On day 3 of our European road trip with kids we had to check out of Campsite Vliegenbos by 11am. We actually left a little earlier than this, just as soon as we were up, fed and ready. I’m not a breakfast eater, but we used the camping stove and kettle to make a hot green tea each and Ben and the kids had some breakfast. We took long-life organic soy milk so we didn’t need a fridge for the cartons and the kids and Ben had cereal each morning and fresh fruit.
The night’s sleep was fine and better than the first night. It’s a bit tricky when both the kids sleep in the poptop of the Bongo campervan as the hatch is closed with a lift up flap. Reuben woke up the first night crying, but we couldn’t get him out because Bella was asleep over the hatch so we couldn’t lift it up. Ben had to force it up to roll Bella off so we could get Reuben down! The second night we left the hatch open and Bella slept horizontally instead. Reuben slept on the front seat which we flattened. Ben and I slept in the back of the van across two rows of seats flattened. We also put a futon mattress down for us and use our regular duvet. The kids have throws to lie on and sleep in their sleeping bags.
Today’s plan was to travel from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Munster in Germany. This is where Ben’s uncle Uli lives. He was away on holiday, but said we could use the driveway to sleep in the camper. We could also pick up a key from his neighbour to use his bathroom and kitchen. This would make things much easier! We had also found a campsite that was 30 euros a night, so this was our plan if we couldn’t stay at Uli’s.
Driving from the Netherlands to Germany
The drive from Amsterdam to Munster was meant to be 4.5 hours, but it took us 6 hours! We had to stop three times for the toilet and Ben got him and the kids some chips on one of the stops. We’d taken loads of food with us, so I had a tin of sweetcorn and a tin of pineapple instead of chips!
There’s another place closer called Munster that’s only a 2.5 hour drive and my phone kept bringing this Munster up! But that’s not where we went. We went to Munster which is next to Soltau by the Luneburg district. Munster is where Ben’s uncle Uli lives. Soltau is where Ben’s gran lives.
The drive was pretty much just motorways the whole way. We had to travel on one motorway for 150km!
The land is so flat that there wasn’t much to see. Once we hit the signs for Hannover we suddenly saw some hills! Ben noticed as it was the first hills he’d seen for the whole journey so far and we’d driven 680km by this point!!
Luckily before we left Ben had the air con fixed and refilled on the Bongo. We forgot how hot it was outside until we stopped at each service station and walked back out into an oven! There was a heatwave whilst we were away and so it was in the 30s (Celsius) whilst we were away. This was day 3 of our holiday and day 5 was predicted to be 37 degrees Celsius!
By 4.30pm we had arrived at Uli’s house – 6 hours after we left Amsterdam!
On the last stretch we hit some road works and traffic jams so we were rerouted which made the last half hour or so of our journey take over one hour instead.
Flugenhofsee, Munster
On arrival we were all pretty hungry so I cooked up some pasta and chopped tomatoes for us all. After this we walked to Flugenhofsee which is a lake around 1.5-2km from Uli’s house. It’s a large lake surrounded by trees and a path. There’s also a fairly large beach next to it with a playpark. Everyone swims in the water so the kids were super excited to play on the beach and cool off in the water after a long sweaty six hour drive!
Reuben needed the toilet after about 20 minutes, so our visit to the beach at the lake was cut short and we strolled back to Uli’s where we all got an early night.
Tomorrow we will visit Ben’s Gran in Soltau. It’s also Ben’s 36th birthday tomorrow! This is the time of year we have usually visited Germany and I’ve spent at least two birthdays in Germany over the past few years (our birthdays are 8 days apart) so now it’s Ben’s turn!
Here’s all of of our 8 day European road trip blog posts:
Our 8 day Europe road trip plan from UK – Amsterdam, Soltau, Bruges
Europe family road trip day 2 – exploring Amsterdam
Europe family road trip day 3 – driving from Amsterdam, Netherlands to Munster, Germany
Europe family road trip day 4 – Soltau, Germany
Europe family road trip day 5 – Munster, Germany
Europe family road trip day 6 – coastal scenic drive from Germany to Belgium
Europe family road trip day 7 – a few hours in Bruges
Europe family road trip day 8 – back to the UK
Save me for later!
That sounds like a tiring journey in such heat! Flugenhofsee looks like a wonderful place to wind down afterwards, though.