Day 0 - Getting to the Start

Today the adventure began. We started at noon.. of course, despite deciding to travel 'lightly' we carry all you need: swimming gear, yoga mats, lots of water, tools, a mobile printer and material to dress up the car in case this is one of the tasks.. just to be prepared.

Sabine picked up Claudia at noon and we decided to drive through Lichtenstein & Austria to Bad Aibling, a Celtic tribe city from about 500BC.. today a health resort village with thermal baths and visitors from Germany/Austria/Italy primarily. A nice 5 hour drive, through Lichtenstein, a micro state between Switzerland and Austria, 25km wide with 38.000 inhabitants. I personally have never been there, and it took about 15 min to cross.. Claudia on the other hand has been there often, given Hilti's HQ being located there and her Dad's business dealings with Hilti. Driving through the Voralberg mountain range to Kufstein, crossing the border to Germany with friendly customs officers having fun seeing our decorated car.

This evening we did the rally checkin at the Bavarian beer garden Maxlrain.. a very typical nice place. Being hungry and thirsty we said to start with a 'Schweinshaxe' grilled pork knuckle split between us.. and an amazing portion of food arrived. With a digestive, we thought we can finish with 'Kaiserschmarn' .. a very typical desert in Bavaria.

We met the the first teams.. a couple from Germany who just bought an old Trabant, 26 PS, an east German 2-stroke car..of course they broke down to get to the start.. but being fixed.. they arrived.. lets see how the get up the mountain passes the next few days. A Danish team who made the experience that you can't call a hotel after 10pm to get a room with receptions being closed down by that time. 2 guys, the Schotti Schneider team, from Bochum, with a 50year old range rover, who also had already to replace the rear axle on their way to the start.. but an amazing community of range rover fans made it happen that this repair was done today. It almost sounds as if we have the most boring car driving w/o problems.. !

We finished with a G&T at the hotel ready for the big start in the morning!