You'll be forced to stop every couple of hours or so for sparks anyway and satnav spoils the adventure compared to crossing Europe with a school atlas. When you arrive at your destination city after midnight due to a 5 hr customs holdup, then paying a taxi to follow him to find the hotel can win brownie points with disgruntled OH. And it can be 'amusing' to lose concentration and inadvertently take the quiet off ramp to the motorway only to get a bit of a surprise at the top and reverse back down. Since you plan on being sensible, it would be daft not to sightsee along the way...perhaps dog-leg through Paris on the way back?
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possible first time long distance + wrong side of the road. Tips? Mad?
- Thread starter Mrklaw
- Start date
Made my morning
Must be a joke. No one goes "through" Paris on the way home and has a good time. That would be mad. If you're a real sadist maybe go on a bank holiday and sightsee the Toulouse ring road too?
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
Even just driving down the Avenue de Champagne, in Epernay, to view the opulence is worthwhile
Well ... I'm a Detail Person ... so there is that!
Things I find useful in ABRP:
Set START or DEPART time. I typically use DEPART time of 00:00 so that all timings are relative-to-start (and for a 2 day trip that would be 00:00 on the DEPART for day two as well). But of course can also use that for predicted depart to have actual time-of-day arrival times too.
Set DWELL time - use that e.g. for Lunch to know how much charge I will have on departure, and whether that will allow skip a charger
Save the route. Used that for doing a What-If comparison of two potential routes, and also to send to another person who was going to drive same route (more or less in convoy)
Change weather - Wind 5MPH and Temperature either 5C or 20C. Weight in the car too (although I don't think that makes much difference).
"Avoid" Supercharger (e.g. Scotch Corner!). "Prefer" particular charger-brands - I have found that useful when abroad - e.g. ESB in Ireland.
My wife wasn't well last time so I drove the lot. The enforced 20 minutes stops every 2-hours-ish was fine for me for a 12 hours drive, plus the time waiting for / travelling in the Chunnel.
The gotcha for people who normally drive on a different side of the road is when turning out of parking lots, fuel stations, hotels, shopping centres etc., .....straight into the wrong lane ...
Definitely. That's my Achilles heel too. I ask my passengers to be particularly observant of that, and not to be shy about Shouting Out when it happens.
One occasion, driving on my own, I stopped in a layby on a deserted French road in the middle of nowhere to admire the view. Pulled out on wrong side of the road (I was in a hire car, so this even though wheel-on-wrong-side). A lorry was coming towards me on my side ... miles away, clear road, no other traffic. It took me ages of "What's he doing on my side of the road" to figure out it was ME! Hopefully because I was in hire car he thought I was a daft local rather than a Rostbif !
you may be right. It's been a while since I last drove through Paris, several decades cos time flies. Matching manoeuvring speed to hit the circle round the arc de triomphe was always a laugh.Made my morning
Must be a joke. No one goes "through" Paris on the way home and has a good time. That would be mad. If you're a real sadist maybe go on a bank holiday and sightsee the Toulouse ring road too?
I have been using a toll badge for the past dozen years or more for travelling in France. It has changed network ownership over time and currently is run by Vinci Autoroutes. I have to pay €2 per month for any month's I actually use it, but apart from that it costs the same as using PAYG on the network. Its an absolute godsend when driving alone or when passengers are asleep, as you just go through the Telepeage gates without stopping (30kmh). They also do an EV RFID which covers almost every network in France and just add the charge cost to your Ulys account and they take payment monthly. Might be too much for a one-off journey, but if you drive through France regularly its worth considering.
ulys.vinci-autoroutes.com
Ulys Classic e-toll badge plan
To only pay for motorway journeys in the months that the badge is used opt for the Ulys Classic e-toll offer ! Shipped in under 48 hours. No commitment.
ulys.vinci-autoroutes.com
Memories of family holidays spring to mind immediately - in the car, before A/C was commonplace (or before it was any good in peak heat), stuck in traffic, panic setting in because it's a Sunday and all the petrol stations are closed.... good times in hindsight
Currently planning surrey to Normandy after doing a loop round the NC500 from Surrey. The M3LR is a pretty comfortable car, but that's a lot to cover in a day.
Superchargers are your friend. Ionity is an expensive backup. Other motorway services are a PITA to use as far as I can work out
Freshmiles seems to offer a decent network of fast (not rapid) chargers, which might be helpful if you're seeing museums or something along the way. As yet no experience
Tesla destination charger at the hotel would make sense. As would breaking the journey a little and stopping somewhere along the way, if holiday allowance permits
Toll charges are all credit card now, but they're still booths in the road, not some sort of magic number plate reading system and fine if you didn't pay system like dartcharge. As others have said, RFID is also possible.
AA/RAC will provide advice on travel, there is 1 yellow jacket and a triangle in your roadside kit, but you'll need a second and you'll need them in the passenger compartment. Green cards have been abandoned, but you'll want your v5c and proof of insurance
Superchargers are your friend. Ionity is an expensive backup. Other motorway services are a PITA to use as far as I can work out
Freshmiles seems to offer a decent network of fast (not rapid) chargers, which might be helpful if you're seeing museums or something along the way. As yet no experience
Tesla destination charger at the hotel would make sense. As would breaking the journey a little and stopping somewhere along the way, if holiday allowance permits
Toll charges are all credit card now, but they're still booths in the road, not some sort of magic number plate reading system and fine if you didn't pay system like dartcharge. As others have said, RFID is also possible.
AA/RAC will provide advice on travel, there is 1 yellow jacket and a triangle in your roadside kit, but you'll need a second and you'll need them in the passenger compartment. Green cards have been abandoned, but you'll want your v5c and proof of insurance
I predate that. Dad's A55 with roof rack and 2 army surplus bivouacs and him insisting on a Dutch breakfast and then blasting to the eggerbrau in imst for schnitzel dinner. Campsites marked with a triangle in the AA mapbook as a rough guide to a hopeful field and undoing the fuel line to the carb to fill the Primus for a roadside cuppa....Memories of family holidays spring to mind immediately - in the car, before A/C was commonplace (or before it was any good in peak heat), stuck in traffic, panic setting in because it's a Sunday and all the petrol stations are closed.... good times in hindsight
Seems a reasonable trip to be fair. Literally 3 days after taking delivery of my M3P we were driving to the Dordogne in it.
Things to consider: For your moral health (and possible physical too), don't book a P and O ferry.
The eurotunnel has superchargers on the Folkestone side.
If you go via Paris you need a "clean air" certificate which you have to apply for in advance. You'd think looking at the cars badge would be enough to satisfy an emissions restriction but no!
If using the in car sat nav, double check your stops. Not all SC are at service stations and facilities might be lacking.
Things to consider: For your moral health (and possible physical too), don't book a P and O ferry.
The eurotunnel has superchargers on the Folkestone side.
If you go via Paris you need a "clean air" certificate which you have to apply for in advance. You'd think looking at the cars badge would be enough to satisfy an emissions restriction but no!
If using the in car sat nav, double check your stops. Not all SC are at service stations and facilities might be lacking.
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
And Calais side
Actually ... both those are "Departure only", but at Calais there are some outside (in the Coquelles shopping plaza). So can plan to charge at Folkestone, before departure, but use that as contingency - and if delayed catch the train at the planned time and then charge in Calais instead
UkNorthampton
TSLA - 12+ startups in 1
The overall impression I have from this thread and my own experiences are that the Tesla/EV part isn't the big part, most would be the same for ICE (but more expensive and tiring).
A few EV specific things, Superchargers are great for long distance travel, low emission zone permits ahead of time and also - destination charging - do when the battery is warm, just arrived. Also, can pre-heat/cool cabin from the app in the morning.
I hope OP or anyone else planning a similar trip has a great time.
A few EV specific things, Superchargers are great for long distance travel, low emission zone permits ahead of time and also - destination charging - do when the battery is warm, just arrived. Also, can pre-heat/cool cabin from the app in the morning.
I hope OP or anyone else planning a similar trip has a great time.
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
^ THIS
Back in Fossil-days when we went to France we just looked at the Service Station signs along the Autoroute and decided that we needed the one in XXX km as we would be getting low by then ...
... no such signs for Battery Charging, but SatNav solves that - figuring out where to charge en route.
Assuming can make best (i.e. arrive at 10%) use of chargers Overnight / during Main Meal then for the rest it adds around 10% extra to the travel time. Definitely not hugely significant, and IME we have arrived much more refreshed than back in Fossil-days because of the enforced 20 minute stops. A 12 hours journey is going to take us all day ... adding an hour doesn't make any significant difference.
I choose to plan - to make more sure of what-is-where and find somewhere where we will enjoy eating / staying.
A primary reason why we have driven [for several decades now] to Ski is to avoid Flying. Latterly we strive to be greener and there is significant debate if we need to fly ... or buy some high air-miles food! - but long before that the hassle of flying and airports became greater and greater over time - having to get to the airport hours before, queuing and being pushed around through passport and security checks, and then hanging around for ages before the scheduled departure ... often a delay ... queues at the far end for Passports, sometimes waiting ages for luggage, and then a long coach journey from airport to the resort.
When we drive we are on holiday from the moment we leave the house
With Chunnel we don't have to be accurately on time, within reason just rock up and catch the next train. As soon as we are in France a coffee stop, let alone a meal, is a holiday experience No luggage allowance, just chuck everything we think we need in the back of the car, no need to squeeze it into a regulation sized suitcase. Anything else "just in case"?, chuck that in the back too. Want to buy a decent stock of cheese to bring home? Chuck that in there too ... and some wine ... and beer. Want to nip round to try the skiing in another valley nearby - typically covered by the lift-pass anyway? Yup, done that a lot too. Started raining a couple of days before end of holiday and forecast to stay like that? Get in the car and go home - or go somewhere else.Suits us
UkNorthampton
TSLA - 12+ startups in 1
My Model 3 Long Range purchase was partly to avoid flying short-haul. Many reasons, as you've outlined.^ THIS
Back in Fossil-days when we went to France we just looked at the Service Station signs along the Autoroute and decided that we needed the one in XXX km as we would be getting low by then ...
... no such signs for Battery Charging, but SatNav solves that - figuring out where to charge en route.
Assuming can make best (i.e. arrive at 10%) use of chargers Overnight / during Main Meal then for the rest it adds around 10% extra to the travel time. Definitely not hugely significant, and IME we have arrived much more refreshed than back in Fossil-days because of the enforced 20 minute stops. A 12 hours journey is going to take us all day ... adding an hour doesn't make any significant difference.
I choose to plan - to make more sure of what-is-where and find somewhere where we will enjoy eating / staying.
A primary reason why we have driven [for several decades now] to Ski is to avoid Flying. Latterly we strive to be greener and there is significant debate if we need to fly ... or buy some high air-miles food! - but long before that the hassle of flying and airports became greater and greater over time - having to get to the airport hours before, queuing and being pushed around through passport and security checks, and then hanging around for ages before the scheduled departure ... often a delay ... queues at the far end for Passports, sometimes waiting ages for luggage, and then a long coach journey from airport to the resort.
When we drive we are on holiday from the moment we leave the house
Suits us
Mr H
Active Member
It's all easy in a Tesla, which is why we bought one. We did Provence to Benidorm in a day no problem. Doing a loop of Germany in July with a bit of Poland and Austria thrown in, i have no worries and have planned nothing.
Don't miss out on doing a few passes whilst there, Stelvio, Grimsel and Furka etc
buy your vignette here to save any hassles later
www.tolltickets.com
Don't miss out on doing a few passes whilst there, Stelvio, Grimsel and Furka etc
buy your vignette here to save any hassles later
www.tolltickets.com
I remember the first time we moved back from RAF Germany and my dad turned onto the wrong side of a road, only realizing his mistake when he saw a lorry barrelling towards him.I live in France and that's very good advice. However, when on main roads, motorways, driving around town etc, concentration is high. The gotcha for people who normally drive on a different side of the road is when turning out of parking lots, fuel stations, hotels, shopping centres etc., .....straight into the wrong lane ...
Mind you, I've done the same when in the UK
Also a warning for anyone side-switching is that the same care is required as a pedestrian. Your road-crossing instinct is wrong and if you're not mindful you could end up stepping out in front of a vehicle because vehicles near and far side are coming from the other direction. I did this in Portugal once, but recovered in time.
I had no problem adapting to driving on the wrong side when I moved here, but I hadn't been driving in the UK (public transport user) and I had lived in RAF Germany twice. In fact, I even mentally switched during a 2-week holiday in the USA, and on my return to the UK was alarmed for a few seconds as I thought the bus I was on had turned the wrong way.
Anyway, good luck OP. (There, on topic.)
Mr H
Active Member
Top Tip, charge the car before going to the hotel (unless the hotel has a destination charger) because overnight the battery will cool down and won't charge as fast
We are doing this in the summer too
.Taking the ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo though as it cuts down on the driving gets us into Oslo whilst 'sleeping'.
We'll have 6 people in the car once we hit Oslo, and booked an amazing looking place for 5 nights in the fjords around Alesund.
In our younger days we did Dover to Interlaken in a day, left Dover B&B at 6Am was in Interlaken by 4pm.
Was in a combustion car back than, only stopped once for fuel some where in South France, I pretty much did the drive for whole trip.
I wouldn't personally recommend doing that kind of distance in a day again, as towards the end it was pretty tiring, but you can easily do that distance with one overnight stop with little issue.
As someone else has already mentioned Switzerland has some of the most beautiful roads I've ever driven on, even better than New Zealand. Take the chance to get drive some of the mountain passes, surprisingly empty roads and very few tourists around compared to the 'usual' holiday destinations.
We will go back there at somepoint but too many other places to see yet, and Norway apparently offer even better scenery and roads hence going there this summer......If it really is prettier than Switzerland than am another trip to the Arctic circle will have to be planned at some point
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just looking at it again, its ‘only’ 700 miles. Having watched countless Tesla US based road trip videos where they do 1000 miles or more - this is just a regular TeslaBjorn 1000km day trip
