Hurray! Today is the day! TDP2021 finally can start. I was unable to finish off everything still on my plate the evening before work-wise. I also had my second vaccination late yesterday and had already felt some effects during the night. Getting up at 5 was hard – I felt very weird and had some pain in my joints. That’s what living at the edge feels like – first day on vacation is my 2nd-vac-day +1. At least I’ll be sitting in the TWIKE for a very, very long time today. I’m planning to drive to clermond-ferrand, mid-way through France. […]
3 days to go…Portugal, here I come! (maybe)
Driving across international borders 2021 has its own challenges. I was made aware of some requirements. PCR tests are required in France for hotels – because I will not be able to cross France in 24 hours. Ah. Then, entering Spain, PCR tests are required – also for Portugal – this means that I will have to get a test somewhere in Spain. Ah. Thankfully, a PCR test centre with 5-hour results is very close-by – I’ll be taking the test Tuesday afternoon. This will give me freedom of movement and hotel-occupancy until Friday afternoon. I will be fully vaccinated […]
2021 Entry Catch-Up
I’ve been very busy for what feels like a very long time. As a result, I’ve been doing less TWIKE-related stuff and less traveling. Quite a few people have been reaching out to me lately to thank me for all the information and TWIKE travel inspirations they found whilst reading my blog. I really like blogging – This is why I’ve started to select the pictures and write up the missing entries of 2019 and 2020. Below are the entries that I’m currently working on and am aiming to publish before and during the next major TWIKE adventure this year, […]
2021 TWIKE Adventure
One of the readers of this blog noted that there wasn’t too much going on at emissionless.ch at the moment…which is true. My current job and other things going on right now strongly limit my ability to head-off with my TWIKE on one-day trips / multiple day trips in Switzerland or think about embarking on some repairs or other projects on or in my TWIKE. With this said, I’m very happy to announce this year’s long-distance TWIKE adventure! TDP2021 – Tour du Portugal (July/August 2021) See the trip-page for more details. I’m really looking forward to this trip as it […]
Happy 20th Birthday, TW560!
Two decades, 280,000+km – countless hours of driving bliss and a persistent attribute of my life – Thank you, TW560! Built in Switzerland mid-2000 by the nascent TWIKE AG, it was put into service one month before my eldest daughter was born. My wife and I had just returned from 3+ years of living abroad in Asia and southern Europe in June 2000 and had just begun to restart our life in Switzerland. My TWIKE was the 560th in the line, but due to some administrative miscommunication, more than one TW560 exists – my TWIKE’s twin lives close to Munich. […]
2021 Dreifels 51Ah pack capacity update
Since purchasing my new 51Ah pack over four years (as per today 4 years, 7 months and 6 days) ago, I’ve been tracking the degradation of the pack’s capacity over time with periodic long-distance full-cycle trips. With one of the first nice and not freezing days in 2021, I thought it would be nice to see how the battery was doing. My pack was purchased in March 2016 and installed August 8, 2016. If you’re interested to know more about how this pack was chosen, got its final size and capacity, please head over here to read all about how […]
Hello 2021!
Whew, what a year…for all of us anywhere. Hope you’re staying safe wherever you are. Good news is that my family and I have been lucky. Healthy throughout the year, we got to travel outside of Switzerland twice to meet friends and family … with TW560 being part of the trip. This entry is a long-ish re-cap of 2020 with some selected photos. TW560’s adventures will follow in retroactive entries later. This year was a very busy one – my company’s fully digital setup and myself being used to be remote all the time when traveling coupled with customers transitioning […]
TDST2020 – Heading back home
Today’s entry will be a short one – my own family has already left and I’m going to spend some last hours with my extended family – doing what we do best: chatting, eating and drinking. For lunch we chose another very typical restaurant where I got a very last fix for my year-long craving: Steirisches Backhendl. To end our meal, I help my digestive system by having some local Schnapps with my coffee, before saying goodbye to everyone. My drive to Graz is slow, relaxed and on a small road I’ve never taken in the past. The […]
TDST2020 – Styria, beautiful as ever
There is not much to write about after all the other years I’ve written about traveling to Styria. It’s been 16 years now that I and my family have been attending a family gathering of my Austrian family in Styria. Usually this is a 5-day stay in southern Austria. We drink lots of wine, eat very well, spend time catching up and doing fun activities together. This year, I’m not writing about every day but rather about some of the highlights – coupled with some photos that will give some context. If you want to know more about what you […]