In August 2017 we went with our children for a three week long road trip to the Balkans.
How we were packed
We chose our car – the Ford Tourneo Custom – as our main means of transportation. This van is ideal for long trips. We just had to think about how to make the best use of its luggage space.
It’s equipped with three rows of seats and also has a meter of trunk behind the third row. We changed its passenger capacity from 8 to 7 by pulling out one seat in the second row. This makes it easier to get in and out of the car. One seat in the third row was supposed to help in an emergency case if our youngest traveler didn’t like the trip.
As anyone with a hatchback knows, the hardest spot to pack is the upper corner of the trunk. Packing things near the roof is a bit dangerous in case of an emergency stop. Our vehicle is a passenger version, so there is no wall separating the passenger and cargo areas. To manage the luggage, I had to come up with something, so I started building a car luggage rack.
My idea was not to use any suitcases, backpacks or bags at all – and instead we will be packed into storage boxes. Boxes can be placed on top of each other and it is enough space to build a rack in which they will stand. From idea to implementation – in one day I managed to build a structure. In the meantime, I had to correct it twice, because it turned out that the car manufacturer didn’t make the trunk wall vertical. There is a curve that I didn’t measure first. In the end, I succeeded, and the end result looks as follows:
As you can see in the picture the rack is divided into three functional parts. The lower part is intended for heavier things. During our trip we kept there mainly food supplies and kitchen equipment. The lower part of a rack has capacity of 6 boxes (three columns of two). The boxes were stacked: two large ones for food supplies, and one large and one small for kitchen equipment.
The middle part is a shelf for a tourist table and two gas stoves with cartridges. The table was needed quite often, and this way we could reach it easily. We had two gas stoves, although we used only one. The other one was a backup, used only when we needed to cook two things at once.
The upper part of the rack is very similar to the lower part, except for the upper-right corner due to the upholstery. So there also were three columns of stacked boxes. At the top we packed lighter things – such as children’s clothes, shoes, cosmetics and towels.
It was good arrangement of boxes? Yes, it was. The fact that the boxes fit into each other gave us the opportunity to pack them into any configuration. As it turned out during the trip we made some minor reorganization of boxes contents. Food supplies were reduced to one box as we ate through them, and the space was filled with dirty clothes.
Apart from the boxes in the trunk, we also had some small bags for the less frequently needed things that we kept under the seats. We stored the tent between the rack and the rear row of seats. Next to that was a place for a bath tub for Iwona, and a toy pusher. Iwona was learning to take her first steps.
In the place of pulled out seat in the second row we put a portable refrigerator. We had a power supply in the car for that purpose and also we were using it to charge the electronics while driving.
One more thing, we also have had the roof box mounted, which gave us an extra 520 liters of capacity for things needed for an overnight. We put inflatable mattresses there, raincoats and sleeping bags. In the other part of the roof box we also put dirty clothes, which we planned to deal with when we got home.
Packing the boxes took about 5 evenings. It was not an easy task.
Itinerary
I planned the road trip itinerary. First I chose some places for night and scheduled visits to interesting places along the way. We planned to drive the longest stretches while Iwona was sleeping. On most days we were able to avoid long hours of driving, except the first two and last two days of the trip. On the regular day we spent between 2 and 4 hours of driving.
The schedule of the day looked more or less like follows. In the morning after breakfast we packed the tent and all the things, and we drove to the next place while Iwona was sleeping. On the way we were exploring. Dinner was either at a restaurant on the way or cooked at the campsite.
Our purpose was to visit the most interesting places in Albania. For the first 12 days we drove south to the Greek border, then spent another 11 days heading north.
In next posts we will try to describe each day in detail.