Final Trip Preparations
The lack of posts in recent days is mostly due to extensive trip preparations in advance of a departure on Saturday, but with most of those complete I can share my exciting plans!
A New Drone
Naturally this is one of the most exciting parts for me. My other drone, the Parrot Disco, is very large, hard to transport, and requires a lot of space for takeoff. Definitely not ideal for capturing footage of wooded areas, beaches, and places not so accessible by car. After a short amount of research the obvious travel drone is the DJI Mavic Mini.
A compact travel companion
With 3 batteries serving approximately 20 minutes of flight-time each, the possibility to charge via USB in the car, all coming inside a 28x19x8cm carry case, it’s a clear winner. I tested it out on the bank of the Rhein in Düsseldorf, check out the video below.
The First Few Stops
In the previous post I embedded my route through Italy and Greece, so if you’re interested in the full route I encourage you to take a look. I just wanted to focus on the first 3 stops en route.
Munich
The lesser-visited city in all road trips of Italy, the southern-German city of Munich is my first stop. This is purely to break up the first big drive, pay a visit to James Conolly. I don’t suppose my visit will be particularly cultural, instead likely focusing on (as he would call it) achieving an advanced state of refreshment.
The Dolomites
The first Italian stop is this campsite in the Dolomites. The area is littered with winter ski slopes which I’m hoping delivers some really nice panoramic views and walking trails in the summer. I was also recommended the nearby town of Ortisei/Urtijëi which has a rather bizarre pronounciation.
It’s also a great opportunity to test out the viability of my tent in warm weather!
A spacious tent
After leaving I’ll have a quick chance to visit the highly-rated Lake Garda. Aside from being quite beautiful there appears to be a number of places to swim, ideal for the underwater GoPro footage!
Verona
After approximately 3 years I make my return to hostelling with a stay at The Hostello in Verona. During my 2-night stay in the city there are a number of obvious highlights. The obvious highlight is The Verona Arena, a well preserved Roman amphitheater. Verona is also the setting for Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, a significant number of tourists flock to Juliet’s house.
I have read that 1 day is probably enough to see the sights, but it can’t hurt to relax and potentially eat beyond my comfort level.
The Rest
As I said in the previous post I’m going to keep this blog awash with posts from the trip. Drone footage, Underwater GoPro footage, tales, photos, history, I will do my very best to document how the trip goes!