Tag Archives: Charging

Day 6 – Juicy

Flo:

Maybe I should’ve gotten to bed earlier. But the company was too good and sitting around a little fire just added this magic to it. Now it’s early and I’m a little bit tired. But even at 6:30am, it just gives me back my energy.

We were among the first to have breakfast and, with no awning to pack, were really fast breaking down our camp as well. So we took the time we gained and gave Number 3 his wish: a really big loop in the forest. We found cool and hidden things and he had a real good time, most of the way. Only near the end, an hour in, the novelty of it started to wane. So, in the car we hopped and off we went!

Instead of going straight north we decided to push on east first to go up along the coast. Nina read a Lonely Planet recommendation about the orchards there and found a cool place to spend lunchtime. We were still early so we were thinking of maybe checking out the fast charger in the town we were going for. It was fast and free, but a poor Swedish lady arrived just a minute after us and her exaltation that I would use the CCS plug leaving the ChaDeMO to her turned to despair when it turned out this station could only fuel one at the time. We were ready for lunch anyway, so we left it to her and headed off.

Nina:

Once we arrived at Kivik Musteri, I immediately got into the looooong queue just because it was there. That left Flo some time to get the kids ready and check out the place. It turned out that Kivik Musteri offered free charging for electric vehicles anyway so we were all set up right here.

Kivik Musteri consisted of the butik which I was queuing for, a restaurant, a little 6 room museum and a cafe. After some thought, I left the queue again as it didn’t make sense for us to get into the shop where we basically couldn’t buy anything (no space in the car) and it was lunchtime anyway.

We decided to go to the cafe which also gave me an option for cake. J After a good lunch break, made slightly uncomfortable by wasps, and a coffee/cake dessert, we were ready to tackle the “garden” and the museum. Number 3 enjoyed jumping around in the garden and looking at the different apple trees dispersed with other fruits.

The museum started with a room full of preserved fruits. It then went on to the history of Kivik Musteri, followed by the factory parts and a kids’ activity area. Number 3 got to be a little bee as well as testing his strength at pulling up 1kg of apples.

All juiced out by Kivik and all juiced up by the free charging, we left for our camp of the night. It was a nice campground at a lake where we really and definitely needed to do some laundry. We arrived late and it looked like rain so we quickly set up our tent. With me doing laundry and Flo organizing a cooked dinner, it left Number 3 to explore the lakeside by himself. He loved it even if he decided to go into the water with his shoes and socks still on.

After our dinner, Flo and Number 3 had one last round to check the place out before the kids went to bed. It was my turn today to tuck them all in. The Agent was already asleep when Flo opened one window from the outside and called Number 3 and me over. “Look, there’s a rainbow now!” So cool that Number 3 also got to see it. The rain stopped and we had a lovely, quiet evening at the lake.

Day 2 – Why so much road?

We were lucky to be on one of these campgrounds that offer fresh bread rolls for breakfast at the reasonable time of 7.30am in the morning. So, breakfast was good…and then we had to pack up everything wet. Yes, a little rain isn’t too bad most of the time but packing your wet things simply isn’t fun.

Honey for breakfast – Number 3, that was a great idea!

Once again we weren’t quite as fast as we wanted to be as we had another looooooong day on the road ahead of us. There were still quite a few things we needed to buy, not least of all, new diapers for the Agent. So we scheduled a break from the autobahn in a commercial area of Hamburg where we could find all the shops we needed in one neat complex. Getting there proved to be harder than expected when we landed in our first real traffic jam of this trip: Stuck at the entrance of the Elbtunnel.

Half the lanes closed of the Hafentunnel – big wait, little fun

This traffic jam put us a good bit behind our schedule. There was nothing to be done about it though, we just suffered through it. As everyone with kids knows…it’s not fun. Once we got through, everything went smoothly again. We stopped right in front of the organic supermarket at the commercial complex. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any charging stations even though we were sure there had to be some. In the end, it just lost us time. If we had found a charging station, we could have skipped the charging/lunch break and just had lunch here. Time-wise it would have been a good fit with all that time spent in the traffic jam but alas, it was not to be. We bought what we needed and were out of Hamburg again.

In a small stroke of good fortune, the kids fell asleep after the shopping adventure. Even without lunch. We made good progress until we stopped for lunch almost 1pm next to a fast charger.

Number 3 was sorely tempted by the nearby Burger King but we managed to get him to stay focused on the bread and dessert. We got lucky as there was a wooden table and bench right next to the chargers this time. It was an extended break even if we didn’t manage to sit still for long due to intermittened rain. Lunch was had on the bench before we retreated into the car for desserts.

First border crossing. Stupid for show covid border checks …

And off we went. Again. There is a reason why we usually don’t do long days on the road. They are exhausting for everyone and exceptionally boring for kids. Number 3 and the Agent were total champs though so we got through the next big chunk and into Denmark. First entry to different country of the trip. Woohooo.

At 3.30pm we had our last 15 minutes-stretch-your-legs-and-grab-a-drink-kind of a break. It was not a nice location however, right next to a fuel station. We all just wanted to get to the campground at that point. So, on we went again.

Finally, finally, we were there. Once we had set up the tent, it started raining. Raincoats and gum boots came out for the kids so Flo and I could finish setting up. The Agent of Entropy was not amused. For nearly 30 minutes she just stood where I had put her down, not moving an inch. When Flo asked her what was wrong, she pointed at her gum boots. Yeah right, it was the first time she wore proper shoes and gum boots are really heavy, especially for small kids. For the next day, she would refuse to move more than a couple of steps in these boots.

As a treat, while Flo was cooking, and because the rain had stopped, the kids and I went down to the beach. What a cool thing to do with kids! Number 3 just found thousands of ways to entertain himself, half of which ended with him having wet knees and a wet bum while the Agent of Entropy stared at the ocean, pointed at it and then went straight into it. I caught her before she was in deeper than her ankles but she was intrigued.

The day had been exhausting so we all went to bed early into a snugly tent with rain drumming on our tent roof.

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.

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 15 – The two Towers

Not many would put up with a campground like this – at least Germans, that is. And maybe I might have been upset, too, would we have been asked for some extortionist rate. But at 16.20€ this was the cheapest camp so far, by 10 euros. All we wanted was 50 m² to park and some electricity plus a hole in the ground. One could argue, we got even a bit more than that. No stink, no terrible noise. Ok, the mozzies, but that is not really the campground’s fault. I had recharged 70km of range – by that point we basically slept for free :D. Plus, we were very motivated to leave, so we were on the road by a record breaking 8:55 am!

First time I managed to get an Italian charger working with an app (no roaming 🙁 )

On our way to Bologna we hit our first traffic jam, but nothing to get upset about. A bit more annoying was the amount of research I had to do to find a way to get to a charge point close to the center without going into the Z.T.L. and risking a 87€ fine again. I had two good charge points marked, but by the time we arrived at the first one, both were marked as blocked. At least the provider’s app let me know before having to drive around in circles. We settled on a pair of chargers 5 minutes further out and for once, the app worked fine, at least. It even has PayPal support. Go ENEL X. I still can’t wait until the EU gets their act together and will legislate mandatory EU roaming for all charge point operators.

Bologna enchanted us right from the first couple of streets in. Very different in feel from Parma, the most noticeable change is the enormously wide arcades along many of the otherwise narrow streets of the old city center. It had a bit of an oriental or moorish vibe to it and reminded us of southern Iberia. The mood was different, too. Much younger, edgier. No doubt this was the result of the significant student population in the city of the western world’s oldest University (feel free insert your own “but actually … “ about this pop quiz level info bite at the next public toilet of your convenience. I am not Tom Scott :D).

Since we were so early, we had time for some sightseeing before lunch. Northern Italy, especially Renaissance era stuff throws out our sense for historical time and place a bit. Everything is bigger than it “should be” or looks too modern for its context. Us northern Europeans really were the primitive barbarians at the gates for so long. The Palazzo d’Accursio for example has an internal stairwell built flat and wide enough that horse drawn carriages could go directly up to the 1^st floor to deliver the papal legate to their chamber added in 1587.

After a brief round through the next Duomo (photo ticket 2€ 😊 ), we strolled through even narrower lanes towards our lunch spot, window shopping at the many hole-in-the-wall shops offering fresh produce, handmade pasta or other delicacies. Bolonga is such a food town, we could probably spend a week here without ever boring our taste buds.

The lunch place was called Bottega Portici, located right beneath the landmark of the two leaning towers. The Bottega was a stark contrast to yesterday, and probably quite edgy for Italy. The idea is to provide top quality food but in a hyper affordable way. The result was absolutely perfect – at least for us. Via fast food-style self-service ordering at large touch screens, you get your pick between a few pasta options, sides and desserts. Then, you get your ticket and collect everything when ready. That way they can provide handmade tagliatelle with Ragu alla Bolognese for 7€.

the kids are waking up too early – could you tell?

Water is free, filtered tap by a large margin our favorite idea. There is no reason to cart water around anywhere in Europe in our book. The food was ready super quickly and the whole place had a real cool vibe – and clean restrooms :D. We decided it was time to call it. The days are getting warmer and we were looking forward to a quiet day at the only other camp along our route listed on Rustiek Kamperen (a Dutch site we used extensively on our last trip).

Of course, we could not leave before one brief detour via another Gelateria. From the Lonely Planet again, this one was another excellent recommendation, although I went for decidedly too much chocolate in my pick of flavours. The stroll back to the car, maybe with the exception of the last two blocks, was a similarly enjoyable experience. The shade and cool mood provided by the arcades was just our thing.

Fully charged once more, the last hour to Agriturismo Alba went by quickly. Once again, the wee ones fell asleep peacefully rather quickly. The camp itself looked like exactly the thing we were looking for in a site for a day off: A grassy patch with lots of trees around for shade and a lovely view across some wheat (well, some sort of grain) fields.

You get what you pay for, I guess. But these toll roads make for quick travel from town to town

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.

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.]

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 😀

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!

Goodbye – Christine first, as she had an appointment. Her wee one got confused 😀

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.

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.