We wanted to set off on 30th March, 2019.
My last day at work in March was the return journey from Tokyo. Arriving home late Friday night, I wasn’t in a position to drive a long distance on Saturday so we decided to postpone the start to Sunday. First stop on our journey was Stuttgart so say good bye to our friends.
We planned to set off eastwards, early on Monday. The idea was to have breakfast in Munich, lunch in Ljubljana and dinner in Sarajevo.
But then, a setback.
Sunday evening, after dinner and a short stroll with our hosts, Hira started feeling a bit unwell. She headed to bed but it soon became apparent that this wasnt something brought on by the hectic of packing and the drive down to Stuttgart. Her joints started swelling and the pain became rather debilitating so off to the nearest emergency room we went.
By the time we arrived at the hospital, barely 5 minutes away, she couldn’t even open the car door herself to get out and required assistance. After a brief wait at an overcrowded ER, she could see the doctor. The doctor suspected arthritis (she has no history of it at all), but he wasn’t really sure. In the most typical German fashion, all he gave was a soft cast for her arm, some Ibuprofen and a gel to rub on the affected joints and the instruction to keep it under observation and get blood tests done via the Hausartz (local GP) to make sure.
This was not the start we had in our mind but the first priority was getting Hira fit. My suggestion was that we go back to Siegen and once proper tests are done and treatment completed, we could then simply fly instead of driving all the way.
The next day, she woke up late with pretty much all the symptoms gone, except for mild discomfort in her hand. She also stubbornly refused to go back to Siegen and insisted that we carry on with the journey for now. If situation worsened, we could turn back or find a solution.
April 1st, 2019: We finally set off in the afternoon. The realistic destination for that day was to reach Ljubljana for our first overnight stay out of Germany.
First border crossing. First of many. 
Couldnt have asked for better weather. 
Who’s this guy? 
See, nothing to worry about.
A reststop near Chiemgau. 
Stunning views. 
Just LOOK at it!
Sure, we lost some time but the key for us was that we weren’t bound by any strict schedule and didn’t have any hotel reservations to match and that ended up being our most valuable asset on this trip. We could decide at any given time, if we wanted to change our route or the next stop on our journey. As first day of driving drew to its end, we realised that we wont be able to make it into Ljubljana for the night, so we decided to find a place to stay in Bled, Slovenia.
We didnt plan to drive much in dark, unless it was a section of managed motorway. This is something we adhered to throughout our trip and would advise to anyone doing a similar trip.
Cost: €52, Breakfast not included but it had a decent kitchen and was overall clean and comfortable. Would recommend.
MINI Overland 