Italy Both Exciting and Troublesome

Getting into Italy was a cold drive through the Alps with lots of rain and fog. The entire way from Munich to the Italian border was pouring rain and barely above freezing temperatures. Along the way I got soaked through two rain jackets and the starter button on my motorcycle broke off - it can still start, don’t worry. It wasn’t the drive through the Alps I had hoped for, but prehaps the one I deserved with the weather being so good all the way before that.

Once I crossed the border into Italy the weather changed and the sunny skies returned. With the sun out I decided to take a little detour over one of the mountain passes, but I didn’t account for how tall the pass was and as I approached the top everything was still covered in snow. I made the decision to turn back and not drive through the snow on two wheels, as the roads were getting slippery and I was still wet from the rain, and the 0 degrees felt a little too cold. So back I went down to the warmer valleys below, finding a hotel on the way, in Calliano, where I stayed for a few days to dry out my gear.

After enjoy a few days of relaxing I continued to a hostel right by the Garda Lake, where I met other travelers and got to spend some time around town with them. Two of them in particular stood out, one English guy cycling from England to Istanbul and a motorcyclist who just so happened to have drove over the same snow-covered mountain pass as I did. I spend a few days hanging out with them and hearing their stories and how they got this far, and I got the oppotunity to open the Port Wine I had brought for just such an occasion.

One of the days I decided on driving my bike around the Garda Lake without all of my bags on, and it felt so light and different to ride. Right before, I had talked to the Hostel staff about my motorcycle and one of them was a traveler himself, so we chatted about our trips. He also suggested some great stops along my little day trip, which I promptly added to my map and visited on the way.

As I was checkout out, the other motorcyclist and I realized we were headed in the same direction, so we decided to ride together to Modena. We connected out intercoms, found some good looking roads with lots of fun twists and turns and got on our bikes. We did stop for coffe and snacks along the way, before we parted ways in Modena.

While staying by Garda I had received a mail from Denmark, that my request to move my Danish address had been rejected, since I wasn’t planning on coming back to Denmark. I had originally planned on keep an address at my parents place temporarely while I was on my trip, but I unfortunately wasn’t able to. This was an issue, as my current insurance company only covered me while I had an address in Denmark. So after leaving Garda I went to a hotel near Parma and spend some time figuring out my insurances. I spend half a day looking up different companies, calling some of them and after a bit of back-and-forth with my current company, I got it all solved. However, it was a little stressful having to deal with this in Italy and I surely confused some poor insurance support guy explaining my situation.

While I intended on keeping a Danish address temporarely, I wasn’t able to in the end. This has the funny side effect that I am technically homeless, so my bike is now officially my home. After getting my Carnet and figuring out the paperwork in Germany, Italy was my first real stop where I could relax and enjoy my trip. Despite the insurance hickup, it was a lovely time in Italy and so much fun driving through the mountains, as that’s something I rarely get to do. Nothing could have prepared me for all the issues of leaving my home country and traveling accross the world, but I just have to deal with it as it comes - and I’m sure there’ll be plenty more issues to deal with along the way.

For now, I’m enjoying my time in Italy taking some time to just driving around and appreciate the culture, food and views. I’ll spend a few more days in Italy, where it feels familiar, before I’m moving on to Slovenia and the Blakans.