❌ 5 Things That Shocked Me About Motorhoming in Europe
Kat from Wandering Bird shares what surprised her after 90,000 miles motorhoming across Europe. Cash and coins matter for water stations and waste disposal, European roads are wider and friendlier than UK motorways, and locals respond well to basic politeness and language effort. Short trips hit multiple countries thanks to Europe's compact size.
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If you're considering going to Europe for the very first time, you might have heard a lot of myths and things that people say are true, but actually they are not. In this video, I'm going to be sharing 5 things that I thought were the case, but actually, as it turned out, it is not the case. And I want to make sure that you do not succumb to those myths and mistakes like I did. Ready? Let's dive in. I just filmed this entire video and realized I didn't have my microphone on. We are doing it again. Hi, if we've not met before, hi, my name is Kat from Wandering Bird. I quit my job back in 2018 to go touring around the UK and Europe in a motorhome. I've now driven about 90,000 miles around Europe alone, and about 50,000 of them have been solo. So I've got quite a lot of experience touring around Europe, and I hope this experience is helpful to you. So the first one is you don't need cash. Now, Obviously, Europe is a big place. There are lots of different countries, lots of cultures, lots of languages, all the rest of the stuff. And yes, I know there's somebody who's really pedantic watching this. We are in Europe in the UK. Yes, we are. But I'm talking very specifically about the EU and the Schengen Zone and all the other countries outside of the UK. It's just easier to say Europe. I'm sure we can all agree not to be so childish. But one thing that is very different, certainly from how I operate in the UK, I never use cash. I literally have my phone, I have my watch. I only ever use cash when I'm going to the kebab house, who are still cash only. Like, even my nail salon, which used to be cash only, they have now gone on to card. So I just, I just don't have cash on me at all. But you do need to take cash with you when you go into Europe. Like I say, some countries are worse than others. Germany Particularly, I find that a lot of the smaller restaurants, cafes, even like little places if you go into a waterfall or an attraction and there's like a little kiosk there where you can buy trinkets or whatever, a lot of the times those are cash only as well. Sometimes it's a signal problem and sometimes it's just they prefer cash. So always, always carry the appropriate currency with you. For a lot of Europe, that's of course euros, but not every country takes euros, so make sure you check That in advance. And then as well as actual notes, you're going to want some coins as well, and you will need coins all the time, particularly if you are going to be using the Aire system or staying off-grid and you want to be able to fill up with fresh water, to empty out— not so much your grey waste because you can do that for free quite frequently— but if you want to empty out your toilet, doing that in an approved place often takes like one of these euro or 2 euro coins. So my tip for that is when you have got some notes out of a cash point or you've taken with you wherever. When you go into a shop, buy a bottle of drink or some chewing gum and a chocolate bar or whatever, and you'll get a load of cash back. And then take a little bag or something and just start keeping your coins in that, and you will find that you will use that quite frequently. I also find in Germany, like, a lot of the airs, they have the old, like, payments machine like you do for the old car parks, and they've still got the coins. So you still need to use those to get your ticket to at some of these aires, not all, but some of them. So definitely worth carrying cash. The other thing whilst we're talking about money is you will need a physical card for— I think pretty much every fuel station across Europe requires you to put in a physical card. Some of them, admittedly, you can go in and you can pay at the pay machine there, so you could probably use your phone or your watch, but a lot of the actual petrol stations you have to put the card in the machine. So make sure you carry that with you as well. Number two, how bad the roads are. Like I admit, the UK roads have just gone downhill so more rapidly over the past twelve months. But even before that, driving in Europe feels a little bit easier. The roads are generally a lot quieter. Of course, there are the odd bottleneck. But unlike in the UK, where pretty much all the motorways feel slow and there's a lot of traffic and everything else, they've just got so much more space in Europe. So driving on them is a lot nicer. I also find as well the drivers are. Not always, not always the best drivers, but they are more used to larger vehicles, and they're also more considerate with things like going around corners and roundabouts and stuff. People tend, tend to give you a wider berth. I will admit, in Italy, certainly with scooters, this does not happen. But overall, I find driving in Europe a lot easier and more restful than driving in the UK. The third thing is just how well set up Europe is for motorhomes. This is probably the biggest one. It blew my brain the first time we brought a motorhome into Europe from the UK. Like, just the way that every town and village has some sort of parking space. They might not be free, but they welcome and encourage motorhomes and campervans to come and visit their town, their village, to use the local shops. There's somewhere to stay, there's often somewhere to sleep, there might even be places to empty out your waste and get fresh water. It's just so much more welcoming than we are in the UK, and I wish, I wish we would be better like this. And to be honest, if you can motorhome or campervan in the UK, like, Europe is an absolute dream and a doddle because there are so many more places to stop. They have this fantastic network of Aires, they have this fantastic network of service points. Like, every— not every, but most motorway service stations, particularly in France, They've got these motorhome service points around the back where you can empty out your grey waste. You can normally do that for free, and then you can pay with coins to fill up with fresh water or to empty out your cassette toilet in a proper place. And that way you can continue to stay off-grid for weeks if you want to. I wish we could provide some of these service points in the UK and just make it so, so much easier for motorhoming over here. And I think that for me, the biggest thing, the best thing that I love about touring around Europe is The absolute flexibility. Like, you don't have to book up campsites months and months in advance. Admittedly, if I was traveling with kids and we wanted a pool and a restaurant and to be near a beach on the west coast of France, I would book that up because they obviously are finite spaces. But for people like myself traveling alone, happy to go inland, happy to go to more remote places, don't need a lot of facilities and things, it's so fantastic just being able to wake up in the morning and be like, That looks good, let's go over that way, rather than having to book and plan campsites and have deposits lost if I change my mind and all the rest of the stuff. It's just a lot more touring-friendly. Number 4, how unfriendly Europeans are to the British. And yes, of course, there are going to be language issues and language barriers, but if you read some of the news reports or forums and you hear how much the French hate the English, or, you know, how standoffish the Swedish are, or something like that. And then you actually go to these places and you realise that's not the case. A lot of the time they don't speak English, and I always try very hard to speak their language. I have more success in French than I do with Swedish, admittedly, but people are so friendly and so helpful. And if you make a little bit of effort with them, I always find that it is reciprocated, even if you have no clue about their language. Dutch, not a Scooby. Thankfully, they speak incredible English. But even things like asking the locals for recommendations on restaurants or where they think is a good place to go and all of that kind of stuff, it just makes people feel like you really value their homeland and they can be proud of it. And that helps build up relationships and friendly vibes quite well. And I think one of the things that really surprised me the most when I started touring around Europe is just how much of an experience you can have in quite a short space of time. I mean, we are so lucky in the UK to have this incredible playground and plethora of countries and cultures and history and art and languages and food and all of this incredible stuff on our doorstep, literally just across a body of water— an expensive body of water, admittedly— but within just a couple of days you could visit France or Belgium or the Netherlands or Germany, or, you know, you could get a ferry down to I mean, there is so much opportunity that we have got, and that really surprised me because I always thought you'd need 2 or 3 weeks to kind of make Europe a proper thing. But in a long weekend, you can see a lovely chunk and actually feel like you've had a proper adventure, which I think is really special. Now, I know a lot of people are intimidated by going to Europe. There are rules and things you've got to carry and things you need to avoid and Crit'Air stickers and tolls and routes. And, ah, it can be overwhelming, and I completely understand that, which is exactly why I started doing these Touring Europe workshops. And the next one of those is next week. If you would like to come and join me live on Zoom, I will go through everything you need and all the things that you have to plan or think about and consider before you go off onto your trip, plus all the updates for 2026. The link for that will be in the notes of this video. Of course, if you happen to be watching this after that workshop has gone, do not fear. That link that I put in will still lead you to the replay, so you'll be able to watch that and get all the information that I shared anyway. So no problem with that. I hope wherever you are, you are planning a new adventure and having a fantastic day, and I'll see you on the next video. Take care, bye!
