Day 2: travel to Vienna

 Today we woke up around 8, showered and started packing the car.  I guess we must have been on the road by 10:30.  We decided after this morning that from now on we will break down camp the night before.  It will just make things go more smoothly for us.  It's not much, putting away 2 chairs and a table but it does take time.  We also have to remove all of the window covers and deflate the bed.  Not a lot of work, but time consuming none the less.  

Today we are camping at MICAMPA Wien Donau.  It is not far off the highway so it was easy to get to. We set the camping mode with 92% charge.  The outside temperature is 18C at 21:30.  

Tonight for dinner I used the electrical box and turned on the air-fryer for George's salmon, and I used the induction cooker for my goulash soup.

The power station started with 95% and dropped to 83% after 15 minutes of use. Not as good as I expected it to be.  I have to say, for the cost and the high reviews, I'm disappointed. 

Today we arrived at the campsite around 7:00. We did stop to charge to 100% so we could have a full run tomorrow without having to worry too much.  Other than stopping at Subway again for another sandwich and cookies, we only stopped to charge twice.  Between them, we watched 2 episodes of the Tudors and had lunch.  I did a bit of grocery shopping (beer and soup) and we did nothing more. Oh, and took a few photos of some cows.

There was a ton of traffic and loads of construction that slowed us down.  I had planned on making a stop at a puzzle shop and lego store, but decided to pass.  Tomorrow morning we will hit lego before heading out again.

I forgot to add a photo of the bed last night so I'm putting it here.  When we want to remove it, we deflate it and return it to the carry bag that it came in. The cover is a memory foam as are the pillows.  Tonight I over inflated it, but a small push of the deflate button and all was right again.  

We had a nice dinner and even managed to see a few stars tonight.  We are enjoying this and are sorry we didn't think to do it earlier. Now I just need to train George on how to set up the window screens and blow up the mattress and all would be wonderful. 

I can't complain though.  He does do all of the dishes. He's such a wonderful husband. 

Today's spending: €24 subway, charging €45, groceries €127 (I bought tons of knabberknossyand a 6 pack of beer.) Tonights camping cost was €35.24.  Still way under what we would pay in the van and on hotels and meals.  I'll call this one another win.  

Our next puzzle trip: day 1.

 We are on our way to Finland to pick up a bunch of puzzles so I decided that I will once again write not a puzzling blog (although there will be plenty of that, but rather a traveling to the puzzling blog. 

Tonight we are staying at Camping Lago 3 Municipalities near Udine.  I read great reviews about this place so I decided to give it a try.  But first...Let me explain our craziness. 

George and I used to camp in our Tesla in the States, and I forgot how much fun it is.  When I started planning this trip, I used Chat GPT to help with the daily maximum driving limit and finding the hotels.  Then I looked into the cost of camping.  Then I looked at the laws regarding free camping in Europe.  At the end of it all, we decided that the extra bit of money for campsites was worth it to us.  

Roadside stopping is legal for the entire trip as long as we don't take out the table and chairs and "set up camp".  So no cooking. That would have cost around €4000.  (Charging, food, ferries).  Camp grounds are only €400~€600 more for the trip; whereas hotels would have set us back over €30,000!  Camping it is. I don't mind.  I know....No one expects that of me.  At least those who 'think' they know me.  But I do love it.  When I was a young girl, my parents bought a 12 person tent and set it up in the front yard for my cousins and I to spend our summers in. I later went camping multiple times with my then boyfriend "Wisconsin", and even later still, I bought a tent to put in my father's yard when Krissy was a young thing.  

Now for the real costs, (or as near I can remember).  Everyone knows I love to cook and just because we are in the car doesn't mean I'm not going to do it now.  Yes, we could eat out every night, and there will be a few times that we do that; tonight for example.  But honestly, I would rather do it myself.  So....I have kitted out the car to be able to do this. 

First of all, I have purchased a number of items that will make things so much easier.  I will put a list with links here.  Most are available from Amazon, but a few I had to go elsewhere for.

Refrigerator €369.  I actually bought this about 2 months ago and use it when I do my weekly shops. 

BLUETTI Elite 200 V2 Power Station Portatile | 2.073,6 Wh 2.600 W €1092 (On sale this week for €200 off). This can also be used in the house during power outages (as if we have those).

Fruble €1026 (also on sale this week for €903) This is a custom made for the Tesla Model Y drawer that also levels the back so the bed is flat. Our seats fold down, but they have quite an angle to them so it is uncomfortable to sleep without this. Money well spent. It also allows us to use the space in the smugglers trunk more efficiently.  Before this, we could place a few small items there but now, I have a fully stocked pantry.  The sidewells in the back of the Tesla are used to hold bottles of oil, vinegar, cooking wine, truffles....All that stuff one cannot live without. 

North Face sleeping bag for 2 rated to -7 centigrade (we may need that in Finland) €165.  I saw the temperature will be around -1 centigrade when we are up there.  And just to be sure we don't have a problem with the cold, I also purchased an electric blanket that we can use to heat the bed before crawling into it.  Rest assured, we will not be sleeping with it turned on. I think that set me back another €59. 

Mattress extender for seat back €45.  This is a silly little ramp that attaches to the back of the front seats and extends the bed area by about 18 inches. We need that! It's not that we are super tall, but rather that it stops our toes from hitting the back deck in the middle of the night.

Starlink mini €199 +€15 per month usage fee for 100gb (it has since gone up to €45 per month usage fee).  We got lucky and purchased it before the rate hike and have been grandfathered in.  It is resting very comfortably out of our way on the roof of the car.  George has been using it non-stop since we got here, and it works well even outside the car.  

Snuuzu mattress €998.  This looks very expensive for a blow up air mattress but it did come with two pillows, and two pumps.  Last night George mentioned that it is as comfortable as our bed at home.  That is the honest truth.  Money very well spent.  

Other miscellaneous items probably cost us around €300 maximum. This includes things like the dishes, air fryer, induction stove, cooking utensils, etc.  

While this seems like a rather large investment, the final cost is still cheaper than staying in hotels, and it will pay itself off before we are headed back home.  All future trips are fee of charge.  

The best part though is the ability to just get up and go and not have to reserve every stop along the way.  If we want to stay longer in a place, we can.  Last night when we got to the camp ground I set up the car while George caught up on the news.  We went for a walk along the lake and enjoyed the sun on the mountains. Around 8 we went to the camp kitchen for a bit of dinner because I was just too tired to try and cook.  The food was ok for what it was.  But the views....

Today's cost: campground parking €28, dinner €29.  Overnight temperature was 11 c and we used 10% battery in camping mode.  Not bad I'd say. Total electricity charges for the day's drive was €48.  We traveled a total of 534 KM for a cost of €0.09 per km.  Our van costs us €0.14 per km in comparison. 

Just a silly set of photos.  A night time view of the sky vs. the morning view. 

On to Vienna.  Until tomorrow....

An adventure on the way home.

We left Vienna around 9 am.  Early for us really.  I had no campsite booked for the night and thought we would just wing it.  I passed Graz where I bought us some subway sandwiches for lunch, then got back out on the highway.  I drove for a good 2 hours while George lay asleep in the back.  The mattress is good to have because it's so much more comfortable for him.  

Then disaster struck.  I was listening to an audio book when we drove through some construction.  I noticed nothing amiss, but when we got out of it, my screen started to flash red at me.  I looked down and the right front tire pressure was dropping rapidly.  

Thankfully I was near an exit so I took it.  The nearest garage though was 3.5 km away and being Sunday....it was closed.

I pulled over, put on the hazard lights, had George put on the only yellow vest in the car (I need to put another in), and set up the triangle down the road. Now to search for help.  I managed to find a garage open 30km away so I called.  1/2 an hour for a pick up.  Tesla roadside service was in venice-almost 2 hours from us. Pass.  

The tow truck came and loaded us up.  

He took us to a tire shop that just happened to be open.  In an hour they changed out my 2 front tires for 2 used tires and we were back to normal.  

Now here is the funny part.  Dad was a mechanic and I understand a thing or two about tires, etc. I was talking to the shop owner, and told him to make sure these "new tires" were balanced.  He was surprised I understood about that so put the tires on the machine.  I also told him I knew I was getting taken for a ride on the cost of the new tires but considering it was Sunday and we were in the middle of nowhere, that I was actually getting by lucky.  He simply said "Yes".  So €450 later we were on our way again. 

We headed towards Venice and stopped for the night at Camping Rialto (over crowded, small camp sites-not recommended).  Before settling in, we picked up some authentic Italian sushi and watched the Tudors on Netflix.  When dinner was over, we put in the window screens, shifted the non sleeping stuff to the front, and crawled in the back for a good nights sleep.  

A few notes, use regular pillows.  So what if they take up space, they are much more comfortable than the small travel pillows I bought along for this time.  The 2 old army ponchos that I have kept for well over 30 years came in handy.  George couldn't steal the covers from me because I was cocooned up.  I should probably look ahead and book campgrounds before hand. And there is no telling when road debris is going to ruin your day.  For the record, I had no choice but to replace the tires.  The hole in the one was probably 1/2 inch in diameter.  No ready plug is going to fix that.  Ah well.  He got at least one new tire.  I think I put those on this last winter.  

And through it all, I kept laughing.  It was just another adventure in the life of Roxanne and George.  And who can complain about waking up to this view?