Running away from the crowds, we headed towards the National Park of the Belunessi Dolomites. The entrance to this area was absolutely spectacular. Dolomites peaks rise up very quickly and very high and are dotted with emerald-blue rivers and lakes. Paradise.

One of our favourite finds so far was the small town of Belluno, where we stayed for a night. It had the perfect balance of buzz and tranquility, which we were after – especially after encountering hoards of tourists at the seaside…

The town was a dream to walk around and discover. What made it even sweeter was finding an excellent authentic Italian trattoria. It’s sad to say it was the first decent Italian meal we managed to get (more on that in another post but – sic!). It was also the night that Italy lost to Germany in the footbal (don’t hate the player, hate the game).

Having struck Bond Voyage gold – finally getting somewhere soulful and close to nature, we ventured deeper into ‘bat’ country (mountains) and found a quaint little campsite by the Lago di Corlo Veneto. We also learnt we need to:

1. Stay way away from the crowds
2. Not frequent famous spots.

This posed some challenges to us – equipped with guidebooks and trip-advisoresque websites, where could we find such places?! Needless to say, a certain amount of luck is also involved, however, it seems to work out well around 75% of the time. If it doesn’t, we bite our lips and move on with a speed of a pastry disappearing in Rupert’s mouth.

The few days’ stay by the lake was everything. The peace and quiet, the tranquil mountain views, paddling on the lake, gentle hikes to the town and fabulous weather. We felt inspired and had plenty of time for reading, good deep conversations, we were getting into our groove. Even the cat seemed somewhat less crazy. 🙂 What could go possibly wrong? Well…we learnt that our solar battery power, without direct sunlight, only lasts <1 day. This means no power for our little fridge (!!!) and no lights…we couldn’t stay any longer L. The solar panel is also a little obscured by the surfboards on the roof…we had to think of a fix. We googled van conversion places in Italy…long shot but there was one in Vincenza, not far from Verona. Verona – could be nice, we thought. After all, it’s where the Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet takes place. Without leaving too much time to think it through we were on the road there to try and convince the conversion place to help us with an external power source.

The place was called C-lover and was staffed with the most helpful guys who explained how van electrics work and what we needed. Then…they said they wouldn’t be able to do the work for another 3 weeks…gah! We kept pleading and, with a little help from a little green dress (or perhaps because they also were kitesurfers?!), we managed to convince them to install an external power source so we can plug Murphy into the mains when available. After an hour or so, our van was bolstered up and with renewed hope we headed to Verona.

We bid farewell to the (adopted) Motherland with a degree of sadness. Four months isn’t enough to linger in all of the beautiful places we have encountered so far. We hit the road, excited about the treasures that lay ahead, and settled in for a long (if leisurely) haul south to Italy.

Austria’s Alps beautiful slopes soon banished any sense of melancholy. We had planned to pass straight through, but catching a glimpse the lake of Wortersee from the main road (and after a brief run in with the local constabulary for an incorrectly displayed vignette :/) we decided to stop and, at least, scout it out….which quickly morphed into an unplanned 2-day stopover! Crystal-clear emerald lakes fringed with villas, private jetties and small marinas combined with mountainous backdrops – the raw jaw-dropping beauty and understated sophistication of this place didn’t let us leave in haste.

Exploring the medieval castle (complete with resident vultures), we took in the scenic panaromas and watched the paragliders’ spiral diving down from the launch sites high above. Rupert’s paraglider had been abandoned in the UK due to lack of space. Something of a sore point.

After a second day spent paddling the shoreline and another lakeside lunch at the “Baad Sag” beach club we decided to press on with the certain resolve that we will be back here.

Passing through Vienna, the burden of having to find a new place to stopover everyday was starting to bite. After Google maps directed us to several camping shops (facilities somewhat lacking) we found a city campsite on the fringe of the Austrian capital. The sub-par facilities were gratefully offset by a popup restaurant operating out of the film studio in the adjacent industrial estate, owned by two young chef brothers. A surprisingly delightful dinner of raspberry-infused gazpacho soup, melting beef carpaccio and deep-fried local cheeses (note: in the context of The Bond Voyage, cheese is definitely its own food-group) was not enough to sway us to stay another night and explore Vienna itself. That we will save for a weekend break. *note scribbled in our scrap book*

Slovenia, much like Austria, was something of a surprise – one night nestled between the mountains with a wealth of mountain biking and hiking. The disappointment of Poland’s Euro 2016 defeat at the hands of Portugal (especially after Poland went ahead after 90 seconds) gave us the excuse we needed to pass on staying longer.

Now 10 days since we had been on the road, it was around this time that we decided that densely packed camping sites filled with huge motorhomes and speedo-wearing dads wasn’t what we had imagined, and not the experience / lasting memories that we are after (more on this later).

Feeling slightly saturated by mountains as our backdrop (how spoilt this sounds!) we set our sights on the Adriatic seaside town of Grado, Italy. Passing Roman ruins along the way we arrived excited to have our first glimpse of the sea since leaving the UK. Grado’s old-town is picturesque enough, although the main street is dominated by restaurants catering to the thousands of holiday-makers.

With the ‘autocamper’ parking areas resembling a trailer park (complete with hoards of bicycle-gang pesky kids), we again headed (somewhat trepidly) to the nearest beach-front campsite. An army of wall-to-wall motorhomes and excited mosquitos greeted us once again but we settled in. Despite the ongoing disappointment of campsite offerings (high season on the Italian coast is seething with people) the glassy sea offered spectacular scenery for an evening stroll and was very tranquil once the thousands of loungers on the beach had emptied.

After one tumultuous evening plagued by bike-riding children, manoeuvring caravans, ravenous mosquitos and the now obligatory near-naked middle aged men, we resolved to start afresh and seek out quieter, more remote areas.

Back to the mountains then 🙂

As we pass through each country on our Bond Voyage, we plan to post a list of reflections on that country. Nothing too serious, just a bit of banter.

Here’s one about Poland (slightly biased perhaps due to our family connections!):

1. People love to cut grass. Be it lawnmower or strimmer – you name it – the summer air is filled with mechanical buzz of people lovingly tending to their lawns.
2. You can actually watch the grass growing. Up to 1 cm a day. See point 1.
3. There are LOADS of churches. SJB’s hometown of Lomza actually has the highest number per capita in Poland.
4. They are still building more churches.
5. As a rule, the food is incredible. It’s an offence for a Pole if you don’t overeat at their table. It’s also very cheap and the portions are huge.
6. The summer weather is blissful and balmy 30 degree dry heat.
7. Roads can be terrible, as can driving etiquette.
8. The country is vast. If you think you can drive through it in a day, think twice and pack for a week.
9. There are actually long-haired hippies hidden in the south-eastern mountains – Bieszczady.
10. There’s loads to see and do – if you want to beat the British June blues, just book a flight and go… (driving from London takes about 2 days).

We descended onto Krakow for the weekend of – what turned out to be – Wianki music and Jewish Festivals. We took up an apartment in the Jewish quarter as a base for the weekend to relax and wash our muddy clothes (and faces).

Krakow was struck by a heatwave of 38 degrees Celsius that weekend and our pre-war apartment  turned into an oven. We found some pastimes, however, to relieve the diabolical heat.

First night we spent at Wianki festival – a “celebration of music”. Wianki in Polish means flower crowns and there were a lot of girls wearing them which added to the magic. We saw Fisz (Polish rapper), Swietliki and Grzegorz Turnau on 3 different stages in the old town. The atmosphere resembled that of a Notting Hill Festival.

We really had high hopes for Krakow but it somewhat disappointed us. It was very touristy and the whole city seemed geared towards that only, including the once-revered and cool Jewish Quarter. We did catch a great gig of a Yiddish music trio in the High Synagogue, though and gorged ourselves on Jewish delicacies (note: wasn’t as good as Jewish food in Kazimierz).

On Sunday we also visited Wawel – Royal Castle and a burial ground of Polish kings and onMonday visited the Salt mine in Wieliczka.

Both impressive though very busy and packed with tourists from all over the world. Most impressive was the underground cathedral cavern carved by the miners entirely out of the rock salt 100 metres underground. Yes. Really.

It was time to leave Poland and head for the Med.

The next chapter of The Bond Voyage was to head dead south – to the mountains of Poland. Quick hop I hear you say? On the map – yes, in reality – no. It took us the best part of the day to get to our first stop – Solina – with an artificial lake surrounded by the mountains and foothills of Bieszczady. It was a picturesque place but, having survived a storm and a spectacular light show overnight, we decided to press on. Plus, someone was blasting some incredibly offensive (to our ears) music and that sealed the deal.

We arrived in a place called Wetlina, a little mountainous village where the major Bieszczady walks and climbs start. We lucked out and secured a spot on a hippie campsite near a stream where we stayed for a couple of nights (one of them was the Midsummer). Can’t think of a better place to spend it really.

We ate some excellent local food at Chata Wedrowca and drank the local craft beers. Bliss.

The Bieszczady mountains were breathtaking. We left our green hearts there. We climbed a couple of peaks – Przelecz Orlowicza (1075m) and Smerek (1222m)…and that’s where the battery on our camera died. Link to the map.

It was time to move on to Beskidy where we spent a night in a campsite in Tylicz (with a pool!). We hit Krynica in the morning, a spa town with a huge park in the middle of the town and tried the local mineral waters (an acquired and somewhat “eggy” taste!). The sun was shining, we bought a kilo of huge local strawberries and with heavy hearts left for the Tatra mountains.

On another note, nearly 2 weeks on the road and we also examined contents of Rupert’s pocket. Here they are. Make your own judgment.

The drive through the mountains was breathtaking. We drove through Poland and Slovakia on fairly empty roads to Zakopane – the capital of the Polish mountains. Sylwia scored a car.

We stayed in the town centre for the first night but decided it was way too busy for our liking and decamped to a tiny family run campsite in a different part of town and took these pictures…

As you may imagine – we didn’t want to leave. Again! But it was time to head to Krakow for the Wianki festival and a well-earned stay in a city-centre apartment we booked for the weekend.

We’ve only been on the road for 5 days but we already feel we have seen and experienced loads. Weather has been dreamy (30+ degrees and sunny) so we packed away our thermals deep into the bowels of the van (hopefully never to be seen again!).

After leaving Lomza we headed dead south to a little historical town – Kazimierz Dolny nad Wisla. We set up camp just outside the centre and set off to experience the town and surrounding areas on foot. This area of Poland has had quite a sizeable Jewish population so we ate like Polish Kings in a Jewish restaurant called “U Fryzjera” (“At the Hairdresser’s” – note: masterclass in logo making!) and drank some refreshing tea at “U Dziwisza”. We climbed through the natural loess gorges up to the early medieval castle of King Kazimierz the Great.

We even squeezed in a very emotional Euro match (Poland-Germany) watched on a huge screen in the atmospheric town square with local supporters chanting “Polska! Polska! Bialo-czerwoni”. Needless to say, after a couple of beers, we joined in…

Originally, we planned to stay one night but it was truly too hard to leave. So instead we chilled our boots and left on Saturday, heading to Lublin via a spa town called Naleczow, where we took a bath in a pool of white clay (quite an experience, although total submersion definitely not recommended :/) and climbed a little hill to the surreal and dream-like little cafe called Kawiarnia Jasminowa (Jasmine Cafe). It was hidden through the jasmine trees in full bloom – talk about good timing! The smell was truly intoxicating and has beautifully complimented the home-made jasmine vodka…

Then it was time to go to Lublin – our third stop on this leg (the town is perfect for a city break if you’re looking for one!). We found a campsite outside of the town by a lake and took an opportunity to go paddle-boarding in the morning.

In Lublin we walked through the historical centre, meandering through the old shabby (but chic!) streets and having an occasional strawberry margarita in a bar or two… (strawberries are very much in season in Poland right now).

We also paid a visit to the museum situated at the site of former German concentration camp Majdanek where horrific crimes against humanity were committed. We decided not to take any pictures of that place because it got imprinted in our minds hard enough.

Next stop – Bieszczady Mountains…for the Midsummers…

PS. If you’re on Instagram you can follow Sylwia @missapplebaum for more photographic updates 🙂

The Bond Voyage’s first main event was to get married in a church in Sylwia’s hometown in Lomza. The party was kindly hosted by her parents. We had Rupert’s Mother, Jane and her partner Michael, and Ru’s brother Jeremy over from the UK. The rest of the guests were from Poland (but not just Polish – you know who you are 😉 ) friends and family who couldn’t have been with us at our civil wedding ceremony in September.

We had so much fun and danced so hard till the early hours that there are not many words we can use to fully describe this fantastic experience. So we won’t. We will use the choice pictures from the day, which were taken by our rock star photographer friend Pawel Wadolowski (thank you again!).

After a few false starts, we committed to a departure date and booked a spot on the Eurotunnel. No going back now! With our first adventure imminent – a brief 35 minute snooze in ‘Murphy’ as we whistle deep beneath “La Manche” – the surfboards went on the roof and…we were off!

With a nine hundred mile drive ahead and a fixed arrival date at the in-laws, our delayed departure meant the first change in plans of the trip was necessary.

Initially we had planned to head to Hel peninsula in the Baltic. In part because of the nice ring that “first stop – Hel!” has but also due to the excellent kitesurfing. So instead we plotted a route (more-or-less) ‘directly’ to Lomza via Le Parc Naturel Scarpe-Escaut (not a soul in sight) and Cologne (nice enough but don’t stretch for it).

Check out the rude window displays that call you names…

After 3 days on the road and way too many hours in the slow lane of the Autobahn, we crossed the border into Poland. Spotting a lake called Nieslysz west of Poznan we rolled into the excellent (read as ‘empty’!) campsite “Kormoran” and grabbed a waterside spot just in time for a sunset paddle and swim.

Although we left this beautiful spot after just one night to prepare for the small matter of our Catholic nuptials, with many more (dare I say better?) days and nights ahead it feels like the Bond Voyage has truly begun…

We have decided to take our cat, Salsa, with us on this trip. In general, cats are not your usual roadtrip companions (we hear you!) but before making this decision we had done our research and spoken to a specialist travel vet at the Clerkenwell Animal Hospital, who were most helpful in alleviating our fears and getting the furry monkey prepared for 4 months on the road. She needed an update to her vaccinations, new pet passport, rabies injection and de-worming. This ordeal lasted a month with repeated visits, as not everything could have been done in one go. The last visit was to obtain travel certificate and an anti-insect collar. Eastern Poland’s forests are known for the ticks so we didn’t want to take any chances. The collar we were after wasn’t available in the UK so we used our team in Poland (aka mom and dad) to help us source that.

We have also trawled the net in search of testimonials from people who have travelled with their feline pets. There are actually people out there who are as crazy as we are to have taken their cats on the road with them, and both parties survived. Phew!

There are various considerations to take into account such as: cats running away, overheating, wellbeing, stress… a lot to take on whilst on the road but, on balance, we thought it’s worth giving it a go. Worst come to worst – we will leave with our family in Poland or UK. She might love it or hate it – but we won’t know until we try!

So far so good – Salsa’s been doing a great job checking the blind spot for the driver….

Our last few weeks could have been described with one word: logistics. Neither of us has ever prepared for a trip of this magnitude or prepared the cat for her biggest adventure yet! We learnt one thing: Allow twice as much time to pack and organise than you think you need.

We started with listing everything we could think of in a separate categories, assigned owners and put due dates…sounds familiar?! Whilst we tried to keep to our planned schedule with plenty of spare time, we didn’t avoid doing things last minute. This included updating Sylwia’s passport with her married name, driver’s license and van re-registration papers…

Preparing the vehicle

We bought the van last summer with a view of converting it into a campervan for little surfing and kite-surfing trips out of London. Rupert has done his last van conversion himself but with a full time job – this would have proven a challenge so we asked a company in Brighton to help us design our camper of dreams.

Here’s a posey photo taken when we first got it….August 2015.

Murphy, as we affectionally called it, is a short-wheel based Ford Transit Custom. It fits in a regular parking space so there’s limited space to play with when it comes to conversion. We needed a bed, a kitchenette, some cupboards and, of course – windows at the back & rear. The conversion took a few weeks more than we anticipated (can you sense a theme here?) but we were very pleased with the result. Picture below doesn’t really do it justice but it does feel like a second home and we’re absolutely elated to be able to spend our summer in it.

Next was organising our clothes and other belongings… I am not sure if it warrants a whole load of narrative around but let’s just say it took a few fair goes to whittle the shoes and clothes down to bare minimum (not an easy challenge, especially for a woman!).

All in all the prep was a logistical challenge, as you may imagine but it taught us a few lessons that will sure come useful along the way.