The Journey - We are on our way!

Newcastle Upon Tyne to Ancona

April 18th 2016 -Newcastle Upon Tyne to Peterborough

 

So.... it's April 18th and we're off! A new life awaits in Kefalonia - we just have to get there. It's only a 1573 mile trip. What can be hard about that? Well.... we're about to find out. 

Stage 1 was the journey from Newcastle Upon Tyne to Peterborough.That took off 207 miles. I know it's only a fraction of the whole mileage. We stopped off at the Dog in a Doublet hotel, only because it sounded rather appropriate. 

April 19th 2016- Peterborough to Wisques (France)

Stage 2 of the journey was from Peterborough to Wisques in France via the Eurotunnel. We'd never been through the Eurotunnel before. It was amazing. I thought it would be hectic but there were hardly any vehicles waiting to go through. It's a 40 minute trip, but only 20 minutes are underground. We flashed our passports at Passport control and asked if he wanted to see the Pet passports as well. He said "Just on your way back into England". 

"I don't think so" I said. We're not coming back! That sounded good I have to say. He seemed a bit shocked so we explained the situation and he wished us the best of luck.

Waiting to go through the Eurotunnel at Folkestone 

Stopped off at La Sapiniere just outside of Calais. Beautiful hotel and the grounds are lovely. The weather is sunny and warm. Just perfect. 

I've managed to use some of my "O"level French in the restaurant. It's amazing how you can get by 

with "Bonjour", "Merci", and "Tres Bon" together with nods of the head and smiling.When we were walking the dogs in the grounds of the hotel, the manageress motioned to us through the window of the restaurant  to say she would reserve a table for dinner for us. We turned up for dinner, dogs in the room, and she was horrified that we hadn't brought them to the table! We had to about turn and go and fetch them. She made such a fuss over them which was really nice. 

The next morning however, we sat at the wrong table (how dare we!), I ate a Frenchman's soft boiled egg by mistake (don't ask!) and both dogs pee'd on the pillar right outside the main entrance of the hotel just as a group of business men arrived for a conference.  Time to escape.......

La Sapiniere in Wisque

Stage 1 & 2 DONE!!

Booking the ferry journeys

What does Camping All Inclusive on a ferry really mean?

As we are leaving in April and driving from the UK to Kefalonia, there is no direct ferry from Italy to Kefalonia. Aaaargh......

This means we have to go via the Greek mainland:
That's one ferry journey more than we bargained for! I hope the dogs aren't seasick!

                      Stage 1 - Ancona  (Italy) to Patras (Greek mainland) by FERRY
                      Stage 2 - Patras (Greek mainland) to Kyllini (Greek mainland)

                      Stage 3 - Kyllini to Poros (Kefalonia) by FERRY

       Stage 1 Ancona to Patras by ferry

So, when trying to book Stage1 of the ferry journey from Ancona to Patras through the Ferries-Booking.com App on the iPhone there were numerous cabin/seat combinations to choose from.

• 1,2,3,4 Bed Inside 
• 1,2,3,4 Bed Outside
• 1,2,3,4,5, Bed Junior suite 
• 1 Bed Lux
• Double Bed Lux
• 3 Bed, Double Bed Lux 
• Deck
• Aircraft Type Seat 
• Business

However -there was no way of adding pets!

Just for a split second, I imagined there being no pets allowed on board. In that moment of horror, I saw us having to travel back up through Italy through Slovenia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria to get to Patras (due to quarantine rules for dogs in the surrounding non-EU countries) by which time I would be thin (yes please), have long grey hair (no thank you) and look about 74 (which I'm not). It's truly amazing how much you can think of in a split second!

But I kept calm and carried on...

As we have 2 dogs we wanted a cabin where the dogs could stay with us as oppose to staying in a kennel. Rocky (the border collie) is 12 years old and I don't think he would take too kindly to being stuffed into a crate. Bobs (the Jack Russell) - well, he's a Jack Russell so I'll leave that to your imagination!
So I thought the best way round this was to e-mail someone. So I did, but if I thought it was bad trying to book via the phone App - it was even worse via e-mail. I swear there must have been 500 e-mails between me and the Greek ferry company.  I could smell the satellites burning! OK - a bit of an exaggeration but it certainly felt like it!

The words "Camping All Inclusive" kept getting bandied about along with "Discount" and "Deck Passage" and "Pet Cabins".

So I realized early on I needed a "Pet Cabin". Fair enough - straight forward, but what on earth is "Camping All Inclusive" on a ferry? Bearing in mind I DO NOT DO camping! AT ALL! We are new to camper vans having just purchased the one we are about to leave in and it's strictly for exploring on Kefalonia - NOT for sleeping in, on a long journey.
After numerous more e-mails and explanations from the Greek ferry services, I was still non the wiser, and started to get really frustrated.

I'm normally a relatively calm person but at this moment, I have to say, I shouted at the computer:

"I JUST WANT TO DRIVE MY CAMPER VAN ON TO THE FERRY, SLEEP WITH OUR DOGS IN THE CABIN AND DRIVE OFF THE OTHER END.  I DON'T NEED TO PUT A TENT UP ONBOARD THE FERRY, AND I DON'T NEED ELECTRICITY FOR MY HAIR DRYER!!!!". 

Eventually I reserved a cabin for Stage 1 of the journey.

         Stage 2 Patras to Kyllini by road

Fortunately, Stage 3 is a short ferry journey which doesn't require a cabin. Yaaaaay!

       Stage 3 Kyllini (Greek mainland) to Poros (Kefalonia) by ferry

Ferry journey for Stage 3 booked!


I'm still non the wiser about Camping All Inclusive though!

Naming the villa

Less than two weeks to go......Eeeeeeek!

In amongst all the preparations for the move, we have been trying to come up with a name for the villa - bearing in mind we have had seven months now in which to do this, we have only just yesterday - decided on it. We now have to have a house sign made before we go - no pressure.
We are changing our lives completely in two weeks time, and a trivial thing like naming a villa is now the ultimate worry! Nuclear fall out could be on the horizon, going by the news these days, but let's concentrate on a name for the villa first. Everything in perspective.
We wouldn't normally bother with a house name but it's for the postman. Let me explain....

Our address at the moment is basically in this format:

• Sharon & Mark
• Village Name
• Kefalonia

Now the village where we have bought the villa isn't huge but there are a number of houses. When we asked the property agent how does the postman know where to deliver the post, they said he just gets used to knowing where everybody lives. Mmmm......so we thought to make life easier for him we could put a house sign up. 

I will divulge the villa name at the end of the post (no peeking!), but before we came up with it we thought it would be a good idea to have a name relating to where we come from, i.e. Newcastle Upon Tyne in the county of Tyne  & Wear in the UK.
We like flowers for names of houses, i.e. Rose cottage, so I googled the flower for the county of Tyne & Wear.

                                                  "Monkeyflower"

......No our new home is not called "Monkeyflower villa"!

So I googled the flower for the county of Northumberland (our favourite county just north of Tyne & Wear and where we spend a lot of time walking along the beaches with the dogs).

                                               "Bloody Crane's-bill"

......No our new home is not called "Bloody Crane's-bill villa"!!!

Well after much deliberation  - "Sunflower Villa" is the name of choice. So now its a mad dash to get a house sign made.

Our good friends have given us their cast iron sunflower doorstop to take with us to stand outside on the patio of the villa, so we've uploaded a photo of it to the sign maker to incorporate it into the house sign.

                                                       Sunflower

........Job done!
Now we can concentrate on the more important aspect of the the move - the journey.

Kefalonia or Svalbard?

So.... the packing begins.

All I can say is; whoever invented the vacuum storage bag deserves a knighthood. They are amazing. What was half a bedroom full of clothes, towels, bedding etc has compressed into a small pile which is now lurking in the corner of the room ready to be packed into the Tardis of the camper van.

I did have trouble deciding what coats to take. I love coats, own a few, most of which I use for dog walking so they are warm, snug and waterproof. Long coats, short coats, body warmers etc. ideal for a walk in the North East of England on a winters day or even any day in the year come to think of it. I would love to take them all as I can't choose between them, but I know it's just not possible. Even a vacuum storage bag would burst at the seams with all my coats and I don't think the suspension on the camper van would take too kindly to the weight! The ferry crossing from Italy to the Greek mainland would be a re-run of the Titanic without the iceberg.

So I asked Mark's opinion on what coats he thought I should take. Bad decision.....

The reply I got was.....Sharon, we are moving to Kefalonia. It's a Greek island in the Mediterranean. We are not moving to Svalbard.

He's right of course. Dam!
Kefalonia does have cold wet winters though so I'll have to take at least one coat.
Which one though?


..........Can we move to Svalbard?