Hello my friends,
Time for a new update as so much has happened! It’s hard even to decide where to start. At the moment I’m in Albania. My tuktuk however is still in Bosnia. I’ll tell you why.

Sas (and some others) came to join

After spending a lot of days fixing my tuktuk in Bad Ischl with Sas in March, I continued my trip. My mom & Sas joined me for another week which was great. We took our mom on her first ever mountain hike and the same for our tuk. Together we crossed the Alps! And she did great. Even made a wheelie, almost catapulted Sas and my mom to fly out of the Tuk. We arrived in Slovenia where they changed seats with my friend Roxanne and her friend Akash. After sleeping between the roaring bears under countless starts we went to the Croatian coast. In my mind touristy and not too interesting, but it turned out to be great! We hiked the mountains next to the sea, did part of the Via Dinarica, which is a long distance trail going all the way from Slovenia to Albania (recommended!!).

Beautiful Bosnia!

Then they left and I continued into Bosnia. My first country out of the EU – so no phone connection and internet – quite relaxing! And sooo green!! All the mountains here are covered with beautiful trees. Again here I noticed that whenever you drive into a town with a tuktuk, people get excited. I’ve been invited by many families for BBQ, dinner or to sleep in their garden. I learned so much about the country and its history. It’s an amazing place, but still with a big scar from the 90s war. It’s capital Sarajevo is also very worth visiting as you really feel cultures meeting here. It has a big Turkish influence, but also a more modern touch. And mountains all around. I loved it here!

Who needs an engine when you have a rope?

At this point my tuktuk would only go up 10km/hr up the mountains haha. If it made it at all, as quite often it didn’t. I then had to ask people to tow me up, which many did I was actually kind of funny. And hey, who needs an engine if you have a rope? Haha. I did feel I had to do something about it, as I was probably just running on one cylinder, eventually probably breaking my engine. Rob who lives in a town in the north of bosnia Srebrenica reached out and told me i could work on my tuk in his place. He picked me up and I spent a week there – not only trying to fix my tuk but also spending time with Dutch veterans who served here in the 90s. Hearing there stories and the locations where it happened. This was quite impactful.

Waiting is for losers

I found out I needed new piston rings and luckily still had these in The Netherlands. A friend sent them, but as I don’t like waiting I went and explored Bosnia with a friend, Serena, who I had met here in Bosnia – we went on all kinds of hikes and Via Ferratas, slept in bivaks and visited Titos bunker, the former leader of the former Yugoslavia.

Some tears and a plan B

Once the parts were in I really really hoped this would work. Unfortunately it didn’t, even though these things had to be adjusted, nothing changed. Still no power at all in my tuk. I decided it was enough now. By now I’d had so many breakdowns that I myself had a little breakdown too. Time for a little tuk break.

Mountainous Montenegro

Finally I was heading further east – leaving my tuk behind in Bosnia while I was continueing the direction of my final destination: Pakistan. It felt good! Serena, Yvonne, a friend I met in Kyrgyzstan who came to join me in my tuk, and I set of for road-trip through Montenegro in Serena’s campervan. Every road here is stunning! No wonder since over 80% is mountain. Again we did many beautiful hikes, slept in bivaks and cooked dinner in the most beautiful places ever. We end our little friend trip in Kotor, where I leave them behind and head to Albania!

Bicycle time!

In Shkodër, the north of Albania, I bought myself a bicycle from a man on the street who was actually selling 2nd hand clothes but still had a bicycle at home . Perfect! As soon as I saw the glitters I was sold. I bought it, put a vegetable market basket on the back to put my bags in, strapped my tent around the frame and organized a basket on the front for my sleeping bag. All set and ready to go! My first bike packing trip – always wondered how I would find it but didn’t think I’d find out on this trip haha. But here I am, crossed all the way through Albania and into Greece! It’s tough, cycling in 33 degrees and lots of uphill. However, I really like the physical challenge and to see what my body can do. Traveling in a tuktuk might be a mental challenge from time to time, but this physically sure is. I like it though!

My Dutch friend Serena comes and joins and together we cycle from Corfu to the mountains around Vikos. What a place!! It’s stunning! And barely any other tourist.

At the moment my trip is taking a lot of unexpected turns of which I’ll tell you more later.

For all the stories and photos please check out my Instagram or Polarsteps.❤️

And hope to see you on the bus again next season!