Eurotrip 2008, a "road trip for a few weeks to do some work and see some people along the way" has turned into a 10 week odyssey through 11 countries with another 4 to go just to get home. After I bid farewell to this place Ive only got a few weeks and Ill be back in sunny Tallinn, Estonia. Just a few weeks. ha. Ive come a long way both on the Autobahns and personally in those 2 and a half months, it really seems a lifetime ago I bid my Slovenian friends farewell on the ferry to Helsinki and now I am here again, seeing them in their home town. Just to quickly recap, some of the things which have happened on this trip
- Hung with Nils and checked out Copenhagen
- Saw Hester, Muriel and Bart in Nederlands and had my bike stolen in Utrecht. Not letting myself be beaten, I used the Dutch classified and ended up with not 1 but 2 new bikes. Still, the story makes no sense.
- One of these bikes is an old French racing bike so I started to fix it up and decided that nothing would be grander than riding it in France, so I called up my aussie friend Lucy and we went on a trip
- Visited Geert and enjoyed seeing his town in Belgium
- Randomly ran into Krishna in Belgium, awesome night. Discovered how great 9% beer is but how it can really sneak up on you.
- Went to the D Day beaches on Normandie, a really moving event. Made me think "if these guys died to protect your freedom, then you better be out there making something of it"
- Rode that French bike for 100km around the Champagne region, most memorable day
- Left my car in some farmers field in France for a week. Apparently I got the attention of local law enforcement authorities.
- Took the Volvo for 5 hard laps around the Nürburgring and squeezed out an 11:01
- Hung out with Adam in Hamburg and we had some great man-dates
- Flew back to Tallinn for Meelikas birthday, damm I miss that girl. Also greeted Matic and Andres on their trip to Eestimaa
- Checked out a new German town, Jena with my friend Susi
- Spend more fabulous time in Switzerland with my old friend Judith. We went to the top of big assed mountains and I ate choclate and cheese like theres no tomorrow. Still didnt managed to find that nazi gold. I did wonder where all the nice gold rimmed plates came from though…
- Had the car in two seperate mechanics, Hamburg and Sankt Gallen, but still she is now going strong
- Flew to England to work for a week and have a few English pints.
- Went 2760 metres up to maybe the greatest driving road in the world, the Stelvio Pass in Italy.
- Learnt that Austria really lost something at the end of WWI and the town of Merano, being half Austrian and half Italian is awesome fun with Evelin
- Now I am in Slovenia seeing all the good people here. Ljulbana is a great town, a fantastic place to go to university and I rarely have a free minute when Im here
Its been an fantastic trip and as usual, totally planned on the go around seeing the good people I know and my work. I feel so fortunate to live the life I have so far. Those days in Champagne were some of the most blissful I can remember, maybe it was something to do with not drinking coffee and becoming like the hummingbird but for those days amongst the vineyards, it was the good stuff. I can say with certainty at this stage of my life I am very happy with the path my life has gone and the journey I have had. Ive seen some of the most amazing places in the world and I have rock and roll friends who are all so generous and kind to this travelling Australia with the often inappropiate jokes.
I am happy Ive made the last big stop over Ljubljana in Slovenia, its great to see this place again and how its progressed in the two years since I first visited, its a credit to everyone here. I also managed to get out of the city for the first time and went to Lake Bled, you know the one with the castle on an island in the middle
I am also doubley happy because today is Mojcas birthday and tonight is a massive party where Ill get to see everyone again.
Its good to be back to the roots again with my Yugoslavian brothers and sisters. Its happy days for sure, I really dig the life I lead. Its all going to be changing a bit soon but more on that later, that stuff is going to be kick ass too but right now, its good just to be in the moment, me, eurotank, old frenchie and the good people around me.
Rock On.