I must have been very tired yesterday – I barely remember my head touching the pillow … to wake to my alarm going off at 7.15 am. Another sunny and potentially very hot day beckons. At 7.30 precisely, i hear a knock on my door. In comes the conductor and sets up the table with a few very precise motions and hands me my breakfast. The bread rolls are super-fresh and the tea water is piping hot. This makes for a very nice breakfast which I eat whilst looking out of the window. We’re already one hour late. This isn’t […]
THUB2026 – Prologue
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, […]
THUB2026 – 1 day to go
Just a few hours left before THUB2026 starts. I’ve been busy ensuring that all the last tasks to ensure a successful trip: As last time before TDGB2025 last year, I chose the cable sets I’ll be taking with me. Again, the set is getting smaller and smaller every year as there is less and less ‘creative charging’ going on. Then, I took TW560 to my favourite TWIKE mechanic, Andi from ksenotek for some pre-trip TLC. TW560 got a new dash cam after my trusty dash cam mirror combo failed after many years. The new one is small, has WiFi and […]
THUB2026: How to insure when driving though a country at war
First, some good news: Time has a very peculiar property: the closer the date for a TWIKE adventure gets, the quicker the time seems to pass! This entry is dedicated to my struggles to find suitable – any – insurance for the few days and 100s of kilometres I’ll be driving through Ukraine when sticking to this year’s goal of ‘tracing Hungary’s border’. Just to make sure everyone reading this blog understands this correctly: I’m not seeking any risks, I don’t want to be anywhere near any active war zones. This region is Ukraine’s safest and the places I am […]
THUB2026: 45 Days to go!
For the last few weeks I’ve been working continuously on refining the route for my trip as the days until my departure are melting away rapidly! Specifically, since I’ve decided to concentrate on the Carpathian Mountain range, I’ve researched the roads in Romania and, boy, are there some nice ones to choose from! The featured post image above is from Romania’s famous mountain road Transfăgărășan – a stretch of road winding its way across the southern ridge of the Carpathians. It just opened mid-June and according to this article, drivers are advised about the frequent presence of bears along the […]
Update on THUB2026
A short update on my preparations for this year’s pan-European trip, where I’ll be tracing Hungary’s borders. First on the checklist was making sure my vehicle insurance is recognised in, and actually covers, Ukraine. This small stretch of the journey is by far the most interesting from a planning perspective. The good news: my liability insurance explicitly includes Ukraine (UA). That removes one major possible roadblock. Next step: ensuring transport. I had to move quickly to grab one of the last available slots on the car trains. Having used these routes many times before, I decided once again to splurge […]
THUB2026 – This year’s TWIKE adventure
A new year and a new pan-European adventure begins. The trip page is ready and will serve as the central place for all updates. In short, the plan is to Trace HUngary’s Border. To make the most of the time on unfamiliar roads, I plan to use Austria’s overnight car trains from Feldkirch to Villach and later from Vienna for the return. I will need to secure these tickets soon, as the journey is scheduled for late July and early August. The route has changed slightly as the overnight train to Villach has been cancelled. I’ll be concentrating on expanding […]
TDGB2025: Day 9 – From Vittel back home – Vogese and Black Forest hills
This is my last day on TDGB2025 and I am still surprised at how quickly nine days have passed. The weather is kind to me once again. From my hotel room window I see the sky glowing in soft yellow and blue, and the air already feels warm and welcoming. Breakfast has become a ritual on this trip like everyone of them before. I find a small boulangerie each morning and enjoy a fresh croissant. Today’s croissant was extraordinary. It was so flaky that it started to crumble before I even touched it. A messy breakfast but a very good […]
TDGB2025: Day 8 – Orléans to Vittel – More of France’s sweeping landscapes
It had been a long time since I slept this well. The combination of a restless night on the ferry, a full day on Guernsey and then crossing a third of France left me so tired that as soon as I lay down, I was gone. Today I continue with my plan of crossing rural France and spend another day enjoying the open landscapes that make driving here such a pleasure. The weather is on my side again. I wake up to a blue sky without a single cloud. A true promise of another good day of TWIKE travel. Just […]
TDGB2025: Day 7 – St. Malo to Orléans – Discovering France’s great open spaces
Planning my next days of driving through France, I had two main ideas in mind. One would take me from St. Malo to Paris for the usual postcard moments: the TWIKE with the Eiffel Tower, sneaking in on the square in front of the glass pyramid of the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe or even Notre Dame. The other would be slower, quieter and more reflective, crossing wide parts of rural France, with its small towns, even smaller villages, vast nature parks and open countryside. Thirteen years ago, I crossed southern France in a TWIKE and the memory of it […]