Events in this story happened on Friday the 9th of August, 2019. We paddled our inflatable kayak from Bratislava to the Čunovo Dam in Slovakia. That’s a distance of 17.3 kilometers. At the Čunovo Dam, there’s a water sports center for whitewater canoeing/kayaking. Little did we know that on that day, there would be a sporting event organized by the International Canoe Federation (ICF). Our Stay in Bratislava We stayed in Bratislava for one week. Bratislava was our first stop across the historic West-East division of Europe. Finally, we’re in Eastern Europe! As with Austria, this was Jonas’ first time inContinue 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 34: Haslau to Bratislava – Austria to Slovakia
Events described… happened on August 2nd, 2019. We paddled down the Danube river from Haslau an der Donau in Austria to Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia. This is the third country we’re paddling in on our long-distance kayak trip. Unfortunately, when editing the videos for this post and the previous one (Day 32), I accidentally deleted all of them from the tiny camera’s SD card. Yes, we’ve tried every recovery program in the world. Yes, I am angry with myself. So all the videos (if any) for this post come from my phone camera. Our Stay in Haslau WeContinue reading
Kayak Trip Day 33: Vienna to Haslau – Birthday on the Danube
Events in this story happened Wednesday the 31st of July, 2019 – a.k.a. my birthday. We paddled our adorable yet fierce inflatable canoe named Zucchini from Vienna (Wien) to Haslau on the Danube river. Vienna is the capital city of Austria and Haslau is a village en route to the Austro-Slovakian border and Bratislava. This is how I spent my 28th birthday. Unfortunately, when editing the videos for this post and the next one (Day 34), I accidentally deleted all of them from the tiny camera’s SD card. Yes, we’ve tried every recovery program in the world. Yes, I amContinue reading
Donauturm: Vistas of Vienna and the Danube from Austria’s Tallest Tower
We visited the Donauturm on Monday the 29th of July, 2022. Why did I want to visit the Donauturm? When we paddled into Austria’s capital, we left the Danube river a bit early. That’s because in Vienna, the Danube splits in three ways: The Neue Donau (New Danube), Donau (Danube), and Donaukanal (Danube Canal). We exited the river at the start of the Donaukanal because we’d have to portage yet again and after that, the options to get out of the river aren’t great. Here’s an overview of the messy Danube situation in Vienna. To continue paddling on to Slovakia,Continue reading
Kayak Trip Day 32: Langenlebarn to Vienna
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
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