No fun without gasoline

As already mentioned, last Saturday I took the ferry to Brindisi to get to Italy from Greece in the shortest way possible.

Thanks to sunny weather and a patient Kiran, the over seven-hour ferry ride went by quickly, and we reached the Italian mainland on Saturday at 6 pm.

In the past few days, I had thought several times about what I would do when I am in Italy. The fact is: before my trip, I always said that Italy doesn't interest me because I have seen a lot (but not everything) already. Now I am using the route through Italy because I didn't want to drive north through Serbia/Kosovo as a solo female traveler.

The decision was made on Friday on the Lefkada Peninsula when I realized how full my head was with impressions. At times, I felt 'overwhelmed' by the many highlights and unable to absorb more, always in a positive way since I didn't take a break due to my travel pace and spirit of discovery, and because it simply wasn't as much fun hanging around on my own somewhere.

I wanted to go home.

Almost 1400 km lay between Brindisi and Seeberg, and I just started driving. In between, there was a 2.5-hour sleep break at night, and then I kept going. When the fuel gauge on Sunday morning showed that it was soon going to run out, I thought I could still drive further since after the last white bar, there is still the orange bar and then the flashing orange bar. And that lasts for a while - at least that's been my experience at home without any issue.

But here, an hour before the Swiss border at 7 am in the morning, I found myself rolling on the emergency lane with the gas pedal fully pressed, one kilometer away from the gas station. This couldn't be true.

Wearing a safety vest (at least I wore it once), I ran the one kilometer to the gas station. I definitely didn't want to risk getting a fine from the Italian police and wanted to get gasoline as quickly as possible. Of course, I cursed myself in the highest tones, got three liters of gasoline, jogged back to the car with it, and filled the tank.

Yesterday afternoon, I finally arrived in Seeberg. A good feeling. On the way back, thoughts went through my head about everything I experienced in the last 8 weeks. And I know that the journey is not yet over, even though I am home now. I believe that a lot of profit also comes from memories, lived experiences, and reflection. A travel summary will follow. :)