Amsterdam to Innsbruck

As Lake and Jessee will be joining us for the next couple of weeks we had to install seat belts in the back of the van. A professional installation was going to cost a fortune so we put the boys to work and a few drill holes later the job was done. Not so attractive but secure.




We finally left Amsterdam early afternoon heading towards Innsbruck but we intended to stop for the night in Frankfurt. Time was moving fast and we weren't so we decided that we would stop in Cologne for the night instead of continuing to Frankfurt and catch up with Andy (whom until this point we did not realise he lived in Cologne hence we did not catch up before). We parked the van in a supermarket car park right near Andy's place then went out for some food. We went to another German Brewery and ate a traditional German dinner with some traditional beer of course. Andy took us to another three bars that he frequents and they were all pretty cool. By this point it was two in the morning but we all still believed that we would make an early start. It's funny how alcohol warps your perception. We got back to Andy's and all crammed into his bedroom to sleep on the floor thanks to Andy's great hospitality. As he had wireless we all took the opportunity to connect and this is where we discovered that our money was worth a lot less then we thought. If only we had discovered this before our big night out. It was time to re budget.
I think it was about midday when we left Cologne for what we thought was our final leg to Innsbruck.




We drove for about 6 or 7 hours, stopping at Ikea on the way for Swedish meatballs before we decided it was time to rest. We settled for the night in a truck stop just outside of Stuttgart and all four of us slept in the back of the van.






This was not as bad as it sounds. It was a big truck stop with a restaurant, toilets and showers that were all twenty four hours. On the other hand sleeping squished between Chris and Lake is as bad as it sounds and smells. We got up showered and were on the road again all feeling a little better then we did the day before. The drive through the Alps was amazing! We drove a winding path up and down the mountains with the most spectacular views and occasional close call with on coming cars. The roads are so thin and jutting out form the mountains, it was quite scary. Remember we are driving a right hand drive on the right side of the road so the passenger seat, my seat is the one that is next to the oncoming traffic.
We pulled into the campsite late afternoon and were pleased. The camp is on the side of a mountain about 600m above sea level and everything is on a slope. We were in the beautiful sunshine again with magnificent views of snow caped mountains surrounded by trees dropping their autumn leaves.