Resources

A list of useful resources and links (last updated on 19 February 2023).

Let’s start with the website that planted the seed for this trip, Overlanding Family.

Accommodation:

  • Booking.com has been our go-to accommodation booking site since selling the motorhome. Their rates and cancellation policies are reasonable.
  • France-Passion park overnight on properties used by wine-growers, farmers and artisans – our go-to resource for finding places to stay in France – see also our post on practical information for traveling in France
  • Portugal Easy Camp – Portuguese version of France Passion (lots of countries have a similar programme – US version is Harvest Hosts)
  • Park4Night – find free and paid overnight spots; online and an app

Blogs/Facebook:

  • Adventurous Way – interesting blogs, especially on how to personalise your vehicle
  • Local European news in English – there are different editions for different countries
  • MotorhomeFun – plenty of useful information
  • We read Dan’s book, Choose Life, before we started over travels and then met the Prince Family in France (at first we didn’t realise it was the Dan and Clair Prince)
  • Roadschool Europe and various Worldschooling and Worldschool Hub Facebook pages
  • The Chouters – friends who are travelling around Europe; amazing photos and witty blog posts
  • WorldTowning – family of four who toured every country in Europe in their motorhome

Education:

  • Logic of English – many creative activities and games to explain the mysteries of English
  • RightStart Mathematics – hands-on conceptual math, written by a Montessori teacher
  • Torchlight – we love the booklists – some of our favourites are “A Little Bit of Dirt” and “Hooray for Amanda & Her Alligator!” (Pre-K), the “Greetings from Somewhere” mysteries about homeschooled siblings (Kindergarten) and the “Heartwood Hotel” series, “A Child Through Time”, and “A City Through Time” (Level 1)
  • Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding – we use it as a basis for great discussions. We also like the science resources from Blossom and Root
  • SEA (Secular, Eclectic, Academic Homeschoolers) Facebook group – most of the resources below were found on this group including Wildschooling
  • BBC Children’s Classics – Amelia’s favourite audiobooks: they are full-cast dramatizations of classic stories. We asked our library to buy them and they have added most of them as digital resources
  • Little Pim – for learning languages – recently a stranger knocked on our door asking a question and only Amelia understood that she was looking for her sunglasses that she had dropped; when asked how she knew what was being asked she replied “Little Pim”. We also change the language option in Netflix and do online classes
  • BedtimeMath (website with activities), Dreambox (app), Dragonbox (app), Numberblocks (CBeebies/Netflix/Youtube)
  • Outschool – online classes on any subject. There are several discount groups on Facebook where teachers advertise new classes or classes which need additional learners
  • Your Natural Learner – wonderful hands-on learning activities/themes for homeschooling
  • Other activities: Imagination Tree, The Artful Parent, Tinkergarten

Vehicles:

  • France Motorhome Sales – was started by former employees of Euro Camping Cars and offers a service that allows ex-pats to own a French registered vehicle
  • Weinsberg – the manufacturer of our motorhome
  • ORV – if we had gone the travel trailer/caravan route then we would most probably have bought a Mountains Series trailer
  • Overland Explorer – OEX builds quality products but unfortunately not quite big enough for our needs
  • Total Composites – if we had built our own vehicle, these guys would have been at the top of the list for the camper body
  • We rented a budget 4×4 while exploring Namibia through 4×4 Car Rental, part of the Explore Namibia group

Other:

  • Back-up GPS – CoPilot allows you to enter vehicle dimensions (so you are routed around low bridges) and a ‘Governor speed’ (I entered the speed I am happy to cruise along at) which is used for ETA and Time-to-go calculations (provides a more realistic ETA than using the speed limit)
  • Banking – Revolut – very easy to open an account, intuitive app, foreign exchange rates are good, card will be charged in merchant currency (just make sure you fund the currency account ahead of time) and customisable security options (disable magnetic strip, location-based security, etc.)
  • French recipes – David Lebovitz – tasty and easy-to-follow plus measurements are in cups, teaspoons, etc. (not by weight) which is ideal for the motorhome
  • Language translation – Google Translate is quick and easy (including immediate spoken translations) but some of the translations are very literal; DeepL – is much better at high quality translations
  • Make sure you switch to a ‘winter mix’ (Grade A) of LPG/GPL before the temperature drops to 10 celcius or below. MyLPG has a useful explanation as well as list of grade(s) by country.
  • Two weather apps/websites are Weather.com (works well in the US) and YR (the Norwegian weather service which has been accurate in Europe and the US)
  • If you want a line drawing of the motorhome, feel free to down load the image using the following link (if you share it please give us credit): Weinsberg drawing