Euro Trip part 2 : Murphy’s law versus Team lovely holiday

Murphy’s First Law:  Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Thanks Murph, it did.
We scored up North in Denmark but the colder weather got to us so it was time to head south towards the sun. Italy here we come! Despite the bad luck this turned into the euro road trip I’ve always wanted to do.

Hamburg
On our way down we stopped at lena Erdil’s place in Hamburg.
Where we spent the hottest summer’s day working out in the park, surf foiling on the Rhine and treated to a lovely dinner. Thanks for hosting us Lena and Kai!

Hannover
Murphy’s Third Law:  Everything takes longer than you think it will.
Our trip continued further South towards Munich, but we only made it one hour past Hamburg when we realized one of the wheels was leaking and needed air.
That was fixed in a jiffy. However once on the road again, the car started pulling to the right. Could we have had this problem in a better part of the world?
We were in Volkswagen paradise. At the garage in Hannover we found out that actually all 4 tires needed to be replaced. That took all day, but it was a great opportunity to explore town and have ice cream in the park!

Rosenheim
Murphy’s Eighth Law: If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
All seemed well and we were determined to make it to the border of Italy when the coolant tank signed it was empty and then 2 hours after re-filling it, again it was empty. Really?!
We stopped at the 4^th garage within 2 days to get that checked.
They said it was probably the water pump. Worst case it was the engine, but that would be very unlikely. Because it was Friday, they wouldn’t be able to get it done before Monday.

Anyone ever heard of Rosenheim before? Me neither! That town is tiny. I was not spending the weekend there. I checked the map and I was eager to do a weekend trip to Vienna, Rome, Venice or Munich. I could not believe how close we were to these amazing cities!!

Munich
Munich was the closest city and we were lucky that Adam sims lived there and could host us for the  weekend. By Monday we received a phone call from the garage saying we needed a whole new engine!!!
So in the end we spent a whole week exploring Munich while the car was getting upgraded.
We had awesome weather. I was mind blown by all the beautiful buildings, the river and parks. Simsy and Alina took us for river surfing, we hit the pump track on the skateboard, caught some crossfit sessions We did indoor surfing and somehow ended up on the highway on a vespa that only goes 50. Adrenaline levels were high those 10 minutes.

Sardinia
Finally we picked up our house on wheels in Rosenheim and continued the drive to Italy.
By now we’ve been travelling about 3 weeks and have had very little windsurfing sessions. We opted to go to Sardinia instead of Sicily as it was closer by and it looked windier. On the way to the ferry port in Livorno we drove through snowy Austria and I begged Oda to make a pit stop at The tower of Pisa. How cool!

Of course we missed the windiest day of the week, and felt the remnants of the storm on the rough 8-hour ferry ride. Upon arrival we went straight to Funtana Meiga.
By the time we got on the water, the wind was only getting lighter and lighter until both Oda and I ended up swimming back to shore near the cliffs further downwind.
Thanks to the 4 Italian stallions who were very keen to rescue us and our gear.

Two weeks was not enough in Sardinia!
This is a dream destination. It is so diverse when it comes to Nature and surroundings.
The food is good everywhere and the people are friendly.
There was one stormy highlight day in Sa Barra which made for amazing freestyle.
Kiting across there at Punta Trettu was a lot of fun. At Stintino I saw one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. Up North At Porto Pollo and Marina de la Rossa it was fun for wave sailing with Jacopo Testa and Federico Morisio.

Murphy’s Fourteenth Law:  If anything can’t go wrong on its own, someone will make it go wrong.
Just when we forgot about our car problems, we found ourselves rolling off the highway not able to give any gas and stopping in front of a farm. WHAT NOW AGAIN !!
We had no clue what was wrong. People don’t really speak English in Sardinia and when we finally found a tow truck, first the guy farted in public, and finally he said the big van would not fit on the tow truck. No mechanic wanted to come out and meet us. But by a complete miracle, our friends Jo and Vroni were also driving the same direction as we were and found us on the side of the road. Together we drove to the nearest city and after 4 garages we finally found some guys that were willing to help us out.
Turns out one bolt wasn’t tightened enough so the belt for the turbo came undone.
We could have destroyed the engine completely again.

After 6 weeks and lots of up and downs with the van Oda dropped me off in Holland safe and sound, with lots and lots of memories of and adventure for the books!
Murphy’s law followed us everywhere, but there was nothing team lovely holiday couldn’t handle or turn into an adventure!
Check the photos and vlog below!

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