Caravan Touring & Driving In France

My check list of the essentials.

Here's a handy check list I use to make sure we have with us all the essentials needed for our driving trips and caravan touring holidays in France:

• Money (£ and Euros), ATM cash card, credit card, travellers cheques.
• Mobile phone (pre-programme emergencies numbers).
• EU Driving License.
• V5 Car registration document (photocopy not accepted).
• Letters of permission for use of car abroad (if a company car and / or lease / contract hire car).
• MOT certificate (photocopy not accepted).
• Car insurance certificate, must state valid for EU (Green Card may be required in some cases).
• Accident Report Forms (French & English dual versions available from insurers).
• New E111 plastic cards (for state medical cover abroad).
• Personal travel insurance (include any relevant sports / activity cover).
• Car & Caravan break down insurance (valid for the period of stay abroad).
• Caravan insurance (valid for the period of stay abroad).
• Passports (must be valid for return date to UK).
• CCI card (useful Carnet card to use as ID at campsites instead of your passport).
• Camping Cheques - paper or Gold Card (if using discounted off peak campsites scheme).
• ACSI card (if using discounted off peak campsites scheme).
• Channel crossing booking confirmation.
• Campsite booking confirmation (check with campsites if booking required).
• Camp site guide book(s).
• Caravan Club Guide to Europe Volume One.
• French phrase book.
• Sat Nav (pre-programme destination & check suitable routes).
• Road maps (look up the French road signs and meanings. Back up for Sat Nav).
• Directions to camp site / destinations (back up for Sat Nav).
• GB stickers for car and caravan (not required if number plate is of EU type).
• Towing mirrors.
• Headlight beam deflectors.
• Spare bulb kit for car / caravan.
• First aid kit.
• Fire extinguisher.
• Warning triangle (one for car + one for caravan).
• High visibility vests (in case of breakdown - one for each person in vehicle).
• Caravan hook up leads (2x25 metres as some EHU posts are some distance from the pitch).
• Continental To Euro adapter for hook up lead (2 pin to 3 pin).
• Reverse polarity plug in tester.
• Reverse polarity adapter lead (make one yourself from 2 Euro plugs and a short piece of cable).

I hope you find our checklist of essentials helpful and useful. You can, of course, adapt the checklist to suit your own needs and circumstances.

We keep all our paper work in a brief case bag. This makes it convenient to keep altogether and easy to find when needed.

For all the other items, I put these altogether in a crate to make it easy to check, load and use when needed for our holidays.

Here's a picture of our outfit set up on site in the Charante region of France. Happy Days!