We are still in Austria...

August 12th, Monday

Hello from Graz! Phew, we are really tired... being on the road every day for two weeks is quite exhausting. Luckily, yesterday we found a beautiful pitch outside Graz for 20 euros per night (including everything, even admission to the huge swimming pool next door!) and we will stay here for a few days to rest.

But let's look back... Sunday evening a week ago, we spent the evening with Justine and Guillaume, which prompted us to start a week without alcohol from the next day. We successfully completed that, cheers! 😊

The next morning, we said a big goodbye to the two of them and continued our journey to Salzburg. The route took us through Germany for a short time, which we only realized when the German police stopped us after a short break at a highway rest stop. After taking a quick look inside our rolling home and stroking Filou's ears, they let us continue, luckily.

Shortly before Salzburg, we stopped at a pet store because Filou has been vomiting occasionally for a few days (we had been giving him cheap food from Billa recently, we couldn't find anything else). As soon as we arrived at the store, he vomited in front of the saleswoman. We then bought the most expensive dog food and his stomach has been better since. Where on earth did the little Monsieur get his gourmet food from when he was living on the street?

We stayed at a campsite just outside Salzburg for a whopping EUR 90 for two nights. The campsite had a swimming pool, which we were actually looking forward to, but when we saw what felt like 100 children screaming in it, we decided against it.

The next day was Sarah's birthday. At this point, thanks a lot to everyone who contributed to the group gift. When Sarah unpacked the book with all the letters and photos from her friends, she cried countless elephant tears.

We then took the bus to Salzburg and strolled through the old town. We tried the famous Salzburger Nockerl in a café and... well, we were pretty disappointed. A Salzburger Nockerl is like a huge meringue that has been taken out of the oven too early, so it is still soft inside and out and tastes strongly of egg. It was served with a berry sauce. We couldn't quite figure out this combination and left the café confused. After that, we went to see all the famous monuments, castles, and palaces and returned exhausted to the campsite in the evening, where we celebrated Sarah's birthday (of course, without alcohol).

On Wednesday, we continued towards Hallstatt. A village that Sarah really wanted to visit because it is "a famous prehistoric site" (she was talking about the Hallstatt era and the Iron Age, I have no idea). But first, we went to Conrad where Sarah treated herself to a birthday present, an Osmopocket (google it!). Justine and Guillaume had raved about it and after a few tests, our own conclusion is that it's absolutely amazing! Really, really awesome! There will be some really nice videos coming soon 😊

However, we didn't quite make it to Hallstatt, but instead stopped in St. Gilgen on Wolfgangsee. Park4Night (an app that shows parking spots on the way) had shown us a nice spot here, and the spot was actually very beautiful. We just had to open the back doors and there was the lake in front of us. We felt like the people in those super romantic #vanlife pictures on Insta. However, shortly after, it started raining again.

The next day, we drove to another spot on Wolfgangsee where we could park our van right next to a beautiful bathing bay. We spent the day swimming, jogging, eating ice cream, chatting with other campers, and enjoying coffee. In the evening, we continued to Hallstatt and found a wonderful spot just outside at a dog bathing beach. Too bad Filou doesn't like to swim, but at least he dipped his paws in.

The next morning, we went to Hallstatt early and it was... crowded. The town itself is fantastically located by the lake with cute, ultra-quaint, super romantic cottages everywhere, but the crowd of people (95% Asians) took away some of its charm. When we started talking to some locals in the village square, we found out that there are 750 locals and 10,000 tourists here every day.

In the afternoon, we went back to the spot with the dog beach and planned to spend another night here before heading towards Vienna the next day. After dinner, we spontaneously decided to leave that evening. We were really in the mood for driving! However, since our old vignette had expired and the new one was only valid from the next day, we had to drive on main and side roads towards Vienna. We zigzagged through the sunset and finally through the night for almost four hours until we found a parking lot somewhere in a small village shortly before midnight. The next day, we finally got on the highway and arrived at Heldenplatz in the city center of Vienna around noon, where all the magnificent sights were scattered within a few minutes' walk. We found the place through park4night, and we were lucky that it was the weekend because then it's free. On weekdays, it costs around 20 euros per day.

We wandered through Vienna for hours and returned to our van completely exhausted. After a short power nap, we had pizza at an Italian restaurant and realized how tired we were. We discussed where we wanted to go next, but somehow we didn't feel like doing anything. With park4night, there are so many options that it can be overwhelming. The next morning, we decided that we wanted to head towards the sea and that we definitely needed to shower. On our SuperApp, we found an affordable parking spot just outside Graz. When we arrived at the parking spot after a 2.5-hour drive, we realized: we need a break! Being on the go every day, taking care of water supply, toilet disposal, shower facilities, etc., constantly packing and unpacking, driving, Filou with his needs, and of course us with our needs, daily new impressions... it's fun, of course, but it's also exhausting. We realized that we just wanted to stay in one place for a few days without all the "camping supply stress". Just relax, do whatever we feel like doing, or even do nothing at all... that's why we booked 4 nights here right away and today, one day after arriving here, we are super happy and deeply relaxed.

My mother asked me in an email today if we cook for ourselves or if we only eat fast food: Dear mom, we cook our own meals every day (and it's healthy too!)! But we also want to try the local cuisine of the places we are staying at, so we occasionally share a dish in a restaurant.

Here is our provisional route for the next weeks and months - in case anyone wants to join us for a few days 😊

After Austria, we will continue to Slovenia and maybe even to Northern Italy. At the end of August, we will meet some good friends in Croatia who are also traveling with a van. By mid-September at the latest, we will take a ferry from Croatia to Southern Italy where we will meet Sarah's dad. After that, we plan to travel along the west coast of Italy and then along the coasts of Southern France and Southern Spain, so that we will arrive in Portugal in November or December. There, we want to spend the winter and find a nice workaway place where we can work in exchange for food and accommodation. In spring, we will continue north to the Scandinavian islands and then to Sweden, Norway, and back down on the other side. So much for the theoretical plan. We are excited to see what awaits us out there 😊

Author: Stephanie Köllinger