Driving over there is pretty straightforward, especially if you're not dealing with snow. Apart from fuel, though, there's also heaps of tolls in some parts.

In Grmany you can buy a BahnCard for something like €100 that then gives you 50%off all your train travel. Mine paid fr itself within two trips. Germany was one of my favourite places to travel, I think the whole country is unmissable! From Essen you could go in any direction pretty easily. Cologne is a nice city, you could do that and Paris and maybe somewhere in Belgium? And wherever you're going in Nederlands.

When is all this? Tour de France takes in that region this year...