Ingrid and Marcel World Journey

ça fait toujours plaisir; si c’est pas en arrivant, c’est en repartant, disait ma grand-mère.
(Besucher sind immer eine Freude, wenn nicht bei der Ankunft, dann bei der Abreise, sagte meine Grossmutter)

Ask René and Béa, they can for sure explain if needed.

It’s now 1h30 and we are having a last panaché on the balcony, somehow we’re not tired yet.
The excitement probably, tomorrow is the big day. (yes, we are really going now)

Our bags are packed, 40 litres each. The content:

1 pair of socks
3 underwear
1 pair of shorts
1 pair of pants
1 pair of convertibles
3 t-shirts
1 long sleeve shirt
1 short sleeve shirt for Marcel and 1 long arm jersey for Ingrid
1 fleece
1 bathing suit
1 cap
sunglasses
walking boots
sandals
flip-flops for moldy showers

1 towel (eher ein überdimensonierter Mikrofaser Lumpe)
toothbrush, toothpaste, armpit stuff, soap, shampoo for Ingrid, rasor for Marcel
1 first-aid kit (the biggest item in the bag)
sunscreen
liquid soap for clothes
a universal sink plug
a water filter
a camera
a telephone
a current adapter for over 150 countries (in case our money lasts longer then expected)
a Victorinox
a multitool
a compass

The weight? We have our guess, but let’s see if you guys can figure it out!
We’re taking the bets from tonight on!! Don’t pass this opportunity, the person with the guess closest to reality wins something special from us!

We’re gone now. Next post sometime from somewhere….

A few pictures of 4 days in the Provence with my dad and Lise.

Rosé wine, fields of vines, roman aqueduc ruins, le moulin de Daudet.

Simply beautiful.

Finally it’s fixed: we’re leaving definitely on June 10th.

First destination: Oman as planned.
Further destinations: unknown.

We opted for the adventure, forgetting about the round-the-world ticket and just booking our first flight. We’ll just wing it from there.

B&B chez René
Currently we’re still hoging Béa’s atelier. Although the bed is inflatable the service here is excellent: breakfast is served at the family table every morning and we can even have the evening meal here if we reserve enough in advance. The owners and their son Jon are very friendly. Rating ***.

On Thursday we will be driving to Provence for 3-4 days to meet my dad and Lise who will be there on vacation. Afterwards back to Zurich for the last packing and bye bye.
I can still hardly believe it.

Now we’re off to the stores again, this time to buy Ziplocs and a sink plug.

After 2 weeks in Pastaland we are back once more in Zürich.

And forget about Salerno, we didn’t make it anywhere more south then Rome 🙂

We took our time driving to Rome, stopping along the way in Salsomaggiore and Castelnovo nel Monti (close to Parma), visiting a castle and enjoying local food along the way. We then spent 3 days camping in the rain in Rome. We did visit the Collosseum and some roman ruins, passed by the Vatican and walked around the city, but somehow we were all done with the tourist crowd and the wet weather. We decided to look up the weather forecast and head towards sunshine. And it wasn’t in the south, it was further up north. We considered Sardegna, but when we saw the boat had left 5 minutes before we arrived at the port we changed our mind. You see that’s the beautiful thing about this. The boat left? Oh well, let’s find something else! Believe it or not the problem is not in changing plans, it’s actually in making them, the opportunities are so endless it actually sometimes makes choosing difficult!

A tip to al beach lovers: Punta Ala in Italy. It’s within driving distance of ZH (just south of Piombino) and has a great camping directly on the sea. We liked it so much we ended up staying there for 10 days working on our base skin protection before Oman. We also kept on what we’re been training since soon 2 months: sleeping and eating lots, doing nix all and having the daily apéro glass of wine. Yes my pants are slowly getting tighter. And my stomach is also taking shape.

Man life is hard.

 
A few pics of Toscana (the castle), Rome and Punta Ala.

The 1st pic shows what exceptionnal fungi can grow inside an Expresso machine if left a tiny bit humid. The wonders of nature.

The pictures with snow are on the Gotthard pass when we came back to Switzerland.