Ireland is a country where you can meet a Pole as often as an Irishman. Thus, even without knowing the language, it is possible to communicate. Even though the climate is temperate, the actual Irish weather is changeable and capricious - it's best to carry an umbrella with you. But not only the aura can surprise you. For example, who knows that you give gifts to postmen before Christmas? And that Halloween comes from here, not America? Or how to explain the uncertainty of sellers who see in the hand of a tourist a banknote with a face value of more than 100 euro?.

Green Island three-leaf clover

Adventure, a sense of freedom and independence, this is what attracts caravanners. Trips to remote, preferably uninhabited places are usually the destination of such vacation trips in a motorhome. However, when traveling in such a vehicle, we are not always self-sufficient and sometimes it is extremely difficult to obtain the independence so desired in this case. What are we talking about? First of all, that when we go to places completely remote from civilization, we are deprived of a power source, which could make the vacation not too successful. We then wonder if the battery of our vehicle will meet the demand for electricity needed to operate the electrical devices on the board of our motorhome or caravan. A good and properly selected battery is the basis for a safe and long journey. The comfort of our travel depends primarily on him.

Electricity in motorhomes and caravans

It will be a story about Paris different from the one known to most of us. There will be no descriptions of romantic dinners at a table overlooking the Eiffel Tower or the delights of the Champs Elysees. No photos in front of the Arc de Triomphe. We will not visit the Louvre Museum and stop in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral to look for the famous Beetle. But we will look at other, equally interesting places. Everyone knows Paris, even if they've never been to it. We have seen the beautiful scenery of the city of love in so many films that it seems that you will feel at ease upon arrival. And at the same time, before the trip, tourists feel excited about visiting this unique place. A special name was even created - the Paris syndrome. Some scientists believe that this is a painful amazement that it is not as beautiful as it is on the screen and it mainly affects Japanese tourists, disappointed with the reality they find. It is probably better, however, to accept the first opinion - that this syndrome is a fascination and joyful tension before arrival, which can even manifest itself in an acceleration of the heart rate.

Paris different from the movies

A typical motorhome has a high and wide superstructure, which distinguishes it from "ordinary" vans and delivery vans. This is not the case with Hymera Car, however. From the outside, the car does not differ much from the usual Fiat Ducato Maxi Van. It is 599 cm long, 208 cm wide and 255 cm high. The manufacturer, wanting to create a camping car on such a basis, had to face a real problem to accommodate all the necessary furniture and equipment in a relatively small area. Indeed, in this model, every inch of space has been used. The effect is that although the vehicle is quite cramped, it still contains everything that is necessary for distant and relatively comfortable journeys.

Hymer Car

Krakow is a city that, in fact, cannot be visited only during the weekend. However, today's lifestyle does not often allow us to stay in one place for a long time. A city with over a thousand years of history, many churches, tenement houses, squares, theaters and parks gives us a great room for maneuver when it comes to choosing tourist routes. We assume that a typical tourist comes to Krakow on Friday evening. After transfer from the airport or arrival by car and accommodation, it is important to familiarize yourself with the atmosphere of the city. Then it is no longer possible to enter most museums, so it is worth taking a walk inside the Planty Park. The beginning of the route is usually around the Barbican, which protected the city from the north. It is a medieval building that was built at the end of the 15th century. It used to be connected with the Florian Gate. Next to this gate we can also see the towers: from the east the Pasamoników and from the west Carpenters and Carpenters. In addition, the city arsenal has been preserved. There is an interesting anecdote related to the preservation of this fragment of the city walls. In the first half of the 19th century, walls and churches were demolished in Kraków to make more space in the city. The well-known Krakow architect Feliks Radwański raised the problem that the Florian Gate must stay, because it would be rude to let the northern winds blow the dresses of Krakow ladies. And so the gate has remained until today.

Krakow at the weekend

Winter is a backup and many followers of white madness are already planning winter trips to the mountains. The search for accommodation begins, checking the skiing conditions, ticket prices and the most suitable ski region. When we decide on the place that suits us best, we decide to leave and ... and flap, we come to the place, no snow, in addition, the accommodation is not like in the pictures, but what to do, after all, we will not come back if the stay for the whole week has already been paid for and there is no point in returning the cash. Such situations do happen, but the most frequent cause of disappointment is not so much the quality of the hotel or accommodation, but simply a freak of nature under the title "snow is gone and it will not be". When going on such a trip, we are forced to commute to another resort every day to go skiing, or to give up the already paid hotel or apartment and rent another one in a different place or decide to go hiking in the center of the town.

A ski camper van

The fashion for caravanning in Poland is developing very well. This is evidenced by the ever richer calendar of events for companies and people interested in traveling with a motorhome or caravan. Caravanning fairs and rallies have been popular all over the world for years. Already in January you will be able to go to two interesting events at our western neighbors. Tourisma & Caravaning 2013 will be held in Magdeburg, Germany, from 4 to 6 January. A week later, on January 12, the CMT - The Holiday Exhibition will begin until January 20, during which caravanning exhibitions will be an important element of the event. On January 17, the Caravana 2013 fair will start in the Dutch city of Leeuwarden.

More and more caravanning events

On Friday we spent the night in Santa Maria , which we chose for our final drive - heading (back) to Los Angeles, for one serious reason - SHOPPING. Here the girls spotted their TJ Maxxx. Saturday, May 9, 2009 was actually our last full day in the states. Luckily, it was also the last day of the shopping frenzy ... In the morning, we went very smoothly in the shopping center and punctually at 2 p.m. - as we had previously assumed (i.e. we gently forced on girls who could do shopping like this for the rest of their lives) - we set off towards Los Angeles, specifically to the spot we had chosen almost two weeks earlier - Santa Monica . It was the last 170 miles on the road - quite nice road, in beautiful scenery (partly along the beaches) - first along their Interstate, then along a scenic mountain road, back to the coast. In the elite Malibu , we made a lunch on the beach - delicious sushi cut into the landscape known from the series "Baywatch - Sunny Patrol" (next to it, Pamela in an orange suit was running everywhere). Only the girls complained a bit when it was cold (for them it is probably not warm enough even at 30 degrees Celsius ...), so we did not extend our lunch and we went to Santa Monica. Leaving Malibu, we had a second traffic jam during our trip (the first one was on the way from Vegas to Hoover's Dam - about 45 minutes) - we rolled slowly all the way to the great beaches in Santa Monica. We logged in right in the center - on the promenade, almost overlooking the sea. Unfortunately, at the same time, it was the most expensive accommodation in the whole event - $ 137 after negotiations. However, this is nothing, because it was supposed to be (and was) - the last night - so we decided to go crazy! We packed our stuff, went to the pier and let the atmosphere carry us away. In an amusement park arranged on a pier, we got a taste of the roller-coaster (I guess that's what you say?) And the elevator launched upwards. We were also supposed to taste the Budweiser, but as soon as I fired it - despite the black foil bag - a huge black policewoman appeared from nowhere and took me to the trash with it. After a hearty dinner in the restaurant on the pier, a walk, we went to a well-deserved rest. It's been a pleasure ... after two weeks in the states - we are losing our native language ... Of course, this is not what Edyta Górniak did - we will not sing the national anthem ...

America by car, part 10/10 - Heading back to LA

As we approached the city on the highway, we expected a similar glow to the one over Las Vegas. Yes - the glow was - it started with the lights of the Oakland airport (actually the "suburbs" of San Francisco). The weather surprised us - a few miles before SF there was a beautiful starry night, clear sky, the moon two nights before the full moon. Moments later, a gigantic fog (cloud?) Hung over the city, giving us a gentle drizzle. As we pulled off the Bay Bridge, we turned towards (as our girls say) "the very center" of SF, and the scenery was fairy-tale-comic.

America by car, part 9/10 - San Francisco

We found yesterday's accommodation from the so-called shoe - it was the first night for which we did not have an overnight stay booked. Arriving in Fresno, we expected a small town, which turned out to be quite a big city, so we didn't even drive into the center. We were tempted by a fast-food district (in one place, apart from McDonald's, you can find Wenddys, Taco Bells, Carl's Jr, In & Out burger, Denni's, KFC - a real paradise for American fat people) where we also found two motels. Such a roadside town, where truck drivers stop overnight, offers accommodation for only $ 67 for 4 people. And so, after unpacking the car, we went for a walk for delicious fat burgers. Then some duties - that is accommodation in San Francisco. On this occasion, a stormy debate took place - I and Ela insisted on living as close to the center as possible - that is, in the Union Square area, and the boys cheered on accommodation in our already friendly Travellodge chain. For us, however, 1600 meters away is a challenge not on the streets of San Francisco, which we intend to measure along and run along. In the end it was ours - we sleep in the Union Plaza Hotel. After processing the photos, we went for a conciliatory drink at the swimming pool - cheap hotels, as usual, offer a large pool - this one was for 16 people. And so we sat by the pool under the palm trees, drinking a drink at 12 am, trying not to wake up the sleeping drivers with their bursts of laughter, who parked their beautiful, big, colorful trucks in the parking lot next door. In the morning we got up at a decent time, although, as you already know, it is more and more difficult - we have already changed our time and even though the watch was set to 5 p.m. Polish time, it was hard to get up. Kuba, anticipating such a situation, also performed the procedure of hiding the alarm clock - so that no one could turn it off too quickly when it starts ringing. Who let's ago go - we went to Sequoia National Park which welcomed us with lush vegetation and huge trees. We climbed Moro Rock - I got the first two thousand meters high - hi hi - by climbing a prepared path consisting of almost 400 steps. The effort was only ambitious, because at the top it turned out that you could not see anything anyway, because we were in the clouds, which, unfortunately, was not blown by the wind today. Then we had a meeting with the Generals - Sherman and Grant. As for the Americans, they turned out to be quite obese - 12 meters in waist circumference ... of course, we are talking about the largest trees named after the distinguished. Everything around was also American-sized - generally the forest is called Giant Forrest. After all, after the previous attractions, today's ones turned out to be the least spectacular - perhaps because the landscape most closely resembles Polish conditions - such a larger forest, with larger trees. At the moment, we are already on the route to San Francisco, where the streets and attractions of this city await us. Today we are planning a night walk around bluss-jazz venues - we are closer to them by as much as 1,600 meters ... San Francisco is calling - read the next part !!!!.

America by car, part 8/10 - Sequoia National Park

Mammooth Lakes surprised us a lot, especially as after the hot climate of Death Valley, the ladies in the klapunias had to get through at 0 degrees in the rain and snow to the door of our room. We were not completely prepared for such a sudden change in weather ... We got up at 10:00, because today we had only 150 miles to go, so casual. Taking our time, we went to breakfast for real American cuisine. Looking around, it was easy to see people dressed in ski suits and boots scurrying with snowboards and skis. It was not difficult to find out that we are in a ski resort. What was our surprise when at the reception of the motel Kuba asked for a weather report - and this is a real winter. It turned out that many roads are closed and there is no chance to pass. Our route is closed from October to June (only access to Yosemite from the east, 10,000ft mountain pass) - so we'd have to wait a while. We quickly re-planned the route and to get to the next destination - Yosemite, we had to go around the entire Sierra Nevada mountain range - only 500 miles ... In other words, a whole day's journey. We left town in the rain, leaving the mountain ranges in fog. We managed to drive about 30 miles and a beautiful lake appeared, the weather also improved, although it was blowing like hell. Imagine my surprise when I grabbed the camera to capture these great views and here's a surprise ... the batteries were left in the motel. We weren't allowed to leave Mammoths Lakes, so we drove back to the lovely resort. Fortunately, the batteries were in place and still charging. We definitely left Mammoths at 1pm !!!!!!! Gmurcia grabbed the wheel and sped almost 300 miles without a pee stop (7 hours) in her new high-end 20-hole cap and stripped Vegas glasses. Along the way, we only had 3 refueling, a little shopping and I think we traveled through all the seasons of the year. We drove and rode until it got dark and the drivers changed. Kuba got to the circle at the right moment, because some great streamers started, normal as on a carousel. We regretted that the moon illuminated these steep slopes so poorly, because the views would probably be unearthly. Before midnight, we arrived at the Oakhurst - Americas Best Value Inn Motel. The room was great, but there was no fridge, which made the boys very worried ...

America by car, part 7/10 - Yosemite National Park

Today we noticed that we start to wake up later and later - 8:00 and go to bed later and later 2:00, which means - we are slowly switching to the American time J Lamp from the morning, which makes me and Gmurcia very happy, because yesterday we were a bit blown in Grand Canyon. Śniadanko, as in a roadside motel, quite modest, so Jeż bought some ham and cheese so that we would not starve. We didn't start until 10:30 and it was a completely unplanned place. We bought a rally to Antelope Slot Canyon - a paradise for photographers, a very picturesque land, simply a miracle !!!! I was furious since the morning, because there is a fate hanging over my photographic equipment from the beginning of the expedition - one lens completely broken, yesterday in the Grand Canyon the "fool" fell and something is not in contact there and this problem with the batteries ... Luckily we have one more long lens and the great equipment of Jeż J, everyone admired him today, and the photos from the canyon were really amazing. Before the route to Monument Valley, we veered off the Page route to the dam, and only then experienced a visual shock. Sometimes it is worth changing the direction of the road, because the beautiful Lake Powell has appeared in front of us, with many bays - almost like "Norwegian fjords", all surrounded, of course, by mountains. We got to Monument Valley - a place known to everyone from westerns, fortunately we arrived before sunset, red rock blocks of various shapes, resembling people, dogs and even ET, red earth and poor vegetation - a real film landscape. And then on the road, there are over 200 miles of journey ahead of us, this time a super driver GmurciaJ behind the wheel. She quickly learned what and how in this great car and she liked the cruise control the most. At 8:30 PM we got to Page, for dinner at a typical country pub with live music, where we tasted a real American steak - yummy !!!! The pubs are closed quickly, so at 10 p.m. we moved on, as it turned out later - on a road full of surprises. Marcin took the helm. Initially everything was going as planned, all the way to Kanab (about halfway from Page, our dinner - to Cedar City, Utah, where we were staying. Then we took one of the two options - a shorter route but through the mountains (shortcut) ... It was past midnight. With time it started to get a bit dramatic - we drove, drove, drove ... Our Chrysler, which had been burning decently so far, on the winding mountain roads began to eat like a dragon and the fuel pointer dynamically moved towards the letter E for Empty. The moon on the left like from a fairy tale, hmm, rather like from a horror movie it was timidly low above the trees, then seeing our progressive stress with the situation, decided to throw in his three pennies and went out behind the clouds. So it got completely dark, we were driving with minimal visibility, and it started ... The first one shouted Ela: "BEWARE! ROE!!!" On the left side, out of nowhere, a giant deer suddenly jumped out in front of the car's hood (Marcin braked suddenly) and then passed (flew over) on his right side, passing the mirror with his hoof by about 5 cm ... Terrified, but at the same time happy that we are in one piece, we moved on with minimum speed and soul on our shoulder ... From then on, we looked for glistening - sinister - eyes on the roadside. And finally we saw - a fox, more deer, some furry the size of a monstrous nutria (or maybe a beaver?), A few more deer ... To turn up the already very tense atmosphere - only a hitchhiker with a saw was missing ... And our target town of Cedar City was still not on the horizon. Imagine our surprise when it turned out that we were driving at an altitude of over 3,000 meters and that we were surrounded by heaps of snow. At one point we passed over a meter long snowdrifts… Finally, a signpost appeared, which confirmed that we were going at least in the right direction - after 1 am we drove to the dormant, Mormon Cedar City in Utah. It is not difficult to guess that after these emotions we dreamed of a bottle of cold beer, but what was our disappointment when, at one of the few open stations, we found out that, first of all: after 1 am (until 7 am) in the whole city will not sell us any alcohol, and secondly: the time has changed - watches an hour ahead ... With our noses on the fifth, we were looking for our motel, going back and forth on Main Street - nowhere to find it. Desperate, we finally stopped the police (exactly) and here a pleasant surprise once again - after a short exchange of views, the policeman patrolling the city agreed, huh, he himself suggested that he would lead us to the place! And so - almost escorted by the police, in the middle of the night, thousands of miles from home, we happily drove to the next motel on our route. A very young and handsome (as the girls said) the policeman said goodbye to us with the words - "BE SAFE, GUYS". After 3:30 we went to bed and it was the shortest night so far.

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Green Island three-leaf clover