Founders & authors, ondetour
A French-German couple who turned a shared habit of getting pleasantly lost into a job.
We're Camille and Jonas Berger. Camille grew up in Lyon, Jonas near Freiburg, and we met on a night ferry to Corsica - both of us travelling alone, both with a paper map folded to the same valley. Eight years and about 120,000 km later, we've driven 34 European countries in a van we rebuilt ourselves and still live in for half the year, near the French-German border. Camille plans the routes and hunts down the food, the viewpoints and the villages worth the detour. Jonas keeps the van running and obsesses over the rules - tolls, vignettes, low-emission zones, what you legally must carry. We write this journal because the guide we always wanted didn't exist: honest about the boring parts, generous with the good ones.
Practical
We crossed four countries in an electric car and lived on public chargers the whole way. Here is what actually works: the one plug that matters, the card that saves you money, and how far you really get between stops.
Practical
Crit'Air, Umweltzone, ZTL, Area C: how the sticker and camera systems work, per city, and the one official database we check before every city run.
Practical
Which countries make you buy a sticker, which charge by the kilometre, and how we avoid paying twice - the paid-road map we wish we'd had on our first trip.
Practical
Documents, mandatory equipment, vignettes, tolls and low-emission zones - the practical basics that keep a European road trip fine-free, in one place.
Routes
A slow, switchback-heavy loop through the Italian and Austrian Alps - how we planned it, what each pass is really like to drive, and what it costs.
Routes
Following the coast north from Lisbon to the granite headlands of Brittany - surf towns, pine forests and where we actually slept, in a route built for a slow van.
Seasonal
Winter tyres, chains and the small habits that keep a snowy European drive calm - the rules that vary by country and the technique that doesn't.
