Spring approaches, hibernation has to take an end.
After endless weeks of incredible winter weather, temperatures below 0, snow storms, ice covered landscapes and a huge bill for heating our flat, spring approaches. And finally our 1st sign after hibernation.
Well, after arriving in Swizzyland we had 2 manage some admin and organisational challenges and 2 make some of the usual researches on local tribes and their customs.
Well, we have our Swizzy passports, so most issues were feasible 4 us. Slightly different 4 Prado. Our car promised us 2 continue proofing its reliability 4 the next trip despite all bad fuel and neglected maintenance.
So we decided to seek 4 asylum 4 Prado. Precondition was our eligibility 2 bail 4 the car. Easy – get registered with the municipality and u’r eligible 4 most issues. Then go 2 one of the Swizzy’s customs offices, fill in a form, proof ur respectability and immediately get the car’s asylum.
Next step: 2 get Swizzy citizenship 4 Prado. Easy – clean the car, repair everything which is not important, replace all African village doctor’s spare parts, put them aside 4 later use and get the road worthiness certificate. So, Prado got the number plate of the local tribe’s admin. circumscription – and it’s nationalized. The documents of Burkina Faso were sent back 2 their Embassy 4 further use.
Later on, we had 2 explore some of the local customs, specific 2 the tribes here in Laufenburg. Some festivities where they make a hell a lot of noise. They call it Fasnacht, meaning a sort of carnival.
We also had 2 prepare the next steps of our trip: learn Russian within 3 months; replace our equipment getting tired during our last trips and make the essential repairs to make sure that Prado will do the whole trip.
We also had to do some research about the life around us – as usual with special regard 2 politics and interesting stories u pick up on the roadside. We discovered all kind of political parties trying to maximise exploitation of their fellow citizens in a democratic manner.
E.g. there is the green party promoting bike driving; the socialist one trying 2 get ur money 2 buy red socks 4 their members; several conservative middle ones – all convinced just doing nothing is best 2 avoid any mistakes and finally the right-wing party with their locally famous hero H.E. Christoph Blocher. They still dream of a sheep eradication programme to demotivate certain migrants to settle in Swizzyland.
We learned this kind of stuff on the road from all kind of guys we met. Of course we couldn’t believe all the stories. Nevertheless some may be true – who knows. A typical example u can find in our roadside tales or if u click on the button below.
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After all these important tasks, we still wait to have a more reliable proof that spring arrives and weather permits to move on. And still we’re solving some family issues 2 b organised before taking off. Nevertheless, the all important visa application process has started.
