[Page 515]
(42)
a sixteen-week tour of Western Europe. My subsequent wanderings and doings during the next decade are recorded in my diaries, as well as some of my impressions; supplemented by a big collection of coloured postcards and some photos taken personally.
This first caravan tour was really a means to an end: to get around Europe quickly and comfortably before returning to Australia. I had found that travelling continuously by the convential means (trains, ships, coaches and aircraft) and booking in and out of hotels, was very strenuous, time-wasting and sometimes frustrating. I soon discovered that the nomadic caravan life was convenient, healthy, friendly and inexpensive, and I was much more satisfied and happier with my own cooking. Most present-day catering is a great racket, giving the public minimum quantities of overspiced, devitalised, second class food often taken from a can, at extortionate prices inflated with unwarranted service and cover charges. Also, doing my own shppping in the municipal markets, the supermarkets and the smaller shops, gives me some very interesting sidelights of the everyday life of each particular country and its people, that are missed by patrons of hotels and restaurants. It also helps one to learn more of the local language and put it to good use.
And so, what began as a means became an end when I decided to continue my caravanning as long as my good health and fitness lasted, and while I could obtain motor insurance and driving licences.