We have just flown out of Singapore, a half way stop between our home in New Zealand, and our destination in Germany.
The 13-hour flight passed surprisingly quickly, and we both managed to
get some sleep. After arriving in Frankfurt, Germany, we grabbed a shuttle to the Frankfurt
main train station, where we caught the ICE fast train to Bielefeld.
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| Our new campervan |
We were headed to Bielefeld to pick up our new campervan that we had
ordered online from New Zealand (see 'About Us' for why we are travelling).
Unfortunately, we hit rush hour on the trains, and had to stand until
we reached Cologne where we changed trains.
Thankfully we did get a seat from Cologne. Then, facing a few hours on
the train, we relaxed until we arrived at Bielefeld.
The next morning, we got to our campervan dealership, met ‘salesman
Arthur’ and prepared ourselves to receive our new van.
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| Inside our new campervan |
However, Arthur showed us about three other models that might work for
us.
After lots of seat testing, enthusiastic storage inspection, excited
bathroom and shower scrutiny, copious bed testing, and careful consideration,
we finally settled on our original choice.
It is a Rimor XGO Coupe which seats and sleeps five people, and is
built on the extremely reliable Fiat Ducato Multi-jet truck chassis. It looked
pretty impressive.
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| Our little loan car |
We love the space. We are completely self-contained with dining area,
kitchen with fridge and freezer, and a fully equipped bathroom with shower and
toilet.
We had paid a deposit online from New Zealand and so now had to
arrange the final payment. We did that online again, but we had to wait a few
days for payment to go through, and for the van to be ready.
So, we had a few more nights in Bielefeld
In the meantime, we have been loaned a ‘little’ car which is pretty
cool and makes it much easier to get around, especially to the supermarket to
stock up on essentials for the van.
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| How to tie your dirndl apron |
We headed off for our first drive on the unfamiliar right-hand side
of the road. We were also driving a manual for the first time in years, and finding our way
around a foreign city with very narrow streets!
We felt quite pleased with our driving skills, but think it may be a
little different when we venture forth in the much bigger campervan.
Bielefeld is a pretty city in northern Germany, and our hotel was in the
old town, which is full of historic buildings, and very attractive.
We had time for a look around and spotted this interesting little
poster about how to tie your dirndl apron properly. How quaint!
Before long, we had signed all of our van papers, arranged temporary
registration (we were to secure full registration through friends in the Czech
Republic later), and we were on our way.
The van is so big, and we were off......driving down what seemed to be
the wrong side of the road, in very large campervan with a manual gear shift.
The van being a Fiat, the most popular engine for campervans, is very
easy to drive, especially with its power steering. But its quite wide because of the large mirrors. Not at all what we had experienced at home in New Zealand, where we
had a small automatic car.
Nevertheless, we headed out to the local camping ground to set up for
the night. We plan to spend the next 7 months in Europe and are really looking forward to it. Our next stop is in the Czech Republic.