WTF?!… More Problems? On the Road in Germany, on the Way to Our New Home in Poland, Day 21+22

What?!?!!? More problems??? We cut it close yesterday when we arrived at our primary campinground in France only to find it closed and our back-up camping sites were closed too. In fact, we couldn’t find anything open in this eastern part of France that borders Germany.

Why? It was the summer of floods in these parts of Europe when the rivers swelled up, the camping grounds were wet and, well. . . the toilets clogged up.

The problem, unfortunately, did not stop there.

*To Freiburg on paid toll road. We’re hauling as*es and feeling kinda lucky*.

Early next morning, we checked out of the microtel, hit the road, and scrapped the plan to stay at Camping Hirzberg in Freiburg, Germany. We had stayed there before and have great memories of that FREE-berg on our second family camping road trip.

But now, we were just all excited to be in our new home after 21 days on the road (17 nights camping at 9 different camping grounds). Oh, of course we’re also exhausted too!

*German highways are a great place for the kids to learn on the road a little about wind farms and clean energy production.*

The plan was to make it all the way home to Poland without a stop overnight. That’s at least 12 hours and 1,256 km of driving. Yup, maybe a little ambitious! But we’ve done long drives before from Agde to Valence, France during our first family road trip in Europe.

So, we hit the road early and drove towards Freiburg via Mulhouse on paid toll roads. One of which cost us €11.60 toll for 118 km from Dole to Choisey. Add that to the €42.10 for 500-something kilometers that we paid yesterday and you can see why we prefer toll-FREE, SLOW-GO, ROAD TRIPS.

*Our destination hostel turned out to be in the red light district of Nuremberg, somewhere around the corner. Dad had to look for it!*

WATCH OUT for paid toll roads when on the road in France!

As we neared the German border crossing (remember, this was during the height of coronavirus/Covid-19-related lockdowns and restrictions), this question popped back up into our minds (us, parents… the kids could care less):

Problem 1: “Will we be able to cross the border and get into a country without having to show a negative Covid test results or proofs of vaccination.”

It was not an issues with Andorra and France. So, far so good.

*Trust the Germans to have well-designed Rasthof (rest stops) like this one with well-lit, indoor playground where parents can dine around while children play.*

And before my governess-wife could even say “Kraftfahrzeug-Haftpflichtversicherung” to my “schaize auf der strasse” muttering, we mindlessly crossed a small bridge over the Rhine. . . and just like that, we were in Deutschland!

WHAT? Say that again! Yes, we were in Germany. . . without even having seen any sign of “Welcome to EU” or whatever.

It costs 0.70 euro-cents to be able to take a pee-pee, shoo-shoo, shoo-poo, poo-poo or whatever gastronomical post-processing, pressure-relieving combination you can think of. I used to question that but these toilets are majestically clean ad smells like it too and you can get discount cards for buying food/drinks. So, you pay to get something in and pay again to get it out and. . .

Later, there’s a big sign in French, German and English saying something like “Pay Toll”. No Welcome. No Willkommen. Just straightforward German efficiency ; )

F* if I care. Yay! We did it again. We’re hauling as*es and we’re feeling kinda lucky. . . still.

You know, with all this driving, you can’t help but think, “Is there really problem with food shortage or overpopulation?” All these empty lands…. all these fields of food…. Or is it just a problem of unequal distribution. The commies once said not long ago…. I think…. we do not need countries… just sectors of production so we can equally distribute people and food and goods and services and work values according to means and needs. Ha, ha, HA! Such ideals.

*The boys singing their favorite, slightly taboo, song upon entering Deutschland.*

We’ve been on the road in Germany for four road trips now. And there’s seemingly endless road construction in Germany. It’s real busy!

Seeing all these trucks, carrying, transporting boxes, make me realize I’ll soon be boxed in a life within corners, life with borders. It’ll be good for a change!

It was towards Nuremberg, 6.5 driving hours and 620-something kilometers later, when we realized that we should land this pseudo-gypsy caravan soon.

So, we found a youth hostel in the city center that had a surprise welcome for us!

It was located in the red light district of Nuremberg, Haus 72, opposite the old city wall, with old men drinking merrily ’round the corner and hehardworking ladies would advertise their services proudly.

The kids wanted to go. But some things cannot be unseen. So, dad had to do recon and locate the target hostel. Oh, poor dad!

So, we had to bail out of that and go to our back-up hotel called “Easy entry hotel” that was not easy to find.

Then, the back-up to a back-up: at a youth hostel in the woods close to the airport but it was €24.50 per person, including children under 5, old and shared bathroom, and the receptioninist wasn’t pleasant.

Then, when all else fails, time to adapt and improvise: Novohotel, 20 mins farther north.

Here’s where we encountered our 6th hurdle on the road: Apparently, a Covid-19 negative test is required in this province of Germany (Bavaria) along with a wearing of a special kind of mask. Likely the same with other provinces.

UH-OH! That doesn’t sound good!

We called around to verify. Yup, there’s no way around it.

A&O hotel at Hauptbahnhof (main train station) offered free tests and parking for €10.

But the bigger question is: What do we do if we all or one or some of us tested positive?

So we chose to drive onwards towards Poland and hunt for hostels/motels/hotels/BnBs along the way. Maybe different regions of Germany will have different covid regulations. We hoped.

*Last legs (days 17-22) of our free electrons family camping road trip number 4, from Spain to our new home in Poland.*

So we drove and drove and stopped at possibilities; called ahead but hardly anyone spoke English and our German sucked. . . and we drove some more.

The sun had long been gone and the boys are passed out in the back. The driver and the co-pilot were getting sleepy.

We’re really desperate now. We’d been on the road for over 12 hours and 8 hours of actual driving time. Home is another 6 hours away, at least.

We might have to find a rest stop and take a nice family nap there with one parent to keep watch.

Then, BOOM!

Hotel Marché Mövenpick Hirschberg, on A9, Germany. . . to the rescue!

*This 24-hour-open Marche Motel Hirschberg came to the rescue of these weary travellers.*

It turned out we’d been here before last year under thse same “emergency” conditions on the first day of our return to Spain. You see, we missed our first camping stop by a few minutes. It closed with such German efficiency at exactly 5pm and there was nothing else nearby.

We really hauled as*es and we’re feeling really lucky. . . still. And, boy it’s nice to finally have that Hefeweizen and sleep on a bed, however small the room is!

The NEXT DAY.

Fresh start after a long, exhausting bouncing around from hotel to hostel to scouting German rest stops for possible family nap sites.

Something strange with this road today: less dense than yesterday. Easier driving. NO TRUCKS at all on our side of the road. And hardly any truck on the other side too. Why? Is it because it’s Saturday?

We only have ONE LAST (potential) PROBLEM when crossing the Polish border.

. . . You guessed it!

Will we need to show proof of vaccination and/or negative test results?

But we’re not worried about it. Most of us are Polish citizens and the car has Polish tags. The dad might get arrested or at least left behind. We’ll see.

*More toll road. . . this one connects Berlin to Warsaw and is the most expensive toll road in Poland (per kilometers travelled).*

About 5 hours later we go over the Oder river and crossed into Poland with absolutely no border checks, just liked how it was before Covid. . . EU without borders! Schengen zone as it should be.

*The Schengen zone is back. EU without borders. NO coronovirus/Covid-19 border checks at the Polish crossing.*

As we crossed, Kaj asks, “Where’s the snow?” while Karol initiated our “polska polska *ber*lles” song.

After 21 days on the road, 17 camping nights at 9 camp sites, 2 nights in a cave, a microtel and a roadside hotel, we’re looking forward to home (“is where my butt is!,” my son yells out). So, our family camping road trip number 4 ends, just like that. . . with some kind of problem, averted.

Hearty, home-cooked (ok, at least I’d like to fool myself and think so) Polish soups (gulash, tripe and sour rye with eggs) at our favorite gas station stop upon crossing the Polish border from Berlin.

What’s the lesson for us this time? Don’t overthink it. The road will have problems, especially during the unprecedented health-emergency, lockdowns and restrictions. JUST GO! And BE KIND along the way.

Welcome to the first day of our new life. . . after a family GAP YEAR. . . that turned into over four years, living in the land of sherry wine, flamenco and dancing horses–Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, we’re moving to the land of potatoes, pierogis and NOPE, NO POLKA DOT BIKINIS here, Poland.

For how long are we gonna stay? We don’t exactly know. Isn’t that great?

*Home but it’s not over yet. Now, we’ve got to unload this fully-packed car. You’d be amazed as to how much you can actually put into each and every nook and cranny of your/this car!*

A little NOTE on any establishments or items mentioned in any of our posts. In case you’re wondering. . . NO, we have not received (nor expect to receive) any form of compensation or freebies or anything at all for reviewing or mentioning this or any others on our blog.

In short: we don’t get paid for mentioning them. We do it because it is what it is and it may be helpful to you and others. And it’s fun too!

Check out this video of FREE things you can do with kids in the Sierra Nevada… in the snow!

UNFILTERED Road Trip NOTES on the road From France and Germany to Poland

603 kilometers; 13 hours on the road (almost 8 hours of driving) and X.25 hours stop over. D21: 23.7 VIE to Germamy 2x for rest; start: 721.7 @ 0943h-2300

Drive towards Mulhouse.

Paid tolls: (1) €2.90 pay toll near Fontaine, south of Soppe le Bas; (2) €11.60 toll for 118 km Dole from Péage de Choisey – A39 to Péage de Saint Maurice – A36, before crossing D123 soutj of Montbeliard on A36 towards Aire D’ecot.

Besancon micro-technologies. Kids’s chuches and cooperation breakdown… again.

Aire d’ecot: Quiet, airy with birds singing (rare for a rest stop). Big building with big parking lot. Not much to do here. Not busy. It sits on top of a hill flanked by cornfields on one side and trees on the other. Scenic view of the sloping hill and the mountains in the distance.

With all this driving, you can’t help but think, “Is there really problem with food shortage or overpopulation?” All these empty lands…. all these fields of food…. Or is it just a problem of unequal distribution. The commies int’l once said not long ago…. I think…. we do not need countries… just sectors of production so we can equally distribute people and food and goods and services and work values according to means and needs. Ha, ha, HA! Such ideals.

After crossing a small bridge over the Rhine river, we were in Deutschland without even having seen any sign of “Welcome to EU” or whatever, except later a big sign in French, German and English saying “Pay Toll”. ; )

Rasthof: McD stop at restop near Freiburg. McD DEU is quite efficienty with their number system run by 1 person, unlike tthe one in France. €0.70 pay to piss. Guess that’s why the picnic and parking area smells of piss. There’s an indoor children area. A little confusing to navigate in this rest area.

Rasthof Bul for gas.

Seemingly endless road construction in Germany.

Karlsruhe. Highway 8 east. 81 north. Heilbronn. 6 east towards Nuremberg.

Seeing all these trucks, carrying, transporting boxes, make me realize I’ll soon be boxed in a life within corners, life with borders.

Satteldorf stop: gas esso. 1.559 eu za liter. Slow down. Confusing entry for cars. Little beergarten.

A pass through Nuremberg, like little Berlin, less dense population, wide streets and fewer people.

x58

A surprise welcome of the hostel Berkut located in the redlight district of Nuremberg, Haus 72, opposite the old city wall, with old men drinking merrily at the corner. There are hardworking ladies, strutting their wares proudly. There’s a “shishka” house in the opposite corner. Paid and tight street parking. Parking underground nearby at max 1.8 m2.

We’re looking foward to a biergarten.

Easy entry hotel was not easy to find.

3rd option: at the airport. 24.50 per person at a youth hostel in the woods (Jugend-Hotel Nürnberg).

4th: Novohotel 20 mins farther north. We encountered our 6th hurdle = CV negative test required in this province of Germany.

A&O hotel at Hauptbahnhof offers free tests and parking for €10. But what do we do if we or one or some of us tested positive?

So we drive on towards Poland, will hunt for hotels/motels along the way. Maybe different regions of DEU will have different covid regulations.

€79 Hotel Marché Mövenpick Hirschberg, on A9, Germany. It turns out we’ve been here before last year on the first flubbered up day of our return trip.

++++++ NEXT DAY +++++

Thank god, gaia and the big fat budha for the less umlaut Germans… The Thuringians who may speak a sing-songey accent–NO NEGATIVE COVID TEST results here. There’s also NO NEED for the special “ftp”-whatever-mask requirements like in the region of Bavaria.

Fresh start after a long, exhausting bouncing around from hotel to hostel to motel.

199 km on route 9 from Hermsdorf, likely longer or the longest highway of our trip.

It’s not finger-lickin good. no. no. no! that chicken so bad it ain’t even kentucky fried. Nah-uh! It’s nonetucky fried chicken (or deadturkey or nantucket).

Potsdam onto hiway 12E (switched to 10). Micherlin gas 1.659 eu/liter (€30) just enough to get us to the Polish side where gas is much cheaper. Polizei station. McD. Nothing else here. Sanifair pee pee. It’s already costing us €1.40 to shoo shoo.

Why are the cars on the leftmost lane driving all the way to the left on the shoulder?

78 minutes of Stau!

Crossing Polish border. “Where’s the snow?” , Kay asks, while Karol initiates our “polska polska *ber*lles” song. Welcome to the 1st day of our new life.

Stop for food (93.5 zl) lunch at our favorite gas stastion and tanked up (211.73 Zl, 37.5 liters @ 5.640 zl/liter). Leave at 1612.

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