One day earlier as planned we arrived to Hopeland. Already hundred meters from the gate dogs started to greet us. From small to big, gold to red, dotted or striped, it was like a circus. In total 115 dogs call this villa their home, and we got to know them all. Some dogs stay there for two weeks, some two years and some their whole life. The beginning was not easy for us – our room had mold, the whole house smelled like a wet dog, there was dog poop laying on the floor and at the first sight everything seemed so unhygienic. The first three days were the toughest, we were sure that we will stay maximum one month and that’s it. There were so many rules to follow and different pack of dogs who should not be let together! The dogs who live in the house are divided into six rooms, then there are 12 kennels outside, an extra house with two more rooms and some dogs live outside in the garden the whole time. Twice a day we had to clean all the rooms, kennels and the garden and feed all the dogs. Feeding was as challenging as the cleaning. Many dogs get different type of food and different portion. Since most of the dogs who arrive to Hopeland are very sick, they also get various medication. This means you have to know the names of all the dogs. In total it took us three weeks to learn all the names and thereby master the feeding process. After few days we didn’t notice the dog smell anymore, I removed the mold from our room and we felt comfortable.

In addition to feeding and cleaning I helped to fix everything that needed fixing. We worked five days a week from 8:00 in the morning until 22:00 in the evening. The best reward was to see how almost all the dogs started to trust us and approached us to have cuddles. Let me now describe you a typical working day at Hopeland.

Since we had to be ready at 8:00 we usually went to the kitchen at 7:30 to enjoy our coffee before everyone would wake up. In the big living room there are more than 20 dogs who sleep there during the night. They all greeted us and were so happy to see us like they haven’t seen us for ages. I will not describe you how the room looked like after when 20+ dogs spent there 10 hours without getting out. At 8:00 we let the first dogs and kennels out and started to gather the dog poop/vomit, etc. so that they have more or less decent environment for feeding at 9:00. At 8:30 we bring the dogs who went out at 8:00 back in and let other dogs out so that everyone can go out before the feeding. The kennel change and room change were two different schedules that we had to pay in mind the whole day, from 8:00 to 21:30. These schedules and rules are all there to protect the dogs, if the wrong dogs get together it is the question of life and death. During our time there we had to separate many dog fights, clean their wounds and even burry dogs that left us due to the sickness or a human mistake.

Short before the feeding we had to separate the dogs even more, when it came to food, even the dogs who were otherwise best friends became enemies. We used the kitchen, bathrooms and corridors to separate the dogs. Here I have to mention that the dogs are incredibly smart and they have the daily schedule already written in them. Mostly we just had to open the bathroom door and even without saying the name the right dog went inside. This was also with room changing during the day, short before the change, dogs start to gather themselves in front of the door to go inside or outside. At 9:00 sharp, the feeding began. Every room was fed one after another and the sequence was very important.

First after the feeding we had a breakfast and a second coffee. Of course we were not the only volunteers there. During our stay we met many cool people who love the dogs as much as we. There were times when it was 9 of us and times when it was just 4 of us. After the breakfast we divided the tasks for the morning cleaning. Every room in the house where dogs lived, also the balcony and the extra house had to be swept, washed with bleach, then let to be dried and then washed again with a good smelling liquid. The kennels and garden had to be cleaned from poop and fresh water had to be filled in all the bowls and buckets. All the 115 dog food bowls had to be washed (without dishwasher), all the blankets and sheets on the sofas and towels on the floor had to be washed. The giant washing machine ran the whole day, every day. After the first cleaning session of the day, we had a time for ourselves, mostly we stayed outside with the dogs or took some of them for a walk with a leash. During this time of the day, we also had to bring the trash away which was approximately 30 kg per day. The nicest time of the day was afternoon when the young dogs and puppies were allowed to go out play. They dug holes, chewed tree branches and plastic toys, ran like crazy and rehearsed “serious” fighting with each other. At 17:00 o’clock the second feeding began, followed again with cleaning. Every evening some of us cooked the dinner and we always ate together and had long talks and a lot of laughter. The fridge was always full. Every week we made a list with all the volunteers what we would like to have and the owner of Hopeland, Natasha, went and bought it for us. She took very good care of us😊 Also the cooking was always like a masterpiece, we never ate just plain pasta for dinner. Ted, one of the volunteers, was an amazing chef, he always did various dishes for vegetarians and non-vegetarians.

At 21:30 we brought in the last dogs and thereby was our day finished. Afterwards we still sat at the table for a while and talked, had a wine or beer, always laughed a lot and shared with each other what had happened during the day, because with 115 dogs – everyday is different. But around 23:00 o’clock we all went to bed as we were all tired of the long day and the next day we had to be ready again at 8:00.

Since there are thousands of street dogs in Greece and most of them are in a good shape the dogs who end up in Hopeland are those in very bad shape and those who would die if left on the street or are abandoned puppies. This of course makes it very expensive for Hopeland, the vet bills are enormous every month and in addition to helping them back to life, they also need to be sterilized. Not to mention the food for all the dogs and volunteers, plus the water, electricity and heating on the winter. This is all done with the help of donations since the Greece government does not support any dog shelters.

For our joy we also said goodbye to many dogs who got adopted. Through a bigger network most of the dogs are going to Netherlands, Finland and Germany for adoption. Puppies are usually the ones who will not stay long in Hopeland.

In total we stayed there from until , twice as long as planned. During our stay we fell in love with all the dogs and only thinking of leaving brought tears in our eyes (you can imagine how hard the day was when we left). We learned so much about dogs, their behavior and hierarchy – about alpha dog and his role in the pack, about the symptoms of different illnesses, about the body language of dogs and how they communicate, how to approach dogs, how to calm them down, how to separate dog fights, etc.

If you are interested about Hopeland and would like to adopt and dog or support them with money or dog food, you can find more information from their LinkedIn (hopelandshelter) and Facebook (Hopleand Dog shelter) page. If you or you know someone who would like to go there and volunteer, contact Natasha or us with a comment down below. Please check out their social media for support.

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Greece welcomed us with a warm and sunny weather. Our first stop was a small hidden beach recommended by Olaf and Daniel. It was amazing – just us two, clear blue water and sun, you can see yourself from the photos. Although it was already December, for us northern countries people, it was warm enough for bikinis and swim.

In Patras we met with Olaf, Daniel, Ethe and Bella. All together we drove out of the city to a coast, did a bonfire and celebrated 1^st of Advent.

Afterwards we spent 5 days in Athens, did a free walking tour, visited Acropolis, met with Sofie (an Austrian girl who I met in Durres while Ragle was on a girls trip in Vienna) and Theano (she did part of her PhD at the same research center in Germany as Ragle).

On our way from Athens to Thessaloniki we spent some hours enjoying the hot springs, super smelly but wonderful experience 😊

Very close to Thessaloniki is a dog shelter called Hopeland. This was our third workaway on this trip, you will find out about it in our next blogpost.

Between the long days working in a dog shelter, we still managed to visit Thessaloniki few times and meet with Sarah, Markus, Elsa and Daniel.

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After Dubrovnik we headed towards south and crossed Montenegro’s border. Although it was the last day of October, the weather was warm and sunny, and we spent all our days in Montenegro at the beach. Since it is the first country on our trip that is not in the EU we had to buy a pre-paid sim card, of course its no problem and they have an extra offer for tourists. Usually, if it’s something only for tourist you can count that it’s super expensive. I don’t know how much locals pay for their mobile internet but for the tourist package we paid 5 EUR for 500 GB 😀

Another fun fact about Montenegro, which makes traveling there easier, is that although Montenegro is not in the EU, their currency is euro.

The time we crossed the Albanian border, the weather had turned, and it was raining non-stop. We went to the closest big city called Shkodër and at the very center of it we ended up at a suspicious region with many tents, garbage was burning on the streets and goats along with dogs and cats were eating from the trash bins. Suddenly the road was blocked by trucks and when we stopped to turn around, a bunch of begging small kids with dirty faces surrounded our bus. We were shocked and didn’t do our planned grocery stop. We just started driving towards Tirana. We soon started looking for a place to stop and rest a bit but along the whole way there was no forest, no place without buildings. At some point it was getting too late and we had to start looking for a place to park for the night. The moment we left the main road the streets turned out to be horrible, muddy and full of holes. When we finally found a promising place, we got stuck on claysoil. It took us 2 hours to dig out the bus. We freed ourselves by collecting gravel from the road and brunches from dead trees around to place it in front of the tires. When we finally got out it was already dark (we got stuck at 3 PM). What a day.. Another downside of Albania is trash. You will find it everywhere. There wasn’t a single clean spot ( at least „clean“ in our common sense). The first impression of Albania – not cool!

But it all changed and at the end we spent almost a month in Albania. We started in Tirana where we rented a flat (super big and nice with a very low price). We really liked Tirana, there is a lot going on, many bars, restaurants, shopping centers, people drive like crazy without lanes, even the police is using smartphone when driving and doesn’t use indicator to change the lanes. Food and drinks are good and cheap, service is nice.

After Tirana we drove to the coast. Since Albania is the first country on our trip where camping and free standing is allowed, we could finally use the luxury of parking just at the beach and not being afraid that police will come and send us away or even issue a fine. We could finally live the social media image of traveling with a van – waking up in the morning, looking out of the window and see the sun rise above the ocean. Another advantage is that since we (and others traveling with van) don’t have to hide for the night, we could meet other travelers, and we did, a lot. From Albania we got so many friends with who we are still in contact. We have met them many times – in Greece, Bulgaria and now going to meet some of them in Turkey as well. Often we did a bonfire at the beach and sat around it with ten other travelers. It was November but the weather and water were still warm and perfect for a swim almost every day. The locals we met were all very friendly, the owner of one beach restaurant, called Buona Vila, let travelers not only stay at his property but use the shower and toilet as well… free of charge. He also spoke German, so if you are at the coast of Albania, this place is worth a visit. He and his family keep the beach where the restaurant is clean, so everyone can enjoy the beach without trash ( as long as they don’t look right or left 😉 ). An old guy who we met at Dhermiut beach even helped us to gather firewood for a bonfire. In Tirana I met a local guy Andi (Ragle was in Vienna then), we changed contacts and saw each other again in Sarande. We rented a flat there for many days, met Andi and other travelers from Dhermiut beach and Buona Vila again and went to a karaoke night at the American Blue bar. This place definitely gets our recommendation. It is run by an community ( more like a family) of many foreigners from all over the world who work and live in Sarande.

After leaving Sarande we met with Markus and Sarah again at a nice beach with a clear blue water. On the evening we did a bon fire and ate stick bread (Stockbrot). Later this night Ragle and I got really sick, probably by drinking water from a dirty container. The whole night we were vomiting and shivering. The next day Markus (who luckily is a pharmacist and had a whole drug store in his car) gave us many pills against nausea, seizures, dehydration, pain, etc.. Thank you again! One painful day later we were more or less okay and drove on towards Greece.

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After our stay in the goat farm, we headed to Croatia. We drove through Rijeka to Pula and discovered a peninsula Istrien for a couple of days. We also got to know Bura (in English Bora) – which is a strong wind on the Croatian coastline and woke us up many time in the middle of the night. Bura gets very strong on the winter months and can turn to hurricane. One of the natures of Bura is that it starts suddenly on a calm day, which makes it very dangerous.

Our next stop was Zagreb. I wanted to celebrate there my 30^th birthday and also it was time to do the laundry. On my birthday Ragle woke me up with a cake and decorated room 😊 I want to thank everybody who thought on me that day and made a video-call. Even the owner of the flat brought me a sparkling wine and ate the cake with us. The rest of the day we went to discover Zagreb. After a long walk we went to a restaurant for a b-day lunch/dinner and later on the evening to the cinema. It was a lovely day with just the two of us. After the weekend we headed to Daruvar which is on the east of Croatia. There was our next project: a sanctuary for various animals who were meant to be executed because of the sickness or animals who no one wanted.

When we arrived to Zeljka we were astonished, never before have we seen so many different animals living together like a big family. Not only were they friendly with each other but also to people. Few years ago Zeljka moved from Zagreb to the outskirts of Daruvar in order to establish, with a money she had saved, a sanctuary for the animals who are no longer wanted. Unfortunately, due to the bad electric, she lost her house and many of the animals. As she didn’t have any insurance, she had to use all her savings to build a new house. Luckily she had a friendly neighbor who helped her a lot with building the house, collecting donations and being her friends because as a newcomer she didn’t know anyone in Daruvar and nearby. Thanks to workaway and donations she still manages to help all the animals living on her property. Due to the sad history of this place we were extra motivated to help Zeljka and all her four legs and feathered friends. Since Zeljka has a peculiar routine which means she goes to bed around 8 AM and woke up around 4 PM, we only saw her for couple of hours a day. The only thing she ask from us was to clean the yard and barns, feed the animals on the afternoon and most important – cuddle the animals. Her property was home for 6 dogs, 4 cats, 5 pigs, 5 ducks, a rooster, a turkey, a donkey, a cow, 6 sheep and 2 rabbits. All the animals had names and a story and all except sheep and rabbits were very fond of people and wanted to be cuddled, even Phoenix the rooster and Niki the turkey. It was an amazing week with all these wonderful animals, but see yourself from the photos and videos 😊

After a week at Zeljkas place and often a cold weather we wanted to go as fast as possible to Split and Dubrovnik. The shortest and fastest way was to drive through Bosnia and Herzegovina. Already in Dubrovnik we heard a lot about the civil war destroyed the previous Yugoslavia. There are still many areas where hiking is prohibited due to the high number of unexploded landmines.  

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Before and after picking grapes in the east of Slovenia we were driving around and discovering beautiful sites of this country. We started with a small town called Bled. This magical place consists of a lake with clear blue water, a little island with a church in the middle of the lake and a castle uphill nearby. We spent some hours walking around the lake and up to the castle for a nice view. Bled is always worth a visit. There are many natural caves and little canyons around but most of them require an entry fee. As you will see later on the photos below, there are some local food specialties worth a bite as well. After Bled we continued to Ljubljana to meet up with Katja. Ragle got to know her at one of her many conferences she went to. Katja is working and living in Ljubljana and gave us a lovely tour through the little old town, all the bridges that are crossing the river Ljubljanica and the castle in the middle of the city. In the evening she took us to have dinner with her friends. We had a fun evening and got many useful tips about Slovenia and what to visit. Since it was so cool to spend time with them, we already made a plan to meet them again the week after for a cinema. The next day we headed towards the little piece of coastline that Slovenia ownes to visit Koper and Piran. After some nights on the coastline we drove back to Ljubljana, rented a little apartment and had a fun evening going to the movies. We are very thankful to Katja and all her friends for the great hospitality. We left the next day and drove towards our next stop: Branik. We have to up until now is our hidden gem. The people are so nice, the older generation speaks some German, the younger ones perfect English, everything is affordable and the food is delicious. Many beautiful places are still untouched and haven’t been overrun by tourism (yet). Of course we are traveling off season so that maybe one reason for our awesome experience.

Finally it was time to visit our first host. For a long time we have been searching for one via . The basic principle is the trade of workforce for accommodation, meals and sometimes money as well. But it is so much more than that! You will have a home for whatever time you discussed, you can slow down a bit, don’t have to look for a new place to stay every day, the car can rest and you will have company (by humans or animals). Language and cultural exchange, funny conversations, life stories and experiences. There is so much to learn for both sides. In the end both the host and the volunteers are going to have a great time together. Always a win-win situation. Most of the hosts have traveled a lot themselves. At some point however, most of us have a lot of responsibility, either for children, other people or animals. All that makes traveling complicated. One way to still somehow „travel“ is to host other travelers in your home and that is what motivates many people to become a host (plus of course you get a lot of help around the house/farm). We found a nice little farm with goats, sheep and a little dairy. In the little village of Pedrovo, which is located uphill from Branik towards the Karst plateau, we stayed for a week with Tom & Borut. Both moved into a 150 years old limestone house in the abandoned village and renovated it. They have special endangered species of goats and sheep and they give them the best care to save the breeds. From their terrace you could see the coastline as well as the Alps – it was amazing! Every morning at 7 am we started the day with a coffee and shortly after we were heading to the pastures at the top of the plateau. As you will see in the embedded video below we started with leading the goats and sheep from their pasture to the mobile milking station. This can be tricky though, the longer you keep them at the same pasture the longer it takes to get them to the milking station and back. Goats are very picky about food. Usually they will start with eating the fresh green leaves from the little trees and bushes, when there are no more they continue with bigger, not so young leaves and when these are not reachable anymore the goats will start jumping over the fences to reach other bushes nearby. Thay even do that when the fence in under electricity – risk it for the biscuit moto. Sheep however are fine with grass all the time. The longer you keep all of  them in the same pasture the more attractive all the fresh leaves become on the way to the milking and you might end up pushing every single one of them into the right direction. Goats in their general behavior are very much like dogs. Many of them like to cuddle a lot and follow you around all the time. Some even will answer if you call their name, especially Anett. She had a strong bound to humans and was just adorable. Sheep didn’t follow that behavior. They usually group together in a circle and stick their heads together. Nevertheless, everyone of them would fall for one thing: corn. Everytime they see a white bucket they go crazy and follow you everywhere. Every time I struggled to stand on my ground while pouring out the corn. Without the corn getting them to the milking station and back to the pasture is impossible. After every single one was back in the pasture we went back with all the milk to put it into the cooler and had breakfast. After our second coffee of the day Ragle usually was working for her other job and I took care of the chickens, cats, the orchard and a sheep who was hurt and therefore held in the barn. We also help a bit with cheese making but since it was the end of milking season there was not so much to do. We turned and washed the existing cheeses in the cheese cellar. Other days we changed pastures, renewed empty batteries and brought water for the animals to drink. On the separate pasture they also had baby goat and sheep. At least once a day we stopped by to check them, filled up the water and gave them some corn for a treat. After lunch we were usually finished with work and enjoyed our free time. Borut was a park ranger in a nearby National Park and Tom was with us all the time to keep the farm and the dairy running. Both were awesome cooks and had a exclusive taste for cheese, wine and coffee. In fact, we discovered our new favorite coffee brand there. We tasted some local recipes and are thankful for every meal we had together. It was one of the most interesting week we had sofar during our travel and at some point we are going to visit them again. See you soon 🙂

Since many of you have been asking from us what do we eat every day in bus, we decided to make this post about the meals we cook. Before the trip we used mostly oven to prepare our dinners, this is something we had to forget during this trip.

We mostly cook vegetarian dishes because cooking meat it smelly (sometimes when it rains or the wind is strong we have to cook inside the bus) and often produces a lot of fat and we don’t have the luxury of warm water to clean the dishes. Another reason is that a good meat is expensive and we have limited budget for the trip.

Although we can only boil and fry our food and rarely use meat, our cooking is very diverse. Believe it or not but for one month we had a different meal every evening.

We try to buy as many ingredients as possible from local farmers whether by visiting a market or buying the stuff from old ladies next to the road.

In Lithuania and Poland we often picked chanterelles and made a tasty mushroom sauce out of them.

One of our latest favorites is a stuffed pie that one can bake on the pan. We prepare the dough ourselves, it is very simple, just flour, salt, milk and olive oil mixed together. For the filling we try to be creative each time but a lot of cheese is always the key component.

On our way to Linz, as usual on the late afternoon, we started searching for a place to stay for the night. Since we don’t want to disturb anyone, we usually go to the forest but not so deep that we would bother the animals, woodland edge is a perfect place to have. Of course it would be ideal to be somewhere with a beautiful view but since wild camping is not allowed we always have to hide ourselves. On this particular afternoon after an hour of unsuccessful search on the serpentine roads we ended up at the Promberger farm. There we found a self-service farm shop with fresh eggs from the chickens who had a happy life on the big field next to the shop. This cheered us up a bit as we try to avoid eggs from the shop and instead to buy them directly from farmers. Walking around the surrounding we noticed a straight level and dry grassland with an amazing panorama of the Alps. Next to this was a small horse staple where a woman was cleaning a horse. She was very friendly and revealed us the name of the owner of this field. Without any hesitation the owner gave us her permission and therewith saved us from maybe another extra hour of searching the place. Overwhelmingly happy we parked the bus and started cooking. At the same time we enjoyed the spectacular view of thunderstorm moving from the Alps towards us. As we were eating the dinner and enjoyed the stormy panorama, the woman from the horse staple came to us and brought a bottle of white wine, cookies and a sunflower from her garden. For a short time we were speechless, we did not expect such hostility, usually it is the opposite – 2 out of 100 travelers with a van leave their rubbish in the nature and therewith are the other 98 automatically labelled the same. For Corinna we were not the bad guys, she told us that many years ago she was also travelling with a van and now she is rescuing the animals, mostly horses and chickens, who otherwise will be executed. Unfortunately, this responsibility means that travelling is no longer an option so she enjoys talking with travelers and hearing their stories. On the next morning Corinna brought us fresh bakeries and self-made marmalade, we drank coffee together and had another good talk. Since we are not in a hurry and we love animals we decided to stay for a half a day and help her out in the horse staple. Her small farm is home for many horses, chickens, two cats and a dog called Higgins. I started my day by cleaning Apollo who is already 40 years old horse. He is the oldest of all her horses and still crazy about the apples. Afterwards I was cleaning the staple from the old straw and after the coffee break at noon I was looking how the farrier trims the horses’ hooves and changes their shoes. Ragle was busy with her own work and time-to-time came and spent time with Higgins😊 We had an interesting day at Corinnas farm and afternoon we continued driving towards Linz to meet Evelin, Jürgen and Hans.

A similar situation happened also in Slovenia. Again, after searching (what felt like forever) to find a place for the night we noticed a mowed meadow with a wonderful view. I went to check the place and noticed people walking there. Hoping that maybe one of them know the owner of this field I went to talk with them. It turned out that one of them was actually the owner, she was so friendly and gave immediately her permission. She also showed us where she lives, in case we need something. We were amazed how friendly and open people are and had a good sleep under the clear sky. On the next morning the owner came with her husband and daughter to see how we are doing and whether we need fresh water or something. When preparing to drive off we suddenly heard someone screaming, and not only one time but continuously. We drove towards the scream and noticed three bicyclers, we stopped and asked them is everything okay, do they need some help, etc. They explained us that there are a lot of bears in this region of Slovenia and the woman was screaming to scare the bears.  For the first moment we were a bit shocked because many nights we have been sleeping in the woods but of course the bears are more afraid of us, so we don’t worry about it.

We talked with them for a while about our trip, where we are coming, and where we are heading. They suggested us to got to a wine region in the east of Slovenia and we can park our bus on the property of their friend who has a big vineyard there. One of them immediately made a call and even asked for a bottle of wine to be ready for us when we arrive. Everything settled he gave us his contact card and the address of his friend, Milan Hlebec, vineyard in Kog. Since we didn’t have any plan for that day, we were more than happy we had one now😊 When we arrived to this address we found a small hotel in between the vineyards. We met Milan Hlebec senior, and he showed us where we can park our bus and offered us the electricity and fresh water. While sitting outside and tasting the wine with the owners of three different vineyards of this region we decided to help them tomorrow by picking the grapes (it was the grape picking season). Next day we stood up 6:30 in the morning and with many other workers we started to pick the grapes. They were mostly elderly people but since many of them spoke also a bit German we had a lot of fun getting to know each other. Afterwards, as a thank you, we had a delicious warm meal and a lot of home cooked cakes and last but not last also a box of different wines from the vineyard we were helping.

Being friendly and talking to people opened many doors for us until now, lets see what is still to come 😊

On Sunday evening we arrived in Austria. The first thing we filled our road shower with the clear water from a mountain river nearby the road. Unfortunately, it was rather difficult to find a hidden spot for the night and therefore we had to go to a camping place. Since it was still on season the prices are very high and you end up paying more for camping place than for a hotel room. The camping place was located at the mountain lake and the view was amazing. We made a dinner and went to bed early in order to get a good sleep before our next hike tour.

On the next morning I stood up a bit earlier and started to bake pancakes for Ragles birthday 😊 I bought all the necessary ingredients so that she had no idea. The sun was already shining and it was going to be the day with the best weather of the week. We had a delicious breakfast with the beautiful view, the best way to start the day.

For this hike we choose the Vilsalpsee Loop, it is 17 km long and with elevation gain of 1000 m. Backbags stuffed with snacks and drinks we started early in the morning in order to be back before it gets dark. We scaled up quite a lot at the beginning of the tour and therefore during the whole hike there were amazing views everywhere we looked.

At some point we passed a couple on our way, then they passed us and when we passed them the second time we started chatting. I must mention here that we always have quite a fast pace and pass all the people on our way. This couple was in their 60s and the walked with the same pace as we. It turned out that the guy was the first men to go on top of the Zugspitze (2962 m) in Germany with the bicycle and he was also many times on top of Kilimanjaro, well this explained it all. We went with them on top of the highest point of the tour (2069 m). It is hard to describe the view and unfortunately also the photos can’t forward the amazing scene – one can see three mountain lakes each on different altitude. We said goodbye to our travel companions as they headed to the Landsberger Hütte for lunch. Ragle and I sat down to enjoy the view and our well-deserved snacks and drinks. Everything was just perfect – the weather, the view, company, food&drinks!

Although we were on the highest point of the tour, it was just a beginning and we still had most of the hike before us. After walking for an hour we coincidentally met the same couple again and they invited us for a cake and coffee to celebrate Ragles birthday. We ended up finishing the whole tour with them, we talked about everything and the time just flew.

This time we didn’t rent a room but since the weather was nice the whole day the water in our road shower was warm and we had a good shower out in the nature 😊

The evening was as usual – with good home cooked meal and some episodes of “Friends”.

After a typical Estonian breakfast (only difference to German breakfast: black bread instead of white) and some coffee we started driving towards Latvia. For our trip Ann gave us a whole bag of their homegrown and -made stuff which included tomatoes, bell peppers, wine and pickles.

Since Tartu was on the way we stoped there to visit Ragles cousin Merit and her cat Milli. Afterwards we spontaneously met our friend Siim (Estonia is very small), who lives it Tartu and offered us to go to his place for a sauna and to stay the night. Thanks again Siim for letting us stay with you 😊

On Monday, 30^th of August we finally crossed the border to Latvia and there was no turning back anymore 😀 After a few nights in the beautiful forests of Latvia and Lithuania we soon noticed how fast our water stock was consumed. Although we changed our habits, we still consumed a lot of water. We got our road shower (22liters), a small water tank in the kitchen (12 liters) and a 20 liters reserve tank. The difference is that now you actually see the amount a water you use just for washing few dishes.

Our evenings now are usually out in the forest with a self-prepared warm dinner, a small bonfire and a glass of wine. We were lucky to have a good weather and a sky full of stars in the night, when it was cloudy, we had our own little sky in the van. We don’t miss TV, laptop or smartphone on those evenings…

…watching a fire and feeling the heat trumps every electronic device with a screen. 

We don’t really have any plans or timetable (except Ragles meetings and interviews for her work for which we need to find a spot with good mobile data connection and make a stop), we decide everything spontaneously or few days ahead. After many days of driving and walking just a little we decided to go hiking. We chose the mountain Sněžkou which is the highest one in the north of the Czech Republic. We rented a little apartment for two nights in a small town called Petzer to have a proper shower after the hike and also to do the laundry. After a good sleep and breakfast, we started our tour. Having scaled 800 meters in one and a half hours we enjoyed the beautiful view, ate pies from a bakery, drank a “Gipfelbier” and rest before we went down again. It was a great change compared to sit and drive most of the day. The evening we spent in our room, working a bit and making ourselves a delicious zucchini risotto.

From Petzer we started driving towards Prague but since the weather was very hot, we stopped by a small lake for a swim and ended up spending the whole day at the beach. Close to the lake we found many delicious fruit trees😊

The next stop was Prague, the capital of Czech Republic. We parked the car on the side of the city, rented scooters to reach the city center and walked in the old town until the evening. After the walk we had a traditional Czech cuisine in one of the small local restaurants which is far from touristy – only local old men and the interior is more like canteen but with delicious food and drinks with very low price.

From Prague we headed towards Germany to reach the IAA exhibition in Munich. We stayed at the boarder zone to Germany and made a small bonfire. Since we still had one day until the exhibition, we went to visit Regensburg. We walked many hours in old town and I used the opportunity to visit a hairdresser. We went to a beer garden and drank „Märzenbier“, a famous local beer from tap. The next day in the morning we reached Munich

IAA

IAA is the biggest car show in Germany where companies and start-ups from all around the world demonstrate the latest developments and innovative ideas in the field of mobility. Lately the main focus has been on electrification and other alternative sources for transport. We went there as a part of a start-up called PowerUp Energy Technologies where Ragle currently works. We spent there three days, from Friday to Sunday, and demonstrated portable electric generator, UP 400, which is based on fuel cell, to visitors and other exhibitors. It was a great experience, we met so many people with innovative ideas and each with their own opinion which they were not afraid to share. On Sunday evening we started driving towards the Austria for our second hike of this trip.

After a rainy month in Estonia we finally finished all the important things in the Bulli to get started. It was difficult to work on the van since it was raining all the time. There is no bad weather, only bad clothes … yeah but that does not keep your motivation up all the time ;D.

The most difficult part of starting an adventure is to say goodbye to many beloved family members and good friends. Especially since there is „Wolf“ – three months old, super cute and growing faster then bambus Husky puppy. When we return after one year he will be all grown up – will he remember us?

We want to thank all our family, friends and colleagues again for all the help, support, presents, good words and motivation! We are excited about the trip but also excited to be back and see you all again <3

Our first destination from Haapsalu was a beautiful old farmhouse where our friends Ann and Daniel are living. We had a BBQ, sauna, boardgames and a lot of laughter.

Another highlight there was a massive swing! Extreme swinging like that was actually invented in Estonia and is called „Kiiking“. –> <–

Next day after the breakfast and taking our time, we started driving towards Latvia. See you in the next post.