Tag Archives: planning

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 19 – Sweet little nothing

This feels like holiday to us. The weather is just perfect: 26°C and blue skies. We have shade, we have food – and we made some company. The long talked about full on rest day is here.

We got the blog in order. More importantly, we also spent some time planning the next steps. We had to look a bit further ahead, since we still have the broken front clasp of the roof tent, we needed to find a place to receive shipped parts. We found another great place via rustiek kamperen, which is turning into a bit of an insider tip to all the other German families on parental leave we meet.

Found a stone!

Speaking of those: We got to talk to a German family also on their parental leave trip. Johannes and Maike taking a bit more time for their second boy Kaya. Traveling with a 3 year and a 5 month old, they definitively mark the “one up” occasion to our Blue George compact car setup. They travel with an even smaller slightly older VW Polo – with only the trunk space and a roof box for luggage. Although with their traditional tent, they definitively scored the jackpot regarding the spot. A little bit further away from everyone, in between shady trees hugging a small stream. It looks like an ad for free camping, but with hot showers and cold beer available within 50m.

In the afternoon we shared a beer or two, swapped travel stories. We returned to our camp just in time for a tortilla dinner. Only my second try at a Spanish tortilla, and with the added difficulty of the camping stove, it came out pretty decent. Nina and Baby enjoyed it.

And so, our day of sweet little nothing ended with a fine sunset and a final (real cold) non-alcoholic beer after Number 3 went to bed.

Day 168 – The artsy town

Finally made it to the waterfront!

Finally made it to the waterfront!

Georg Town is actually known for its pretty, colonial era district (also listed as Unesco World heritage) and a lively scene of street art. Since we were occupied with the bike yesterday and then only moved in a radius of 50m from our hostel, today was the day for sightseeing.

We started the day with planning what’s to come after Georg Town. This is our last stop in Malaysia; the border to Thailand is not really far away anymore. However, all the interwebs told us that we will only get a visa for 15 days if we cross over at the land border. 15 days is too short for all of Thailand. So we made up elaborate plans to drive up north to Bangkok, change tyres and then swerve to the right into Cambodia…or try to get a 30 day visa here in Malaysia.

Spontaneously, we jumped on the bike, drove to the Thai embassy in Georg Town…and left again. The first employee we met was able to tell us that tourists cannot get a multiple entry visa here. Really, multiple entries is the only one that makes sense for us so we left again. The visa fees were horrendous as well.

Town Hall

Town Hall

Back in the hostel, we picked up Josy and Peter who had shown interest in doing the 2.5km long “walking tour” through the inner city which the Lonely Planet suggested. Glad to be out of our motorcycle gear again, we started. Man, it was hot. And almost lunch time as well. Not feeling up for a museum, we passed the Penang Museum before crossing the park in front of the City hall and Town hall. Only the 20 ringgit entrance fee deterred us (and the backpackers) from having a look inside Pinang Peranakan Mansion which is one of the best preserved old buildings in town.

From here, a quick walk through Little India brought us to an Indian, vegetarian place that I’d been eyeing up ever since we got into town. The Paneer Butter Masala was delicious while all of my fellows went for the set menu lunch and were rewarded with a tray full of 7 cups with different sauces, soups and even milk rice surrounding a mountain of rice topped with crackers. Flo ordered the deluxe version so had one cup more and chappati extra.

Minions are taking over the world

Minions are taking over the world

Happy and full, we continued from Little India with its blaring music to Chinatown. Starting from Lebuh Armenian, “my” section finally began: Georg Town’s street art. Those tiny little roads are filled with artsy tourist shops, scenes made from a thick metal wire and of course, the painted street art works. It’s hard to describe but I hope you get an impression through the photos. I really enjoyed it.

A bit of relaxing later, all four of us made our way through the city again. This time during dusk, towards the waterfront where Flo and I had picked an Italian restaurant. It was this time of the month again…our next try of Italian food in an Asian country. Checking out the prices at the door, Peter and Josy rather continued to the nearest food market while Flo and I decided to be decadent. Looking like tourists in our hiking pants and jandels, we still didn’t stick out too much. The pizzas were good; the best ones we have tried since leaving the western world but still a

My cake looked at me!

My cake looked at me!

tiny notch under a Scopa pizza for example. Being decadent already, Flo enjoyed a glass of wine to his food while I ate a piece of a rich Equatorial Gianduja cake. So good!

Back at the hostel, we ran into Josy and Peter again. Feeling generous and almost like in Wellington after the good food, we invited them to a drink in the “Behind 50” bar on the opposite side of the street from our hostel. It also looked and felt very kiwi so we got into reminiscing our time in Wellington…

 

 

Crating the bike, Part 1: Planning

Intime Logo

Intime Logo

As promised, there will be a couple of dedicated post on Rocinante and how to ship her and all our gear to Wellington. The first step was to figure out how to ship the bike and find a forwarding agent.

A couple of Internet searches and inquiries later, one company stood out: InTime Motorradtransporte Hamburg. Behind this impressive name  Continue reading