From Aires (Portugal) to Heilbronn (Germany)

After two very enjoyable but not so restful weeks here we go heading back to our future in Germany.

We are all set to leave at dawn, the car is all packed to the roof and everyone is preparing for the departure.

And here is our adventure (realtime pictures here).

• Travel time: 29h00
• Distance covered: 2500km
• Gas: 129€
• Toll: 105,10€
• Hotel: 48€
• Food/Parking/Extras: 56,25€

RoadBook (GMT+1):

2009.1.2
08:00 – Time to go!
13:00 – Been driving the N-V for a couple of hours after leaving Portugal through the A6 (Badajoz). Time to swap driver and rest a bit before stopping for a lunch break. We are 130km from Madrid.
15:00 – Lunch break. We stopped just after Madrid for food and bathroom. We took a wrong turn in Madrid but quickly got back to the A-2. We need the break and some caffeine to make it to Lloret de Mar before 22:00 for a good night sleep at the Hotel.
15:30 – Back on the road…
20:00 – 4th bathroom stop… I am soooooo beat up. Joy will drive us to the hotel…
22:00 – Hotel Helios at Lloret de Mar, so far so good (I had to pay in advance?!) as long as nobody breaks into my car (parked in the public underground garage)…
23:00 – Quick “dinner” sponsored by my dear mommy (THANK YOU!)
23:59 – Shower and bed…

2009.1.3
09:30 – Buenos dias muchachos!!! Desayuno at 07:30… Was at 09:30… The park makes 12h at 10:00… Damn!
11:00 – Made it for the park. Took some nice pictures at the beach and here we go again…
13:30 – Lunch in France, Lapalme service area.
17:00 – Break to switch driver, buy a snack and drink a cappuccino. Still over 800km to go… It is getting harder and the sun is now setting. We were stalled for 30 minutes at the toll in France…
20:30 – Dinner at Bourg, Jasseron. Getting closer to the German border.
23:30 – Stopped for cappuccino. 120km to Strasbourg and then we enter Deutschland… Finally!!

2009.1.4
02:05 – At “home”, we did not miss it at all. Time to rest. I promise a follow up tomorrow.

Follow up
We woke up at 12:30, I feel like I am in a different world, I feel tired, sick and depressed. I unloaded the car thinking that I will have to move all this and much more in a couple of weeks to the new apartment.
After lunch I am crashing in bed trying to overcome the initial clash… this place, the weather, the moving and all the stuff still to resolve before moving to Stuttgart… Today I felt like quitting, but we were in worst situations in the past, so I will suck it up and move on…

From my vacations I bring some good memories:

• Staying with my family, laughing, talking, hugging, sharing, remembering, dreaming.
• Visiting my grandfather.
• Enjoying pure and inspiring friends (C’).
• Hanging out with our best friends (“Migas” and Cards ).
• Meeting my friends, the few remaining… from work at CBV (and my youth) and my MTB buddies.
• Having time to love Joy.

 
I still missed a couple of friends but I never forget and there will always be a next time.

I hope to keep in touch with you all, you are the only reason I look back.

From Heilbronn (Germany) to Aires (Portugal)

Here is our plan for tomorrow. We’ll start when I get off work at around 16:00.

Route Path:

• Pforzheim, Germany.
• Bordeaux, France.
• Aires, Portugal.

Distance: 2300km

Time: 23h (driving time).

So here we are after another week full of ups and downs, we are leaving for some quality time with our friends and family before we come back to (finally!) a normal life. A (rented) house in Stuttgart, a job, kindergarten, language school, etc…

And here is our adventure (realtime pictures here):

• Time spent: 26h00
• Distance covered: 2300km
• Gas money: 143,70€
• Toll money: 56,60€
• Extras: 33,15€

RoadBook (GMT+1):

2008.12.19
15:00 – Time to go! All packed and ready. We have fuel for 400km… Let’s roll…
15:20 – The girls have to pee…

16:00 – A5 heading to Strasburg, packed 2-lane highway.

17:00 – A36 entering France! A bit rainy before leaving Germany but it is dry here. Got a 3G connection from OrangeF.

20:00 – Trying to stay below the speed limit we drove 3 hours in the rain with some short periods of dense fog. The little one fell asleep for one hour and we’re feeling good. We are now eating in a highway rest area. Everyone speaks French! .

21:00 – Got off A6 and we have now around 200km in national roads (70 and 90km/h limit). Caffeine levels are ok. The little one is watching a movie and ready to sleep. Joy is driving, I am writing .

23:00 – Finally back on the highway, we roll on the A71 after spending 2 hours behind trucks. My turn to drive now.

2008.12.20
03:00 – Ah… Big strech and two times out of the highway as told by the navigation sexy voice. Stopped for caffeine and gas… We are still in the A89 but we’ll soon be passing Bordeaux and then heading south into Spain.

09:00 – It was a looooong ride through the whole night. I am done. We stopped for food, in Spain, 300km before Madrid. The sun shines and the weather is now clear, much safer than the fog we got during the night.

11:00 – Got an hour and a half of semi-sleep and we are now getting closer to Madrid. And we can read 188km to the Portuguese border. It is all covered in fog we can’t see sh*t… My turn to drive.

14:30 – Stop for quick lunch in Fundao. It is hot and sunny. Next stop in Setubal.

17:30 – What a hell! This is not Christmas, it’s Summer, 18°C!? Drove the last 3 hours in the desperate mood of finally getting my ass off this car! Enough is enough and we made it safelly I’ll be home hugging my parents pretty soon… I wonder how am I getting all the way back to Heilbronn… But we’ll worry about that in 2 weeks time.