One last day at work, filled with last minute requests.
TW560 is charging at a super-low rate to the very, very rare SOC of 100%. (It never does more than a dozen full-charges a year)
Thanks to all the work and being very busy, it’s 5pm in a blink of an eye – time to get ready to leave!
Packing my TWIKE is a 2-minute affair with all my previous experience!
Everything is ready. Ten days on the road, just me and the TWIKE, lie ahead. I have been looking forward to this trip for a long time.
With this, it’s time to say goodbye to my wife and brave the extreme heat outside.
If I can trust the weather forecast, the temperatures in Romania will be noticeably lower than in Switzerland, even with Romanian weather being continental! Also, I’m looking forward to enjoying some cool air when crossing the 2000m+ passes and the Carpathians in general.
The plan for this late afternoon is to take the motorway all the way to the Austrian border, drive to Feldkirch and get my TWIKE onto the car train to Graz. Ideally, taking the train myself, too! 😉 (…I’m not kidding! I did once miss the car train…my TWIKE traveled to Vienna without me!)
If all goes well, I’ll be enjoying space and quiet of my single-berth cabin, complete with breakfast service and arrive in Graz the next morning well-rested.
So, how did this short prologue stage work out?
Well, first of all, it was time to say goodbye to my wife and get into the TWIKE – I always have this cool realisation when starting my adventures: the road to anywhere starts right in front of my house!
I drive to Winterthur and get on the A1 motorway, joining heavy evening traffic leaving Zurich.
Due to the outside temperatures, i have to very finely manage speed vs. motor temperature. Better not break things just to drive a few km faster!
After St. Gallen, we’re back to the rather flat Rhine valley and Feldkirch just 20km away.
We cross the Rhine into Austria – goodbye Switzerland!
Arriving in Feldkirch things have changed drastically: access to the railway station has been blocked off. Access to the car train is – incredibly – done by entering the parking garage and leaving it on the other side immediately again.
TW560 and I, however, don’t leave the parking garage: There are some charging stations there and I want to make sure my TWIKE is fully charged before boarding the train.
Thanks to my Type2 car-emulator-box I built a year ago, starting the charge is no different to a ‘normal’ car: swipe card, plug cable into TWIKE box, flip switch, charge!
This is such a different experience from 15 years ago!
Whilst the TWIKE is charging, I head to Feldkirch for a bite. I’ve been to Feldkirch many, many times – the city has its charme, regardless of the season.
Eventually, it’s time to get in line to board the train – in panic I noticed that my number plate had a typo! The guy told me to relax – this would only be a problem if suddenly some would show up and claim the same spot.
On the train, I was really glad I had compiled a new page with all the various photos from previous ÖBB trips. The guys were absolutely new and had no experience nor idea what to do with my TWIKE.
With my photos they were super relaxed and were sure that they were doing it right.
And now to a life-hack for TWIKE pilots wanting to travel with their vehicle on the car train. As it is not a given that the TWIKE will always travel forwards, it is a good idea to make sure that the canopy is not flapping openly in the wind. This actually filled my TWIKE with a layer of snow in a previous trip – not a nice experience! It also ensures that your TWIKE isn’t covered in metallic break dust either.
With the TWIKE on the carriage, it’s time for me to …wait. The loading was done by 21:45 and the train itself leaves around midnight.
Whilst waiting for the train from Zurich, our vehicles were brought to the main station.
Around 20 mins before midnight, the train arrives and I get to enter my cabin – complete with washbasin and lots of space. The train leaves on-time and I go to sleep right away – my last few days have been very busy and long.
I’m looking forward to tomorrow morning – breakfast will be brought to my cabin and the ‘provodnik’ will set up my table so I can eat my breakfast in style!
Good night!
