Not pushing any further yesterday and a good night’s sleep really did the trick – I’m really looking forward to both the drive today …and returning home. Weather-wise is promising to be a very nice day – blue skies all over central Europe. I wake up early, get some fresh orange juice and some fresh cornetti at the hotel’s bar and pack the TWIKE for the last time. The overnight charge was a full 8h @ 9A – this morning’s battery pack temperature at 35°C is proof that the batteries had to do some work during the night. Nothing extreme: […]
TDI2024 – Day 8 – Back to the oven
Getting up at 5 am after a long good-bye party organised by my friends was hard. I had already packed the day before and with a heavy heart I closed the door to the apartment ready for my long drive back home. As mentioned in my last entry, the drive today will be mostly on motorways and Superstradas in the morning since the forecast for today shows over 38°C in the pianura and I want to get as far as possible before potentially having to slow down due to potential overheating during my drive or quick charges. Packing is easy […]
TDI2024 – Day 3-7 – Digital Nomad in Umbria
Just a short entry on my stay – during the day I work normally, connecting to customers and co-workers via the Internet. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, however, is with friends as are activities during the weekend. Evenings in August are sultry, I spend time either at my friends homes or we go to restaurants. Food has always been a big part of my life. Italy delivers every time! One of the restaurants we went had this incredible view which matched the very good food we all shared. One evening we went to San Gemini to have some late evening drinks […]
TDI2024 – Day2 – Escaping the heat across the Apennine
After a good night’s sleep, I wake up bright and early to start my drive to Terni at 7 am. Since the hotel is closing for remodeling today, there is no breakfast available at the hotel. Hotel breakfasts typically aren’t what I go for … except for Italy where one can be sure to get a good coffee and some cornettos to go with it. Not getting breakfast isn’t a problem either, as there are bars everywhere. The day promises to be another scorcher. Not only do all my weather apps predict 35+°C but just being outside at 7am and […]
TDI2024 – Day 1 – Charging woes in Italy
It’s still nice and cool when I’m packing my TWIKE for its newest adventure. I’m really looking forward to my week in Italy. I haven’t been to Italy for 3 years now since TDI2021. Unlike last time, this trip will involve some long-distance-non-hypermiling travel and recharging en-route. As long-time readers of this blog know, I’ve been driving EV’s since way before public charging stations were a thing and have seen how sloppy IT implementation and ambiguous standardisation documents can make electric travel a real pain. Let’s see how things pan out today. Packing took me around 30 seconds – this […]
ODT: Escaping the rain – Engadin, here I come
A quick one-day trip (ODT) entry on my trip to Switzerland’s mountainous region to the east: Graubünden, with its famous valley and region, Engadin. Many a trip me and my TWIKE have undertaken during the last 18 years has at a point either crossed this valley or driven along it. It’s a region well worth visiting! Everyone in my family was busy an I didn’t feel like staying inside all day – every weather app I had was forecasting a full day of gray and rain around where I live. The forecast for Graubünden, however, was great. Lucky me a […]
TDF2023 – Day 12 – Bye, Italy!
After a great night with fresh air, we have a hearty breakfast before packing the TWIKE for the last time. It’s always interesting to see the difference of how we pack the TWIKE when we leave to how we slot in our stuff towards the end – optimisation is key! We head back down to the junction that brings us back onto the Splugen pass. From here it’s a 450m climb to the pass itself. It will be a challenge to shape our consumption in such a way that we can get most of the energy back into the batteries […]
TDF2023 – Day 11 – Lago di Como and the Alps
With some help of the air-conditioning unit, we wake up refreshed and ready for another day of TWIKE adventuring across northern Italy. We’re looking forward to a few things today – first of all, getting out of the endless flat-lands of the Padovan Pianura, driving along Lake Como’s stunningly beautiful coast, taking the ferry from Menaggio to Varena (a ferry TW560 has been on quite a few times already…first in 2010) and climbing all the way to Madesimo on the Splugen Pass at 1400 above sea level – a nice last full day in Italy! Before we leave, however, we […]
TDF2023 – Day 10 – Heading to the Pianura
As always, time goes by really quickly and we’re on our way back home. In theory, we could have done the distance in two days, but we decided to take it slow and enjoy the drive including a detour around lake Como. For today, we could have just driven along the coast all the way up to Genova and then taken the motorway northwards … not us today. We decided it would be a good idea to take the smallest roads available and cross the hills in true TWIKE adventure fashion: Hairpin bend by hairpin bend. For the first dozen […]
TDF2023 – Day 7-9 – R&R in Diano Marina
This is a short post from our few days in Diano Marina during which we – as in Hyères – didn’t do much else than read books at the beach, eat good food and explore the surrounding area. Most of what i loved 7 years ago is still here. This is why reading my last post on Diano Marina will give you a full picture of what to expect here. Ever so often, we head into town and park our TWIKE for the public to see. The Italians are very vocal about their love for special vehicles and we usually […]