Journey home and summary of our Slovakia trip

17.7.20

It takes well over 400 km from Salzkammergut to home at Lake Constance, and we drive it quickly without major stops or breaks. Surprisingly, we pass through Munich without any traffic jams or delays, so we finally arrive in Immenstaad around 2:30 pm. We made it!

Summary

We have no regrets about our spontaneous decision to take this trip to Slovakia! We felt safe and well taken care of in this country under the current conditions of the pandemic. Slovakia has been relatively less affected by the pandemic, but still follows precautionary measures such as sanitization, wearing masks in stores, buildings, and during sightseeing, maintaining minimum distances, etc. Normal life is functioning well, but there are very few foreign tourists. In restaurants, on lifts and cable cars, there is usually a lot of space available, ensuring the compliance with minimum distances. Our main focus was on the nature of this beautiful mountainous country, where crowds of people were not an issue during our hikes in the fresh air. Even in the smaller cities we visited, there was no real hustle and bustle. Bratislava, as the capital, is naturally more lively, but we didn't use any public transportation here or anywhere else and could mostly move around separately.

The language barrier can be managed, many young people speak English, and menu cards are often available in English or even German. If we had kept up and nurtured our Russian skills from school a long time ago, it wouldn't have been a problem at all, but we managed anyway.

We noticed and appreciated the well-maintained and well-restored city centers, the modern transportation infrastructure that is constantly being improved, shopping opportunities that meet our needs in any case, cleanliness and efficiency in public spaces (waste management, Wi-Fi, etc.).

Interesting castles, churches, and monasteries with a long history are waiting to be visited and discovered!

The modern toll system of highways works exclusively with electronic vignettes and is paperless, which could certainly be a role model for the German Minister of Transport!

The approximately 2500 kilometers we covered on this trip were never a problem, especially since the driving distances in this small country are short...

We were lucky to have stable summer weather for ¾ of our travel time, which gave us wonderful mountain experiences during our hikes.

For nature lovers and those interested in culture, as 2oldytravellers, we can definitely recommend this trip. Just take the plunge, and you will succeed! The Carpathian country is not Siberia but a beautiful part of the large Europe, and we have successfully arrived there.