Truck Camper Arrives in Europe – Let the Overland Journey Begin!

We just got an email saying the truck has been fully cleared and is ready to go. Just arrived at the port. This morning we're in the village of Ermelo in the Netherlands here, and this is the town that my dad grew up in. So we took a train ride, it was quite a ways, it was about at least an hour on the train. And it's more out in the countryside, as you can see these big huge beech trees behind me, and it's just a quiet, quaint little town. So I want to find some of the places my dad sent me, and I'll take you guys with us. Our first stop in Ermelo is to get some ice cream, it's a hot day, and it's the first shop we came upon, so not a bad idea. There's a candy shop, it used to be called Jammin' and when you look it up on Google it's still named that, but it's in the same spot, and one of the memories my dad has coming here for candy, back when he was a kid. Another one, one of his most distinct memories was in 1945, May 5th, 1945, he remembers his dad saying, hey let's get our things and go watch the military come in, the Canadians coming in, and they met them here and saw the tanks roll by. He said they threw him chocolate and biscuits, they had gone through a really difficult time during the war, and things like biscuits and chocolate were luxuries that they didn't have for quite a few years, so it's a very fond memory he has. Our visit to the Netherlands, exploring the places where our family story began, has made this journey deeply meaningful. Visiting my mother's childhood home in Rotterdam, and now walking the quiet streets of Edermelo, we're walking through my father's memories. Learning to swim in the big pool at Het Bosbad and the Zuiderzee, he watched the Canadians rolling in handing out hardtack biscuits and chocolate. Just around the corner was his childhood church and the little school where he learned to read and write. My parents were just 11 and 9 when they emigrated to Canada, but their story brings us back. To walk the same streets, breathe the same air, and remember where it all began. So we just stopped here at a little restaurant, cafe, to sit in the shade for a bit and cool off. It's pretty warm out there today, but we've really been enjoying our time just strolling around Edermelo here where my dad grew up, and trying to envision what it was like when he was a kid. So it's been a wonderful, wonderful time, these last two visits, both Rotterdam and Edermelo. And yeah, we're just going to cool off, and I don't think we're hungry enough to get something to eat right now, but we'll tour around a bit further, and then take the train back to Amsterdam. Morning guys, we are at Amsterdam Central Station, and we're waiting for a train down to Antwerp, Belgium. Our truck, we haven't received notification that it's through customs yet, but they said three to five days, so we're hoping it'll be today, but maybe tomorrow. In any case, we're going closer to the port in Antwerp, so we have a hotel there for tonight, and we'll wait for the truck to be released. We do have a tracking that shows it's arrived and that it's been discharged or offloaded from the ship, so just the customs stuff, which, yeah, we'll see how it goes. We'll let you know how it goes. But yeah, we have to go upstairs now and board a Eurotrain, which is about an hour and a half from here to Antwerp. So we're sitting here waiting for the train to Antwerp, and we just got an email saying the truck has been fully cleared and is ready to go. We already booked a hotel there, so we'll stay the one night and then take an Uber and pick up our truck tomorrow. Exciting. I was hoping for it. That went really quick. We came a couple of days early. Well, we came the day after the ship was supposed to arrive, but we did that on purpose so we'd have a couple of days to tour around before the truck got there, because we don't really want to spend too much time in the very dense, populated areas with our big truck. We want to kind of head out and do what Epic Family Road Trip always does, which is explore as many wild places as possible. So come with us. The journey is about to begin. That's exciting. Yeah. That's exciting. It's perfect timing. Yeah. So we're looking for a place to eat dinner. There's a Brazilian steakhouse up here with good reviews, but it looks like places to eat everywhere. Actually, Argentina, which is right here. This is it. Yeah, so we are going to get something to eat. It's the hottest day of the summer so far. It's about 35. When we got at this station here, it said it was only a 10-minute walk, so off we went with our huge bags, but we barely made it because of the heat. I've been craving a steak, and this is perfect. So super happy. We're here, and it's a beautiful city. It's a hot one, but it is gorgeous. I love how you can hear all different languages when you're walking around and the smell of all different foods from around the world. It is amazing. I'm excited, and tomorrow we get to reunite with our truck and navigate through the grocery store here and a few other places, and then we hit the road. That's good. It hits the spot, like Carol said. I've been craving steak. Going into all these beautiful cities makes me really miss Caroline because she would I love all these shops. I love how everyone wears dresses here. It's just really pretty, and it reminds me of her so much. Just all the girly things. Beautiful smells of food and flowers. It's really nice. As Carol and I wander through the heart of Antwerp, it feels like we're walking through a living museum. Around every corner, centuries of history are etched into the cobblestones and carved into the facades of these old buildings. You don't find architecture, modern architecture, like it was back in the day. Just so intricate, so much detail. It's amazing to walk around and see, and they took the time to put sculptures all over their buildings. It's amazing. We're going to try to walk down to the center square of Antwerp here. Once a powerful port city, Antwerp grew into a vibrant hub of trade, art, and culture. It's the city of Rubens. His influence still felt in the galleries and grand cathedrals. Today, the past and present blend beautifully here, where timeless architecture meets a modern, creative spirit. So, Carol and I were just sitting there enjoying the night, watching the sun go down and the temperature drop, and just enjoying ourselves. And we got kind of hungry and then realized it was 11 o'clock, so almost all the food, the kitchens of the places were shut down. So the only thing open right now is a Domino's pizza of all places. We're not big pizza eaters, but we're hungry, so we're going to grab a pizza, take it to our room, and get a good night's sleep, because tomorrow's a big day. We're picking up our truck. This morning, the adventure kicks into high gear. We're heading to the Port of Antwerp to reunite with our truck. The Port of Antwerp is one of the largest and oldest in Europe, a place where ships have been coming and going for centuries. Tucked inland along the river Scheldt, it connects the world by sea, rail, and road. Over 200 million tons of cargo pass through here every year. This is the moment we've been waiting for. After weeks apart, our overland rig has finally arrived from across the Atlantic. And now we're one step closer to the open road. Just arrived at the port. Doing a quick inspection of the truck. Everything looks good. Yeah, let's get inside. It's going to be a little tight. They got this Corvette right behind. They gave me a fair bit of room, so that motorhome's right in front. See if I can weasel out of here. Alright, we're through all the security and checkpoints and everything, and we have our truck. Let's go learn about driving in Europe. In about two and a half kilometers, turn right onto shore of Enweg. Well, we made it. Plane, trains, and automobiles, but we're here. So we just pulled over here. There's space on the side of the road to do some stuff. And I think what we're going to do is go back and turn on the power to the camper. If you recall, before shipping, we turned it off. So hopefully there's still lots of power in the batteries. And then that'll allow us to charge them as we go. With all this sun, plus with the driving that we're going to be doing. Plus, we need to turn on the fridge before we go grocery shopping. And get that cooled down, because it's been pretty hot the last couple days. And also for Starlick. It looks good. Home sweet home. Wow. It smells good. It does. It smells brand new. Alright. Power. On. It's coming on. It looks good. There's lots of lights. Not quite yet. We'll just give it a second. And we'll be good to go. I can't believe this went across the ocean. Across the ocean. Amazing. Why can't I touch the lights? Oh, there we go. Good. Make sure she goes up. No. It's scary. I just want to free it up. No, it's perfect. What's your power at? 100% power. That's the first time we've done it. But by turning off that switch, it maintains the full power. We should have done that this winter when we parked it at the lake. But anyway, live and learn. Alright, well let's head out. Alright, we're here. We're going to get our first fuel in Europe. And the green ones are not diesel like they are in America. But we're going to see if they have DEF as well. I'm sure they sell it in the store there. 125 Euros. So I had to run it a second time. I just want to get the tank full. Shouldn't have to stop too often. This thing is pretty efficient. We're back in the Netherlands. We found a camp spot for tonight. It's a campground. A paid campground. We're going to try to avoid that as much as possible on this trip. But just for tonight, just to get our bearings and have a place to get the truck opened up and sorted out. Hopefully it's close to groceries because we're out. And laundry. That's the plan for tonight. And then we'll be able to hopefully sit as well. We're trying to get in early like 2.30 in the afternoon so that we can sit down with some maps and plan out our route. Once we get off the highway the roads get pretty narrow and you share them. There's no center lane. I'll get used to it I guess. Exciting to get some real food and cook our own food. I like going out only once in a while not all the time. But we have been eating good though. But this is exciting. Trying to figure out some meal plan and food prep. A very tight little spot but we'll see if we can get in there. Yeah we don't need power or water. If you look we don't have any rules about how to park. Which way? Nice. Whatever you decide is relaxing to you. This is a beautiful spot. There's grapes and little orchards all around it. And the wind is nice. Yesterday it wasn't windy and it was really really hot. This place is really nice. Alright we're parked at our first camp spot in Europe. In a beautiful little place in the Dutch countryside. We met Ron who runs the place. Super nice guy. Very easy going. You can park wherever you want. It's pretty hot right now. It's 33 degrees celsius but it's going down overnight to 16. So it's going to cool off nicely. Which we're excited about. Let's get the camper set up and start organizing. I'm so sad. My eggs all dropped into the bag. There's no rubber bands to put them around. And they're so expensive. Looks like we lost a few. So I only lost one. That's good. It really feels good to be back in the truck again. Editing at my own table. We had the AC on for a minute because it was 33 degrees. But with this rain that just rolled in the temperature is dropping. And a breeze is coming through the windows refreshing and cool. We're very thankful for that. The weather looks like this rain is going to blow over in a couple of hours and then it's going to be quite pleasant tomorrow. So that's awesome for our second day in the truck in Europe. You can tell all our clothes are in the laundry. We're both wearing our white undershirts but this is what we love about having our truck. It's our home on wheels and it's got all our stuff. It's got our plates and forks and Carol made a delicious meal for us here. And it saves an absolute fortune not having to spend the night in a hotel and go out to dinner. We're excited for our first night in the Netherlands. So we had an awesome sleep there at that camp last night and we're back on the road. We're heading north here in the Netherlands and my brother Ben, one of my younger brothers is married to a girl from Appeldoorn area in the Netherlands and her mom and dad and her sister have been to several of her sisters have been to visit back in the day and they came to our house and everything and so Carol reached out to them and one of his sisters and his mom and dad are home and they thought, they said why don't you come by and say hi. So it's not that far out of our way and it would be nice to see another town Appeldoorn and Trevolda I think it's called so let's go, come with us we'll go say hi to my brother Ben's wife's family It's big, yeah It's even bigger than I imagined but yeah you can just watch out for that bike over there anyway Should I park in there? Yeah, you can park in there Oh, such a surprise Good to see you Hi Good to see you Hello Good to see you again We made it Yeah, no, Peter This boat is born here Old, no This is Noelle She's six Yeah, that's nice That's nice Nice, huh? There's slagroom on it So, lekker warm joker Mmm And then I thought oh yeah, maybe then I'm done about two o'clock and then I can go to Amsterdam Yeah We went to Haarlem Yeah That was such a nice visit with Bertina's parents and her sister Joke and daughter Man, they just made it so cozy, or what's the word? On our way, where are we going? Wherever the road takes us We're heading north We're going to have to start looking at the maps but we're kind of in the mode of like I don't know, like we'll try this area or that area We know where we're heading Our long term goal is straight north and Nordkapp, but many points in between This area is so beautiful So I'm trying to capture it for you guys and show you just the different homes and it's all like farmland And it's a little tricky We're off the main road so it's one lane a bike lane on either side and when another vehicle comes especially a large vehicle, sometimes we have to pull over and stop I'm getting used to driving in it and Carol's not panicking, so we're alright No, I haven't used my handbrake at all so it's just soaking in this weather that we're having It's just beautiful and then the flowers are so many flowers are in bloom and I just love how they keep everything super natural like they don't mow everything down and then they put lots of wild flowers and stuff in the trees are really pretty so we're really enjoying our time driving through the Netherlands especially this area up here Join us next week as we continue our journey across Europe in our Overland truck exploring historic cities stunning landscapes and hidden gems all the way to Noordkap the northernmost point you can drive in Europe This is what Overland travel is all about the open road, new discoveries and the memories we make along the way Thanks for coming along If you enjoyed this episode give it a thumbs up and subscribe so you don't miss a thing Big thanks to our Patreon family Your support means the world to us Stay curious, stay adventurous and we'll see you down the road