Blog

Stories along the way
All
 by Wiebe

Day 178 – 181 | Poland

The last days I traveled from hotel to hotel. I’m on my way to Ilawa were Michal wants to show me a waste recycling plant. He arranged all the accommodations for me and I used these days to do a lot of work. I wrote this blog about Tuup, RePack and made some movies on Facebook.

Thursday I arrived in Olsztyn and Friday I spend the night in a beautiful hotel in Ilawa.

Day 180 | Saturday September 10

Krysztof, the manager of the plant picked me up in the morning and brought me to Boielektra. It’s a huge factory with 3 different chambers. In the first chamber the waste is brought in. The waste is coming from Olsztyn. In a shredder it’s crumbled into pieces to remove any large waste components and shredding the waste for a more homogeneous mass.

In the next chamber the waste is put into autoclaves and heated up to 180 C and goes through some processes. After 3 hours the waste is emptied from the autoclaves and is now sterile and free of smell.

In the next chamber the sterile waste is segregated in different categories: aluminum, plastics, PET bottles, biomass, textile, glass and metal.

At the end of the line the products appear on a big pule. There was a big pile of aluminum cans and this was worth €25.000 and is sold to recyclers. Impressive. Definitely considering the fact that this waste is normally burned or buried. With this system is possible to recycle almost 100% of the materials.

Full interview coming up soon.

https://www.facebook.com/PlugMeIn/photos/a.357717747770627.1073741829.211949022347501/532186576990409/?type=3&theater

Than it was time to go to Warsaw. A 220km drive. Michal arranged that I could charge my car at a workshop in Plonsk. They had some cars there who were being repaired an a mini museum with Polish cars. Well, semi-polish cars because the brand is called “Polsky Fiat”. If the cars were being build in Italy or here was not clear.

They had a 32A socket (which is the fastest possibility for my car) but it was behind some tires and machines. Quickly they tried to remove all the obstacles but unfortunately the cable was too short and we charged the car on 16A. Luckily they had two 16A sockets and my car has the wonderful possibility to insert 2 cables, in the front and in the back. So we had the same 32A power through 2 different cables and one hour later I could go again.

In the evening I arrived in Warsaw at Michal’s place. He lives here with his wife, 2 children and an au pair who takes care of the kids. We had some food and talks and went to bed early.

Day 181 | Sunday September 11

With the whole family we went to the city to have breakfast. I had a croissant and that last time I saw one was in Bodo, Norway. Than we moved to a park were a Chopin concert was. Michal told me that the Polish don’t have a really rich culture so they are very proud of the things they have, like Chopin.

Pictures

Working on night photography skills
Charging
In the front
And at the back
Polski Fiat
The people at the workshop
in Updates 0 comments
 by Wiebe

Tuup

Tuup

Tuup is a digital solution for peoples everyday mobility. This app makes it possible to travel around without owning your own car or vehicle. Integrated in the app are all possible ways of transport, including car-sharing. On the routeplanner you select where you want to start and finish and Tuup tells you how you can get there and you pay up-front for all the services through this app. It’s even possible to select the most environmental friendly route or if you are in a hurry you can select the most efficient way to travel. To give a more exact estimation of the travel time Tuup uses open data for example delays during peak hour.

Why is Tuup necessary in the future?

Tuup makes it possible to travel everywhere you want using just a single app and there is no need to own a vehicle. It’s a more sustainable way of everyday life and mobility. It even allows you to rent out your bike or car while you are not using it. A great idea as your vehicle is not used for 99% of the time. During this time your vehicle can make money for you.

Interview

Watch the full interview with CEO of Tuup Pekka Möttö.

Interview | TuupInterview | Tuup
in E-mobility / Sustainable companies / Videos 0 comments
 by Wiebe

Day 176 & 177 | From big city to little town

Day 176 | Tuesday September 6

Tuesday started with a TV-interview, it looks like there is coming more and more attention for Plug Me In. The show is called “Labas rytas, Lietuva!” or good morning Lithuania! They asked me to come to a charging station in the city and asked me some questions about my plans and stay in Vilnius, will be broadcasted tomorrow.

After the interview I went to Cozy and said goodbye te Bernie and Renata. They have been very hospitable to let me stay for 5 nights, I could do whatever I wanted and they treated me with a lot of stories, beers and food. That last one was also now the case, Bernie send me to his hamburger restaurant Le Butcher were I could have a final free lunch. They had a beef steak burger on the menu and I never had that before. It was beef cut in tiny slices with some sauce, lettuce and potato wedges, excellent choice if you would ask me 😉

Time to leave Vilnius now. Simonas invited me to come to his parents summer resort in Pivašiūnai. I actually wanted to go there yesterday but because of the TV interview today I postponed it. That was no problem for him bit today he could’t be there himself. Luckily he was able to come to the meeting with the electric Honda yesterday and we had the opportunity to meet.

Pivašiūnai was only 75km from Vilnius. I was welcomed by Simonas parents Gerardas and Ramute on this countryside mansion. It was really a mansion because the area of their place was at least 5 football fields. They had a big house with a big stable with a big sauna next to it and very very big solar panels. They had 3 huge arrays of panels, at least 15 meters wide each of them. On a average day they collect around 200KWh of electricity, which is a lot and way more than they can use. What remains they sell back to the power company.

Gerardas and Ramute didn’t speak fluently English and one of the first things I could understand was Gerardas asking “you want shot tequila?” Which I than couldn’t decline. Some more shots of local spirits followed and after dinner we sweat it out of our bloodstreams in the sauna.

Day 177 | Wednesday September 7

I woke up before 9 to watch myself on television, broadcast was between 9 and 12. We waited, waited more and eventually were let down, no handsome man on television. I sent a message to the interviewer and she replied that the planning for this week was already full so it will be aired on the 14th. They will sent me a link which I will post here.

A few weeks ago I received a message from Michal who lives in Poland. He saw one of my movies and wanted me to show his sustainable project. I thought it was interesting so a few days ago I’d let him know that I would be coming soon. As I had no-one who plugged me in between the Lithuanian border and his place (about 450km in Ilawa) I asked him for assistance. He wanted to take care of me and look for friends or other possibilities on the way. For today he and his assistance Weronika booked a hotelroom for me in Augustow! Great because I had a lot of work to do and had now had some time and quietness to write and edit stuff, like this interview about RePack, go read it!

So today I arrived in Poland, country #15 this trip. Since I got to Denmark all the countries I passed I had never been before. Poland is new territory too but it feels (and it not only feels) like I’m getting more close to home, but that is what makes this trip so much fun, letting other people decide how I’m traveling to Australia.

Pictures

Beef steak burger
Le Butcher
Gerardas and Ramute's House
Hot Tub
Huge solar panels
Sauna
Playing around
At night
Charging fully on solar energy
Gerardas and Ramute'
in Updates 0 comments
 by Wiebe

RePack

When thinking of polluting industries the packaging industry is not the first that pops up in the mind. Yet with trillions of packages being sent every year which are only used once and than thrown away, you can imagine there is a lot of unnecessary trash.

Finish startup RePack has the solution to this problem: a sexy and clever package which is reusable. The customer orders a product online, companies who use RePack sent the product in this packaging. Once the package is delivered and opened the customer drops the empty packaging in the mailbox and it returns to the company. To motivate the customer to actually return the packaging he receives a coupon which gives discounts to all brands who are using RePack.

When new sustainable products are introduced, at least it has to be better than the original product to be a succes. RePack is one of those, it looks better than a grey box and it adds value for the customer.

Watch the full interview I had with Jonne Hellgren, founder of RePack.

 

Interview | RepackInterview | Repack

 

And a short clip about RePack:

 

RePack - Sustainable packagingRePack – Sustainable packaging

 

in Sustainability / Sustainable companies 0 comments
 by Wiebe

Day 174 & 175 | Vilnius Pt. II

Day 174 | Sunday September 5

My host Bernie has a lot of contacts throughout the city and today he arranged something special. A Dutch friend of him is about to open a ski-center in Vilnius, Slidinėjimo Akademija. Not one with snow or brushes but a rotating track. It’s about a 15 meters long and the height can be adjusted. It’s been a while since I skied for the last time, at least 18 years, so it was nice to do it again. It was a cool experience, I expected the track to be a bit stiff but it was actually pretty easy to make turns. The ‘cool’ thing is that you can do it with your t-shirt on as it’s of course not cold at all. For Bernie it was the first time but he got the hang of it pretty quickly.

In the evening I met Johan, another friend of Bernie. Johan made a road trip per bike from Lithuania to Malaysia, so from here I’m making the same route as he did and wanted to meet up with him to hear his experiences about especially the middle-east. I got a lot wiser, felt relieved about some issues I was thinking about and had some new things to think about.

Johan is a traveler pur sang himself. He had a baby a few years ago and couldn’t resist to travel again. He bought an old fireman truck from Austria and with his girlfriend and baby they traveled around the world. Great inspiration for later. You can find his stories and pictures here.

Lithuanians are very proud of their language. This is because they have been under pressure for a long time and due to circumstances over the years the country changed a lot. The language is something that never changes. Bernie and Renata told me that there even is a law that says you always need to stick to the language. They received an email from the government who saw the menu of one of their restaurants online. For a dish they used different words than the original Lithuanian language and now they risk a fine if they don’t change it!

Day 175 | Monday September 6

The day started with a meeting at the Dutch embassy in Vilnius. Via Facebook I was in touch with Bert, the ambassador, for already some days. He even offered me a place to stay at his house, a really nice gesture. He told me more about sustainability in Lithuania. How the country bought a boat to get their own gas so they can be independent from Russia and how the Dutch are helping with giving advice about our biking infrastructure. 

For lunch I had a meeting with Zilvinas, journalist from 15 Mins, one of the countries biggest media channels. He took me for lunch and asked me everything about my trip. You can read the article here, it’s in Lithuanian of course but definitely worth putting through Google Translate.

Than I picked up Johan and drove to Mindaugas. This guy converted his own Honda HR to fully electric already in 2008. I made a video about it (which is very technical but interesting) which you can see here:

Full Electric Honda HR-VFull Electric Honda HR-V

Pictures 

At the embassy
The electric Honda
Indoor Skiing
in Updates 0 comments
 by Wiebe

Day 172 & 173 | Vilnius

Day 172 | Friday September 2

Today started out really fun. Yesterday I came in touch with Maarten, a Belgian guy who is active in sustainable initiates in Vilnius. He invited me to come to CreativeMornings, a monthly event were they invite someone to speak about a certain topic. This time a laughing yoga teacher came by, not a yoga woman who laughed all the time but a woman who gave laughing yoga courses, you get it?
She started with a long presentation in Lithuanian which I understood for exactly 0%, still this woman smiled all the time and had a positive attitude which was contagious.
We finished the workshop with some laughter exercises, most of them felt a bit awkward. We needed to greet each other while laughing or hold each others hands and bend down while laughing. Still at the end I felt more positive so it did it works, interesting experience.

I had some time to do some sightseeing in Vilnius. It is a city with much charm. Everything is old and build nice, what you expect of a capital but its not so massive crowded as most capitals.

In the evening I met Maarten again, we met at a food street were we had huge fat hamburgers. Maarten uses car-sharing platforms to get around the city. Today we tested Spark, which is an full electric platform. See this movie for the impression:

Testing Car Sharing Platforms in VilniusTesting Car Sharing Platforms in Vilnius

Maarten told that recently they introduced deposit on bottles, cans etc in Lithuania, that was a huge succes. Apparently the deposit system works better in countries which are poor, when people can earn money they do that. Also homeless people search everywhere for cans. The waste in cities reduced a lot and most of the cans and bottles where returned to the shops.

Day 173 | Saturday September 3

I had meeting with Sigitas, owner of Sweetroot, a restaurant in Vilnius. He doesn’t explicitly say that he cooks sustainable as for him its a normal way to do but he has some traditions. In the kitchen they only seasonal food and it has to be found local. The wine and coffee are the only things which are imported. All the dishes he serves are based on local traditions like stories from grandparents or childhood memories.

Sigitas invited me to come back tonight to have dinner at the restaurant, a really kind gesture. The food was unbelievable good and the presentation was spot-on. The total experience took about 2.5 hours and I received 9 courses! Definitely the best meal I had this trip.

Pictures

Vilnius
Old & New town
Sweetroot menu
in Updates 0 comments
 by Wiebe

Day 170 – 171 | Latvia to Lithuania

Day 170 | Wednesday August 31

My host Dennis gave me a tour through his town Ludza. It’s a very old town surrounded by lakes. Dennis hasn’t seen much outside of his town, the border with Russia is only 10km away but he prefers to stay in Ludza, so he knows it pretty well. With his sports car we drove off-road into a forrest, some kings from hundreds of years ago and even mummies were buried here.

Around noon I left Ludza. I wanted to go to Vilnius but that was impossible to reach in one day. So I stopped halfway down, in Daugavpils. In search of a place to stay I entered some hotels and found my luck at Park Hotel Latgola, a beautiful looking hotel located probably in the tallest building of the city. My room was located on the 9th floor and had a great view over the ‘skyline’.
Minor problem was that there was no opportunity to charge the car at the hotel. In Latvia there are some public chargers but they are found in and around Riga. I started to drive around and looked for a socket. There are not many here. I was lucky to find a carwash with a nice guy who offered me to park and charge overnight, problem solved.

Day 171 | Thursday September 1

Funny thing to discover on this trip is how breakfasts are totally different in each country. Today I had the opportunity to discover it at the hotel. In Latvia they eat very strong: eggs, salads, fish and and soups for breakfast. Less bread, no croissants at all.

Vilnius was now only 173km away. When I had been driving for 50km or so I noticed the country seemed to change. The roads were better and the houses looked different. Without knowing I already entered Lithuania. Last night I didn’t had any offers yet for places to stay in Vilnius so I send out a request on Facebook. In the morning I had 3 people who replied to it, including two Dutchmans. In the afternoon I arrived in Vilnius and stopped at a shopping mall to pick up free wifi and check my messages. The malls are huge here, in the middle of the mall even was an ice-skating ring! Impressive.
They also had some superchargers installed at the parking. Long time ago I saw one. Some cars were charging there and I made a short talk. Apparently it where taxi drivers and they felt pretty satisfied with the EV’s.

Bernie, my Dutch host invited me to come to one of his restaurants. In 2001 Bernie got the opportunity to start a houseclub here in the city, loved it and stayed ever since. He now owns 6 different establishments in Vilnius including a tapas bar, rum bar and burger restaurant. Bernie is original from the same city as me, Haarlem. It’s a small world.

After dinner at his restaurants (really good beef steak by the way) we drove to his house. It was only 2km and I had 4% battery left. For the first time this trip the battery ran completely out! Luckily I was in the middle of the city with electricity everywhere so right where it ran out there was a hotel and it was ok to plug it in there. After 15 minutes we got home.

Bernie lives with his girlfriend and 2 cats in a nice house only few minutes from the center. We talked a bit, did some work and than Bernie took me to a concert in town and we finished it off with some rums at one of his bars.

 

Pictures 

Ludza
Latgola Hotel
View from the room
Emergency charge in Vilnius
in Updates 0 comments
 by Wiebe

Day 167 – 169|Moscow to Latvia

Day 167 | Sunday August 28

After some thrilling days in Moscow it was time to leave. Latvia is the country where I want to go next. I tried to look for possibilities to travel to Asia via Moscow but it was impossible because I couldn’t make that within the 30 days of my visa and it was to short time to arrange visas for the countries.

The M9 is the highway to Latvia and the nearest city from Moscow Rhzev, so I aimed to get there today, a 225km drive. In a small town of which I even don’t know the name of I found a gasstation with a 32A socket where I recharged. With my translation document I explained my situation and they allowed me to charge there.

In Rhzev I didn’t have a place to stay and after a lot of days with people around me all day I was up for a bit more privacy, so I tried to get into an hotel again. With Google I found 3 hotels in the city, the first 2 didn’t exist anymore but the last one, Hotel Rhzev, was still there. It was a challenge to explain what I was doing and what I needed but the document and the newspaper article helped a lot. They were willing to offer me a room. Some Russians came to me and had big interest in the car. With translators in iPhones I explained most details of the car.

Day 168 | Monday August 29

Andrei my host in Moscow found a friend of a friend in Veliki Luki who was willing to host me. The city was 250km away so I knew it was going to be a long day. I needed 3 gasstations with electricity supply to eventually reach the city around 9pm. I met my host Sergey at his office and we drove to his apartment. A very modern one, more than any other I saw before in Russia. Sergeys English was not so good but still he did everything to make me feel comfortable, making me shaslicks and more delicious food. After some food and drinks he went back to work, apparently he is a night owl and he left me alone to do some work.

Day 169 | Tuesday August 30

It was time to leave Russia for good. My time in Russia was unbelievable interesting and pleasant. I love the Russian mentality and their hospitality. Also the country is something else and I love how things work here, it’s not so smooth as the countries I’ve been before and I like that.

I reached the border with Latvia around 3. I was a bit nervous because I was afraid for problems with the late registration but fortunately I could pass without problems! And way quicker then when entering Russia.

After the border my battery was nearly empty, rain reduced the range a lot. There was a town called Ludza but I stranded a couple of miles before that and actually had 1% left. Normally I am a bit more cautious but today I just wanted to go. I stopped the car and started walking and look for electricity. It was on the country side and was hoping to find my luck at a farm but no-one was home. After a kilometer there was a street with more normal houses and some people were working in the garden. I approached them and asked if the spoke English. One of the guys started talking in a perfect British accent. He was a Latvian but moved to England 10 years ago and was here now for holidays. What a gift. It was ok to charge the car there so I picked up the car, drove back and plugged it in. He and his dad offered me some tea, cookies and we had some interesting talks. After 2 hours I had enough range to reach Ludza.

In Ludza I had no plan too and when the darkness started to fall I needed to hurry up. The woman at the local gasstation didn’t speak English so I thought to ask somewhere else first. I walked around and some young people where smoking outside. I asked them for help and they thought the gasstation was the best option. He wanted to help me as an translator. At the gasstation they explained it was not possible as she had only one socket and than she needed to unplug to ice cream fridge, not an option. But the guy had an solution, he told me to wait a few minutes. Than a friend of his stopped by with the car and he told me “he you are from the Netherlands” in almost fluent Dutch, huh? Apparently this guy, Dennis is working in Holland and learned the language. Such coincidence. His friend stopped by who just picked up an extension cord and we drove to another house where we plugged in.

He offered to come to his house to have some food. I was constantly switching between English, Dutch and Russian to explain what I was doing. They were very impressed and thought I was a bit crazy. They don’t travel much, they like to stay around their house. The guys, 22 and 23 already had children so life here is a bit different.

When I told them I had no place to stay for the night I could crash on one of their beds. Latvia so far pretty awesome!

Pictures

Im right here
Christina & Andrey
The nice guys near the Latvian border
The helpers in Ludza
in Updates 0 comments
 by Wiebe

Day 163 – 165 | Only in Russia

Day 163 | Wednesday August 24

My host Olga took me for a sightseeing tour in Moscow. Tours from locals are always the best ones as they take you off the touristic route and tell you more about it than most tour guides. So we went to see some churches, cathedrals, parks and what more. Moscow has beautiful areas, some modern, some old, all very impressive. We visited Moscow City, the business area with lots of high rise and fancy shops. In one of the buildings every hour they showed an fountain show, the water almost hit the roof.

Yesterday I heard that as a tourist in Russia I needed to register myself to show that I am still in the country. I asked the Dutch embassy for some advice as no-one really seemed to now the procedure for this. Now I received a mail and they told me I needed to register today otherwise I would receive a fine. We hurried to a migration office but on Wednesday they didn’t do administrative business, so the only options was to do it tomorrow.

Day 164 | Thursday August 25

Today turned out to be a long and weird day. A long story in a few sentences: we went to the migration office, they told us they didn’t register foreigners here. Next office: ok you can register here, it took us 45 minutes to fill out all the forms than they said: sorry you (Olga) are registered in Moscow so you need to go there. Went to Moscow: you are too late, you need to talk to the boss and possibly pay a fine. Boss: you can’t pay a fine, you need to go to court on Monday and the chance is for 99% sure that you will be deported. Other option: go to the border and see what happens, which was the best option according to her. Oh oh. This didn’t sound so good so I contacted the Dutch Embassy.

Day 165 | Friday August 26

Around 9 in the morning I received a call from the Embassy, I needed to come right away to talk with the consul. I took public transport as with the car it takes hours to reach the city. Olga gave me passes so I could travel around. At the embassy they told me it was strange that I couldn’t pay for the fine as it’s regulated by law. They already made some phone calls to the migration office and even there they said it was weird. Strange experience. The solution: I needed to check-in at a hotel and they would register the visa and I needed to pay a fine because I was too late. Problem: no money. First I went to a few hostels as they are cheaper but they couldn’t help me. A hotel was willing to offer me a fictive room for a cheap price and they would do the paperwork, damage: 2100 Rubles/ Troubles. They send all the info to the migration office and they would give me a call how it would work out. Late in the evening they told me everything was good en didn’t even need to pay a fine. Funny how things work here. I payed for the room with my creditcard which means I am 2100 Rubles in red and need to find a way to earn some money.

Anyway everything is fine now and I would like to thank the Dutch embassy for their help. Because of the struggles these days I had to cancel two interviews with interesting companies. I was really looking forward to meet them but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

I traveled back to Olga’s home, packed my bags and went to a new host: Andrey who lives on the east side of Moscow. He saw me on Bjorn Nylands video and had been following me since. He drives an electric Lada so I was very interested in how this works. More about this tomorrow.

My hosts

Special thanks to my hosts were I have been staying for 4 nights: Olga, Dacha, Roman and dad. They took care of me really well, making nice food and sharing their stories.

Pictures

Moscow City
Moscow City
Moscow City
Moscow City
Moscow City
The Fam
Andrey and electric Lada
in Updates 0 comments