Arrival @ Zagreb, Croatia, May 17, 2019
I continue zigzags through the Central and Eastern Europe. Today, almost after 10 months since Uruguay, I experienced a ‘formal’ border crossing procedure with Hungarian officials with suspecting eyes on the car, its license plate, and my overall trustworthiness. After an hour, I was let go. Now I’m in Croatia while having a break from the ticking Schengen clock. @ Letenye, Hungary, May 17, 2019
Arrival @ Wroclaw, Poland, May 4, 2019
Arrived in Wroclaw, Poland. So officially I began traveling in Eastern Europe. Not only am I excited to explore the region, but also this will be helpful to have a break from the ticking Schengen clock, as I travel further south. @ Wroclaw, Poland, May 4, 2019
a well-organized Spring Festival of Zurich @ Sechselauten Festival, Zurich, Switzerland, April 8, 2019
a well-organized Spring Festival of Zurich Sechseläuten is a mouthful name. It’s the name of Zurich’s spring festival. It is held on the 3rd Monday of April and the climax of the festival is the burning (or almost blowing up) of the snowman figure called Böögg (photo 3 and 4). It seems natural to ‘drive out’ the snowman in order to welcome Spring. The legend has it that the sooner the fire reaches the snowman from the pyre, the longer and hotter the summer is going...
Arrival @ Vaduz, Liechtenstein, April 13, 2019
Arrived in Liechtenstein. It’s the world’s 6th smallest country, with a population of just about 38,000. It can easily be much smaller than a small town in other countries. Although it’s 8 times as large as Monaco, it seems much smaller to me, and that’s probably because there are not many visible activities or tourists around. @ Vaduz, Liechtenstein, April 13, 2019
Jungfrau @ Jungfrau, Switzerland, April 11, 2019
Jungfrau Jungfrau (meaning virgin in German) is probably the best-known summit of the Bernese Alps in Switzerland. A convenient train ride takes you to the Jungfraujoch railway station standing at 3,454m, where you can enjoy the views either inside air-conditioned platforms or you could take short walks outside along safe trails. When the Sun shines, it was actually warm outside, although it was almost impossible to open eyes without sunglasses due to the reflection of sunlight. It was not particularly breath-taking for me. For one, I’ve...
Anxiety and Appreciation @ Gorges de Paganin, France, March 28, 2019
Anxiety and Appreciation Driving at night is riskier in general. For overlanders, it is especially not recommended because you are not familiar with the road conditions, you probably don’t speak the local language, and sometimes you pass areas with no cell signal, which is dangerous in case of emergency. Despite this advice, many travelers including myself often drive at night because many things just don’t go as planned. One of the frequent culprits is not wanting to leave a place so soon during the day. And...
Arrival @Turin, Italy, March 29, 2019
With tons of warm memories, I finally left southern France and entered Italy. Apparently Italy is a super popular destination for travelers, but I am just visiting one city before heading towards Switzerland. @Turin, Italy, March 29, 2019
Highs and lows @ Carrières de Lumières, Les Baux-de-Provence, France, March 17, 2019
Highs and Lows Mostly because Spain was very comfortable for me, where there was no language barrier, entering France was both exciting and mildly anxiety-inducing. It was new country, language, and people. After several days of intense driving followed by a scene of big confusion in a supermarket where I got the attention of everyone including the security personnel, I realized I was mentally exhausted. But the next day, I had the pleasure of having a picnic with new local friends, where we spent a warm...

