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’
11. Boston – More Than a Feeling
12. Black Sabbath – Iron Man
13. The Cult – She Sells Sanctuary

There are probably loads more classic Road Trip songs not on that short list. Any suggestions?