Roadtrip26: Going home

At the border between Bosnia and Croatia, we swelter away for an hour and a half in a traffic jam in 36°C heat. Back in the realm of EU roaming, we choose the penultimate stop of our journey.

By the end of June, almost all campsites in Croatia and Slovenia have gone completely mad. Between 50 and 100 € a day for a tent, two adults and a child – without a car or electricity – is the norm. Only one site still accepts our ACSI Card for a modest 25 €.

The campsite right on the banks of the Kolca turns out to be a real find. The river is teeming with fish, ducks, swans, reeds and water lilies. Numerous natural weirs, ‘treasure islands’ and small waterfalls create Peter Pan’s very own adventure swimming spot. Children jump into the water from a few swing ropes, the bridge and the wooden jetties on the bank. Blue dragonflies flit around the clattering millwheel. The ground here is karst. Sharp-edged rocks with nasty holes lie in the river. Nevertheless, Campslapic.hr has quite rightly been showered with awards.

We take down the tent one last time. On our 40-day road trip we spent ten days in rented flats in Albania and Montenegro. We spent the rest of the time camping. Apart from about 500 km, we drove entirely on small, toll-free country roads. In Albania, the motorways are free and really worth using.

Southern Slovenia is the Smurf Village of the Balkans. Almost everyone here is self-sufficient. The vegetable gardens are small but very productive. The area is poor, and many of the old houses in the small villages are in a state of disrepair. We spend our last bit of cash in a village shop on two cheap cappuccinos. The village elders outside greet us in German.

Travellers rarely pass through here. Almost everyone takes the motorway. The tolls from Bavaria via the Mediterranean coast to the southern Peloponnese would have been around €150 per journey. But that would have saved us just seven hours out of our total 35-hour toll-free journey – and cost us many beautiful routes and experiences. Weighing this up made our decision easy. A good road trip simply calls for country roads.

The final stop on the road trip is Lake Wörthersee. We’re visiting some good old kitesurfing mates whom we see far too rarely anyway. Paying a beach entrance fee – which, despite the saver rate, is still a hefty sum –  we’re now calling this a fun homecoming. The best things in life are free – and Germany is heading home.

The whole time, I’ve been telling my little one that you only really learn to appreciate home after a long journey. The pretzels. The friends. The rain.  Sometimes you’re really surprised by home. Somehow, it seems to me that Google Maps always wants to show me the smallest, most winding roads in Bavaria on the way home. I can’t remember ever taking the same route home, even once, out of what must surely be a dozen times coming from Traunstein. It’s as if the AI is trying to tell you: “Your home is vast.”