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Re the gassing - we did a big jump from Croatia over to France for the Mega Avalanche - drove for 12 hours and decided to take a quick overnight just outside Venice. We found a motor-way service station with loads of trucks stopped up. It was very busy as it was a saturday night. Did full security, perimeter check - deadlocks on all doors, alarm on etc...
Woke up and found the drivers door open a bit - feeling very groggy put it down to long drive - why are the passports stacked up on the drivers seat - why is the memory card out of the camera - wheres the camera - wheres the lap top..... They even took the euros out of our wallet and left Kuna and Swiss Francs behind.
Went to the service station to say we had been robbed - they said "oh no your the first this year"! at this point I went ape as they get 4 or 5 of these a year, why the **CK did you not put up a warning sign!!!
The police said they cloned our keys whilst driving, and were able to pop the locks from that - the gas was some form of anesthetic. They think they left the passports because they saw we had kids.
Long term van/travel insurance only covered about £400 and we had the proper cover whilst we lost over £3000 in kit.
Didn't stop us though - we regrouped and did another 5 months after that.
Sorry for the hi-jack. The gassing, know it's quite common, they drill a hole in the van and pump it in. I was going to get one of the gas detectors but what happens if somebody does it to your van, the alarm goes off, what then? The gas is in your van and surely you'll start to become drowsy and not be much good at putting up a fight, is there anything (other than a gas mask!) you can keep next to the bed to counter or stop the effects of the gas?
Blimey cookies - that sounds really scary. I can't find a link to PM you for details of the blog - can you either post it here or email me (address in profile)
cheers
I was going to get one of the gas detectors but what happens if somebody does it to your van, the alarm goes off, what then?
A detector would go off long before the concentration was high enough to make you drowsy - well, ideally it would 🙂 CO detectors will, but this is not CO by the sound of it.
Thanks. It's a difficult one, stay in van and get gassed or get out and possibly get your head kicked in! Must be a scary thing to have gone through made even worse when you've got children.
Service stations in the uk aren't any better. I wouldn't have thought twice about sleeping overnight in one but my dad was a lorry driver for a bit and worked away in the uk/abroad, service stations aren't nice places at night.
Spent 5 months in a van in oz, can't think of anything thats not been mentioned apart from a spare set of leads, haynes manual or similar, spare petrol, water, decent toolkit, bulbs, 240v converter, polarized sunnies, lots of music. Maps and camp spot guides, Washing line, hmmmm.... makes me want to do it again!
cookie - that sounds mad.
Glad to hear you're all still well.
We have done 5-6 weeks in our van, I'd love to do longer...one day.
BTW, how does:
The police said they cloned our keys whilst driving,
work?
Acording to the police, your key is active when in the ignition. They drive beside you or wait to you pull up and capture it. Then they play it back and there in.
Lots of cars being burgled when they pull up to service stations - when the owners come back all the kit is gone.
Other stuff I've remebered.
LPG gas tank under the van stops the need for mutiple bottles/pig tails if you do lots of countries.
Choose a route that keeps you away from insane tempretures - its so uncomfortable in a van when its scorching at night.
Take two duvets - thick and thin - then wrap the one your not using round the matress for a comfy night.
Weigh your van and have it rerated if your over - or take crap out.
Ausrtia requires a go box for motorways if your over 3.5T - we decided to not get one and went on back roads. It would have been a couple of hundred €'s if we had.
Get seat covers for all seats - Mrs Cookies covered ours in fleece material - now in bin. They just wrecked over time.
Lorax - done sent you the linky - profile updated too with email
Cookies - YGM
[i]Weigh your van and have it re-rated if your over[/i]
Some vans just need paperwork to uprate, others need suspension/wheel modifications, others (like my Iveco Daily 35s12) cannot be increased above the standard 3.5t, even though seemingly identical vans in the range go up to 6.5t. Different chassis. So I had to keep a check on the weight when I converted it.
Learn dogging etiquette - sorry forgot you already do 😉