My road trip to Alicante...
 

Hi All,

Yesterday I arrived to Alicante after driving about 2,200km in less than 48 hours, exhausted but happy that it went smooth and well...
Toke the COVID test on the 21st 6:40pm in Bermingham (Midland Health Clinic, recommended! ) now the clock starts ticking as I had to present negative test results in Folkestone France border control and thought I'll need to present it in Spain entry point as well no more than 72 hours later, received the results by email on the 22nd at about 9pm.

I'm holding an EU country passport, not a British one !

"self drove" a loaded van with my personal belongings and my dog all the way from Nottingham to Alicante through France as Brittany Ferries decided to cancel my booking.
Toke off from Nottingham on the 23rd, 4:30am driving to Folkestone to the Eurotunnel (ticket for a van and a dog cost 209 GBP in total as they charge an extra 20 for a pet)
Arrived to Folkestone at about 8:30am.
Got to the pets control check point in the main building and received the tag for the van.
BORDER CONTROL- asked to present a negative PCR test results, declaration form and passports, no questions regard the 15 cubic meters loaded van (-:

Folkestone to Calais- train toke off at 9:20am, arrived to Calais at about 10:50am (France time).
Drove all the way to Bordeaux- arrived at about 9pm, stayed at the ACE hotel just after Bordeaux for the night (clean, nice hotel and more important, pets friendly and secured parking).

Started driving at 6:30am and 2 hours later passed to Spain, no border control, no passport check point....nothing.
Arrived to Alicante at about 8pm.
I drove on toll roads in France and Spain to save time and for smoother journey, France toll road is a bit expensive, Spain was much cheaper.

Despite all of your suggestions I rented a house before arriving to Spain, I had a good feelings about the agent and I can highly recommend her (Laura from Weperty estate agency)...Maybe I got lucky but I toke the chance as I couldn't find any temporary place to stay with my dog and about 15 cubic meters of personal belongings and it turns out all good.
....now I need to unload the van and return it.....today.

I just want to clarify because I was very stressed about it myself before, at no point in my journey I've been asked to present a packing list or any other customs clearance documents for my personal belongings.

I would like to thank anyone whom replied my posts and shared information and his/hers experience, I'm sure I'll need your advise again in the near future (-:


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...02a7dccff7.png

Re: My road trip to Alicante...
 

Glad that all went well for you. Well done. One worry over with.

Rosemary

Re: My road trip to Alicante...
 

Hi Sandman,
First of all well done and best of luck in your new chapter of your life, as you know a few of us are eagerly waiting to see the results of an individual like yourself making the trip.

I have a few questions for you:-

1) were you in a uk registered van?
2) did the uk authorities not ask anything? Or ask for export paperwork?
3) did the French authorities not stop you and look at your contents? And also ask for paperwork?

i thought the French particularly would have made a song and dance about it all!

i too have had my Brittany ferries crossing cancelled in the past and I too have been forced to drive through France, it is tedious, expensive and very tiring

best of luck

al

Re: My road trip to Alicante...
 

Please see my answers in red.


First of all well done and best of luck in your new chapter of your life, as you know a few of us are eagerly waiting to see the results of an individual like yourself making the trip.
Thank you.

I have a few questions for you:-

1) were you in a uk registered van? I hired a one way self drive van from Way2go, the van is a LHD and has a Spanish plates, a bit old with high millage on it but it got me here (-:
2) did the uk authorities not ask anything? Or ask for export paperwork? I was very surprised but no one asked nothing.
3) did the French authorities not stop you and look at your contents? And also ask for paperwork? No, nothing

i thought the French particularly would have made a song and dance about it all!

i too have had my Brittany ferries crossing cancelled in the past and I too have been forced to drive through France, it is tedious, expensive and very tiring

best of luck Thanks again

Re: My road trip to Alicante...
 

Well done and problem free.
Good to hear first hand experience of the (lack) of hassle and paperwork examined.

Re: My road trip to Alicante...
 

Good news, hope you are enjoying sunny Spain.

Re: My road trip to Alicante...
 

This is ones persons tale. The story could have been different if he did not have an EU passport but was from a third world country, a Spanish registered vehicle also helped or if he debarked in Spain where customs could have had a look to see what is coming into their country and if any fees were available to collect.

Glad the OP had a uneventful trip down. Enjoy Alicante.

Re: My road trip to Alicante...
 

Uneventful road trips are the best, well done.

Interesting about the 20GBP charge for a pet and I guess the doguments were the biggest hassle. I'm taking the Barcelona-Civitavecchia ferry this week, adult fare 30, dog fare 40, car fare zero.

Re: My road trip to Alicante...
 

"This is ones persons tale."
Correct. It is. And I'm glad for him.

"The story could have been different if he did not have an EU passport but was from a third world country, a Spanish registered vehicle also helped or if he debarked in Spain where customs could have had a look to see what is coming into their country and if any fees were available to collect."
Or any one or more of every other permutation of passport, paperwork, border official, immigration official etc under the (Spanish) sun could have happened, but it didn't.

Re: My road trip to Alicante...
 

Doguments were easy, just a 15 minutes visit at the vet for health check and 160GBP.

Re: My road trip to Alicante...
 

Interesting! We arrived in 2012 using a van from Way2go, LHD with Spanish plates, it had 12 KM on the clock when we picked it up from Orpington in Kent. Also in 2012 Brittany ferries went on strike and our crossing was cancelled, we did the crossing from Hull to Zeebrugge and then drove through Belgium, France and then Spain. We dropped the van offf in Javea. Perhaps it was the same van; very good company though.

Re: My road trip to Alicante...
 

Yes, probably the same van, the one I had was from 2012 (-:

Re: My road trip to Alicante...
 

Well done you. Really great to hear you made it. What a great adventure too

Re: My road trip to Alicante...
 

Thanks

Re: My road trip to Alicante...
 

Hi Sandm4n, quick question about how much your animal health certificate cost, was it £160GBP for the standard form or did you have some vaccinations as part of that cost?

Asking as we hope to travel with 3 dogs in October so trying to understand the costs.

Cheers