(English version below)
Det startede som en god morgen - alle var oppe og klar til at køre lidt over 6, for at undgå det værste trafik gennem Montenegro. Men da vi skulle starte bilen ville den ikke :-( Den havde givet en lille forvarsel aftenen inden, da Kenneth kørte op for at fylde den til turen, men nu kunne der ikke slukkes og tændes igen for at få fejlen væk. Ligner en elektrisk/hybrid fejl, men vi kunne ikke finde ud af hvorfor. Vi var lidt lang tid om at finde ud af “hvad gør vi nu”, men endte med først et og så et kald mere til Mercedes-Benz kundesupport. Der var det heldigvis til at komme igennem og efter en ‘Remote test’, der ikke virkede, ville de sende et fejeblad/mekaniker til campingpladsen…
Efter et par timer uden nyt, men hvor familien efter hvad der allerede havde føltes som en del venten, ringede vi tilbage til supporten og fik at vide at der en time forinden var kørt en bil Podgorica. Det ligger et par timer væk, så det lovede ikke godt for dagen, men vi væbnede os med tålmodighed og fik lavet en lille plan. Morgenmad på café og så badetur, mens Sara ventede på mekanikerne og alle håbede på mirakler!
Ca 10:30 (et par timer efter at Mercedes-Benz i Podgerica havde åbnet) ringede vi tilbage til supporten og fik at vide at de havde taget sagen ved halv-ti tiden så de var nok på vej. Tålmodigheden blev mindre og irritationen over at nok ikke kunne få lavet bilen på dagen steg, som timerne gik. Kl 13 ringede Sara igen (man sidder i bilen og ringer fra et meget smart system) da der endnu ikke var kommet nogen og kunne pludselig starte bilen! Efter lidt interne diskussioner om hvad nu begyndte Sara at ligge og køre rundt i nærheden, mens i kø til kundeservice. Da der endelig var hul igennem anbefalede de at vi kørte videre og ville afmelde vejhjælpen…
Kenneth fik travlt med at genpakke campingvogn og børn og få dem klar til afgang uden at vi slukkede motoren! Det lykkedes at komme afsted og ruten blev lagt efter et ‘lastbil’ anbefalinger og derfor ind i landet til lidt større veje og mindre kø for derfra at skulle gennem Bosnien Hercegovina. Inden vi nåede til grænsen kom vi pludselig til en spærret vej over en bro! Vi kørte et par kilometer tilbage til en tankstation og spurgte om der ikke var andre veje over (Google Maps alternative var +3 timer og over Sarajevo). Hun så på vores rute hvor vi skulle hen og sagde: ‘I skal bare køre igennem vejspærringen, bare husk at se godt efter at der ikke kommer modkørende!’ Den besked tyggede vi lidt på og kørte så tilbage mod afspærringen. Vi kørte længere og fandt så noget der lignede om et omkørselsskilt - den prøvede vi og kom igennem. Da vi kom op kunne vi se at de fleste andre (også lastbiler) bare var kørt igennem den omtalte vejspærring, så hun havde nok ret alligevel…
Det var lidt trægt over grænsen, men så ventede der flere timers regulært dårlige veje. Nogle steder med anbefalinger på 30 km i timen! Må jeg lige minde om at vi stadigvæk var på lastbilruten…
Det blev mørkere og mørkere og vi turde ikke stoppe bilen af nervøsitet for at vi ikke kunne starte den igen, så ungerne fik ‘kiks’ til aftensmad og bedt om at ligge sig til at sove, da vi løb tør for data på den ene mobil. De gjorde de heldigvis og undgik de sidste timers kørsel. Der var en del steder både i Bosnien og i Kroatien, da vi havde fået krydset den næste grænse også der bestemt godt kunne være et besøg værd igen, men som Kenneth tørt sagde efterfølgende, så bliver det i en lånebil :-)
Vi havde ikke mere diesel, da vi nåede ind i Kroatien hen ad midnat og blev nødt til at slukke moteren og fylde på. Den startede heldigvis igen og vi kunne køre de sidste på timer på nytanket kaffe og en ny motorvej. Halleluja!
Omkring kl 02 trillede vi ind ved næste stop og alt var lukket. Vi parkerede udenfor porten og gik velfortjent til køjs...
What a day!
What a day it was! It started as a good morning – everyone was up and ready to leave a little after 6 to avoid the worst traffic through Montenegro. However, when we tried to start the car, it wouldn't start :-( There had been a small warning sign the evening before when Kenneth went to fill it up for the trip, but now it couldn't be turned off and on again to clear the error. It looked like an electrical/hybrid issue, but we couldn't figure out why. It took us a bit of time to figure out "what do we do now", but we ended up making a call to Mercedes-Benz customer support, and then another one.
After a couple of hours with no news, which already felt like quite a bit of waiting, we called back to support and were told that a car had been dispatched from Podgorica a hour earlier. Podgorica is a couple of hours away, so it didn't bode well for the day, but we armed ourselves with patience and made a little plan. Breakfast at a café and a swim while Sara waited for the mechanics, and everyone hoped for a miracle!
Around 10:30 (a couple of hours after the Mercedes-Benz in Podgerica had opened), we called back to support and were told that they had taken the case at half past nine, so they were probably on their way. Patience was running thin, and frustration over the possibility of not being able to fix the car that day was growing as the hours went by. At 1 PM, Sara called again (you sit in the car and call from a very clever system) since no one had arrived yet, and she suddenly managed to start the car! After some internal discussions about what to do next, Sara started driving around nearby while being on hold with customer service. Finally, when she got through, they recommended that we continue driving and they would cancel the roadside assistance...
Kenneth got busy repacking the caravan and the kids, getting them ready to leave without turning off the engine! We managed to get going, and the route was planned based on the "truck" recommendations, which led us inland to slightly bigger roads and less traffic, to avoid having to go through Bosnia and Herzegovina. Before we reached the border, we suddenly came across a roadblock on a bridge! We drove a few kilometers back to a gas station and asked if there were any other ways over (Google Maps' alternative was +3 hours and through Sarajevo). She looked at our route and where we wanted to go and said, "You just drive through the roadblock, just make sure to watch out for oncoming traffic!" We chewed on that advice a bit and then drove back to the roadblock. We drove further and found something that looked like a detour sign - we tried it and got through. When we reached the other side, we could see that most of the others (including trucks) were just driving through the mentioned roadblock, so she was probably right after all...
The border crossing was a bit slow, but then several hours of very bad roads awaited us. Some places recommended driving at 30 km/h! Let me remind you that we were still on the truck route... It got darker and darker, and we didn't dare stop the car out of fear that it wouldn't start again, so the kids had crackers for dinner and were asked to go to sleep, as we had run out of data on one of the phones. Luckily, they complied and managed to avoid the last few hours of driving. There were quite a few places both in Bosnia and Croatia, after we crossed the next border, that would definitely be worth a visit again, but as Kenneth dryly put it afterward, it will be in a rental car :-)
We were running out of diesel when we entered Croatia around midnight and had to turn off the engine and fill up. Luckily, the car started again, and we were able to drive the last few hours on newly fueled coffee and a new highway. Hallelujah!
Around 2 AM, we pulled into the next stop, and everything was closed. We parked outside the gate and went to bed, well-deservedly...
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