A New Plan

Dunafoldvar to Baja, Hungary — 54.5 mi, 13.7 mph, 620 ft

Today was not very eventful. We had smooth roads for most of it with the exception of 10 or fifteen miles of gravel before lunch. Fortunately, the cloud cover kept temps down. In fact, the real concern was rain but that never materialized.

Ready to ride

Cooler weather

We are definitely well outside of the modern metropolis of Budapest, so English proficiency is much lower. It is usually the younger generation that know English, so it’s not unusual for an older restaurant or store employee to go get a younger one to talk to us. The young man at the restaurant today did his best. We asked for menus while pantomiming opening a book. “How many?” he asked. We said four and ordered drinks. We were still waiting for menus when he brought out four bowls of chicken soup. It was delicious, so we didn’t complain. The next course, using similar ingredients, chicken and noodles, was equally tasty.  I’m sure a hearty appetite doesn’t hurt. Unfortunately, dessert was not included, so we ordered the “brownie,” easily readable on the bulletin board.

The Danube

Lunch Stop

Ah, Brownie!

By 3:00, we’d finished our miles for the day. Meg’s and my mind, however, were focused on another matter.  I had gotten an email from my contact at ParcelABC at lunch. The saga of the bike suitcases had a new development. The message was somewhat unclear but included the line “you did not pack your suitcases.”  Perhaps the suitcases were supposed to be in cardboard boxes? Also, apparently, there is a problem with the weight we listed, which we had gotten from FedEx in Berlin. The shipping agent requested an extra 210€ for the suitcases to be returned to their start point from their current location in Warsaw! Hmm, that would 386€ to get them back to where they started!

Mr. Monster safely on board

As crazy as this all sounds, we would almost be willing to pay the extra euros if we thought there was a chance they would absolutely end up back at the hotel in Berlin. However, given that the bags were picked up 13 days late and nine days later we are just being told they will not be delivered at all, we have zero confidence in this.  

 Start point, Berlin; end point, Belgrade; bags, Warsaw!

As a result, I’ve asked that the bags stay in Warsaw and we now have a new plan. Instead of riding into Croatia and taking a rest day, we will “high tail it” down to Belgrade over the next three days. The next evening, I’ll board a plane for Warsaw, spend the night, pick up the suitcases the next morning (fingers crossed), then board a 20-hour bus back to Belgrade. Easy peasy! Hopefully, this all works out. Meg and the kids will hopefully find enough to do in and around Belgrade for the two days I’m gone. We looked into buying replacement suitcases on Amazon. Even the largest we could find are narrower than the ones we have, and even then would cost over $1500!