Crossing the Channel & Rotterdam

After an amazing month exploring Wales and Scotland it was time to make our way over to mainland Europe.  There is a smorgasbord of options for crossing the channel for a human, not so much for a dog.  People can fly, take a ferry, take the Eurostar train (the only train to mainland Europe) or take a car through the chunnel.  Dog options are much more limited, especially if you are not keen on flying your dog like us.  The Eurostar only allows service animals so that option was ruled out as well.  This left the chunnel and a ferry.

If you aren’t familiar with the chunnel (or more officially the Channel Tunnel or Eurotunnel), it is a train that acts like a ferry.  You drive your car into the train and it takes you through a tunnel from the UK to France.  In the days before brexit this would have been a more viable option because it was far easier to take a rental car from the UK to Europe and vice versa.  I did not want to deal with that headache and so we were left with a ferry as the only real viable option.

Now, adding to the complexity further is the fact that not all ferries allow dogs on board.  More allow you to keep your dog in the car for the crossing but that was not an option for the same reasons as the chunnel.  The ferry that checked all the boxes for us is the Stena Line ferry that runs between Harwich, UK and the Netherlands.  Not only could we bring Maverick on board, but we could also book a room that he could stay in with us (they have kennels as well).

There is a daytime crossing and an overnight crossing.  I decided on the overnight because I figured that we would have to book one less hotel night for the trip if we spent a night on the ferry.  The cost ended up being $314 for two adults and a dog in a room with 2 bunk beds and a full bathroom.  

The not so fun stuff

To prepare for the crossing we had a busy few days.  First up was a nearly 7 hour drive from Scotland down to our AirBnB in Manningtree which was a convenient 1 stop away on the train from the port in Harwich.  The next day we did about 4 hours driving round trip to pickup the Europe health certificate for Maverick that I had arranged for online.  The vet I picked was much more convenient for chunnel crossings then it was for the ferry we were taking, but they had what looked like a well organized and easy way to apply for the certificate online.  I opted for this convenience as opposed to a more local vet that would have required a more labor intensive application process.

The health certificate pickup was really easy.  I had previously filled out a short application and submitted Maverick’s Great Britain health certificate to the vet.  I had also selected a pickup date.  When we arrived they just scanned Mav’s microchip and handed over the documents after a few signatures.  Mav was legal for Europe, Woo hoo!

Before heading back to home base we decided to make a quick stop at the nearby Battle of Britain memorial and catch a quick glimpse of the famous white cliffs of Dover (Dover was the next town up the coast).  The memorial was really nice and is on a beautiful spot overlooking the water.  It was a pleasant stroll around the grounds on a really nice day.

Clockwise from the top left, 1) Amy and I at the white cliffs of Dover; 2) Mav posing at the cliffs; 3) Mav loves his fighter aircraft of course so he posed with a Spitfire; 4) Center of the Battle of Britain memorial; 5) Battle of Britain memorial wall; 6) Mav hanging with B.O.B. the squadron dog.

The following day I had to return our car to Heathrow which was a 2.5 hour drive away, plus throw in a little London traffic!  The return went smoothly which was a relief.  I rented from Hertz and if you follow travel news you know they have been in the news a lot in recent years for things like getting customers arrested for stealing cars when they had actually returned them and using their new AI scanners to charge customers for tiny scratches that may or may not actually exist.  Luckily the AI scanners haven’t been rolled out at Heathrow yet and no police have rolled up on me so I think I’m good (phew!). 

After returning the car I had to take the subway into the city.  Luckily this line was working despite the fact that the public transit workers were all striking.  I then switched to regular rail and rode the train back to Manningtree.  It was another long day.

The last day in the UK was ferry day, but we had a problem.  Because of track maintenance the train was not running between Manningtree and Harwich on the weekend.  Instead they were running a replacement bus.  This was a no go because the buses won’t take a dog.  I ended up having to call the local taxi company and pray they would transport a dog.  Luckily they agreed and we had a taxi arranged to get us to the ferry terminal way too early because I’m the opposite of a seat-of-my-pants traveler.

The taxi ride to the terminal went fine.  Our driver was really nice but he didn’t want the dog on the seats and he couldn’t fit in the cargo area (it was a wagon) because our bags were taking up all that space.  So he sat on the floor between Amy’s legs in the front seat.  After some initial excitement he actually fell asleep with his head on Amy’s leg during the drive.  Wish we got a picture of that one!

The Ferry

Our ferry experience started with arrival at the terminal.  We arrived at about 5pm, departure was scheduled for 11pm (I told you we were early lol).  Needless to say we were the first to arrive.  After much sitting around we finally were able to check in around 9:30pm.  This involved handing over Mav’s paperwork and our passports followed by scanning Mav’s microchip.  Everything checked out and we were able to board!

Boarding was relatively uneventful other than being mixed into a large Indian tour group.  This resulted in some chaos, particularly when we were shoved into an elevator with too many people.  Luckily Mav didn’t get crushed!  We quickly scurried to our room and started to settle in for the night.

The room ended up being pretty good.  I didn’t realize we would have a full bathroom with a shower in our cabin which was a very pleasant surprise.  The room was tight as one would expect but still fine for the three of us for a short night and the beds were serviceable.  We didn’t get the longest or greatest night’s sleep of our lives, but it was a hell of a lot better than sleeping on a train or a plane.

Disembarking the next morning was probably the biggest pain point of the ferry crossing.  At 5:30am we woke up to “Don’t Worry Be Happy” followed by announcements about breakfast being served onboard.  We had no interest so tried to go back to sleep.  30 minutes later we got the same music and the same announcements.  Then again at 6:30.  At that point it was time to pack up anyway for disembarkation at 7am.

If I had one word to describe disembarkation it would be chaos!   They kept telling everyone to stay out of the elevator areas and remain in the restaurant and lounge areas until they were told they could leave.  A lot of people weren’t listening.  Meanwhile we have a dog and way more luggage than we usually travel with.  There are also other dogs and some dogs get grumpy around certain (or all) other dogs so that was going on as well.

After a brief period of dealing with the chaos the dog owners were shepherded to a quiet area away from everywhere else where we enjoyed the peace for a few minutes.  They opened the door right in front of us and thankfully we got off first before any of the regular passengers.  This was a godsend since on this ferry all the people in cars have to go through passport control on foot and then return to their cars after.  I’m sure the line is quite long because it is a big ship.  We were through passport control in less than 2 minutes and on a train to downtown Rotterdam within a half hour.  Mav was in his 4th country of the Netherlands!

Hanging in the ferry cabin

Rotterdam

I wouldn’t say that Rotterdam was a place on my radar in terms of places in Europe I wanted to visit.  It just happened to be in the general vicinity of where our ferry landed.  That said, I have come to embrace exploring places that I end up in by accident or for logistical reasons like my flight landed there or my ferry landed there.  We have seen some pretty amazing places I would have never thought to visit otherwise.  Rotterdam fits into this category as a logistical stop.  Since we are here, why not check it out?

The first thing I will say about the city is that you shouldn’t expect European old world charm and architecture in this city.  Much of the center of the city was leveled by German bombs during World War II.  Not all cities that were destroyed during the war went down the path of trying to restore themselves to their previous state.  Some cities like Rotterdam were rebuilt as a modern city.  Many tourists are turned off by this because they come to Europe to be surrounded by all that European history and architecture.  I certainly get where they are coming from, but just because a city is more modern doesn’t mean it’s not worth exploring.  Besides, there are many modern cities around the world that are beloved and people flock to!  This is an expectations issue in my opinion.

We did enjoy our time in Rotterdam.  The city is clean and easy to navigate.  The public transportation is excellent.  There are ample trains, trams and buses.  It’s the Netherlands so bikes are abundant, but unlike our time in Amsterdam we did not fear getting run over because the streets, sidewalks and bike lanes are much wider due to the more modern city layout.  

After arriving in downtown Rotterdam on our train from the ferry port we had a short 12 minute walk to the Hilton Rotterdam which I booked with points.  We arrived around 10am but we still got into our room right away and got upgraded to a spacious junior suite (my status pays off again!).  The front desk staff was once again infatuated with Maverick and the pet fee was not charged.  This seems to be an ongoing theme over here.  A friendly dog saves you money!

After a leisurely breakfast at a nearby cafe we took a long stroll out to Kralingen Lake and the surrounding green space on the suggestion of a friendly Brit ex-pat that we ran into in the lobby of the hotel who, of course, wanted to pet Maverick.  This park and lake was really nice.  It’s quite large for a lake in the middle of a city and you can walk around the whole thing plus there are plenty of additional trails in the surrounding woods.  There are little sailboats that I assume you can rent dotting the water and a couple of restaurants on the shores with views of the city skyline behind the lake.  Just a great place to walk with or without a dog on a nice day.

Kralingen Lake

After our walk we stopped into the Executive Lounge at the hotel.  Not all Hilton’s have these lounges, but if they do then top level Diamond status will get you in.  I get this status simply by holding the Hilton Aspire American Express credit card.  The lounges can be hit or miss, ranging from just a place to get free coffee to  somewhere where you could essentially eat all your meals and get drunk for free everyday if you didn’t care to go out and experience something better.  This lounge was serviceable.  They offered coffee, non-alcoholic drinks, and snacks like nuts and fruit all day for free.  From 5-7pm every night they had more robust snacks that varied from day to day and alcoholic options including beer, wine and liquor.  

Our last stop on a long day was Bar Restaurant Sijf which is a dog friendly bar/restaurant I found online.  We sat outside and stayed dry even though it started to rain because they had some heavy duty awnings.  The food was solid, but the highlight was getting to drink our first local Belgian beers of the trip, something I had been looking forward to for a long time!

Day 2 in Rotterdam was more of a logistical day since I had to go pickup our car.  I’ll talk in more detail about that later in the post.  We did venture over to the Market Hall for dinner which was really nice.  It’s this large open space with glass ends and the sides full of apartments or condos.  The inside is like an airplane hangar but open and airy with the glass ends.  The ceiling and walls are all a big mural.  The floor is a big food hall full of different vendors.  We snacked our way around the hall with Maverick and had our first Bitterballen and Stroopwafel.  Both dutch staples.  Dinner was a success!

Inside the Market Hall (left) and Mav drooling over some Stroopwafel (right)

On our last day in Rotterdam we ventured outside the city center by taking the Waterbus down the Nieuwe Maas to Kinderdijk to see the windmills.  The windmills there are a UNESCO world heritage site and the grounds are dog friendly.  Most of the windmills here were built in the 1700s but one dates from the 1600s and has a distinctly different design.  They are amazing structures considering how old they are and are still in working condition.  After a couple of hours strolling around and taking pictures we hopped back on the boat and heading back to the city.  Fun little tidbit, some crazy guy built a full size replica of Noah’s Ark and it is docked in the river outside the city.  I was having trouble believing what I was seeing when we trundled by it in our waterbus.

Mav and I at Kinderdijk

After getting off the waterbus we walked across the Erasmus Bridge to grab dinner at another food hall called Foodhallen Rotterdam.  This one had a different vibe from Market Hall but we enjoyed it just as much.  A lot of the food stalls are Asian foods but there is some other stuff.  There is also a full bar and plenty of tables to sit and eat.  You can order right from your phone or you can walk up to the stalls and order.  And most importantly, dogs are allowed 🙂

The European Car

Before I wrap up this post I wanted to talk about my “rental car” for our time in mainland Europe.  It’s not actually a rental car in the traditional sense.  Instead I leased a brand new Peugeot.  I know it sounds a little crazy!  

During my research for this trip I found information about a leasing program by the French automakers targeted at non EU citizens.  I was intrigued because long term car rentals tend to get pretty costly and we needed a car in Europe for 3 months (plus the one month in the UK).  I found that the program offered a better deal than the rental companies and included everything you might need including insurance, registration and roadside assistance.  Even better, you pick what model you want and it is brand new!  It’s just like signing a lease on a car at home except you can lease for as little as a month.

The program is bookable in the US through autoeurope.com.  They also offer traditional car rentals for Europe but I found their rates were not the best if you are looking to just rent a car instead of lease.  The whole process ended up being relatively easy.  I booked online and they contacted me shortly afterwards via email to confirm.  The cost was $3,276.65 for 87 days.  I used a feature on my Capital One Venture X credit card to cash in points to “erase” this travel charge so out of pocket I paid $0.  It’s not the most efficient use of Capital One miles but this was a big expense and I had the miles to cover it.

This is definitely not the rock bottom price however.  I opted for a small SUV instead of some of the cheaper cars because of the dog.  I also got an automatic because Amy cannot drive a standard and for safety reasons it made sense for us both to be able to drive.  Lastly I paid an extra $500 to pick up the car closer to where we entered Europe.  All of the pickup locations are at airports.  The extra $500 is charged if you pick up outside of France.  Paris was the closest airport but it would have been 10+ hours of travel on pickup day.  Initially I chose Amsterdam but was later notified that the location was closing and they changed my location to Brussels which was a little farther but not nearly as far as Paris.  Without any prompting they offered a $300 refund for the inconvenience.  Wow, good customer service!

Shortly before we left on the trip I received some paperwork that I had to fill out, sign and return to the leasing company.  The only other thing I had to do was schedule a pick up time with the office in Brussels a few days prior to my pick up date.  On the day of pick up I took a train from Rotterdam directly to Brussels Airport and called the office.  They sent over a driver to pick me up.  After I arrived at the office I had to sign one more piece of paper and then they went over some logistical details and showed me around the car.  About 20 minutes after arriving at the office I was driving away in my brand new Peugeot!

I’ll post an update on how the return process goes, but it should just be the same thing in reverse.  I think this is a great option for anyone who plans to spend a month or more over in Europe.  Definitely look into the program if you need a car for that long.  You can even have the option to buy it at the end of the lease if you are so inclined (spoiler alert, I won’t be buying it).

Our new car!