RoadRace: Biser to Berlin
Some people say we are crazy to travel the world with eight kids.
Some people say we are crazy to live in two motorhomes.
Some people say we were completely mad to travel by bus and train for days at a time.
These people may all be right!
Usually we blog about events AFTER they have happened, but we expect to be out of touch for the next week and so we are filling you in before we embark on our next spot of madness. We are about to attempt to drive the two and a half thousand kilometres from Biser in Bulgaria to Berlin in Germany in six days….and on the way to take in seven capital cities. We have heard of people doing similar distances in half the time, but they were not travelling with a bevvy of kids, who need some wriggle time each day.
So seven capitals in six days with eight kids sounds like a mission enough for us!
In case you’d like to follow our progress, here’s the rough plan:
First, the capitals:
Sofia ~ Bulgaria
Belgrade ~ Serbia
Budapest ~ Hungary
Bratislava ~ Slovak Republic
Vienna ~ Austria
Prague ~ Czech Republic
Berlin ~ Germany
We’ll drive to Sofia (or just past it) today (Friday). That’s a pleasant enough 300km.
Then tomorrow we’ll get up early early, cross into Serbia and try to make it to the top of the country and out again into Szeged in Hungary in one day, no matter how long it takes. We expect it to be a long day – probably about 12 hours driving. Plus whatever hold-ups we have at the borders. The kids have big lollipops!!
Sunday up to Budapest.
Monday to Bratislava and Vienna. (We were going to do this on two separate days, but the new Bear Cave owners are chomping at the bit to get their van!)
Tuesday to Prague.
Wednesday to Berlin, if there’s time via Wittenburg to see the church door where Martin Luther pinned his 99 theses.
Thursday a guy flies in from Holland to take the orange van. We take our gear to the couchsurfing place we stayed at before, go to the station to book train tickets and squeeze into the Bear Cave for one final night.
Friday Rach takes the kids to a park or something for the day while Rob heads off early for Leipzig to do the paperwork etc for the Bear Cave, sadly say good-bye to it and catch the train or bus back to Berlin.
We’ll turn up at the couchsurfers at a reasonable time and stay there hopefully until Monday (if the ticket thing worked out) when we’ll be off to Poland.
A mini-adventure in the big adventure.
Tags: 2008/09, itinerary
rayres
Last month I went through Budapest, Vienna, Prague. Not QUITE that quickly but you’ll love it! If you can, spend some chill-out time in Budapest – it’s beautiful.
Hi there. Am wondering how you managed to sell the two motor homes. Did you put them on the internet?
Glad all is going well – fancy 12 months away from home. Hope the transition back to ‘shanks pony’ is not too much of a shock to the system/s!
Blessings!
oooh, did you say “lollipops”??
now there’s a fabulous idea!!!
actually, i can’t remember the last time i bought them…
strange but true X
HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY.
Hope you have a fun day driving and the border crossings go smoothly for you.
Love
Mick and Pam
Some people may call you crazy for travelling with 8 kids – but I worked with a guy at Sainsbury’s who hadn’t ever left the UK – and he was about 45!! Now that is crazy!!
Can’t believe you are about to drop off your campervans…..the Wills are home in 3 weeks – and you guys not far behind…nothing has changed back here – enjoy every breath!!
Leighxx
Aunty Bev,
Yes, we listed them on E-bay Germany and someone wanted them enough to buy! One sold to a fellow-kiwi, the other to a Dutch dealer.
We’ve been doing a fair bit of walking still, and everyone is looking forward to donning the packs and boots…..
two and a half thousand kilometres in 6 days? Easy 😉 Provided you don’t need to stop too much! Hopefully yours are not the sort of kids who realise twenty minutes out of town that they need to go to the toilet… then again you do have a toilet on board!!