Category Archives: Germany

Day 1 – Word Processor

Hey – here we go again. Nina and myself are still not sure if we have the engergy to go for daily blogging again. No other way then trying. So I will give it a shot!

What trip kind of trip are we on this time? Well, its still with Puru Hiko, still with the roof tent and the whole family. We have 5 weeks, so we were looking for something a bit further off to make use of the time and enjoy some of that late-covid freedom. Our choice fell on Irland this time, with some light Brittany as a pallet clenser on our way back.

off we go, another adventure

Everything until Belfast is pre-aranged, sailing on the 3th of August. A bit of a rush, but some slight post-Brexit resentment made the choice of dashing through England much easier. Then we have 24 days on the Island of Irland, until we get on another boat from Cork to Roscoff.

Day one was, dare I say, much of the usual. Packing drags on a bit, but we managed to leave before noon. Some crappy food and broken fast chargers later, we managed to make it to Aachen for a late coffee break. Nina wisely proposed to keep the first day on the shorter side, so from here on its only a short 30 minutes to the first campground.

Greeting our new neighbours

Aachen, the short hour we spent there, was lovely. Number one had seen a bit about the cathedral on the “Sendung mit der Maus”, so we got him to buy into a tiny bit of sight-seeing after the massive piece of strawberry-cream cake. On our way back to the car (parked at charger try number 3) he even insisted that we must come back again as it was “soo nice”.

The last 30 minutes had both kids fully amped up, talking seemingly without even taking a breath in between. The camp ground is perfect for us, single field grass pitch attached to a small farm. No hedgerows, no permanet placements. Out on a lovely hill overlooking a few towns in the Limburg region of the Netherlands. A simple dinner with fresh bread, tent up, car charging. Let’s get this things started …

Day 21 – Organic Vegan Fair-Trade Hipster Dad Log

Same card for warm showers, hot water in the kitchen and…electricity to cook?

I think this “three-week-holiday” thing is just not our style. Can you believe that I have to work again tomorrow morning? There was no midnight party terror, so we were able to have a pretty relaxed morning. To make it even more so, we did not hesitate long to use the “tent camper kitchen” in the service building to its fullest. Very unusual for German camp grounds, but more than welcome today. Keeps the packing to a minimum and no extra run for doing the dishes.

Very on-brand for Germany was the fact that both hot water and the stove were charged by the minute (at least using our smart-cards as a token). The power on our site was metered as well – so the full charge over night was not that cheap, but still on par with an expensive charge card and way more convenient.

Check out was at 9 am. With all that compfort and without much of a hurry, we managed to be ready early. That meant another round on the playground for the little ones and first-in-line spot for me at the checkout. We even had some extra time after to buy a pack of feed and spend a while with the goats and chicken at the petting zoo.

So proud that he finally dared to feed the little goats!

[Nina: Flo seems to have forgotten that the playground was a “sand-and-water” playground which was amazing for the kids…just not for their clothes. The Agent of Entropy had to have a super quick bath afterwards as she had sand EVERYWHERE.]

By the time we arrived at the place in Düsseldorf where we wanted to meet one of Nina’s oldest friends, it was raining cats and dogs. With no parking in sight anyways, I still decided to drop off the rest and push for the nearest free charger. Once again, after arriving at the cafe properly drenched, I cursed the fact that Nina and I had not upgraded our gear since 2015.

Have not seen these two in way too long. Ms L and I finally live in the same country again after 14 years…if only for a year XD

It was lovely seeing Lina and Michael again after almost two years (long time readers might remember them, check out Oman from Home to Home). They have just moved to Düsseldorf. We decided over vegan coffee and organic müsli that the next time can not wait another two years and spend a lovely extended lunch huddled up in the tiny cafe called Greentrees. After a stellar performance up to that point, both the Agent and Number 3 gave up at around half past one and it was time to head home. We walked to the car, just to get everyone equally wet (the rain had not let up).

We took the last two hours in one go, making the most of our two sleeping hobbits in the back. We even managed to get the car fully unloaded and restore a vague semblance of order in our flat before collapsing into our own beds for the first time in three weeks. We were a bit apprehensive how well the kids would take to sleeping in their own room again – but it seemed they were exhausted enough to not mind.

And that was that …

Day 20 – The weirdest melange

It had rained the whole night. The damp meadow that we sat upon had turned into a muddy bog. Yuck, is the word that comes to mind. Flo took out the first chair to set up for breakfast, looked at the mud, looked at me shaking my head and said “hang on a minute”. Luckily, he found a wooden picnic spot with table, benches and roof about 100 meters from our tent. Right next to the playground in fact. It was such a relief that we didn’t have to put all our stuff into the mud and then clean it before putting it back into the car. J We had to carry things there but they did not get muddy. In fact, while Flo was wearing his jandals, he suggested that I should just stay barefoot as I’d ruin any pair of shoes that I’d put on anyways. I did. It’s been a long time since I put my feet in the mud like that. 😀 I had a bigger problem with the slugs though…barefoot.

Good bye to you too – I hope the next one is as nice …

Anyhow, we ate and then started to pack. The Agent of Entropy decided to bring more entropy to the table. She sat down in the mud, splashing both her hands in the puddles, looking like a little piglet before I could even get to her. Oh well. She stayed that way until we were finished with packing. Then, I took her to the showers to clean my feet and her.

I am about to misbehave 😉

Finally, finally, a bit later than we’d wanted to, we were on the road. Since we picked the next campground close to Düsseldorf, we had a shortish day in the car. Maybe 3.5-4 hours of driving. We aimed to get to the campground around 3ish. From there, we picked a lunch spot that was in a good location, time-wise and in terms of the kilometres we’d already done. It turned out to be a rest stop on a bridge so both sides of the autobahn could access it. One more fast food stop it is then. This one didn’t even have the vegetarian option that we (even Flo) usually go for, just fries and chilli cheese nuggets. (Flo: yeah, PBWopper – now eating junk does not have to come with a side of tortured animal any longer :D)

A rather disappointing lunch and some time on the playground later, we got back into the car. We still had a way to go. I tried calling the campground but their reception was closed from lunchtime till 3pm. So we just drove to the Kerstgenshof campground. There were quite a lot of people in the parking lot, probably all waiting for the reception to open. Flo managed to be second in line and we got a campsite with electricity.

we can do basically the same, right? Thats AoEs attitude to playgrounds with Number 3

Setting up, actually just stopping there, we realized we’d have unusual neighbours. Almost all of the people in this row were families with kids or retirees with their campervans. Not our neighbours. They had a beer pong table in front, three tents pitched on one campsite and a speaker in every corner of their site to listen to bad music. I was not quite happy with it until Flo made me aware that my attitude was in line with all the retirees who openly glared at the younger people. I mean, yes their music was not good but not even overly loud. Yes, their conversation was tiring but we’ve all been young. We probably wouldn’t have chosen a kid-friendly nature camp to party for a weekend though.

We went on a walk to the playground until it started raining and then hid in the facilities, showering the kids and so circumvented a lot of their out-of-line-ness. Back at the camp, we had dinner listening to their music but once we started getting the kids ready for bed, they also packed up their things and left. In fact, that was the last thing I heard from them. They managed to return sometime during the night without waking us up. I had dreaded the night (and potential wake ups and grumpy kid) and now was seriously impressed.

Day 19 – Iron Butt

Great start today. The reception was open unusually early, for reasons much to our liking: They had a small bakery here and just opened up after that work was done. So we started the day with a load of still warm breadrolls and in good spirits. We even managed to dodge the rain and pack up in near record time.

at least it was not pouring down – still everything was wet

All there was today was the road. Loads of it, actually. We pushed through the morning all the way to lunch time, missed our charger / lunch spot exit and decided to go 15 minutes further to the next one rather than take 12 minutes to go back. That meant that we actually left Denmark before stopping (by the barest of margins, the rest stop was disected by the border).

Lunch was a hurried affair. The bread was good, but our other stores were running low and the weather was far from inviting a longer rest. Before even finishing the charge, we decided to move on a bit further to Flensburg and stock up in our organic supermarket of choice. Bonus points for having another charger close by.

The Cheese Monster

A mere 15 minutes later, we were there and ready to strech our legs away from the rain a bit. We almost did not make it to the supermarket, as we had to witness a near bicycle accident avoided only by the mearest of margins. (Nina: What is it with Germany and bicycle accidents? And why is freaking NOBODY involved in them wearing a helmet?!?) A bit shaken, we filled our cart and used the break before heading out once again, stocked up for the remaining two day and fully charged.

Which leads straight to our big dilemma for the day: The perfect point to stop for the day would be the inner city of Hamburg. Not well known for its great camping spots. That meant to stop either a bit too early and have an extremely long day tomorrow or push past it (and the growing congestion of the Elbtunnel road works). As we have picked the last camp for tomorrow night specifically so that Number 3 could enjoy the offerings there, we decided to take it on the chin and give us more time tomorrow.

The dreaded Elbtunnel. It was probably a 25km long traffic jam

And what a blow it was. We probably added 1.5 hrs of stop and go & traffic jam to our 440km day. At one point, I took Google’s advice and “went around” on a 40 minute goose chase through city streets only to end up exactly one car behind the one we left when we turned off the motorway. Well, it was more interesting than that and at least we did not loose any time 😀

And so we arrived, shattered, past reception opening hours and almost at the kids bed-time. We were lucky and caught them leaving the office, so check-in was super quick anyway. Number 3 even got a golf kart ride to our pitch – which was actually really lovely, apart from the effects the all day rain had on the grass. We ignored the mud, had dinner and dropped as soon as we could.

Day 1 – Again?

… have you not just been on a holiday? That was the most common response to us telling people that we were leaving once more with the roof tent. I mean, really, my hands are tied, aren’t they? First, our parental leave trip got cut short so cruely. Then, there is the fact that we have no daycare available for the whole next three weeks. Should I have dropped it all on Nina?

Besides, we have a chance for redemption, in a way. Fully vaccinated as we both are now and the numbers way down, we acuatally can go to Sweden this time! So here we are again.

Packing and cleaning took us all morning so by the time we were actually ready to leave, the Agent had fallen asleep in her high chair with Fabian as a cushion

Minor issues so far: My 10th rib is still mending from a fracture (strain injury from coughing for two weeks, don’t ask) and Sweden is kind of far away and really big for a European country.

The rib seems to be fine enough – let’s see how it goes after a night in the tent, but I am off painkillers for a week now.

The distance lead us to a rare choice for us: just leg it – onto the motorway for 2 days to maximise our time spent in Sweden proper. Not even Copenhagen is on the list, at least on our way there. We rarely do, prefering to take in the distance and scenery changes as we move about. But what can you do, three weeks is just not a lot of time, especially for our style of travel.

With that out of the way, there is not much more to say about today. We were a bit slow in our packing – but adding up a teething Agent of Entropy, a broken rib and a bit of house cleaning to do, it just was what it was. We left around 11 am, with one last stop before we could hit the motorway.

Lunch for champions: Bread and cheese

After that, just a lot of driving. The long morning packing had exhausted both of the hobbits enought that they slept through most of the first 200km. We did start with some charging frustration right away, even though we specifically picked a fast-charging provider that had worked for us in the past. No luck this time, though. The less than helpful support hotline suggested we could try the twice as expensive direct pay option. Whatever, 15€ lost to bad customer service – at least the charging speed was good. Will have to follow up what might have gone wrong there, though … ahh … teething pains.

Speaking of – the AoE slept or rested even after our lunch stop. Number 3 stayed awake but was a real good sport and kept his spirits up for the remaining 189km. At least the camp turned out to be super cool when we turned up at almost 5pm. Especially nice for something literally 2 minutes off the motorway. Green, shaded and with enough for the wee ones to keep themselves entertained for the rest of the evening. One more hard push and then we are game to turn off the motorway and start traveling …

Day 24 – Off, off and away

It only took one afternoon and one morning to make our flat look like a whirlwind went through. No matter, we’ll be back in a couple of days and can clean up then. 

Number 3 and I managed to go to the farmer’s market to buy cherries as a road snack and fresh bread at our local bakery.

Repacking was easy as we hadn’t unpacked a lot in the first place. So by 9am, we were back on the road. The distance to our friends’ place in the Netherlands isn’t too bad at 340km, but with two small kids, you have to time everything just right. 

The Agent slept and Number 3 was pretty good, which made things easy. Also, he can be distracted by audio books if push comes to shove. 

brand new and cool charger – but it did not take my charge card. 5 minutes delay for the call but then for free …

Finding a fast charger was surprisingly hard this time. Only because we started to be a bit picky and also because we wanted to stop next to the autobahn before we got to the sprawl that is the start of the Rhein-Ruhr area marked by Cologne. In the end, we stopped at an e-on charger. Flo couldn’t get the charger to work with his charge card. After calling in to report the issue, they activated it remotely and we charged for free. 

Again, there was no shade to be found. Plus, the actual rest stop was still closed on this side of the autobahn. Now we had the choice between a bench in the shade and a toilet at the fuel station or a walk across the autobahn bridge to the open rest stop. We chose to stay and eat our delicious bread and cheese. 

With all the kerfuffle in the beginning our stop ended up one and a half hours long, more than enough to fully charge the car again.

Summer holiday!

This time Number 3 fell asleep while the Agent was awake for a while. We managed to get to the Netherlands before Number 3 woke up and immediately started to complain that he had to live his life in a car and never wanted to go by car ever again. It was quite a long way for kids, we understand that. Once there, we planned to stay put for at least two nights.

As it was, the last 30 minutes dragged with me trying to keep the kids from screaming. And then just like that, we were there. 🙂 A house, a big yard and garden, shade, kids, something to drink and the world looked brighter again for Number 3. Both our kids went off to explore and we had time to talk to our friend Leonie which we hadn’t seen in way too long. 

She cooked a yummy veggie meal for us and Peter arrived before we all sat down to eat. All four kids demanded attention to get them fed and ready to sleep. By the time we had our two in bed and asleep (which didn’t take long), the others also were asleep. So, we had until 11pm to talk to Peter and Leonie before I had to fall into bed as well.

Day 23 – Do not pass go, do not collect …

Right, I have all my phones back. The night was quiet and all there was to this day was this: Autobahn until we are at our flat – that would leave us within one day’s travel to the Netherlands, where we sorely wanted to meet dear traveling friends again after two full years. So it was good-bye to our otherwise really neat German campground. 27 € seemed like a real fair price for the convenience anyway. 

Lush and green: Our camp in Illertissen

There are three routes, with 320, 340 and 360 km respectively – but depending on the time of day and traffic situation, any of them can be the fastest route. I still was pretty set on taking the shortest one past Heidelberg. Short of a 20 minute bypass of some roadworks suggested by google, it worked out pretty much that way. 

This is the kind of distance that all the BMW propagandised stinker drivers get all nervous about: “but how about long distances?”. Range anxiety it’s called, I think. Utter propaganda, I would say now. 200 km in, and ready for lunch we pulled in an IONITY fast charger and that was that. Plug in, tap the charge card and go. 

Number 3 does like this unhealthy option

There was an unplanned deviation of plans though – since there was no conveniently shaded lunch spot in sight, we allowed ourselves to be lured by the devil and change plans for lunch. The bread rolls would last until dinner, but a plant-based whopper was here, now! (try it, btw – if you like fast food – and tell me why you would ever choose a normal whopper instead).

We got lucky and were able to have the unhealthy treat in the shade outside (restaurants are still closed due to COVID restrictions). Once again, by the time we made it back to the car before it got to 98% charge (the last 10% take 10x longer than 50% to 60%, so it is technically full by that point). 

There was one more stop very near to home, intended as a coffee break. Fast charging was easier than using the charge point close to our flat. We cut the break short though, when the sun came out from behind a cloud. Home was experiencing a heat wave, with up to 37°C. And providing conveniently shaded rest for EV chargers is very low on the list of priorities for the vulture capitalist monopolist Tank&Rast running our Autobahn rest stops. 

A great welcome at home: A friend looked after our flat, made sure the parcels and letter are safe and sound, even bought us some necessities and left a present for the Agent! <3

As soon as we had opened the door to our flat, we both realised how burned out from Covid we had been: What a nice place – so big, so bright. Spending that bit of extra energy before leaving to clean up added a lot. When we left, all I could see were the flaws – all looked cluttered, dirty and contraining. Now, with three weeks of travel behind us, it was a very different feeling. But, of course, the Agent of Entropy aided by Number 3 had the proper chaos restored to the living room in no time. 

Getting to bed had some extra challenges this time. Number 3 was quite sad and anxious about the fact that he would sleep alone in his bed once more, with no one to cuddle up to. Having the Agent there helped him a little. To top everything off – the heatwave and a lack of venting in the last few days had left our old brickwork apartment building heated up enough that the baby monitor showed 31°C even at 10pm at night. 

Just that one night – tomorrow would be the farthest drive yet …

Day 22 – Back to Germany

Our lovely campground provided us with superb German bread rolls for a small fee. It was a great last breakfast in Italy, as we were really close to the Brenner pass or Brennero as the Italians would say.

Number 3 is getting a lot better taking pictures with his own camera

Packing didn’t take long; we hadn’t even unpacked the awning. Once we decided to get going, we were on the road in good time. Flo had planned the route for today which would bring us from Brixen to Illertissen through Austria and to our next Covid test. Organising all this takes a bit of getting used to.

The Brenner was a letdown, especially for Number 3, as it’s neither an especially high pass nor a tunnel. Suddenly, we were at the gate to pay the 10€ toll for the pass we had just taken without realizing it. Ooooh. Number 3 who we primed for an extra long tunnel, was disappointed. Our next “exciting” stop for today was lunch next to a fast charger. On the way there, in search of a bakery for fresh bread, we made the mistake of stopping in front of a Spar supermarket. Number 3 saw the car-shaped trolleys for kids and would not leave this place before he’d driven around in one for a while. With Flo refusing to buy bread in a supermarket when we were “surrounded by bakeries”, we bought fresh milk and left again. Number 3 was beyond happy about this experience.

The notorious car-trolley and a happy Number 3

Having bought bread rolls at a bakery, we found the charger. It was next to a fuel station and a restaurant which you could only enter when recently tested or fully vaccinated. In search of a place to have our picnic, we used the tunnel underneath the motorway and sat down in the shade of a parking lot on the other side. It was rather hot already.

After the break, it was a straight ride to Illertissen. We’d booked a Covid test there at 4pm, but arrived at 3pm already. It was no problem to just get tested earlier. The results would be send to us via email in about 20 minutes as we had a bit of time to kill before we could get to the campground. If you wanna stay somewhere in Germany overnight, you have to be tested.

Ice cream while we wait for our test results

We opted for the usual “gelato and go” ice cream option and sat down in the shade. Before Number 3 had even finished his ice cream, we had our results on our phones and drove the last five minutes to the campground.

The campground was lovely. The owner put us in a nice grassy area with shade, there was a table and a bench next to it and the new facilities were close by. Both kids enjoyed having some free time to play and explore. In no time, both of them looked like piglets.

Flo treated us to a pancake dinner and we brought the kids to bed. We thought we were in for a quiet night, maybe even chat to friends online. Wrong. I was still in the tent with the kids when Flo started to look for his phone. He last used it to show our test results to the owner of the campground…after that he’s not sure what happened to it. So we turned everything upside down. For one and a half hours, we looked into every box, every little place in the car, asked the owner twice if someone had found a phone, looked in the bathrooms…and Flo got grumpier and grumpier. We had to face it, his phone was probably stolen. Bummer.

This is when Flo started to try the “other” solutions. He realised “google find my phone” was an option and got a location on the campground though on the other side of it from where we were. Then, he’d force it to ring even though it was set to silent mode and, on the third try, he could hear it ringing before someone stopped it. In the end, an old lady had it in her hand and he got it back. We’re not sure if she and her husband wanted to steal it or if they just have dementia. Her reaction was “who are you? What is your phone doing in my trailer?” Anyway, he has it again. Phew.

Day 5 – Like clockwork

My plan was, to say it mildly, not well liked. It better work like a charm, or I would have gone to the dog house for a very long time. I suggested to add about 50km to the trip to our campground to go back to Germany for our mandatory rapid covid test (needed for entry to Italy). The main reason: 140€ less for the two of us. Germans get their tests for free in Germany. Secondly, it was way less hassle to get an appointment in Konstanz compared to Wil – it is a major border town and has about 10 full-time testing sites to choose from.

Test centre in a dancehall …

The kids were a bit over eager and were up an hour ahead of schedule, but overall the morning went according to plan. Nothing was left, that we could tell, and the heartfelt goodbyes were made easier by knowing that we will see each other again fairly soon. I did forget my car key fob in my other pants, but we only lost 15 minutes.

And so, in time for our 10.27am test appointment we rolled into the car park in Konstanz. It was all pretty orderly, so within 15 minutes we were out again with an electronic results form to be delivered within 20 minutes. I was even able to add a bonus stop to remedy a previous fail on my part: MediaMarkt had both a generic charger for Nina’s laptop to replace the one I forgot in Germany for just 27€ and a cheap usb hard drive replacement since ours died the previous night after 10 years of hard travel.

Next up DM (a kind of drug store, minus the real pharmaceuticals) – I also forgot to take any charger for our three identical electric toothbrushes. Good thing Phoebe still needed one, since they come with a charger. Better still, DM also offers printing on demand, so we could commit our fresh (negative) rapid tests down to paper – just in case. I must admit, time has crept up on us a bit, so at 11.20 am already, we also stocked up on some sandwiches for lunch in the car.

[Nina: It was here that I made the colossal mistake of letting Number 3 ride on a coin-operated train for ONE SINGLE COIN while waiting on Flo to finish all his tasks. Such a huge mistake. Though, at the time I thought Number 3 was really good as he got off the toy train without any complaints.]

Train of doom

The eating part was fine, but 10 minutes into the actual 229km drive to our campsite we realised we forgot to check on the Agent of Entropy. The diaper was, of course, full. Alright, another brief pit stop in some sort of quiet office park. Diaper changed, consolatory feed given … just in time for Number 3 to announce he would definitively and 100% certainly need another potty break.  In the car, to the supermarket and the kid rushed inside … and it turned out it was a lie, since he was expecting another coin-operated toy train thingy ride after the business was done. Nina was not amused … 30 minutes for 3 km.

But that was our last hiccup … almost. Next stop was a rest stop with a few fast chargers for Puru Hiko. She was doing excellent, anyways. But then, 9 km before the exit, Number 3 decided it was time to play around and pull the emergency eject (i.e. the door lever going 110km/h on the motorway). Car started a panic inducing beep, wind rushed, Nina half jumped and pulled the door mostly shut again. I know, I could have set the child lock on the door – but this way, he has learned his lesson for life, I am quite sure of it …

Fast charging was uneventful – I mean, this is Switzerland after all. The toilets were clean enough I almost wouldn’t hesitate dining off them. Complete with coin-operated Heidi animatronics … that kind of thing. I restrained myself from buying a 10€ plant based whopper (try it though, really good … just not in Switzerland).

This left us well prepared for the last leg of the trip – 2 hours for 113 km. We did have to come up to 2114m to go over the Splügen Pass, after all. This was SO MUCH FUN! At least for me – the other three got rather motionsick, with the Agent of Entropy actually giving in on our way down from the saddle. Nina and I realised that we had done this exact same pass on the motorcycle before, roughly 10 years ago and coming from the other direction. That was then our second long-distance trip on the bike – or in other words, 70.000 km ago. Something to chew on 😀

And up top, for the money shot …

Driving an EV on this road is second only to our bike, I would say. Blue George was fun because it was so nimble, and I think the electric version with only 2 passengers would be even cooler than our fully loaded 3 ton family car, just for that go-cart feel. But the sheer amount of torque without any interruptions for gear changes makes going uphill in an EV just a smile-fest. And going down, recuperation takes a huge amount of load off the breaks, so that you can be quite aggressive without risking break damage.

The others disagreed a bit – so with three white-faced passengers, we turned into a great and friendly campsite in a stunning location deep down in the Mera valley. The place is called after the adjacent waterfall: Acquafraggio. And even though we had our fill of waterfalls, this one is a real stunner, visible from the campground. We had absolutely no hesitation locking in a 3 night stay – quite unusual for us in most places.

Time to let it sink in – we are here. We are travelling. On the road again, at last!

Day 3 – Below minimum required

Ok, first on-the-road packing day. We can do this. Today’s trip is only 190km planned. Smooth sailings. Maybe we even would have time to stop for a roadside attraction. After all, our friends would be at work anyways – no point in rushing, right?

still pretty good at packing – even with spectators

Everything worked out pretty well. First time we had to pay by use for electricity. 21€ for a 60% charge. Not great, compared to my usual charging card, but a major convenience. We could start with a battery 100% charged and not worry about topping up for the day. So, with packing up at a leisurely pace, we were ready to hit the road around 10:45 am. Would have been, I should say. For I, in my infinite capacity for foolish things, reprised a well-honed tradition: Draining the battery of my vehicle.

Yes, you heard right. As some have recently learned from a clip of a well-known former Top-Gear host: Electrical Vehicles have traditional 12v batteries in them, too. See, all the car tech is old world, well optimized towards the 12v ecosystem. My 48 Volt 64Wh battery pack has as much to do with that as the fuel tank in a stinker. There are some practical considerations, too. You can’t just run something of such a huge power source – some level of electronics is required. And as in a desktop computer, it has to start somewhere, usually small. That is the 12v battery. I drained it completely by forgetting to unplug a charger and keeping puku hiko in her half-on state. When we were ready to leave, there was no juice to register the key-fob, let alone kick start the other electronics. As soon as the main drive computer comes on, it would register the low voltage on the 12v and start feeding it from the main. But we did not get that far …

Hat in hand, I had to ask the campground warden for a jump start. Of my EV … much amusement all around. Jumper cables didn’t quite work, but an emergency starter / booster battery did the trick. Main ECU came onboard and the car ran. Just like jumpstarting a stinker … only that mine didn’t sputter blue clouds from the rear but instead hummed its artificial VESS hum as if nothing had happened. There was the first half an hour lost …

Charging made easy – right they are. Every supermarket should have these.

We had a shopping / charging stop halfway, having made good time. But then, both little ones had to go to the loo just as we were heading out … ah well, here goes another 30 minutes.

Our lack of (daring to start) planning bit us again, a bit later. We had to have another stop. I did not get the cooking facilities in order in time. The butane gas for the cooker was ordered a bit too late and did not arrive before we left. The first two options to stock up were deemed to expensive at 4 € a bottle (the ones now sitting at home were 90ct a piece). So I had to try my luck at two rest stops and a hardware store, only to pay extortion prices of 5.39 € rather than lose more than this additional hour.

By now it was getting late but we were finally on the last stretch. Crossed the border to Switzerland without hassle and about 15 minutes out from our destination, I almost bunged it up for good this time. Temporary traffic light at a construction site – I missed the “stop here while red” sign and thought I’d go that wee bit back down the hill. Only, I did not switch into reverse but rather let it roll. And only used the wing mirror, without realizing that no rear radar or rear facing camera was active without puku hiko being put into reverse. When a “bang” stopped us, I almost lost it.

That is the good kind of arriving

It must have been the luck of fools, as it turned out there was absolutely no visible damage and the other driver was super cool about it when he saw us in our whole kit. No time lost, but we gained a few more grey hairs on our scalps.

In the end, we arrived quite late at 4.40 pm. We were heading over to Number 3’s Godmother and her family, so the day turned bright from there. Dinner, quickly putting our kids to bed and then staying up way too long, as you tend to do with old friends, rounded off this rollercoaster of a day.