How we came up with the idea of traveling to the far north again

Date:
25.05.2020 to 02.08 2020

Country:
Germany

Location:
B-Village

(Photos of the diary entry can be found at the end of the text).

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Due to the closed borders in Europe caused by the coronavirus, we didn’t know two weeks before we set off where the journey would take us. “Iceland would be a great destination,” said Tanja. “Yes, that’s a great idea. Let’s go to Iceland,” I agreed happily. “What to Iceland do you want? Did you know that dogs have to go into quarantine for a month in Iceland? I had just planned a trip to Iceland last year and paid for the ferry. I was able to book our dog on the ferry company’s website, but only found out after the transfer that dogs were not allowed on the island. Despite many phone calls, including with the manager of the ferry company, they didn’t refund us the money,” our friend Heiko told me. Because we didn’t want to leave our Ajaci at home, after this important information Tanja and I decided that Iceland was off the table. “Well, let’s go to Norway again. We didn’t see much on our trip through Norway last year,” said Tanja. She was right about that. Although we drove all the way to the North Cape at that time, we hadn’t seen enough of this wonderful country due to time constraints. We had to hurry, because we were part of an international off-road tour that wanted to make its maiden voyage through the Russian Arctic Circle. So Norway was just a transit country for us to get to Kirkenes and Murmansk, where the adventure began.

“So let’s go aurora hunting,” I said excitedly. After the Norwegians opened the borders in mid-July, we had two impulsive weeks ahead of us in which we prepared the tour. Our expedition vehicle had to be driven to Delta 4×4, because she got the Crossleader Wildtiger under the frame. These are new tires that were suitable for the 6140 kg load and guarantee optimum traction in any situation with pronounced tread blocks, i.e. they were specially developed for extreme ground conditions. Our Terra Love now has the right shoes for our tour. Then it was time for a major service and I took our expedition vehicle to bimobil. As always, everything was just in time, but it worked out. In addition to getting our Terra in shape, our new e-bikes demanded my attention. Better bar ends, special straps for the pedals, a smartphone and GoPro mount and a few other little things that we wanted to test on the upcoming tour were fitted. Ajaci’s dog trailer, which was specially designed and built for us, also had to be fitted with a handbrake, the stand shortened, safety belts and smaller tires. Phew, and that’s not all. Tanja whirled back and forth in her office to get to grips with the online and paperwork. We ordered various things online that we could think of, winterized our garden despite the summer, cleaned the house, downloaded updates for the travel computers, checked the drone, the photo and film camera equipment, the recording device for the podcasts and a thousand other things. In the end, I would almost have preferred to stay at home because I didn’t know where my head was anymore. “Haven’t we forgotten anything?” we kept asking ourselves. It seemed to me as if we were traveling for years, even though the effort for five months is almost the same. The deadline for our departure was the first of August. In the evening we wanted to visit our friend René in Dresden. Just a few days beforehand, we realized that the date could not be kept, which is why we postponed our departure to the third of August. Tanja and I rushed back and forth between our house and the Terra Love like a relay race to fill up our mobile home, which was standing serenely on its newly mounted tires.

It was nothing short of a miracle when, just two days after our actual departure date, I put the ignition key in the lock and the Terra Love’s engine started up with a resounding roar. “Off to new adventures,” he seemed to whisper to us in his own language. “Yes, it’s finally starting again,” I replied, mumbling happily into my beard. “Let’s go!” shouted Tanja, whereupon we clapped each other’s hands…