It all started when we realized that our two teen aged children (Sacha 17 and Chelsea 19) would both be away on vacation for three weeks. If you are like us, a mid aged couple who has maybe had a few days alone since the day you had a baby enter your life, the thought of three weeks alone sounded like a lottery ticket: A million dollar temptation of freedom, rather sweet, rather sexy and very tempting to kick up one's heels.
So we did.
French Husband had planned to buy a motorcycle ever since one of our cars started acting up. When the car died, French Husband looked for a motorcycle (the one of his dreams a BMW 1250 RG) and as our name was written on that lottery ticket the motorcycle was for sale that very day!
We bought the bike.
Prague was a city I had always wanted to visit. "Wouldn't it be a dreamy adventure to ride our motorcycle to Prague, it is only 1300 miles away from Marseille." I said to French Husband. He agreed, well after a few facts were ironed out between us that is. Such as I did not want to sleep under a bridge like he did, and since anything over 80 euro for a hotel would not be in our budget, and since French Husband wanted me to experience traveling light to see if I could venture on another more daring trip in the future… we had to iron a few things out.
We brought the motorcycle home 9:00 in the evening on a Friday night, and left Saturday morning at 9:00 in the morning.
i packed, French Husband unpacked. I packed again and we took: Maps, a GPS, a portable phone, tooth paste and two toothbrushes, motor oil, lipstick, a comb, my eye glasses, French Husband's sunglasses, and my headache medicine. We also packed arnica, Echinacea, a note pad, a pen, a flashlight, plastic bags, soap, panty liners, face cream, a razor, calendula cream, my camera, French Husband's pocket camera and portable computer, two locks for the bike and our helmets, a thermos, granola bars, We each took two pairs of jeans, a swimsuit, rain gear, two pair of socks, two pair of underwear, two tee shirts, one long sleeve shirt, a polar fleece, I took one bra, French Husband took a polo shirt and a belt, I took a black rayon dress, and a pair of ballerinas. We both wore riding boots, gloves, scarves and had our helmets. That was it for three weeks. We used everything and we missed nothing.
Traveling light was easy. I loved the freedom it gave. We never looked into any shops, the only souvenirs we bought were postcards, and truffle olive oil in Croatia.
Our journey took us along the French Riviera, to Milan, around Lake Como, up to Stelvio Pass, through Austria to Admont, then to Prague, after a few days in Prague we rode to Budapest (It was a hard ride since I was not feeling well, plus could not stay awake– the weather that day was awful.) After Budapest we rode to the Balaton Lake, Ljubljana Solvenia, then to Rovinj and Motovun in Croatia.
We found most our hotels or rooms with breakfast, the night before on the internet. We never paid more that 80 euro a night, most nights the rooms costs less. Breakfast was included with our rooms, so we ate a snack for lunch and had dinner out.
2858 miles in 21 days. I passed the test, I am ready to ride again! Bring it on.
We waited for the very last minute to leave Croatia and rode 12 HOURS home, we stopped twice for gas and a quick bite. I never fell asleep though I had a few Red Bulls.
If there is anything you would like to know about our trip that I did not answer (Like did we wash out our clothes every night in the hotel sink and did they dry out in time?) please ask away either in the comments or by email. I will answer them tomorrow along with a list of where we stayed and ate.
We arrived home two minutes after Chelsea walked in the door, and that is not an exaggeration.
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