700km and the bypass in the bypass

Exactly 700 km was displayed on the navigation system from the place of residence to the vacation destination.

And so it began on August 31, 2024, at exactly 10 a.m. The travel companion actually wanted to start by '9:00 a.m. sharp,' but unfortunately, there was still so much to do in the garden, and once that was done, the phone (specifically her phone) was missing. Unfortunately, the travel companion had set her phone to silent on the last evening so that no one from the USA might call in the night before the big trip and disturb the night’s peace. And now the device had disappeared without a trace and could be anywhere. So the whole luggage had to be unpacked and searched again. I already knew this from the border control in New Zealand, where the dog kept sniffing the little apple that had been removed from the backpack weeks ago, which, however, did not prevent us from unpacking everything. This time, it was a luggage check in the Schengen area right in front of our own front door. Not bad.

I don't want to drag this out, but the phone was left behind during the last business visit in the bathroom. Fortunately, I announced that we definitely wouldn’t stop before the A8 and suggested that one should reconsider. I don't know how much liquid was released; in any case, the phone was back. So we set off 60 minutes late.

The initial arrival time of 5:30 p.m. seemed very optimistic to me even at departure. Maintaining an average speed of 100 km/h over 700 km on German highways is illusory, so we quickly reached 6:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m., and then after the A8 with the mega-construction sites towards Pforzheim at 8:00 p.m.

At some point, it became country roads and Austria. In advance, I had - quite modern - already purchased a digital daily vignette for the motorway for 8.50 euros only to find out that the A14 (Brenner Autobahn) requires an additional toll of 11 euros. For a penny-pincher, that's a real no-go. However, since I knew what was happening in the car when I switched to toll-avoidance mode after about 8 hours of driving and crawled through all the little towns, I decided that I would invest the nearly 20 euros to spare my eardrums for the last 170 km. So I added the Brenner toll, paid via PayPal, and done.

There’s always something to complain about, and this time it wasn’t about avoiding tolls, but whether the 'digital' thing actually works? But I had the confirmation from ADAC in my pocket and also the invoice as a PDF, so what could go wrong?

But unfortunately, we were directed onto the bypass after the first digital license plate check on the 'digital ticket' lane. The travel companion immediately suspected a wrong license plate, which later turned out to be unfounded since I had entered everything correctly. So, second attempt on the detour for the bypass. Again, red, and the barrier wouldn’t go up. Even the voice over the intercom wanted to explain to me that the vignette was insufficient and that the system couldn’t find the license plate.

I was told to scan the barcode. I would have done that, but there was no barcode in either the order or the invoice from ADAC, just a transaction number, which the man on the loudspeaker had never heard of. So he just hung up and said I should pay the 11 euros. That was unacceptable, and before resorting to violence, I pressed the button again. Only the second voice (female) was able to find our license plate in the computer and opened the barrier.

If anyone thinks that was it, like I did, they have to pay again at the toll booth after passing the Italian border. Another 4.30 euros were due until the exit.

But eventually, you just want to arrive and pay up.

However, I have a plan for the return trip...