Retro Trip Report - UK, Europe & Morocco 1972 (or how did my parents survive?)

[kookaburra75]

Thanks very much for your very enjoyable Trip Report, kookaburra75. Your parents must have been very brave to face such a long trip with three youngsters, and living mostly within the confines of a campervan. But people were more resilient in those days, and kids were probably much better behaved for their parents then, also.

I remember my first trip to Europe, solo, for 11 weeks in 1979. I was in my late 20s then, and managed to see and do so much - often to many of the same places that you went. The crowds are much greater now, but the thrill of travel has not diminished for me. But for the Coronavirus, I had been planning to depart for Europe again on Friday this week. But, that's not happening now.

Thinking back, I changed a lot personally during those 11 weeks in 1979. Became more self-reliant, more open-minded, got my hair cut and bought some smarter clothes. No regrets - and it was done with no internet in those days, which makes researching, and bookings and communications so much easier now.

It's always interesting looking back on things - people say how did you all manage, but then we didn't know any better. My son, a few years ago when he was in his mid 20's decided to spend four weeks or so in the UK and Europe, and made his decisions very late in the piece. In fact, after we had caught up for lunch in mid Nov and he was talking about catching up with a friend who had moved to the UK, I said well just lock in the flights and work out the rest around that. The next week when we caught up for lunch again, he said he had found a really good deal on Air China, and was flying out in mid Dec for four weeks. Now, my son as much as I love him, isn't one for getting organised (he gets it from his father says MrsK), so this was interesting. Just before he left he came over for dinner and I asked him about what clothing he would take, as it would be coming into winter - just what I'm wearing he said. I loaned him my walking boots, jacket, gloves and scarf,; he did have a warm beanie.

He had the flights booked and said he would wing it when he got there - and he did. But he had a great time. After catching up with his friend in London, he bounced around different parts of Paris & France, Berlin, Venice and Budapest. He had no exact plan, just wandered, caught buses and trains as the names of their destinations sounded interesting. He told some very funny tales about Google Translate fails in bars and restaurants.

There is certainly a lot of people who want to plan everything to the nth degree, and with the internet they can and do go overboard, but there is still that element of travellers like a lot of us on AFF who are the, "... that looks interesting/bright shiny object ..." type of explorers.

 

[VPS]

Great TR. I spent nearly 2 years backpacking around Europe in the early 80s and had a guide book and the local tourist centres were the go to places if you were stuck. I still think that your parents did an amazing job doing that at that time. I bet they got some weird comments from people - what do you want go over there for!!

 

[kookaburra75]

As we said goodbye to cold and dark UK (well it was winter) in the evening, we flew through the night and arrived at our first refuelling stopover in Bahrain. Nice place, but nothing to see. The airport seemed to be in the middle of nowhere - and it was hot.


After a wait of a couple of hours we boarded our trusty 707 to continue to Singapore. I don't remember much from my first airline flight - although Mum remembers it as the flight attendants delivering casseroles for meals and trying to sell duty free.

 

[happywanderer51]

Brought back so many memories of my trip to the UK by ship in 1971, and my early years of travel in Europe through the seventies, in a Ford Transit campervan, and later by train. I caught the travel bug, and cannot count the number of times I have returned to Europe for extended holidays.

 

[Brilliant brunette]

I loved this report. What a lovely mum putting the travel badges on your jackets! I did this on my coat when travelling around Europe in the late 1980s!

 

[kookaburra75]

We landed in Singapore in the evening, and caught a taxi to the hotel we had booked at. When we got there, there had been a double booking, but thankfully they had booked us at another hotel at the top of Orchard Road - so off we went. It was for us, a very up market hotel (the Singapura Hotel), and we had an adjoining room with Mum & Dad, which I think they must have appreciated after so much time in small spaces.


Singapore was another of those amazing places for us - with a whole lot of new experiences. Everything was air conditioned, the sights and smells of the food at the Hawker markets, the humidity. Going out for dinner at a local Steakhouse, the level of service was totally new to us - someone kept coming over to top up our water glasses. We spent a few days using buses and the rest to get around, checking out the sights including the Tiger Balm gardens.


The day came for our flight to Perth. We boarded a brand new 707 - it still had the new plane smell about it. But then, just after take off the captain announced that a fire warning light had come on, in one of the engines and we would have to return to Singapore. We got back without any issues, and swapped over to a much older 707 and took off again for Perth. The service on the Singapore Airlines flight was also amazing.


We arrived into Perth in the evening, and headed over to our hotel in East Perth.

 

[kookaburra75]

We had a few days in Perth to start to acclimatise to an Australian summer, after spending a few months in the opposite type of weather. We had a hire car and drove around the place, checking out the national parks and places up and down the river.


We then boarded the train which would take us back to Melbourne. That involved the Indian Pacific to go from Perth to Port Augusta, a local train to get us down to Adelaide, and then The Overlander to get to Melbourne. The trains were basic but ok. Back then, that was the cheap way to get around, especially as the Eyre Highway in South Australia hadn't been sealed all of the way. It took a couple of days, and watching the countryside roll by was a good way to get back into the Australian landscape.


We then took a taxi from Spencer Street station in Melbourne back to our house in the suburbs. We had about a week before school started, so there wasn't much time to think about the trip, other than to catalogue the piles of photos.

As I've noted in earlier posts, the whole trip is wonderful to look back at, as I"ve been going through all of the photos. I'm grateful to my parents fro doing something a bit different and provide that experience to me and my brothers. It certainly sparked a travel bug for all of us, and we've wandered and travelled since - with more planned for the future, when this 'madness' is over.

 

[craven morehead]

Kudos to your parents

 

[drron]

I loved this report. What a lovely mum putting the travel badges on your jackets! I did this on my coat when travelling around Europe in the late 1980s!

Welcome to AFF Brilliant brunette.
Stick around and we all will be on a learning curve when we learn to live with this virus.Probably will be totally different to the recent past but there are some really good travel minds on here especially when it comes to air travel.

And kookaburra 75-fantastic trip report and what wonderful parents you have.

 

[mad_atta]

Fantastic report, thanks so much for sharing. All the photos were great, but I particularly loved the ones of the mighty Bedford Bedouin. So many shades of brown and orange! All our family pics from the 70s are the same!

 

[RB]

Thanks for a great report. I never got to do any international travel growing up but I can see that a trip such as yours would have been a great learning experience in many ways

 

[Nukie]

Thanks for such a great trip report. Brought back some very fond memories of a European/UK campervan trip we did with our three kids in 1980. I think we would've stayed in a few of the same caravan parks as you. Did the Hovercraft Calais to Dover and it looked the same! Certainly gave our three a love of travel but I'm sure you and your brothers were very well behaved, ours did do a fair bit of fighting...!!

 

[SuePa]

Thanks for sharing your trip. What amazing parents! Did you boys keep your jackets?
I spent some time driving an old blue Bedford around Britain and Europe with 2 friends in 1986. Our Bedford, named Basil, had a pop-up roof and lots of rust, but we loved him. I can certainly relate to your left-hand driving experience.

 

[kookaburra75]

Thanks for sharing your trip. What amazing parents! Did you boys keep your jackets?
I spent some time driving an old blue Bedford around Britain and Europe with 2 friends in 1986. Our Bedford, named Basil, had a pop-up roof and lots of rust, but we loved him. I can certainly relate to your left-hand driving experience.

Thanks @SuePa. While I don't have the jacket anymore, I do have all of the cloth badges packed away somewhere. I should drag them out, although i think it would one fashion-fail too far for MrsK if I put them on one of my jackets.
i remember seeing quite a lot of the old Bedford Door mobiles rocking around the different roads, invasions states of repair.

 

[kookaburra75]

Thanks for such a great trip report. Brought back some very fond memories of a European/UK campervan trip we did with our three kids in 1980. I think we would've stayed in a few of the same caravan parks as you. Did the Hovercraft Calais to Dover and it looked the same! Certainly gave our three a love of travel but I'm sure you and your brothers were very well behaved, ours did do a fair bit of fighting...!!

Hi @Nukie - with my parents both being teachers, I think they were able to use control skills not known to the general public. I would say we were perfectly behaved, although Mum would possibly say different. And then there was that underlying threat of being left on the side of the road.

 

[CorvettePete]

Dear Kookaburra75, this was an absolutely fabulous travel report. I felt like I was on the trip with you. A truly great read - thanks for taking the time to do it. Hopefully you fixed the hole in the roof before the rain that we are having today.

 

[OATEK]

Hi @Nukie - with my parents both being teachers, I think they were able to use control skills not known to the general public. I would say we were perfectly behaved, although Mum would possibly say different. And then there was that underlying threat of being left on the side of the road.

I am sure the journey had its ups and downs, but it is a great credit to the whole family that you pulled it off so well. Thanks for taking is (belatedly) on your great adventure.

 

[Toula92122]

Have to agree with others, this is one of the best trip reports I have ever read. Took me back to the era of when travel planning involved getting brochures from travel agents and carefully poring over them until they were dog eared. Certainly a real adventure they took you on.

 

[RooFlyer]

Loved the TR - especially the old-fashioned pics.

 

[kookaburra75]

Dear Kookaburra75, this was an absolutely fabulous travel report. I felt like I was on the trip with you. A truly great read - thanks for taking the time to do it. Hopefully you fixed the hole in the roof before the rain that we are having today.

Hi @CorvettePete - thanks for the feedback. And yes, I did get the tile fixed up earlier in the week, although I do have to get up when I can to paint it to match the rest of the roof