#Trabant2Paris - First country - Hungary

Our Trabi quickly became popular; first among family members, then friends and even the guys from the service. 

Youngest generation of our Trabi fan club

During the first week we already drove 300 km in Hungary. Rémi was rather good at driving the 2 stroke engine car from the very beginning. Although he was focusing so much on the first 1 hour long test drive with a friend that he wasn't able to take part in the conversation.

Theory vs practical knowledge

The car's tank is only 26 L. 20 L of fuel is enough for about 350 km. There's only one problem here: it doesn't have any fuel gauge! You are only given a plastic scale that you deep into the tank to know how much fuel is left... This would be actually still fine, but since we use petrol and oil manually mixed on the spot the whole refilling process starts to be a mathematical problem.

1. You keep in mind how many km you have driven

2. You are close to your limit, but since the petrol- oil ratio is 1:40 you want to wait until you are able to refill 20 L benzin and 0,5 L oil

3. You check the quantity of the fuel - TOO MUCH - you wait

4. The car starts to struggle, you have an option for 'reserve setting'. You set it while driving, without stopping and measuring the level of fuel

5. You are on option reserve, heading to a petrol station

6. There's a slope - your engine gives it up and suddenly stops

7. It restarts easily, it was just slightly scary!

8. You reach the petrol station, check the level of fuel with he plastic scale. IT'S STILL 6 L! How can that be?

9. Two options - you put fuel anyway and your ratio won't be as it should / you drive a bit more and repeat step 5-8

All right, it wasn't always this bad, but it's not easy to be an amateur Trabant owner.

Where did we go in Hungary with the Trabi?

Click on the map, to see our notes!

On the road

After these short experiences, the big day arrived; we needed to leave for France. We weren't so lucky with the departure day as it was stormy and windy. There was some rain too, so it turned out that our wipers were too old...amateur's mistake! Luckily we found a shop, where we could buy a new one for € 1.50 (one only, because they didn't have more of this small size). 

There was a strong traffic on the Hungarian roads and the road quality was rather poor. The drive until Sopron wasn't so amusing, we were happy to finally stop. However the city was under renovation its ancient charm was still obvious.

Somló

Sopron city center

Accommodation

We planned to camp next to the Lake Fertő/Neusiedlersee. We found a cozy camping in Fertőrákos: Szt Kristóf Sátorszállás. An old traditional farm house was renovated and turned into a camp site with fully equipped kitchen, terrace, picnic tables, playground and fire place. The places are limited as it is not bigger than a fair sized garden, and there's not so many other campings in the region. On the other hand the staff is bilingual and very friendly. There's free WiFi as well.

photo: Szt. Kristóf Sátorszállás, Fertőrákos

Encounters

During our 1800 km drive we met some curious, friendly people every single day.

Sopron: Elderly lady got nostalgic about the Trabant. She remembered theirs and their Vizsla dog, who was always taking the front seat. She said that she regretted they sold their Trabi.

Fertőrákos camping:

Receptionist: "Oh, what do I see, a blue treasure box!"

Trabant showcase for a family of 3. The boys wanted to know, see and touch everything on the car.

Not to mention the daily typical question 'Which year is this car from?' and those, who were waving, honking, smiling,  greeting us; or just staring surprised, not quite understanding what was a Trabant 601 with two young guys and a small white dog doing there. We clearly felt from the start that a cute, blue, old car can connect people.  Already for this reason, it was worth it to challenge this road trip.

Route map, day 1st

Gallery

Short evening visit: Lake Fertő, Fertőrákos

Rémi and Bis the Trabi

Extrem sport with Le Bodza