Everything Is Full of Expedition Vehicles Here 🇱🇺
Sven Walther
Aachen
An appointment in Hanover brings us back to Germany for a short detour. We stay far in the west in Aachen, from where I take the train to my appointment in Hanover. By the way: could Germany please finally stop with the border controls — the Schengen Agreement is still in force, and being waved back into your own country under suspicious looks every single time really can’t be right.
Aachen Town Hall
Aachen Town Hall
Before that, we explore Aachen’s old town and end up right in the middle of the Aachen cultural festival — our streak of good (accidental) timing continues.
On the way to Hanover (very, very early in the morning…), while changing trains, this photo of Cologne Cathedral came together — photographers are right that bad weather (it’s raining…) can lead to great photos. I return without a voice, having lost it in the days before to a cold I picked up in the rain in Windsor.
Cologne Cathedral at night in the rain
Luxembourg / the Krug Owners’ Meetup in Schengen
We cross Belgium and head over to Luxembourg — immediately after the border, straight to the gas station, because within the EU Luxembourg is on the cheaper side when it comes to diesel prices (and, as a bonus, prices are uniform nationwide without changing every five minutes).
From there we continue to the Port de Plaisance de Schwebsange (marina near Schengen), where we meet up over the next few days with more than a dozen other owners of Krug expedition vehicles. Yes, right next to Schengen — see my annoyance about border controls above.
Krug owners
Arrived and set up
Overview from above
Trucks everywhere
There is a lot of information exchange and several technical sessions.
Circle of chairs around the presenting MAN technician
Lou helps with a wheel change
And with a real Swiss raclette, we also experience a true culinary highlight.
A proper raclette
The sense of community among the Krug owners is truly extraordinary. Someone has a question or a problem? The answer always comes quickly in the chat (or, here in Luxembourg, directly in person).
The several days without driving are also used for smaller modifications and add-ons. The most important one is certainly the permanent installation of the Starlink antenna (until now I had been throwing it onto the roof by hand at every stop). Since then, internet is simply a solved problem — even while driving, the connection runs smoothly well beyond 100 MBit (and thus faster than my last fixed-line connection with Telekom).
Installing Starlink
Small fun fact: you can really feel the French influence — a baguette vending machine on the marina grounds supplies us again and again with fresh baguettes for breakfast and barbecues.
Baguette vending machine
And upon departure, we finally get the chance to weigh our Mammothon fully loaded and with all tanks filled — it comes in at just under 16 tons (leaving a good ton of margin to the permitted maximum).