Events in this article happened on Wednesday the 24th of July, 2019. We paddled our sturdy inflatable boat Zucchini from Langenlebarn in Lower Austria to Vienna, the capital city of Austria. Vienna is also the first capital city along the Danube river. Contents1 Between Langenlebarn and Tulln2 The Coffee Fiasco3 Leaving Langenlebarn for Vienna4 The Beavers5 Arriving at Greifenstein Dam6 Portaging Zucchini7 The Oxbow Lake8 The Second Portage and Compliments9 The Return of The Current10 The Speedbumps, The Ghost Ship, and The Ferry11 A Brief History of the Danube in Vienna12 The Final Stretch to the Donaukanal13 Arriving at Our Airbnb14Continue reading
Europe
Here you’ll find lots of articles about my hitchhiking and kayaking travels in Europe. As you may know, Europe is my ‘homing’ continent where I’ll – like a stinky pigeon – always return to even if I’m trying to stay away from it. And to be honest, it’s not bad; there’s always more to explore.
I undertook many of my trips around Europe while at university in Maastricht (the Netherlands) and Aarhus (Denmark). That’s why I dropped out. I honed my hitchhiking skills here and set the most personal records and firsts such as:
- First solo hitch: from Kirkenes Airport in Norway to Kirkenes town with a military guy with his son
- Longest distance hitched in 24 hours: ~1200 kilometers from Maastricht (the Netherlands) to somewhere east of Lubljana (Slovenia)
- Most hours in one ride: 3 days with one British driver with a rental car in southern Spain and Portugal (his contract said he couldn’t take the car across the border)
- First plane hitch: over Malta (A to A)
- Longest sailing yacht hitch: from Corfu (Greece) to Malta, which was 340 nautical miles over 2.5 days. Here’s my CrewBay profile
Besides hitchhiking, I also kayaked a long distance in Europe down the Danube river in an inflatable canoe named Zucchini. But before I did that trip with my partner Jonas, I returned to university to finish my degree to erase my student debt. Thesis here.
As you can see, it’s not always a fun continent for me; it’s also the locus of worry about the people and pets I’m close to, of bureaucratic fuckery, and of most of my childhood memories. For most of my life, Europe has tied me down. Now I’m trying to experience it from a place of choice and freedom.
If you are not interested in the Danube trip, you can click this link to not show the Danube posts.
Kayak Trip Day 31: Zwentendorf to Langenlebarn
Events chronicled in this story happened on Monday the 22nd of July, 2019. We paddled our inflatable canoe from a village called Zwentendorf to another village called Langenlebarn in Austria. That was a relatively short distance of 15.6 kilometers. Our Stay in Zwentendorf Airbnb was very nice. Our host had told us the story of “the world’s safest nuclear power plant”, which has Zwentendorf as its home. We walked there on our off-day after work to learn about it. The nuclear power plant never got turned on, hence the safety. It’s also being used nowadays to train nuclear power plantContinue reading
Kayak Trip Day 30: Stein to Zwentendorf
Events of this story occurred on Saturday the 20th of July, 2019. We paddled our inflatable kayak Zucchini from Stein an der Donau (near Krems) to Zwentendof an der Donau, both in Lower Austria. That turned out to be a distance of 29.1 kilometers on the Danube river. Leaving Stein an der Donau for Zwentendorf We only stayed in Stein an der Donau for one night. None of the accommodations near the river had more than one night available. With this reality, we decided to just hurry up with our paddling progress. So today, we paddled from Stein to Zwentendorf.Continue reading
Kayak Trip Day 29: Spitz to Stein an der Donau
Events in this article happened on the 19th of July, 2019. We paddled our inflatable kayak from Spitz to Stein an der Donau in Austria. That’s a distance of 16 kilometers. Two Nights in Spitz After our arrival in Spitz, we still went out to dinner and hiked up the Burgruine (castle ruins) Hinterhaus. I highly recommend going up the tower there for a very nice view. On our off-day, we wrote and coded like we usually do. Then in the afternoon, we took the ferry across from Spitz to Arnsdorf to take photographs of the kilometer signs 2019, 2020, andContinue reading
Kayak Trip Day 28: Krummnußbaum to Spitz
Events told in this story happened on the 17th of July, 2019. We kayaked Zucchini from a village named Krummnußbaum to the larger town Spitz in the state of Lower Austria. This was a distance of 29.4 kilometers. Our Stay in Krummnußbaum We stayed in Gasthof Zum Guten Kameraden for two nights. The room was very pleasant and our hosts very kind. On our off day, we coded/wrote a lot and then tried finding the next accommodations after Spitz. It was very frustrating, but eventually, we found an imperfect solution to our problem. In the afternoon, we hiked up theContinue reading
Kayak Trip Day 27: Grein to Krummnußbaum
Events in this article happened on Monday the 15th of July, 2019. We propelled our inflatable canoe named Zucchini for 31.2 kilometers on the Austrian Danube. We started the day in Grein in the state of Upper Austria and ended the day in Krummnußbaum in Lower Austria. Three Nights in Grein We stayed at hotel Martha in Grein for three nights. Our room was very big and comfortable and the internet very good. The hotel mainly targets cycling tourists of the Donauradweg (Danube bike path), which meant they had cool stuff like a drying room for shoes. On Saturday we just workedContinue reading
Kayak Trip Day 26: Au to Grein
Events described in this story happened on Friday the 12th of July, 2019. We paddled Zucchini from Au an der Donau to Grein in Austria. We crossed state borders from Oberösterreich (Upper Austria) to Niederösterreich (Lower Austria). This was a distance of 28.8 kilometers. One Night in Au an der Donau Our one night in our ‘wooden tent’ was quite pleasant. We woke up to the murmurs of early risers in the tents next to our fancy tent. Most of these people are doing a long-distance cycling trip, like along the Donauradweg (Danube bike path). Mornings are tough on all of us,Continue reading
Kayak Trip Day 25: Linz to Au an der Donau
The events in this article happened on Thursday the 11th of July, 2019. We paddled our dear boat Zucchini from Linz – the capital of Upper Austria – to a village named Au an der Donau. This is a distance of 27.6 kilometers. Our Stay in Linz We stayed in Linz for six days in an Airbnb. We got a lot of important things done, like laundry and me giving Jonas a haircut. While the Airbnb was very, very nice, our initial experience of the city didn’t change. I really tried to like it, but I just didn’t. And IContinue reading
Kayak Trip Day 24: Aschach to Linz
Events chronicled in this post happened on the 5th of July, 2019. We paddled 25.3 kilometers from the town Aschach an der Donau to Linz in Austria. Linz is the capital of the state of Oberösterreich (Upper Austria). Then in Linz we’d take a break from paddling for a little while. Leaving Aschach an der Donau for Linz We spent two nights and one day in Aschach an der Donau. In the day, we worked on our own projects from our hotel Josepa Hirsch. We mostly went out to eat, do the shopping for the continuation of our trip, andContinue reading