Updates Archives - Page 9 of 25

15 December 201615 December 2016 by Wiebe

BlindSquare

Blindsquare is an application for blind and visually impaired people. The app uses open data and a speech synthesizer so it can tell the user about places around them. It will tell the user the name of the street in which they are walking and names of the intersections the pass. Before this app blind people needed to count the intersections they are crossing to find the way to their destination.

The app is not a replacement for the white cane or guide dog but an addition which makes the environment of the user more visible. One user said “with Blindsquare streets got names”.

Other features of the app include information about historical places, the number of the bus that is arriving, locations of restaurants and shops and it can even tell the user when an electric car passes by as they can’t hear that coming. With the use of Apple IBeacons it is possible to find directions inside places, for example shopping malls.

BlindSquare – Painting a picture of the world through sound

See this video for an explanation of how it works for the user

The app was created by Ilkka Pirttimaa from Helsinki Finland, an application developer. To develop his app he uses information from his community. 70 blind people from 20 different countries provide him with feedback and Ilkka uses this information to improve his app. Not only does his community provide practical information but he also gets a lot of positive reactions from the them as they say Blindsquare changed their life’s completely. One remarkable story comes from a user who visited a swimming pool. Users of the app ‘Foursquare’ added all the locations and names of the slides. Blindsquare uses this information and now the user could find all the attractions inside the waterpark.

Watch the full interview with Ilkka Pirttimaa:

Interview | BlindSquare

Watch the short explainer video about Blindsquare:

BlindSquare | Pioneering accessible navigation – indoors and outdoors

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15 December 201619 December 2016 by Wiebe

Day 275 | First day in Dubai

Day 275 | Wednesday December 14

The first real day in Dubai. We had to sort out some practical stuff like getting a SIM card, a pass for the tollways and other small issues.

When we got to the car in the morning (which was parked in the apartment’s garage) we found out someone had pulled the plug. Jan Willem talked to the security and they told it was not allowed as the electricity is shared here. We had to drive to another place to talk about it from where we were sent to another place. We would do that later. The car was fully charged tough so no problems for today.

At the Marina Mall Jan Willem sponsored me with a SIM card so now I can be always online and make phone calls etc in the UAE. Because that’s what you can do with a SIM card. Be sure to follow me on Instagram because I’m posting a lot of photos and videos during the whole day and everyday at Insta Moments.

Introduction to Dubai
JW wanted to give me a ‘proper’ introduction to the city so we had lunch at the Dubai Marina. The Marina is a district in one of the centers of Dubai. Like almost every district in Dubai this area is completely man-made. They had to dig out the canals and harbor and it’s the biggest watersport and living project in the world.

We had lunch at Pier 7 with a beautiful look-out over the Marina. For me it’s a culture shock. The past 5 weeks I was eating traditional lunches on the floor of clay-made houses in rural areas of Iran and now I am in the middle of this luxury life. Greg, a friend and business partner of JW joined us and we had some interesting talks about the city.

Global EVRT
In the afternoon I had a meeting with the guys from Global EVRT (Electric Vehicle Road Trip). They heard about my project and invited me to join the EVRT which takes place from the 29th of January till the 1st of February. It’s a road trip through all the 7 emirates with only fully electric cars. During the 3 days many events and congresses are organized to promote sustainable mobility. Today we met each other to introduce ourselves and talk about our projects. The guys are all very passionate about electric cars and it’s potential. We have a lot of matching goals so it is very interesting for me to join this tour.

Stunning views at the Marina
After the meeting I headed back to Pier 7 were the guys were still eating and enjoying themselves. Later we moved to a bar on the roof of the building. While I already had a nice view on the 4th floor it got even more stunning here. It’s unbelievable how big and fancy everything is here. Around midnight we called it a night.

PICTURES

Lunch with JW & Greg

The view from restaurant.

The Marina

Something went wrong here but I like it.

The Marina

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15 December 201619 December 2016 by Wiebe

Day 274 | Entering the Emirates

Day 274 | Tuesday December 13

After a few weeks of silence on this blog I am back. Due to some restrictions in Iran I was not allowed to publish articles about my adventures in this country. I can say that I had the time of my life here. Iran’s nature is beautiful, there were many things to do but what made it really special was the people I’ve met here. Everywhere I came I was welcomed with open arms, people are very hospitable and kind and it was a very unique and unforgettable experience to be here.

On Monday evening I got on a ferry from Bandar Abbas, a city on the Persian Gulf. At 9 in the morning the ship arrived at Port Khalid in Sharjah, 50km from Dubai. I could almost not hold my eyes open as I didn’t close them much last night. Even tough I had 3 chairs for myself which I fully used, these Iranians like to snore a lot which kept me awake.

It was not until 11 that we were allowed to disembark. First the woman were ‘released’, than the containers and eventually the man. A weird process. With a bus we were taken the the passport control, for Dutch citizens they offer a free visa on arrival which is valid for 90 days. They seem to be nice for Europeans, all the Iranians needed to get their eyes checked, we didn’t need to do that. Probably they know about the good quality of carrots in Europe.

Custom-checks
After the passport-check a long and unclear process followed. First we needed to wait for the shipper. I am talking about ‘we’ as I met some other Europeans who were traveling by car as well. A German couple with a huge truck, an Austrian couple with a van and a French couple. I needed to pay the shipper 410 dirham, which is around 100 euro. Luckily I have some money now and could use the ATM again. Than there was a long process of document-checks, stamp here, stamp there, signature at another office and back again. I don’t know how many kilometers I walked today but I burned a lot of calories.

It was not until 4pm that I finally got to see the car. I worried a lot about her condition. The car already shipped separately from me and left already on Sunday. The car is very low and I already saw that the ramp to and off the ferry was very steep and the car could not have made this. The batteries are underneath the car and if these hit an object it can get seriously damaged. From the outside she looked great and on the display I couldn’t find any abnormalities about the inside so she seemed to have survived without a scratch. When I received the keys to the car I still couldn’t leave the port. The car needed to go through an X-Ray scanner. Just like when you break you leg but a few sizes bigger. After this I got another stamp and could pick up my exit-pass. When I left the gate it was 5pm. Just when I passed the gate I realized I had left luggage in the office of the shipper. I was not allowed back into the harbor with the car so I needed to walk 2km, walk back with the luggage, pass the custom-checks again and now I could really leave, another hour had passed. This day I lost about 800 dirham, which is around 200 euro. A big loss.

Entering Dubai
So I started driving towards Dubai. When I left 274 days ago I had no idea where this journey would bring me so that I arrived now in the Emirates is really something special. The highway to the center of the city was exactly what I expected: huge skyscrapers on both sides, posh cars passing me and flashy LED lights everywhere.

My host for today and the coming days in Jan Willem, a Dutchie. I got in touch with him through a friend from Haarlem who works as cabin crew for Emirates here and is flying at the moment. My host lives at the famous Palm Island, you know the island in the shape of a palmtree. For me this was always something unreachable as it’s bloody expensive and far away. Very special that I’m spending a few days here.

My new host
Around 7 I rang Jan Willem’s doorbell. He is a friendly guy and works for a Dutch investment company. He has a housemate, Andrew, a 54 year old. The apartments here are luxurious, seriously luxurious. Each building has a supermarket, gym, beach, spa, some stores and a restaurant. In this restaurant we had a great dinner and a cold beer. That last one especially made me happy since I didn’t had that for many weeks.

Here in The Emirates are no filters on social media and the internet connection is very fast here. From now one you will see daily updates on this website and my socials like you were used too.

https://www.facebook.com/PlugMeIn/photos/a.357717747770627.1073741829.211949022347501/573978062811260/?type=3&theater

The plan for Dubai
About the coming period. I need to find a way to ship the car to India which is very expensive and I don’t have the money for that at the moment. In the coming days I have some meetings with companies and I’m hoping they are interested in sponsoring this. If not I would need to start a crowdfunding campaign or find a job to earn the money. Also I had a request to join an event about electric cars which takes place at the end of January, I havent decided yet if I will join but it seems very interesting.
In eater way I am going to be in Dubai for a few weeks as there is also a lot going on sustainability wise. This part didn’t really work out in the past few countries so I will pay some more attention to that.

PICTURES

This is were I found the car at the port.

Luckily she didn't end up as this car.

The view from Jan Willem's Apartment

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5 November 20165 November 2016 by Wiebe

Day 232 – 235 | Winter has come

Day 232 | Tuesday November 1

When I looked out the window of my hotelroom in the morning I was very surprised. The whole city had turned white, since the morning it had been snowing heavily. I thought it was very ironically as I had been in a rush the last 2 months to make it before the first of November into Iran because I was afraid of snow and exactly today it started snowing.

I opened my laptop and received some very good news. The company of which I thought had scammed me delivered the authorization code for the Iran visa! Strange but great experience. This means I could now pick up the visa in Erzurum, thats about 300km back. While it’s freezing though the car’s range will drop with 20-30% and while driving through the mountains it will get even less.

I headed back to Cafe Pera were the car was charging. I wanted to pick it up and drive to Agri were I found a couchsurfing host. At the cafe they disconnected the cable during the night so it was not fully charged yet. Around 3pm the electricity in the entire city went out. I had 93% so I wanted to tame my chances, it was just a 100km drive.

It was hard to get out of the city with all that snow but once on the highway it was allright. Things changes when it got dark, it started snowing heavy. I couldn’t see much and it got so cold. I didn’t turn on the heater as that takes to much energy and I would get even less range, the windows got blurred and with a wiper I tried to keep visibility. The range dropped quickly and the next petrol station was 50km away. I have to say this drive was one of the scariest things in my life, not exaggerating. I had no winter tires and sometimes I slipped a bit. I was lucky to reach the petrol station and I could recharge there. At that moment it stopped snowing and after and one hour later I jumped back into the car and reached my host around 9pm. My host was Bora, a 22 year old PHD student. Nice guy with a nice clean house. A vlog about this day will come in the following days.

Day 233 | Wednesday November 2

Bora needed to drive from Agri to Erzurum today. I thought this was perfect as I didnt need to drive to the snow and ice. It could also safe me a day as I could hitchhike back to Agri, pick up te car and drive straight to Dogubeyazit.

We reached Erzurum in the afternoon and the Iranian consulate just closed, so needed to come back in the morning. I contacted a guy on Couchsurfing, he couldn’t host me myself but contacted Ali, a friend of his and he was happy to welcome me. Ali was a English student and lived in an student apartment with 2 other guys, Ferhat and Mehmet. All really nice guys who made some Turkish food and played some traditional music on the guitar.

Day 234 | Thursday November 3

In the morning Ferhat and Mehmet helped me getting around in the city. We went to the consul and I showed them my papers, payed the visa and walked out the consulate happy. I told the guys that I wanted to hitchhike back to Agri but they wouldn’t let me. They were afraid something would happen and especially with the cold it was not the best timing. So they booked me a busticket. Around 6pm I got back to Agri and wanted to take the car. There was still snow next to the road but the roads self were ice-free and safe to drive.

Unfortunately the car didn’t start, probably because of the low temperatures, it was -13 (!!!). This was the first time it happened and didn’t know what to do. At a nearby hotel I asked if I could use wifi to contact Wim, the car-specialist from Custom Cars. When I explained the problem to the owner of the hotel he immediately offered me a room. I told him I really wanted to reach Dogubeyazit but he insisted and gave me a small tour, the hotel had a hamman, swimming pool fitness room and more so it started to get tempting. I couldn’t reach Wim at that moment so decided to take the offer.

A few hours later I went back to the car and it started somehow. Wim told me it was wise to connect it to the grid so the batteries would warm up.

I went for a dive in the Grand Cenas Hotel and relaxed a bit in the Haman. Deniz, the owner of the hotel invited me for dinner, introduced me to his friends and gave me a short tour through town.

Day 235 | Friday November 4

After a delicious breakfast and morning swim it was hard to leave, and it got very hard as I found out the temperature was still -14, by day! Deniz advised me to leave around 2pm, which I did. It was interesting to see how fast it got warmer, every 10km about 1 u, degree more. Today I wanted to reach Maku, just 15km after the Iranian border were Ali found me a place to stay. Still it was exciting if I could reach that. I need one recharge to get to Dogubeyazit were I met the guys from the cafe again and after a short stop I reached the Iranian border. I expected a thorough search through the car but they only opened the rear door and it was oke. It took some time to handle the documents needed to get into the country and in total the border crossing took one hour.

So now I am in Iran. The country has a strict policy when it comes to blogging and as I respect that I won’t write anything about the country. I do will post regular pictures and stories on all my social media pages so be sure to follow!

PICTURES

Winter has come in Dogu

The guys in Eruzurum

Charging at the hotel

Deniz, the man

Taking a dive

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2 November 2016 by Wiebe

Day 231 | To Iran?

Day 231 | Monday October 31

After early breakfast I went into to city to make the final arrangements before entering Iran. I needed to exchange euro’s to Rial (the currency in Iran) but no banks or exchange offices could do this. There was no other option than hoping that they would accept euro’s at the border.

From Dogubeyazit it was only 25km to the border. There was at least an 8km line for trucks and it didn’t seem to be moving. Luckily passenger cars could pass the que. At the exit of Turkey they raised some eyebrows because I didn’t had the Iranian visa in my passport. I told them I heard it was possible to get it at the border but they all said it wasn’t. They would let me try. At the gate a Turkish man warned me again and he talked to a Iranian official on the other side. They confirmed that it was not possible to get a visa on arrival at this border. Damn!

It was a big let down but what can I do? I knew it was not sure and I took the risk. No other option than head back to Dogu and research the possibilities. I went back to Cafe Pera were Murat took me yesterday. They had a decent internet connection so I contacted Ali. He has been helping me a lot, planning the route and connecting me with people on the way. He asked me to send my documents and he would try to arrange a letter of invitation. He also told me that the weather won’t be a problem in the coming weeks and when I will go down from Teheran it will be hot so no problems at all from there.

I spend all day at the cafe and met some of the people who worked there. All very kind people. Mostly young people who had married when they were already 15 years of age and now all had big families, which was hard for me to understand. For them it was hard to understand that I was 29 and single.

They introduced me to a guy who is a poet and theater maker. He spoke fluent English so the guys used him as a translator but later we would have an interesting conversation. He stayed for a few months in Holland were he performed the Kurdish version of Hamlet which he translated. He told me a lot about the history of Kurdistan, the oppression they faced and how it will be in the future. Everyone lost a lot of friends and family in the last years. Even today there is a war going on in the southern part of Kurdistan. They have hope that within 5 years the Kurds will get their territory back and it will be separated from Turkey.

My host Murat from yesterday couldn’t host me today but the guys from the cafe had a friend at a hotel and I could stay there. Great how everyone is helping me here.

PICTURES

Dogubeyazit

Storage?

The view from 5th floor

Dogubeyazit with the mountain in the back

My host Murat

They see me rollin'

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1 November 20161 November 2016 by Wiebe

Day 229 – 230 | To Kurdistan

Day 229 | Saturday October 29

As I had arranged most things it was time to leave Erzurum. Some days I already found a place to stay with CouchSurfing in Dogubeyazit, which is the last town before the border with Iran. Now this is 270km from Erzurum. There have been days that I would make a distance like this with recharging on the way but on Google Maps I saw that I had to pass mountains and the temperatures were very low. With my experience on the way to Erzurum I learned it would be a tough challenge. On the way to Dogubeyazit were 3 cities. The first one Horasan, just 80km away, the second one Eleskirt 150km away, which was already a risk and the last one Agri 180km.

When I reached Horasan I used just 30% (which is less than average) and the conditions were ok. I could have the risk that I needed to climb a lot in the next stage but wanted to take my chances.

In my previous blog I wrote that the route to Erzurum was the most beautiful route I had taken so far, today I can say that again. The sights here are unbelievable. While I had to climd some mountains I was surprised that I arrived in Eleskirt with 30% left, while I did 160km. I regained energy when going down the hills. I could reach Agri but this city was smaller and thought I would have more chance of finding something here.

Now the challenge was to find a place to stay and some food, I didn’t eat anything since breakfast yesterday morning. Eleskirt is tiny, around 10.000 citizens and when I stopped the car immediately some guys welcomed me and offered me some Chai (traditional Turkish tea). They didn’t speak English but with some sign language they understood I was looking for a place to stay and charge. They showed me where I could find hotels but I couldn’t make them clear that I was hoping to find a local. I walked around the town and started peaking to people and every time I made the sleeping sign they pointed at the hotel. For the next time I need to find another approach. It was getting late and as I had some money from my mother left I decided to check what the hotel would cost me. It was 60 Lire and that was exactly the amount I had left. As I didn’t expect to make other expenses I thought it was a good way to spend it. Dinner was not included but I was not really hungry. I have been taken some Flinndal supplements lately, maybe that’s the reason.

Day 230 | Sunday October 30

From Eleskirt it was 30km to Agri, the last city before Iran and I wanted to go there to withdraw the other 300 euro. I went looking for an ATM which offered euro’s but couldn’t find any. In Erzurum it was possible at Tep Bank and on Google I already saw that they had one here but they told me it had been closed permanently. After an hour searching I decided I would withdraw the amount in Lire and exchange it to Rial in Dogubeyazit tomorrow as today (Sunday) the banks were closed.

Than I drove to Dogubeyazit. My CouchSurfing host Murat told me I had to come to Isha Pasha Place, I had no idea where or what this was and when I arrived in the city I asked a local. He was pointing at a hill and signed me he would drive with me to take me there, so nice the people here. We drove outside the city and climbed some mountains. After some minutes we stopped at a castle/ mosque/ church. The sights from there were unbelievable pretty again but I had the feeling I was in the wrong place as I expected a square in the city were he woud live.

I showed the guy who was with me the picture of Murat on whatsapp and he laughed, he told me to come with me and at the entrance Murat was there. Apparently he was a guide here and this place was called Ishak Pasha Palace, a typo.

The Ishak Pasha palace is an Ottoman-period palace whose construction was started in 1685 by Colak Abdi Pasha, the bey of Beyazit province, continued by his son İshak Pasha and completed by his grandson Mehmet Pasha. According to the inscription on its door, the Harem Section of the palace was completed by his grandson Ishak (Isaac) Pasha in 1784. The Ishak Pasha Palace is a rare example of the historical Turkish palaces and was depicted on the 100 Turkish Lire Note from 2005-2009.

When it got dark Murat’s job was finished and we had some dinner at the security center. First meal since breakfast yesterday morning. We drove to house, a room on the 5th floor and I was afraid we couldn’t charge the car. Luckily my extension cables reached my car and this was the longest distance every to cover!

Since Erzurum I am in the Kurdistan region. Kurd’s are people with their own culture and traditions and they would rather be independent from Turkey. Many people warned me as their could be trouble in this region but so far I noticed no problems at all, only friendliness, like always.

PICTURES

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31 October 2016 by Wiebe

Day 228 | Erzurum Pt. II

Day 228 | Friday October 28

When I woke up I was surprised that I was the only one in the room, while we were with 5 when we went to bed. I thought I was alone in the house but later I would find out that Merih went to her sisters rooms as the floor was to hard for her. Fatma & Okan went to work, I was sleeping so tight that I didn’t hear them leave.

During this journey I really learn about all the cultures in different countries as I stay with locals all the time. Some things like interests and hobbies are similar in all countries but breakfast is something typical everywhere. In Turkey they start the day with a lot of Ekmek (bread), commonly mixed with french fries, yoghurt and some vegetables. They say that the breakfast is the most important meal of the day and apparently the consider french fries and bread as healthy & nutritious.

My host Merih and friend Fatma would fly to their hometown near Antalya today so we went looking for a ticket for them. I started looking for another place to stay in Erzurum. I still needed to arrange some things for the entry to Iran.

Costs

The coming period I’m going to have some expensive costs. A visa for Iran which costs between 75 and 105 euro (on every blog I read different amounts), a temporary cas insurance as my own insurance only covers the countries on the green card and Turkey is the last one for the countries to follow, price is unknown. Than I would need to take a ferry from Bandar Abbas to the Emirates, which costs around 400 USD and get a visa for this country which could be free or costs around 30 USD, I will find out at the border I guess. From the UAE I wold need to ship the car to India and this is the most expensive post: 2350 USD.

I can pay for the Iranian visa with the money I received from donations. I want to thank everyone who made a donation and I am surprised that even people who I don’t know sponsored me. At the moment I received €350,- Which is a lot of money. So far I spend €19 on the visa for Turkey, €57 to deliver the Carnet de Passage with DHL to Trabzon and 40 pound for the authorization code for the Iranian visa, which was a scam unfortunately. There is still a chance that I would get this money back as I payed with PayPal and they have a protection program.

New sponsor

Now because I knew about the costs of the shipping of the car and other costs I started looking for a sponsor already a few months ago. I am happy to announce that I found one: Detroit Electric. They are sponsoring me financials and get a logo on the car. With the money of the donations and new sponsor I would be able to reach UAE and have a bit left for the shipment to India, but not enough. That’s a headache for later though, I can stay up to 3 months in Dubai so I hope to find a nice oil sheik or fix another solution.

The deal with Detroit Electric became definitive today and that was a blessing. In Iran it’s not possible to withdraw money from ATM’s or to use a credit card. This is because of international sanctions. So today in Erzurum I withdrew €500 (which is my banks daily max) and would need to take another 300 tomorrow. This is more as I expect to expend but because of the regulations here it’s better to have some extra.

I am sharing this information as I want to be transparant about the money you (my followers) are donating me and about the costs I need to make occasionally.

Today
Back to today. I needed to find a new place to stay and my host Refik from last Thursday told me that I could come back anytime. I contacted him and he told me he would be back home around 20.30. When I got there he took me the house in the apartment, the one of the owner of the place. He (I forgot his name) used to live with his girlfriend in France but because he needed to join the Turkish army they were ripped apart and never saw each other again. His room is filled with paintings of their time together. Apparently they recently got in touch and in two months they are going to meet each other again, after 40 years! What a touching story.

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28 October 2016 by Wiebe

Day 226 & 227 | Erzurum

Day 226 | Wednesday October 26

The road from Bayburt to Erzurum was probably one of the most scenic routes I have taken so far. Mountain passes took me through small typical Turkish villages, I wish I had a drone to capture the beauty of it. Around 2pm I arrived at the address my CouchSurfing host gave me. As there were no houses on this street I assumed I probably was not in the right place. In the city center I found a wifi spot and checked the location Refik gave me, it was on the totally other side of the city. Refik didn’t let me know from what time I could arrive or how I would contact him when I got there. As I expected he lived in an apartment so I didn’t know which bell to ring. I went back to the center and contacted him, did a little walk through the city and logged back in. No reply. I spoke to some locals and they told me the internet connection had been blocked by the government.

It was getting late and I got a bit desperate as I thought I might have not a place to stay tonight, normally sleeping in the car is a solution but with temperatures around 0, not so convenient. Finally around 9pm he responded. Indeed he couldn’t contact me because of a problem with internet. He went to a friend which had internet so he could contact me and that is where we met.

We had some coffee and talks and than went to his house. He lived on the 4th floor on the backside of the building but luckily with some extension cables we could reach the car to charge.

Day 227 | Thursday October 27

Today was a lot of arranging stuff for Iran. In a previous blog I mentioned that you need to obtain a visa authorization code to be able to pick up the visa at the consul. Now I had doubts that this company were I requested the code was a scam, today my doubts became true. I would not receive this code. To request another code would take me at least 10 days and this would be a problem as “winter is coming” in Iran. I did some research and found out it’s possible to get a visa at the border, in contrary to what almost all blogs and websites about Iran told me. I went to the consul in Erzurum to gain more information and also here they told me its not possible to get a visa at the border. Now in the blog I found there are 2 guys mentioning it was no problem, the last note came from yesterday actually so it’s very recent. It’s my only possibility so I try to reach the border soon and find out. If it’s not possible I don’t know what to do.

For today I had another CouchSurfing host, Merih. There was still a problem with internet and as we didn’t arrange where and when to meet that was a problem again. After 3pm the internet went back online and we got in touch. A friend of Merih, Okan, picked me up in the city and together we drove to Merih’s house just outside of the city. Okan laughed very hard when I told them Turks are “crazy people” when they drive car.

With Merih we drove back to the city for some food and drinks. Merih is a 24 year old English student at the Uni and has been living here for 6 years, she is from Antalya originally. I was the first CouchSurfing guest for her this year and she accepted me because English was my second language. Later we would meet with Okan’s girlfriend Fatma who is also a classmate of Merih. Okan is a doctor and drives pretty normal compared to the other people here. We all slept together in the same room at Fatma’s house, where her sister also lives. Very funny and interesting experience to sleep in a tiny room with so many people.

PICTURES

The road to Erzurum

Crew

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26 October 2016 by Wiebe

Day 225 | High mountains, low voltage

Day 225 | Tuesday October 25

Unfortunately it was time to leave my hosts Ali and Burak. I really appreciate how they took care of me and wish them all the best.

Range Excitement

The plan for today was uncertain. Erzurum is where I want to go to arrange the visa and I found some people on CouchSurfing who could host me. It is 260km away so not reachable on one charge but with a pitstop I could make it. Exact in the middle of the route is Bayburt, I tried to find a host there but no luck so I won’t have a place to stay. So time for some #RangeExcitement.

Hitting the road

The nature on the way from Trabzon to Bayburt was unbelievable beautiful. From my window I saw a lot of green, hills and water. Stunning to drive through. The hills became mountains though, which were also beautiful but it took a lot from the car. And it seemed they were reaching to the heaven as I kept rising. The temperatures didn’t rise sadly and even dropped very quick, after a while the meter on my dashboard told me it was 3.5C. Probably the coldest temperature I noticed so far. While Bayburt was 70km away my battery level reached 20% and in stead of trying to reach Erzurum it became already hard to reach Bayburt. I wanted to stop at the earliest convenience but it took a while before I found something. With 7% left and a lot of stress I came by a tunnel which was under construction. There were some containers and I was hoping to find electricity there. I saw it was there but no-one to ask if I could use it. I started to get a bit desperate and afraid as it got so cold (it was almost freezing) and there wasn’t anyone on the road. Luckily after 30 minutes some construction workers came out the tunnel and they were happy to help me. Like everyone in Turkey so far. They were interested in the car and thought it was a ridicules idea, they are probably right.

The guys invited me in their container, offered me some coffee, put me in front of the heater and took some selfies with me. When I had 30% battery I continued my way and after the tunnel the road only went down and I had no trouble to reach Bayburt. I decided that I couldn’t go farther today as I needed to charge a long time. I decided to book a cheap hotel with the money I had left from my mother. It might the easy way out but after all the stress I wanted to recover.

Carnet de Passage

The last weeks I have been very busy with preparing the trip through the Middle East and Asia. In these countries you can’t just appear at the border and enter the country. You need to request a Carnet de Passage. After you delivered a 5000 euro deposit you receive a document. For the country this is a guarantee that the car will be exported after your trip. When you decide to leave the car in the country you lose the bond. Now I borrowed the money from a friend of mine (Thanks L) and requested this document from the German Automobile Club (ADAC). On the application form you need to fill out a lot of details about the car and these need to match with your vehicle documents. Now that’s were some issues arose. On the Carnet form I needed to enter the capacity of the cilinder. Now an electric car doesn’t have a cilinder so thats n/a. However my vehicle document said there was a 1350 CM3 capacity. I contacted the RDW and they confirmed there had been a mistake. They sent a new card to my mother and luckily this arrived the day before she flew to Istanbul so she could take this with her. Now I could apply for the Carnet, problem was they need to sent it to Turkey and when you go to another address everyday, not knowing where you are in 2 days it’s hard to find a postbox. I thought the best possibility was to sent it to the guys in Trabzon and it arrived there last Friday. I had to pay another 57 euro for DHL express. Luckily I have some donation money now.

It’s not easy sometimes to arrange all these things while on the road and being on your own. A few weeks ago I was uncertain if I would manage to fix all this but I believe I got it under control now.

PICTURES

Some sheeps on the way

The nice workers who helped me out

Pitstop

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24 October 2016 by Wiebe

Day 221 – 224 | Trabzon

Day 222 | Saturday October 22

Today I went with my host Ali, who is part of the Karadeniz Technical University Energy Technologies Team to the Uni. They organized a day for students who were interested in joining the team. All people who are interested in electric cars so of course they inspected my car from top to toe and I gave lots of explanations. When the students left I had some time to test drive their special car. With my 1.92 meters long body it was hard to get into this low vehicle but sitting so close to the grounds gives you a different feel. The car doesn’t have a pedal but with a turning knob on the dashboard you can control the velocity. It starts a bit slow but after a few meters it speeds up.

The engineers also saw that the profile on my front tires was too low. I already heard this yesterday so we had to do something. The guys knew a good tireman (that’s probably not a word) who might be able to help. He could offer me two second hand tires for the price of 70 lire. That’s about 20 Euro. My mom left me 300 Lire and I thought this would be a good investment.

At night we went to one of the guys to have some drinks. Raki is the national liquor and of course I had to try this. It looks like it’s colorless but when mixed with water it becomes white, magical. When mixed with your body it becomes even more interesting. It was a fun night and the guys laughed a lot when I said some Turkish words. Sikter being their favorite one, you can google what it means.

Day 223 | Sunday October 23

We went back to the Uni and the team spend all day with me to explain their electrical car. I shot a new movie which explains the background of the project and all technical details about the car and I will edit it soon.

Day 224 | Monday October 24

In Trabzon is a Consul of Iran. I wanted to go there to gain some information about how to apply for a visa for the country. Blogs and websites give different information so I wanted to be sure. I already found out that I need an authorization code. I applied for this a few days ago and it takes 7-10 days before I receive it. The experience with the website were I ordered it (I payed 40 pound for it with the donation money) was not so good. I didn’t receive a confirmation mail and the communication was not so smooth. I got a bit suspicious and started googling about this website. I found out that there were many people who had problems with this company. Some people reported that it was a scam, not receiving their codes. Others found the company unprofessional and reported they delivered the code after 2-3 weeks. Some people said they delivered in time.

A few blogs wrote that citizens of some countries (including the Netherlands) don’t need this code and could just pick up the visa, time to find out. At the gate of the consul they already asked for the code and I couldn’t enter without it. Case clear. I am worried now that this company won’t deliver and I need to get it from another company which could cost me 2 weeks more and another 40 pound! Not a nice feeling.

Today I wanted to go to Bayburt to reach Erzurum tomorrow were there is also a consul and apply for the visa. Now I learned it was not necessary anymore and because it was already getting late I decided to stay one more night in Trabzon and go to Bayburt tomorrow.

The boys gathered some press today so I gave some interviews, or well the guys did most of the interviews as they already knew everything. Than they took me to the top of a hill with a nice view over Trabzon and we had some Chai (local thea) at a restaurant there. Than back to the Uni to say goodbye to the team.

I really enjoyed being with them and they did too. Some of the things I heard the last days were touching. One guy said that the group felt really good and happy being with me. Another guy told me it was the first time he had the opportunity to speak English with someone, very special.

PICTURES

The team + new students

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