Guest blog: Last leg of the journey, enjoying it to the last.

Saturday and guest blog with Elisabeth Haug

It is difficult to realise that the journey is coming to an end. We feel very pleased that we have exciting things all the way through.

Podersdorf - Warsaw

We go from Austria in the morning and we have a good routine for managing driving days. We finish almost everything the night before and then make breakfast which we eat when we are on the road. Elias finds it cosy when we wake him up, help him into the car seat and breakfast is ready. He usually listens to an audio book and eats his breakfast in peace and quiet.

The border crossings between Austria-Slovakia, Slovakia-Czech Republic and Czech Republic-Poland went smoothly, I didn't even have to stop and show my passport. The EU, how nice. Many miles (73!) but it went so well. Sometimes Elias and I switch places so he can come out and talk to dad and I can read in peace and quiet. 🙂

Warsaw

In the centre of Warsaw we found a campsite (Camping Majawa). It was easy to find there and it was very well placed if you want to discover the city by bike or on foot. About 4 km to the old town and most things were within 5 km. There are also buses just outside the campsite.

Warsaw has good transport links, both bus and tram work well. We found a Russian restaurant named Babushka, do not memorise the name. Or do it to pass by. 🙂

While looking for places to eat in the evening, we walked past a church that had a choir singing. We went in and there was a concert. A male choir was singing loudly. Elias said: "Mum, I'm getting teary-eyed". What an experience, completely unplanned.

Warsaw - Augstow

25 kilometres to Augustow, a town very close to the border with Lithuania. We thought that since it is the first time we will drive in Lithuania we want to start driving in the morning and therefore a slightly shorter route, so we were ready to meet Lithuania early the next morning. There were good roads on this stretch.

A reflection made by my dear husband, who loves driving in Germany and likes Autohof, is that there is a great interest in lorries in Poland. There are many "pimped" lorries and several truckshops (for those who love tinkering). Per even found the magazine "Trailer" translated into Polish.

Augustow

Augustow was a positive surprise. It was a nice town, some outdoor restaurants, a nice little square and the campsite was nice. The service house was brand new so it was nice to get a fresh shower and toilet. Elias swam in the lake, nice beach and a good playground for smaller children. It was a bit funny when Elias said that it was VERY COLD in the water. Yes, if you have bathed in about 30-35 degrees for 5 weeks, then it is cold. 🙂

Augustow - Curonian Spit, Lithuania

As we were sitting in Augstow in the evening, planning the next day's route, we saw that just off Klaipeda there was an island that was half Lithuanian and half Russian. half Russia. It sounded so exciting that it would be criminal not to. Googled a bit and found out some things about this place called Kuriska Näset. There was a campsite there. The journey was a little longer because it was 5 miles out on the island. Then it was decided. Kuriska näset will be the next stop.

What is worth knowing, which we got as a surprise, is that the ferry took about 5 minutes and cost 30 euros (for us) and after about 5 minutes of travelling there was a toll, another 30 euros. And so within 30 minutes, 60 euros went .. It said on the GPS that these 5 miles would take about 1.15 and it did. Beautiful but bad road.

Curonian Spit, Nida, Lithuania

The campsite was near the town of Nida. A little "hejbaberiba" with the sites but otherwise good. It was walking distance to both the centre, the large sand dunes and the beach.

There were different types of sand dunes, we learnt, this one was "alive" and therefore you had to walk there. It was 50 metres at the highest point and since there was no vegetation, it moved according to the weather and wind. We took a boat trip that showed us a fine lagoon, the sand dunes and a bit of fun was touching the Russian border.

We had planned to stay in Klaipeda one night but we hesitated a bit on our last stop in Ventspils and chose to stay here 2 nights. It was so nice.

The journey between the Curonian Spit and Ventspils

We were looking forward to this trip as it looked like we would be travelling along the coast all the way. In total, the trip was about 25 miles of which 5 miles were on the island. Hm, possible that the road went close to the sea but we didn't see that. It is very dense forest in Lithuania we can now conclude. A bit of roadworks later and fridge grids poorer, we arrived at lunch.

Ventspils, Latvia

The last stop of the journey. On Friday (read yesterday) we will be home in Åkersberga. Then difficult to understand that this will be the last night in "Bella" for this time. It doesn't feel like we are going home. We are in a new place, discovering it and have no plans to start finishing the journey.

"Trix"

We took the opportunity to rent something called Trix. Oh my god so much fun! We did the town, looked around and even found the beach. The campsite was very nice and we immediately think that we will make several trips here.

The campsite is located right next to the beach and it takes 5 minutes from the ferry, so in other words, we have the car journey from Åkersberga to Nynäshamn, the ferry across and FORWARD. We will definitely do that sometime.

Last dinner in Bella for this time

Well, here we are, enjoying our last dinner of the year's holiday. We had many good laughs when we started to remember what we had been through. Wow, the wrong way round in Albania, not to be trifled with. The storm in Croatia that knocked out the fridge and then in Dubrovnik the immobiliser kicked in so that when we would leave the campsite after finally getting a cooler, well then the car was dead. But that went well too. We got start help and googled how to get rid of it.

It is not so scary to be out in unknown countries anyway. We have met so much warmth, nice people and experienced fantastic places. Next week I will write a final blog where I summarise the trip. Take care, see you next week.

Did you miss the last post about the trip? Read the Goodbye Greece, stage 3 begins

Read the conclusion of the trip: That's it for this year