Speed travelling review

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Here we are - back in London. Yes that's right, London. Oh, trust me, I am as surprised as you are! Two days ago I was still at Roskilde Festival and now I'm here at an internet cafe on Holloway Road. To make al long story short, there were some problems at Enrico's university and he urgently needed access to his computer, which is in a flat in Finsbury Park. Hence, we headed from Roskilde towards Calais and the ferry over the English channel.

And to get here we drove through 5 (!) different countries yesterday - Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France and UK. It's the new thing, we call it "speed travelling". I recommend it for anyone who doesn't have any real interest in other countries, but still wants to travel.

Anyway. Here is a speed travelling review:

GERMANY:
Autobahn. Jesus Christ Allmighty. It seems everybody in Germany drives as if they have stolen the vehicle, and this is completely regardless of the type of vehicle driven. I drive at a reasonable speed at all times. Not terribly slow but with dignity, one might say. In Germany I was overtaken by not only cars but campers, caravans, lorries and at one point a lorry loaded with a number of other lorries. Me and the Toyota were terrorised by lorry drivers on a testosterone high and bullied by surprisingly bold holiday makers with fancy caravans.
My message to the German people: CHILL for goodness sake!

Hamburg. The worst thunder storm I have ever experienced. Lightning and rain so heavy the windscreen wipers did no good at all even on the highest speed. Unbelievable. (And windscreen wipers at the highest speed is incredibly stressful under any circumstances).

Hameln. Lost in the countryside at 2 o'clock in the morning. We missed a motorway exit, and our plan B ended in a blocked road and a diversion road to nowhere. We eventually found ourselves and stopped to sleep in the car. (My Toyota really is fantastic. Is it a car, is it a luxury bedroom - who knows!)

NETHERLANDS:
Got out our camping gear and cooked some lunch at a rest stop. Halfway through the boiling of the pasta another thunder storm came over us and added some Dutch rainwater to our meal, litterally.
Other than that nothing much happened. We didn't see a single tulip. Very disappointing.

BELGIUM:
My tip to anyone planning to drive through Antwerpen at the hight of afternoon traffic - don't do it. Unless you have a VERY clear idea where you are going and you particularily enjoy roads with a minimum of four lanes in each direction and with a minimum of ten destinations to choose from.

FRANCE:
Nothing much to say about France. There was a very entertaining seagull with no sense of basic physics at the port in Calais. That's pretty much it.

And now we are back in London. The Toyota is having a well deserved rest in an indoors carpark with 24 hours security for free. It pays off to have some contacts in London. We are planning to stay here for a couple of days only, providing that everything turns out according to the plan from now on. Then we travel back over the channel to France and head south.

I'll keep you updated!

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Photos

Coffee
Making a cup of coffee whilst waiting for the ferry in Denmark

Seagull
The only entertainment in the queue for the ferry in Calais

Comments

[Big Sister]

Hmmm...
Det var ett intressant, men stressigt, sätt att uppleva Europa. Jag såg all världens katastrofer framför mig då du sa att ni var på väg över till England igen. Var det inte värre än så här? :-)

[Daddy]

Toyota...YES!
Now we now what the name of our next car should be... TOYOTA. /daddy

[Bodil]

Oj oj oj
Vad ni flänger! =) Nu är vi tebax i Umeå. Var faktsikt nästan (med betoning på nästan) kul att träffa grisarna igen. Kram på er!

[inger]

Dessa förflyttningar...
Vi har just förflyttat oss från Selet till Träsket...vi höll oss inom samma kommun ja till och med inom samma församling...det du!