Hey guys

I live in BC. i am coming home to UK in September for 3 weeks. i want to drive from england to Spain (Barcelona).

Firstly, am I insane? yes.

Has anyone done this??? how long did it take? places to recommend etc???

Any tips appreciated!

Lot's of people drive from Britain to Spain - some even drive back again!
Broadly, you have two choices: get across the channel - either by ferry or through the tunnel, then drive down through France to Spain / Barcelona. Or take the car on a ferry to either Bilbao or Santander (they're not that far apart, so not a major factor in making your choice) and down from there. Have a look at the route planner on the Viamichelin site, to work out the cost and duration (and wher to make any overnight stops)

As to being insane - I can't help you with that one.

If that is BC in Canada then yes you are insane to come to Spain.

Yep, BC Canada.

Honestly, stay there. ;-))

London to Barcelona is about 1400 km if you go through the tunnel. The tunnel is preferable as it is the quickest. Driving that in a day is easy if 2 of you are sharing the driving. I've driven Alicante to London in a day and that's an extra 600 km. Left at 10 am, arrived at 6 am.

Why? I'm moving out of BC. It rains a lot & miserable. Houses are expensive in Vancouver.

I went to Vancouver a few years ago, from Spain and couldnt believe how cheap everything was, food, restaurants, cars and even houses were cheaper than in Spain.

Yes the weather is a bit misserable, I know what you mean

I am always puzzled when Vancouver tops the quality of life surveys, although I quite enjoyed it and especially the proper snow at Whistler, I thought downtown Vancouver was rather bland and looked like any other North American city. Plus it was winter and the streets were full of junkies.

But then I unashamably love Spanish cities

Houses are not cheap anymore in Vancouver but the foods & restaurants are really nice & cheap. I suppose if you consider the size of houses, they are a lot bigger & better design than Spain.

Why?

I think the other posters have answered, it was very cheap there, but the housing went sky high when all the rich Hong Kong people moved there.
They started buying houses, knocking them down and building condiminiums (flats) in there place.

I have driven to and from the UK to Javea Spain (1300') a couple of times. I find it best to use the tunnel and break the trip in Bordeaux so its a two day trip. I use the toll roads. I prefer the route via Biarritz to the eastern route. Absolutley no problem except the boredom of motorway driving and the rate at which my Mustang consumes fuel.....

That's not really the case nowadays. A lot of people from Hong Kong have gone back but there are many Chinese people from China who buy over half million dollars homes & they don't tear them down to build flats.

Sorry for being out of topic mods. Just want to answer jdr's post.