Eurocamp – we are coming for you!! – Mummascribbles

On Sunday we are off to France for 6 whole nights on a fantastic bloggers trip to Eurocamp. Yep, that’s right – possibly one of the most amazing things that has happened to me since starting this blog 11 months ago was receiving an email asking if we’d like to go on holiday!

And so on Sunday, we have a ferry departing Dover at around midday taking us across the channel where I then have to drive the short distance to a little place called Guines. I am excited and I am scared! I don’t know if you saw the magic word in there but I mentioned having to drive. Driving on the other side of the road! Something which I have never done! I know I’ll be fine, I’m a confident driver and so with extra concentration I’m sure I’ll have no problems! I’m still nervous though!

Because we have a toddler, I wasn’t sure on the idea of full on camping, so we are booked to stay in  one of their luxurious cabins which comes with 2 bedrooms and a deck. Looking very much (probably identical) to this…

So, now it’s Thursday and I’m starting to think about packing. Last time we went on holiday was almost two years ago. Zach was much smaller and other than a couple of light up toys and his push along walker, we didn’t have to pack much. Also we were staying in England in a cottage in Yorkshire so I knew anything would be a simple drive away. This time we are going to a Eurocamp park in France…slightly different. So, what is already there and what do we need to take?

What’s being provided?
 We have kindly had included onto our booking, 1 welcome pack which has:

  • Box of matches
  • Cleaning sponge
  • Dish cloth
  • Tea towel
  • Bin Liner
  • Washing up liquid (125ml)
  • All purpose cleaner (125ml)
  • Soap

and 1 essentials pack which has:

  • Fairtrade Filter coffee
  • Fairtrade tea
  • Sugar
  • Creamer
  • 2 x Jam (30g each)
  • Olive oil
  • Salt & pepper (8 sachets each)
  • 2 x bottles of water (500ml each)
  • 2 x bottles of orange juice (200ml each)
  • Crisps (45g)
  • Biscuits
  • Red wine (18.7cl)
  • White wine (18.7cl)

They have also thrown in all linen hire for us and 2 x beach towel hire which has 2 towels per pack.

I have also requested to have a highchair, potty, changing mat and bed rail and baby bath all of which are free additions to any booking. The bath is an emergency one in case there is only a shower!

So, what do we need to take with us?

Clothes
The weather is going to be a bit of a mixed bag so we’ll need to take a range of all weather clothes – jeans, tops, shorts, skirts, flip flops, trainers and raincoats! I’ll pop Zach’s wellies in as well – just in case there’s a few muddy puddles!

Toiletries
We all have our own toiletries but normally when we go anywhere together, we pop in a bottle of Molton Brown that we can both use. The other half will take his head & shoulders, me, my herbal essences and Zach, his Oilatum and Childs Farm bits! Which reminds me – I need to buy some more!

Swimming stuff
 As the towels are provided for us, at least we don’t have to take those. All we’ll need is my cossie, the other half’s trunks, and for Zach it will be his trunk set and armbands. We were actually given one of those cossies with floats in them earlier this month so we might pack that and try it out. Hopefully the weather will be nice and this will be me!

Food
Again, as above, there will be a few essential items on our arrival. We’ve ordered a mini Tesco shop to be delivered on Friday night which includes some Organix snacks for Zach, some breadsticks (his fave) and most importantly, a couple of bottles of sparkling wine for us. I’m also going to pack some biccie’s (toddler friendly ones for Zach, chocolate ones for us!), some tea bags because you can’t beat PG Tips and maybe some apples. We are also taking some cereal, pasta, sauces and some emergency Heinz spaghetti! You never know when spaghetti on toast might be needed! So, we aren’t going overboard, there is a shop on site (which you can order fresh bread from to pick up first thing…OMG!), and a Lidl not far away if we get stuck!

Stuff for the car
***Did you know, to legally drive in France, you need high-vis vests for all passengers, an unopened breathalyser, some spare bulbs and a warning triangle. They also recommend headlight adapters which I still need to get! Oops! I ordered all the other bits from Amazon.

***I am borrowing my mum’s new satnav because fantastically it has European maps on it and I’m hoping it will be a big help to my driving! Also in France, it is illegal to drive with a device that has the warning of speed cameras switched on so I must remember to switch that off it exists.

***I must also pack both sections of my driving license to be safe!

Documentation
 ***Obviously passports!

We had to get the other half’s one renewed and get Zach his own one when we found out about this holiday. They came through in record time (about a week if that) which we were chuffed about! Nothing worse that worrying about them being delayed!

***Tickets – must not forget these!

***Our European Health Insurance Cards that entitle us to free or discounted healthcare. Again, I only ordered these last week and they came through in days!

***Travel insurance paperwork. We got this for about £11 for the three of us and it covers all what we could need. Hopefully we won’t need it but it’s peace on the mind that we do.

Useful stuff
***Money! I picked up our wadge of Euros this evening!

***Hair straighteners and hairdryer is a must for me!

***Phone chargers

***Travel adaptors – I just picked up two of these tonight in Tesco’s!

***First aid kit, again picked up in Tesco’s tonight.

***Torch – we need to nip across the road to get one on Saturday!

Entertainment
***I’m thinking the iPad might be a good shout – they have wi-fi which you can purchase for the week so if we need to entertain Zach with some Justin’s House, then we’ll be able to!

***Toys – I’ll take a selection of Zach’s favourite toys. I think some musts will be Baby Tad which he currently has to fall asleep with at the moment and we have to carefully take him out and not set any of his music off! We have a product for a review that I need to do which they purposefully got here in time for us to take with us!

We’ll probably take his Duplo train and his rocket ship which are firm faves at the moment and also a couple of jigsaws and these Appealing Rabbit cards that he adores!