Hey there Jess & Thousand Mile,sonds to me like we will have around 45 on the coach, a full camping trip usually doesn't fill all the seats as extra room can be needed on the coach to fit fresh food, traveller's purcahses prior to shipping and the like. Our last trip had about 45 from memory, Molly might tell me otherwise! As for the business in Europe, well i ama horticulturalist and run a business sellng protective canopies for fruit and vegetables such as Hail Nets, bird nets, wind breaks etc. Am going to Europe on study tour through Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Holland for two weeks. To answer your questions thousand mile my man, i don't think i went to bed on any night without having had atleast 6 drinks and mot nights were more than that. Alot of campsites have great bars and you will also find a few good "local" watering holes along the way too. It is as much of a party as you want it to be. We also had some on our last trip who did a full 21 day camper and London for three days on 1000 Euros, it can be done. One piece of advice is to make sure you do as many optional activities as possible. Spare a few beers for the sake of great memories! Now to the mushrooms, well no-one on our trip got into the mushrooms but a few of the boys had a crack at the rather potent Dope while they were in Amsterdam and lets just say that two of them were very sick boys for two days after....lucky it was at the end of our las trip. Amsterdam is great fun even without the dope though, i didn't try it, not my sort of thing but anyone who wants to try it, go for your life. Hope this all helps, oh.....don't forget to take plenty of people photos because that is what makes your trip so much fun, the people, on the trip and the others that you meet along the way too.

Hi Everyone,

I am Rosie, the token pom Jess mentioned a couple of weeks ago. I know it seems daft for a 'local' to be going on this trip but I haven't been anywhere we are going on the tour except for Paris and that was years ago. Much the same as everyone else, I want to see as much of Europe as possible in quite a short time. I am doing the Croatia sailing afterwards as well, hopefully I won't be completely on my own for that!

I am 23 and live about an hour outside London. I finished uni last summer but I am going back for a year in September to do a teacher training course. Looking forward to meeting you all in July x x x

Thanks for the info turtle , I proably given the wrong impression - im not some drug taking party hard sort of bloke usually... i done enough of that in my teens and it screwed with my head so bad i only just got over it a year or so ago but i do wanna know what these mushrooms are all about and the best way is through research so thats what ill call it !! Oh and i got a vegie patch in my backyard and its not doing too well at the moment so ill be have to ask you some questions when we meet up !!!

And Hi to Rosie ! Glad you will be on our trip , after i thought about it , i can understand where you are comeing from , i have met a few backpackkers here in Aus and they have all seem to have seen more of our awsome country than i have in my 26 years, and after discussions with one of your sort ( think she is from buckinghamshire or something like that) who i still keep in touch with and will be catching up with when im over there , in my 6 weeks i will have seen more of Europe than she has !!! Cant wait for us all to meet up !!!

Hey Turtle i have another realy important question ... Whats the go with pillows i am confused about what people are saying in the forums do we have to take our own , go with out or do they supply them ???

Thousand Mile, i can sort this one for you very easily, no complicated answers here. Now pay attention; YOU ARE NOT PROVIDED WITH A PILLOW. You are only supplied with a blow up mattress (don't listen to all those talking about the pillow in the mattress, it is **** and if your mattress has a hole in it, you will have no pillow either). I took a small travel pillow (20cm x 20cm x about 5 cm thick)just for a bit of extra comfort at night, camping is great but just remember you are going for 16 days and if you can at least sleep well during the night you will have more fun during the day. It is pretty handy on the plane too, or in the coach during the day. So my conclusion, TAKE A SMALL PILLOW TO USE IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE AIR MATTRESS AND BRING DECENT SLEEPING BAG TO KEEP YOU WARMA T NIGHT, WILL HELP TO PREVENT CONTIKI COUGH TOO.

Hello Peoples,
Long time no talk.
Nice to see that there is a few on this trip now. Even better to see more of you on this message board. To all the others that are going on the trip with us that aren't on this message board, They don't know what they are missing out on. Looks like we will all have to catch up and head out in London on the night before our trip. Probably after we have a pre-departure meeting. Well its less than 6 weeks to go for Turtle and myself so we will see you over there.
Happy Packing!!
Remember to pack light!!

Cheers

MOLLY

Thanks turets for the info , have found a great sleeping bag looks more like a body bag ha ha but should be nice and warm , not back in perth till about 5 july so will definatly take your advice on the pillow as i cant sleep without one , will visit a camping shop straight away !!! Would love to bring my swag on the contiki , think ill bring it over (minus the mattress) but have a friend meet me in Croatia with it. And whats that about a mattress with a hole in it ?? Should i bring a puncture repair kit too ???
Remember the 6 "P's "
Proper
Preperation
Prevents
Piss
Poor
Performance


Ha ha cheers Jas !!!

Hey ya guys, not long now, I head over to UK in 10 days I'm a bit worried that my case is a bit big haha but hopefully it will be ok!!

Hope everyone are well and is pumped for the tour, I can't wait !!

See you guys soon, Jess

Hi Guys Me again, I'll be staying at the contiki hotel the 15th/16/17th I think .. are any of you guys? If ya's are, we should head out and doing the toursity things together let me know! less than a week til i leave now yay

Hi Jess,
Not long to go now!!
Turtle and I will be staying at the Royal National from when we get there on the13th till when we depart on the 18th. So I think it would be great to be doing the touristy things together. If Rosie is with you as well , we can even get local knowledge. so when you get there just ask at reception for what room number we are in. If you ask for Molly they may not know, it might be best to ask fo Justin Molineaux or James Turtle.

Looking forward to catching up with you.

Cheers

MOLLY

Thousand mile

Jas not sure what nights you will be at the Royal National but if you want you can get in touch with us as well so that we can all catch up!!

Yeah for sure will definatly be in the national for the night before the tour but before that its anyones guess , but check the forums have seen talk of the train staition closest to the basement being closed on weekends for rebuild so you might wanna double check .

Hey Everyone, sadly I can't join you for any London sightseeing, I am down in Devon until Thursday. I look forward to seeing you all at the welcome meeting on Thursday night though. If Russell Square tube station is closed (the one nearest the National) then you can use either Euston or Euston Square station, they are both about a 5-10 minute walk away from the hotel so you shouldn't have any major problems.

hi all

i'm doing the 16day camping tour starting 18th July. See you all at the Royal National tomorrow(17th). Can't wait, looking forward to meeting everyone.

cheers
gemma