Approaching the European Alps!!!

Day 17, 20/04 - Reaching the European Alps:

This morning, I departed Rijeka westbound to have a short stop in Opatija before continuing to the next border: Slovenia! 

The road took my Wrangler through the beautiful countryside before it merged into the highway towards Ljubljana. Shortly before approaching the capital of Slovenia, I couldn't believe my eyes when I finally saw the European Alps - another milestone of this trip!

Approaching the capital's center, I parked in the old town right at the bottom of Castle Hill, ontop which the most famous landmark of the city was constructed in the 11th century: You've guessed it.. The Ljubljana Castle! I paid the 4€ for the return ticket of the funicular ride up the hill and walked around the nicely restored monument. 

The view from up there overlooking the city and the Alps was terrific! 

They also have two cafés up there. I enjoyed the view and the sunny warm weather and ordered a little snack and an iced coffee.

Goal for the day was to reach Vienna in the early evening where my friends from the Austrian Airlines Skiteam arranged a little welcome get-together. The drive to Vienna was very comfortable and I made it to Austria's capital by sunset. Stefan and Stefan were already sitting in an Irish Pub and on my way to them I was pulled over by the Austrian police (black car that suddenly had a blue light flashing and a "follow us" instruction in the rear window).. The cops were two nice guys who did a random check on me, asking about my trip and giving me the hint that I was probably just a notch too fast. We came to a friendly agreement and I only had to pay a little fine since they liked both my Jeep and the whole story behind it.. 

And off I went to the "Golden Harp", which was only another 100 meters away! Now we're celebrating my last 5900km..

Day 18, 21/04 - Break in Vienna:

Today was a quiet day. Crashed at Stefan's place and drove to Bad Fischau to meet my old friend and fellow student Niko and his family. We had a nice barbeque followed by coffee and Sacher tart under the sunny Austrian sky. We revived old stories from our days (years) at university and had great fun.

In the late afternoon Inreturned back to Vienna, hitting the 6000km marker and met with more friends from the Austrian Airlines Skiteam at "Herrmann", a pretty chilled out beach bar..

Day 19, 22/04 - Germany:

After another good night out in Vienna with my Austrian friends, I checked out at the hotel at 10:30, I programmed Munich into my GPS and departed Vienna westbound. After some two hours in the highway, the GPS navigated me off the highway to avoid a traffic jam and a road construction, which turned out to be an advantage:

Driving along the roads through the countryside, I eventually saw a sign showing me that I finally entered the "Federal Republic of Germany"!! Good to avoid the delays at the border checkpoint on the highway! Total distance traveled until now: 6440km! From here it took me another 50 minutes to reach my old friend Armin's place. When I rolled into their street, Armin's girlfriend Steffi and my goddaughter Anna must have noticed the sound of my Wrangler already. We had a welcome drink and Anna couldn't wait to take me to the playground near to their house. Later this night, Armin and I went out to meet more friends from the Condor and the Airbus skiteams. I still can't believe I'm back in Germany! From here it's only another estimated 550-600km.. I'm actually a bit sad that this adventure is coming to an end now. But the good thing about it: My initial plan seems to come together and I will be back home for my mum's birthday on the 24th!!

Day 20, 23/04 - Autobahn:

In Munich, I stayed at Armin's & Steffi's place and little Anna woke me up early.

We had breakfast, chatted and played for a while before I packed up the Wrangler again.

In the early afternoon, I headed a little further towards the South again to pay a short visit to Chantal, my friend Stephan's mum who is also following this trip very excitedly on Facebook. She lives in Murnau, a beautiful little historical Bavarian town near Garmisch-Partenkirchen. A lot of notable persons and artists (like for example Wassily Kandinsky) have lived here. We sat down, had a chat and some coffee and enjoyed the panoramic view from her balcony overlooking the Alps on a nice and mild spring day. Before I had to continue the journey, I could not leave without being supplied with a typical Bavarian "Leberkässemmel", a roll with meatloaf & sweet mustard. 

I passed Munich again, Nürnberg shortly thereafter and a couple of kilometers later, I suddenly felt the tiredness and fatigue which has accumulated within the last couple of days.. So after today's 400-450km, I decided to look for a good place to spend the night and start tomorrow's last leg of the journey a little more fresh.

Day 21, 24/04 - THE FINISH LINE:

Woke up at 6:00 to start the final sector of this trip. The blue sky was the perfect introduction to the final day of the journey, my Mum's birthday! It was a strange and unusual feeling to do the final turn onto highway A46 towards Heinsberg. Before approaching home at around 11:00, I went to get a bouquet of white roses, my mother's favorite flowers. Wouldn't be very charming to reveal how many roses I got though.. ;)

I finally reached the driveway of our house after a total distance of 7259.1 kilometers to Guns'n Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" (best song in the world!!) and both my mum and I were excited that I finally made it!! We started celebrating her birthday with a bunch of friends who came over later in the afternoon.

Day 22, 25/04 - Après-Drive:

The Jeep is getting ready to be legal on German roads. This morning, Jens from "Uncle Sam's Automobile" came all the way from Hannover to assist with the German customs declaration. We went to the local customs office and after all the paperwork drama I went through - especially in the first week, I was more than surprised that all formalities were done within 30 minutes!

Then, Jens took the Wrangler with him to Hannover where he will take care of the certification, inspections and specifications. I can pick up the car in a couple of days and register it on German license plates.

EPILOGUE:

I have to say that I am a little sad that the trip is over now, but at the same time happy to be home again. The last three weeks went by so fast! I still cannot believe that what was a crazy idea three months ago (some research revealed that it was the 10th of January when I first had the sudden inspiration) turned out to be a successful trip with no major setbacks or breakdowns. I have seen and learned a lot, met so many interesting people and got a million of impressions! Also, every single person out there following my journey has been such an incredible support! It gave me lots of energy throughout the journey to read all the comments & reactions, mails etc. You are awesome!!

I can only recommend everyone to do a similar trip once in their lifetime. It is a mind-opener!! Of course you can't just get behind the steering wheel and drive off like that. It takes a lot of research and preparation, sometimes you also have to know the right people. Stay tuned for the next journey! I was thinking of a tour towards Scandinavia, taking the Jeep to the North Cape one day..

Anyway, if you're ever thinking about doing something like this and you need any advice, don't hesitate to get in touch! ;)