Week 13 Flop, Bad Luck and Mishap (Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria and Germany)

OK, we have kept many of you waiting with the last picture in the previous blog. Some of you even contacted us to clarify.

Let's put it this way, it was a mishap that didn't have to happen. As you may still remember, we were heading north in Montenegro when the power steering failed. The bus could only be steered with great effort and in addition, the battery symbol was flashing. For us it was clear that we couldn't continue for now. The weather was of course as bad as you couldn't imagine. According to the weather report, more than 20 liters of water per square meter came down. What's more, our phone provider did not include Montenegro in the EU package, as it is not an EU member state. So we had to pay an additional 10€ for a call to the ADAC. The mood was really down in the dumps when Kerrin had a brilliant idea. While we were waiting for the tow truck, she wanted to prepare a delicious vanilla pudding. But unfortunately, it turned into a tasteless lumpy mush. It just wasn't our day.

:-(

After we were finally picked up by the tow truck, we were taken to the workshop in the next town. We were quite surprised when we stopped at a single-family house, in whose double garage three gentlemen were already waiting for us. We weren't sure if we were in the right place, but we thought it was better than nothing. It seemed that nobody except our tow truck driver could speak English. The tow truck driver left us with the words: 'the workshop guys would call him to translate if there were any communication difficulties'. Olli was a bit skeptical, as the 3 gentlemen didn't speak English at all. But when the tow truck driver left, we realized that the car mechanic could speak a few English words, which gave us a lot of clarity. Later in the afternoon, it started. They told us that it was the alternator and that they would repair it. But it wouldn't be finished the same day. After we explained to the car mechanic and owner of the workshop that we wanted to sleep in the car, he immediately said that it would not be a problem to sleep in the garage in the bus, as long as we didn't mind being locked in overnight. But we could use the toilet and bathroom in the workshop. For us, after he said he would have the alternator repaired by the next day, it was the best news of the day. In the late afternoon, the father of our car mechanic(ti) came by, who surprisingly spoke German quite well. Of course, he, too, had been a guest worker in Germany many years ago.

He was very friendly to us, as was the car mechanic(ti) Marko. The older gentleman chatted with us for a long time and there were also homemade fruit brandy and delicious fruit juice from fruits from his own garden. In the evening, he accompanied us to a grill in town, run by his cousin. There we could choose various pieces of meat and sausages from the fresh counter, which were then grilled right away and served in a burger bun with fresh sauces and salad, just like we know it from the kebab shop in Germany. It tasted great! The day turned out to be quite good for us. As they say: 'A stroke of luck in misfortune!'

After a quiet and pleasant night in the workshop, the bus was finished the next day around noon and we could continue north.

After the weather in Southeast Europe no longer invited us to camp, it was clear that we would drive back to Germany. However, we had to drive through Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, and Austria again. It was only 20 more hours according to Google Maps. ;-) But as long as the bus holds up, it's no problem.

But as if the mishap in Montenegro wasn't enough, we also encountered two very friendly corrupt police officers in Bosnia & Herzegovina. We came across a police control like dozens of times before. 'Driver's license, vehicle registration, and ID, please!' No problem, we thought. But then it became problematic. Olli's driver's license had a printing error. The last name 'Raabe' is spelled with only one 'a'. At the registration office, they had explained to him that the driver's license would only be renewed at the expense of the authority if there were 3 printing errors. And Olli decided not to renew his driver's license at his own expense because it wasn't his fault. But now we were in a mess. The police officer said it was driving without a valid driver's license and would cost a fine of 200€. Fortunately, Olli remained calm and also listened to the rest of the police officer's explanation, who briefly spoke to his colleague in the local language. Then they wanted to see Kerrin's driver's license, which still said 'Empen'. Fortunately, the ID still bears Kerrin's maiden name as Empen, which Olli quickly explained. After that, Olli was asked to come to the police car so that a report could be written. The police officer sat in the car and pulled out his papers, and then suddenly said that he actually had a good day and that we could do things differently. He suggested that Kerrin continue driving and he and his colleague would just pretend that Kerrin had been driving, and in return, we would finance some drinks for him and his colleague for the evening. In other words, he wanted to see some cash from us. Also in Euro. In the meantime, Kerrin was already on the phone with the ADAC to find out if there was anything we could do if he really demanded the 200 euros. The second police officer, who had been standing the whole time between our car, in which Kerrin was sitting, and the police car, noticed this and immediately told his colleague. Apparently, alarm bells went off for both of them. The police officer with Olli asked rather quickly if he understood what he had suggested and gave him back all the documents such as ID, driver's license, and vehicle registration, and also said that he should just go and get some money for the drinks. Unfortunately, we only had two 20 euro bills, we wanted to give him a tenner. But we also didn't know if they would be satisfied with that. Well, Olli put a bill in his pocket for emergencies, and he handed the other bill to the police officer. After asking if everything was settled with that, the response came with a friendly smile: 'If it's okay for you, then yes!' As if something like that would be okay for us!? The most stupid statement at the end was that we could swap places again after a kilometer. We preferred to do without it and Kerrin drove the rest of the three-hour journey through Bosnia and also through all the border controls from now on, which was a good thing, because 3 km further there was the next police control, which watched us but fortunately did not wave us over.

The next destination of our journey was the beautiful Oberallgäu in the Free State of Bavaria, where Lioba, Olli's aunt, lives. The way there was a bit difficult as we had to drive through a snowstorm. We have been here several times before and this time there was even a premiere and a wonderful surprise for us. On the same evening we arrived, Lioba's son (Christopher) and his wife and two children also came to visit. We had never met Christopher and the youngest son in person before, so there was a really great family meeting on the evening of our arrival.

In the following days, we enjoyed life in the Allgäu. There was a lot of intense chatting, playing, eating, and walking. After such a long time, it was something special for us to just go with the flow. No obligations, a toilet nearby at any time, and a bed that didn't have to be set up first. On the last day in the Allgäu, Lioba and Kerrin spent a long shopping day in the beautiful city of Kempten.

We have now arrived home with a joyful smile and a tear. The reception was incredibly nice and warm, so it's fun to come home again.

Kerrin had to go to the doctor at home again, the sea urchin stings have now become infected. What a bummer.

It was an incredibly wonderful time we had and we both believe that it not only expanded our horizons in many respects but also brought us even closer together.

At this point, we would also like to thank all interested readers. We were always very happy about the large number of readers, which always encouraged and pushed us to continue writing and documenting not only for ourselves but also for you.

Thank you very much. It was a great experience for us to be able to take this trip.

For those who are still interested, we will write a summary of our journey in the next few days. ;-)