Day 202 | Sunday October 2
A big thanks to the nice people of Motel Ambis in Vaslui for helping me out. I left in the morning as I knew it was going to be a long day. I was hoping to reach Bucharest today, more than 300km away. When I got to Focsani it was time to recharge a little bit. With zero chargers in the city I needed people to help me and I found out that it was not so easy. Most people I asked where not really willing to help, sent me away or didn’t want to talk to me. I tried almost all fuel stations, hotels and some locals. Finally I saw two young guys in suits walking so I thought they must speak English well, they did and they asked a gas station if it was okay to charge there and it was no problem.
From Focsani it was another 100km to Cioranca, where they have the only EV charger on the route. Because of some hills and the temperatures that got lower I couldn’t reach it. Again I stopped at a fuel station to ask for help. It was a tiny station and it seemed locals gathered there to have some beers and talks. I explained them what I was doing and one guy could help me out. He jumped in my car, directed me to his house and plugged the car in. We walked back to the station which was just 100 meters from his house and they offered me some tea and food. When I told them I was planning to sleep in the car at a fuel station the guy offered me to sleep at his place. Pretty cool I thought, he didn’t spoke a word English but still he wanted to help me out!
Day 203 | Monday October 3
I found out I slept in Ionut and I was on the countryside. In the morning I met the parents, wife and children of Iancu who was the one who helped me. They made some french fries and eggs for me which was great as I didn’t eat anything yesterday. After breakfast I thanked the nice people for their warmth and left. I decided to have a look at the EV charger as it was the first one in Romania I passed. When I arrived I instantly drew the attention of people who worked there and before I could plug the car in, I had 3 people around who wanted to do that for me. The owner invited me for some coffee. He told me he installed the station two months ago and I was the second one who came to charge there, what an honor ;)
So around noon I arrived in Bucharest. In capitals I always want to see a lot of things but today I decided to spend my day at McDonalds. Not because I was hungry but because I needed free internet to arrange a lot of things. For example my carnet for all the countries I will be reaching soon.
Around five I met up with Andrei, I met him at the North Cape in Norway. He lives here in a nice apartment where he was making live music with friends. Later we would drive to his friend Radu where I would stay for the night. He lives in an apartment on the third floor so with an extension cable from his balcony we managed to charge the car.
https://www.facebook.com/PlugMeIn/photos/a.357717747770627.1073741829.211949022347501/542984479243952/?type=3&theater
Day 204 | Monday October 4
Andrei showed me around Bucharest. We visited the house of parliament, after the Pentagon in the US the second largest administrative building in the world! That means its seriously big. It’s also the third biggest building in the world and you can see it from space.Â
The city is very interesting, it seems there a lot of contradictions. Old parts followed by new and modern parts, poor areas followed by rich neighborhoods. A typical thing in the city are the Roma’s who try to make money out of everything. In busy zones where people want to park they stand in front of free parking slots and charge money to park the car there, while it’s not even their own parking area.
My next stop was already in Bulgaria. After I passed the customs and recharged a couple of times at fuel stations I arrived in Veliki Tarnovo. Two Dutch people, Petra and Frank, heard about Plug Me In on Facebook and decided to host me. They came here 3 years ago and started bed & breakfast Brabons, just outside of the city in Pchelishte. It’s a very cosy place with nice decorated rooms. They would even treat me with a ‘kroket’! It’s a Dutch delicatesse and when you haven’t eaten this for more than 6 months it’s a big pleasure to put behind your teeth.
Day 205 | Tuesday October 5
This day started early and not so nice. I was very nauseous and had to return the Kroket and all the other contents in my stomach to the toilet. A fewer struck me. The last weeks I have felt tired and maybe this was a sign that I needed to take some rest. Until Saturday I stayed in bed.Â
Pictures