Moonchild: What exactly determines you to travel to each new destination?
Lord Jacob: First, my desire to see and explore, to know various cultures from more than one angle. Then, I believe it is the overall experience I enjoy while riding my motorbike. Moonchild: How did you choose this new travel location? Lord Jacob: Well, some friends and I wanted to reach Italy, but we thought going straight to Italy would be quite boring. “What’s the point in driving straight? Let’s find some interesting, winding roads, with passes.” Thus, we created a somehow longer itinerary. We chose a longer path which would take us and our motorbikes on the perfect road to happiness – starting point: Romania, then Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and finally back to Romania. To sum up, 14 days, 5000 kilometres. Funny facts: the trip had been planned 6 months in advance, together with 5 friends, and I did not even have the motorbike I ride now back then. Moonchild: Describe in 3 essential words the first thoughts or emotions felt once you have reached your destination. Lord Jacob: An overall feeling of relief. Joy, enchantment, satisfaction, the thrill to travel. I will try to summarize based on the locations where we stopped. In Serbia, after some small adventures (not finding a place to sleep in Romania, running low on gas, heavy winds), all I could feel was anxiousness to see and ride those roads of which we had heard to be phenomenal. I felt at peace in the surrounding silence. The following day, although it was raining while we were headed to Montenegro, I was surprised to discover that driving along the Danube in Serbia was wonderful, much better than the Romanian landscape, here you have a lot of nature, and the scenery gets very spectacular. Reaching our hut, the accommodation we had booked in Montenegro, somewhere in a mountain resort, wet but safe and sound was the top feeling of that day. We put our clothes to dry against the stove. Of course, it was an entire adventure to talk to our host, to find the place, but all is well when it ends well. Montenegro felt like a blessing, since it is also known as the heaven of motorbike riders, adorned with extremely beautiful roads, traffic-less, and featuring a lot of curves. Before reaching Croatia, we stopped once more near Kotor and dipped our feet in the water, simply enjoying the views. Next stop: Dubrovnik – super crowded, but the fortress is beautiful; we stayed in line even for ice-cream; we found it to be an expensive place, and I think that if I would have gone there with my car, I would have been quite agitated and irritated. (This is the main reason for which we always try to spend the night in unknown towns, not central ones, somewhere on the road, within reach, so that we can continue our trip easily.) After bathing on a random beach we saw as we were driving, we finally ended this day in Rijeka, where our host greeted us with watermelon, orange juice and some sort of local cognac. At the end of the day, even though we were tired, we still did our simple routine like washing clothes. My emotions in those moments were focused on the beauty of the coastal drive. The following day, we reached Italy. Time for splashes and some fun in the sea of Grada! Our unconventional travel continued towards Venice, where we visited Piazza San Marco, leaving our bikes behind; got lost in the tiny alleyways, it was wonderful. The following day we visited Verona and then had a quick bath in Sirmione on Lake Garda. Driving freely to our next accommodation, we surrounded Lake Garda and reached a small village near Trento. We stayed off the main roads, enchanted by the authentic architecture we found in our way. The tunnels impressed us, as we came across them quite often in the 4 days we spent on Italian grounds. Little explorers, we discovered the surroundings as well – Switzerland and Austria – we already knew what passes we wanted to see, we simply had to get organized. We found Molveno, a divine place, by mere chance, as we drove on a one-way road through the mountains and we admired an incredible sunset in the end. Our returning route went through Innsbruck, a place which was not as I had expected it, it was quite hot and there were a lot of immigrants around; then Vienna, but on the way encountered some difficulties with one of the bikes, we had to move one passenger, and, on top of that, the storm started and it was raining aggressively – when we saw our place for the night, we were delighted it was an old villa transformed in a cosy pension with sauna. Hungary was boring, we even got a flat tire on the road, Bratislava felt a bit like home with dust, chaotic driving, less good roads, it was actually the worst experience in our holiday. Finally reached Romania, with windy weather and off-roading towards Transalpina highway, it was both stressful and beautiful. Moonchild: How did the “perfect day” unfold while on holiday? Lord Jacob: It was the day we reached Stelvio pass, on our first day spent entirely in Italy. Moonchild: You leisurely discovered the new location. Which was your favourite spot? Why? Describe it in a few words. Lord Jacob: Clearly Molveno, in Italy, the road up to this place and the sunset we were lucky to witness. Moonchild: Describe in 3 essential words the last thoughts or emotions felt on departure. Lord Jacob: A brief feeling of sadness because each return back home marks a return to reality. Moonchild: Now that some time has passed since this travel, what is the most often recurring thought regarding the destination you have visited? Lord Jacob: To be honest, that I might enjoy moving and living in the Northern part of Italy, where I would happily embrace incredible landscapes every day and I would be close to everything in the area.
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