The TRIP day 1
As usual, we packed the car in rush and tried to get on the road as fast we could. Where is my driving license? Still not found as I write this blog. Wonder what the penalty in China is for not having your driving license with you? Able to rent the RV with wifes driving license as it was required, wonder what she does with it as she never drives here. Anyway, we did not let this stop us and drove to the shop (if you can call it a shop, check the day 0 blog). KIA Sorrento is a big, car but in this case, 2 adults/ 2 kids/ and a dog + one week changing clothes/food. And also this time we took our own bedsheets which are taking a lot of space. Next time we will leave them home. KIA was packed full and head for the road to reach the rental in a timely matter. Of course, while driving our Ai sent picture of kids’ luggage in their room waiting to be picked up. This means we need to drive back thru Shanghai. Additional 40km on the elevated road back and forward.
Found the rental and RV, made all the pre-checks. As usual, I missed half of the information due to the language barrier and translator issues. The Control panel is fully in Chinese, so the responsibility for using it is purely on the wife 🙂
Warning for the roads in China
Some word of warning for the highways in China. Try to avoid driving in dark and when it is raining. We have seen before that in these weather conditions, there is a huge risk of accidents and also the highway will be totally jammed. This evening after dusk there were 4 accidents in short distance and the road was totally blocked for some longer periods.
Night stay at Tonglu (桐庐)Service Station in
Due to this, we decided to stay overnight at the service station parking lot. KFC was shining in the night welcoming us, eat me! It would be much safer to continue the trip in the morning. As a relief, these big service stations have the restaurants/shops and toilets in use 24/7 and security available all the time. To mention, nice to have a Latte in the morning fresh from Starbucks.
This would be the end of the first day of our journey of 8 days. Continuing the second day soon when arriving at Qiandao Lake with beautiful views and fresh air!
