Week 1 – So it begins
Countries: Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia
We set off on Wednesday lunchtime from my home town. The weather was glorious, which we took as a good sign. We drove straight to Prague. From the German border onwards we only used toll-free roads, because we wanted to save money and also put the bus to the test in the Czech uplands. The bus was packed to the roof by now and probably weighed 2.7 t … quite a lot for roughly 85 hp.
Everything went like clockwork as far as Prague. Despite thick fog and hairpin bends, we arrived at a great campsite in Prague. It was on a peninsula and well connected by bus and tram. We stayed in Prague for two nights, because I wanted to get the solar system working – it hadn't worked before we left. The parking heater was lovely in Prague: with it, mornings and evenings at 5 °C were comfortable. We left the heater off at night.
Cooking in the vehicle worked perfectly too. The spirit stove does use quite a lot of ethanol, but we can buy that fuel anywhere.
In Prague we visited the old town and enjoyed the Czech beer.
After Prague we drove to Linz to visit some friends. In the Upper Austrian city we picked up a few missing bits and pieces and looked around the old town. We slept in a car park that even had a public toilet. I can really recommend the park4night app for this – it lists lots of campsites and decent places to camp.
From Austria we went via Slovenia to Croatia. In Slovenia, as in the Czech Republic, we only travelled on toll-free roads, because saving an hour wasn't worth €15 to me. The border crossing from Slovenia to Croatia, however, wasn't as easy as the many times I'd crossed it by car before. Because my travel companion isn't an EU citizen, we had to use the big border crossing on the motorway. There we were asked why we didn't have a vignette. After we explained that we hadn't used the motorway but had to use this crossing, the police officer gave in and let us drive on to the border. There we were questioned – unusually thoroughly for me – about where we were going, how long we'd stay, which friends we were visiting and so on.
In Zagreb we parked by the local lake, Jarun, which was also quite close to the city centre and not far from those friends. Prices in restaurants and bars were noticeably lower.
The next morning we were woken by live music: a marathon was taking place in the park right next to the car park, and the finish was right beside us. Before the noise became impossible to ignore, we headed south without breakfast. We wanted to spend two days on a remote beach near Trogir, so on the way we bought food and water to be self-sufficient.
The drive dragged on a bit, though, because we didn't take the motorway but pottered along country roads towards Split.
We reached the remote beach in the dark – we'd only found it on satellite images. The dirt track down to it was very bumpy and steep, but that was no problem for the bus.
We spent two days on the beach enjoying the bit of sun, swam in the Adriatic at 16 °C, made fires and had breakfast on the beach. Clichéd, I know. I also used the time to finish a few jobs on the bus.
On Wednesday, 17 November, we left our remote spot and set off for Dubrovnik. To get there we had to cross Bosnia and Herzegovina, as Dubrovnik lies in an exclave. The motorway made the drive pleasant, but the long climbs did push the bus a little. In a cool 13 °C it managed without any trouble. For now …
At the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, border police searched the vehicle for the first time. After 15 minutes of looking through everything, we were allowed to pass.
Around Dubrovnik it was very hard to find a campsite that was still open. The whole region was very quiet, with only a handful of tourists about.
Thanks to a local contact, though, we found a great spot south of the Croatian city.
Journey from Germany to Nepal - VW T3 - Week 1Watch the video on YouTube