Category Archives: Administrative

Day 6 – Recuperating

After yesterday’s long drive to get to Italy, it was officially our rest day today. Unfortunately, the kids don’t understand the concept of “sleeping in” and thus, we were awake way too early again.

It was a bit chilly when we got up but breakfast is a good way to cheer everybody up. Afterwards we just went to explore our immediate surroundings: The waterfall of Acquafraggia first of all. It is a five minute walk from our campground and we can see it from here through the trees. On the way there, we found a cool place with access to the river where Number 3 put his feet in already. He was generally amazed by the rapid flowing water.

The waterfall itself was loud and there was a lot of spray so Number 3 stayed back a little, while both Flo and I got ourselves a little refreshment when we got close. 🙂 The Agent of Entropy had no choice but to go with Flo but since she didn’t complain it couldn’t have been too bad.

With our spirits high and the temperature rising to a lovely 21 degrees, we started to walk to the next village over to see if we could find a little restaurant for lunch and a shop to buy some groceries. Though the walk was basically along the main road but on a pedestrian footpath, we saw lots of animals. The lizards especially fascinated Number 3. There was also a little chicken hut where we spent about 15 minutes trying to convince Number 3 to keep on moving.

The village of Prosto di Piuro is rather small. We still found the artisan bakery/cookie shop for me to buy some fruit bread, cookies, jam and a bottle of red wine in.

To be honest, Flo and I didn’t know how travelling would be during the pandemic and if we’d feel unsafe. We are really impressed with Italy at the moment as everybody seems to be “no nonsense” about the rules. EVERYBODY wears a mask. And correctly, too! Not just covering mouths or such silly business as I often see in Frankfurt. Everybody keeps their distance if possible and they just get on with it!

Shopping was a pleasure even if I had to stretch my almost non-existing Italian. We didn’t find a restaurant in our price range that was open but we found the little supermarket to buy some groceries.

We hurried a little on the way back as it was time for lunch and everybody was hungry. That turned out to be a bit of a drag for Number 3. Even so, he refused to have a midday nap after lunch. Chilling on the campground in the afternoon was an exercise for our patience. Only when Number 3 observed the guy on the lawnmower and started role playing it did things improve again.

By dinner time the Agent of Entropy was causing havoc while Number 3 redeemed himself by being a superb sous-chef.

Day 1 – Electrifying

This – this was my bloody dream ever since one of those enchanting nights in Portugal. This was the thing we had mulled over, planned and made many a decision based upon. We chose to push the last two months of parental leave as far out as possible – for the chance of good weather and for the glimmer of hope of outlasting the lockdowns and limitations.

We chose our car with this in mind – had to have certified roof rack carrying capacity and be big enough for four and our stuff. We lined up friends, options, mulled over potential routes.

So the 26th of April came – and went, with us firmly in lockdown grounded at home. No way to move the dates, no point in fussing over anything. Just hunker down and suffer through this – one more month to add to all the ones added up already.

May a half-dead rat’s feces hit all of those sharing the blame for spreading and failing to contain this bloody thing. Cursed be every super spreader! We HATE the novel corona virus! [/old man yelling at cloud]

But then, as always, things get better eventually (at least for us cis white European whities, that is). One by one, we managed to snatch up our first doses of the vaccines (after the boomers were finished and immediately demanded everything go back to normal for them, of course). European countries started to loosen travel restrictions and we finally allowed ourselves to think about actually doing it.

The spark of an idea

So, what is “this”? Well, it is our meager attempt at doing what is unfortunately very unsustainable (long distance travel) in the least harmful way we can think of. And to embrace our continent of origin and what the most dense and top tier level of infrastructure can support: Camping with an EV and our well proven iCamper SkyCamp roof tent.

The thought that struck me on our last trip: We stick to campgrounds anyway, because in such densely populated parts of the world there is not much room for wild camping (plus the fact that it is illegal most anywhere). So why not use that time to fuel the vehicle that we are using? With the kids, we would not travel more than maybe 300km in a day and, if we needed to, the charging infrastructure is good enough to just top up during a normal rest stop.

So here we are, 250 km from home on a campground in the black forest. The car is charging, number 3 and the Agent of Entropy are sleeping peacefully in the roof tent and I get to be really electrified about traveling again.

We are doing it … be a naysayer if you want – yes this is not edge of the unknown adventure travel. But it is the road.

My kids will experience that. They will meet cool people, friends we have across Europe and they will breathe fresh air and see the open sky.

And no virus could stop us from doing that …

Day 321 – Further north, stats 112 Turkey

We got up early today when the alarm clock went off. Breakfast in the hostel was quick and easy which can also be said for packing the bike. Soon we were on the road.

After 60km, we crossed over into Serbia. The crossing itself was no problem at all but for about 100km, the motoway was a one lane road without much chance of overtaking. All in all, Serbia seemed to be poorer than Bulgaria. It took us hours but we crossed all of Serbia. Crossing into Hungary was just a look into our passports and a wave with a hand…we didn’t even get stamps anymore. Since we had made such good progress, we decided to go for the Iron butt achievement and push on to Budapest. 850km in one day is a new high score for us.

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Country data #12: Turkey

Full screen version of the map

  • 4949 km in total (4854km of GPS tracked)
  • 16 travel days, 25 days total
  • $20.82 Average cost per night (5x room, 19x camping and 1x invitation)
  • 261.32l of standard fuel for $ 614.58 (4.84 l / 100km)
  • ~$24.99 for food eating half the time, two invitations
  • ~$2,400 in total.

All $ values are converted to NZD.

Day 301 – Stats 110 Oman

Oh, pleasant rest. For the first time in about 40 days, we deliberately do … nothing. That is, no traveling, no sight seeing. Just sleep, good food and a little bit of blogging as an when the mood strikes us. We did close out the day with tea and snack with the only other guests, a very cool couple from Iran. Thus, finally, there is some space to do another stats post.  

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Country data #10: Oman

Full screen version of the map

  • 4008 km in total (3908 km of GPS tracked)
  • 12 travel days, 27 days total
  • $9.69 Average cost per night (4x room, 8x camping and 15x invitation)
  • 250.25l of standard fuel for $ 143.43 (6.5 l / 100km – all Arabia)
  • ~$14.01 for food every day, eating out on the road, invitations while resting
  • ~$910 in total.

All $ values are converted to NZD.

Day 300 bonus – Stats 109 United Arab Emirates

This kind of did not fit in well with the day’s post, so I decided to celebrate day 300 with an add on! Hope you like it. The stats are not too relevant, since we did not really spend time in Dubai and had a lot of “special” stuff to sort out.

Country data #9: United Arab Emirates

Full screen version of the map

  • 481 km in total (470 km of GPS tracked)
  • 2 travel days, 4 days total
  • $35.56 Average cost per night (3x room, 1x ferry)
  • 44.14l of standard fuel for $  25.46 (6.5 l / 100km – all Arabia)
  • ~$10.25 for food every day, always eating out with two invitations
  • ~$2,309 in total – $1100 for shipping and spare parts and $460 for visa

All $ values are converted to NZD.

Day 260 – Boy Zone

Our first day in Sohar was mostly spent using the power and wifi here. Even though we wrote a lot of the blog entries on the road, we now had to upload them. Commenting about 40 to 50 pictures for each entry took us a while so in the end, we managed four blog posts. Which isn’t bad but still not up to date.

When Lina and Michael returned from school, Flo was invited to Jorge’s place where Michael was headed to jam with Jorge and Todd on their guitars. Flo wanted to check the tank and the tank sensor of the bike and Jorge has tools and space so he offered it. Note: Lina and I were not invited…it was explicitly a boy thing. =P

Day 227 – Stats 108 Laos

The small test ride I did today does not really justify a full blog post on its own. Therefore, it is time and we have the space for another stats post.

Country data #8: Laos

Full screen version of the map

  • 3228 km in total. 2979 km traveled, 249 km towed (2923 km of GPS tracked)
  • 13 travel days, 23 days total
  • $18.89 Average cost per night (23x room, no invitation)
  • 151l of standard fuel for $  214.25 (5.1 l / 100km)
  • ~$31.62 for food every day, always eating out with no invitations
  • ~$2,900 in total – $900 to be refunded by the insurance

All $ values are converted to NZD.

Day 213 – Stats 107 Cambodia

Well, let’s face it, I was sick – therefore this post is up for grabs? We had one thing going that was not blobbing and sleeping: We went out to a very nice restaurant and had a very nice dinner before hitting the road again the next day. I was feeling better and better and was pretty sure it would be ok to ride again, come tomorrow. The restaurant was on the other side of the Nam Khan, reached via a rickety dry season only bamboo bridge. Nina was not convinced, but the bridge held – both ways. The food at Dyen Sabai was outstanding – easily the best fusion food in Asia so far.

Alright, so now, Cambodia. Why Cambodia and not Thailand? Well, since we are going back to Thailand once more, I thought of doing that one as a single post.

Country data #7: Cambodia

Full screen version of the map

  • 2030 km traveled (1993 km of GPS tracked)
  • 9 travel days, 19 days total
  • $17.19 Average cost per night (18x room, no invitation)
  • 111l of standard fuel for $  126.52 (6 l / 100km)
  • ~$34.30 for food every day, always eating out with no invitations
  • ~$1.850 in total

All $ values are converted to NZD.

Day 179 – Chanthaburi

deck on day 1

deck on day 1

We also got to get up in one of the most beautiful places we’ve stayed at so far. The night in the four-post bed under a giant mosquito net had been very relaxing but, in the morning, all our worries came back.

Our lovely host had prepared breakfast. I had been so knackered yesterday that I forgot to tell her I’m vegetarian so I couldn’t eat my rice with shrimps and beef/pork. Feeling very sorry for the waste of food I created, I ate more from my, now cold, noodles from dinner.

Things started to move quickly but also not at all. Our mechanic had already called our host to inform us that the bike could be picked up again. He claimed that he had fixed it and to see if it would be okay for longer distances had ridden it 100km to Trat and back in the night. Flo was overjoyed but still picked up a voltage meter to check if everything was okay. It wasn’t. There was too much current going through the regulator/rectifier which, in the long run, would fry the bike’s other electronic parts. Disappointed, we let the mechanic know who took the bike away again.

Unfortunately, the multi-meter had no good news for us

Unfortunately, the multi-meter had no good news for us

It got later and later and by 11 am, we decided to stay for another night as it didn’t seem likely that we would be able to check out by noon. Around noon, the mechanic returned Rocinante, this time fitted with the reg/rec from his own Yamaha bike. Flo checked it with the voltage meter and it was looking good! To be absolutely certain, we contacted Jonathan again. Jonathan, the electronic’s wizard from Malaysia, had given us a WhatsApp contact so we were able to ask him about this solution. He replied that Rocinante produces too much electricity for the part so that we should try and use as much of it as we can before the reg/rec has to work with it. That means, charging as much as we can on the bike, having the lights on full beam etc. However, Rocinante would ride again!

Hmm, smoothie!

Hmm, smoothie!

Now we still had half an extra day in Chanthaburi for some sight-seeing and lunch, of course. Our host lent us a bicycle with an extra pillion saddle on it so Flo drove me around town on a bicycle. 🙂 We went back to the little alley at the river side which turned out to be lovely for almost the whole length. Tiny wooden houses on each side of the one lane street, most of them having food stalls on the ground level made for a pleasant stroll. For lunch, we already had the strawberry place from yesterday in mind though. Again, it was delicious and Flo got another strawberry slushie as a take-away.

After lunch, I insisted on a visit to the “sweet @ moon” cafe. Every cafe that has a sign for cake before one for coffee is my cup of tea. 🙂 So we had a pleasant afternoon stop there before heading further into town. Chanthaburi is known for its gem trading which only happens on the weekends, including Friday. Through our delay with a broken down bike, it was Friday today so we intended to check out the gem market.

Food stalls and trader tables all crammed together

Food stalls and trader tables all crammed together

It is nothing for the uninitiated. Many stalls, or long rows of tables in shops were filled with traders, many looking at gems through a magnifying glass. Food stalls were scattered in between and the whole street was clogged up with pedestrians. One of the traders waved at us and asked about our whereabouts. Then, he shortly talked about how beautiful NZ is which is the usual reaction that we get.

On the way back, we rode past the cathedral as well which looked pretty in the afternoon sun. The homestay’s deck was a lovely place to hang out but we used the time to check out our financial situation. It looks pretty dire. We’re at the point where we would have to go back to Bangkok right now to fly home to Frankfurt as our funds are just enough for two flight tickets and a crate back home for Rocinante. So we called family and friends to ask for advise and the possibility for loans. We are blessed and privileged to have such family and friends who are willing to give us interest-free credit so that we can, at least, finish the loop through Cambodia and Laos first. We will also set up a gofundme page if anyone would like to help out, even with small amounts.