Åby, 25.07.2017

Until now, we always drove from address to address, but today the "wild" part of our journey began. Without knowing how and where we would spend the coming days and nights, Leon shaved himself again this morning as a precaution in the 1m² bathroom. The only clue: we want to go to the North Cape. From Copenhagen, we crossed the 16 km long Øresund Bridge and landed in Malmö, Sweden, 410 DKK lighter. Our wild instinct led us to use our card for payment, instead of the toll gate with Swedish blonde support. Only afterwards did we discover that the service gate was being monitored by a large police presence. This allowed us to effortlessly smuggle our alcoholic provisions (about 9 liters, averaging 20%) across the border. Travelers over 20 years old are allowed 4 bottles of beer per person. We felt incredibly mischievous. Hihi. Our first impression on Swedish soil was green landscape, colorful flowers by the roadside everywhere, and at least every second car was a Volvo. So we only stand out with the roof box with customized construction. In general, our road trip is becoming more and more relaxed, because driving in Sweden is like a Jeep ride through Utah, USA, thanks to the low traffic and well-developed extensive roads. After a whole eight hours of driving with only one lunch break, my brave driver Leon still finds the drive through Småland cozy, not least because he discovered the cruise control in my car. I do too, by the way. We spent said lunch break at a highway rest area. If you now think of the Lech meadows on the A96, you are completely wrong. At a small lake in the middle of the green next to a horse paddock, there were cute, partly covered wooden benches and tables. Spontaneously, we had freshly prepared hot tomato soup with delicious croutons on the gas cooker. Two elderly people from Hanover who were on their way to visit an old school friend in Stockholm also took a break here. The two of them honked at us when they said goodbye. Nice. But funny enough, we had the opportunity to return the greeting by honking 200 km further north. The people from Hanover with their fancy Benz really tore it up. With "Die drei ??? - Der letzte Song" playing in the background, we passed small and larger properties with red and white wooden cladding at intervals like in the deep Allgäu between Aschthal and Salenwang at the back and a little further back. That's how we knew we were on the right track. Eventually, we found the right spot on a small road outside the village of Åby, a bit in the forest, to set up our first wild camping site. Tent, table, chairs, and you could immediately smell the grilled sausages and herb baguette. That's bound to attract the bears. After dinner, we headed to the tent anyway because, as we now know up here, it started drizzling.