Well Whitsunday weekend beat us. We like to travel in François so we have flexibility in where we go. This weekend our ability to just show up was taken from us. Our original plan of traveling slowly across Germany from Friday to Sunday was overcome by events and we ended up in a hotel on Saturday night. The first time this has happened in 8 years of traveling here.
We woke up in the morning and started looking for a place we could stay in ever increasing arcs from where we were. We didn’t trust stellplatz’s as we expected they would be full. After checking about 10 different places we checked the place we end our trips at in Amsterdam and already had a place booked for tomorrow and they showed a spot available today so we booked it and relaxed until check out time in the hotel.
The drive was busy and at one point Ton said I don’t think anyone in Germany or the Netherlands is staying home. We arrived at the large campground near Amsterdam and were assigned spot number 469. There are 470 spots in this campground and they are all full.
As we were driving Ton looked up Whitsunday and it is a minor Catholic holiday but it falls in May and appears to be the beginning of summer holiday much like Memorial day in the US. In our previous 7 years of traveling it had never bothered us which is why we were caught so off guard. But, I do remember last May we were surprised when our off the beaten path campground in the Ardennes in Belgium suddenly turned into Woodstock. It was Whitsunday. So from now on we have a new planning point for our travels in the spring. Book a place for Whitsunday weekend in advance if we are in western Europe!