EuroConference 2011: Part 1

Every year the Europe Area has a conference where all fields gather together. It is a time of praise and worship. Fellowship and camaraderie. Inspiration and motivation. And a time to create and share goals for the upcoming year. 

The location: Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany. 

In attempt to save money 8 of us (the Bishop Family, Danika, Katie, and I) decided to pile in the 9 person van, the BLemon, and drive to conference. Surely this would be exponentially less money than it would cost for 8 plane tickets. 

The plan: take a ferry from Durres, Albania to Bari, Italy. Drive from Bari, Italy to Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany via Trento, Italy. We had 2 drivers. It was infallible.

...or so we thought. 

So off we went. We left on a Thursday night and took an overnight ferry from Durres to Bari. 

our little room on the ferry

I claimed the top bunk

We woke up in Italy, bright eyed and bushy tailed for our 8 hour trek to Trento, Italy for the night.

Ready for the road-trip, unaware of what the future held in store.

pulling into Bari, Italy

4 hours into the trek the van started to make noises. 4 hours and 2 minutes into the trek the van was making louder, more consistent noises. 4 hours and 10 minutes into the trek we were slowly coasting into a VW dealership in Seniqallia, Italy, only to find out the dealership was closed for another 30 minutes on lunch break. 

Lunch break at the VW dealership

Approximately 5 hours into the trek we were informed that it was a broken piston in the van and we would have to leave the BLemon at the dealership for the week. 

the BLemon

Emptying our luggage, leaving the BLemon in Italy.

Have no fear there was a train station down the road. 

Go with plan 2. Take a train from Seniqallia, Italy to Stuttgart, Germany and a bus to Schwäbisch Gmünd. Problem: all trains were booked for 2 days.

...Plan 3. Take a bus (or multiple buses) from Seniqallia, Italy to Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany. Problem: all buses were booked for 2 days.

...Plan 4. Rent a van and continue the drive. Problem: rental vans are outrageously priced.

...Plan 5. Rent 2 economy rental cars, split group between 2 cars – 3 people and 1 driver per car. Continue the drive. Problem: none. Activate plan 5.

As you can imagine it took a few hours to get plan 5 in place. So while Ken and Dawn Bishop were figuring it all out, the rest of us sat in the train station with all the luggage for 4 hours trying to pass the time.We kept ourselves busy by playing estimation games and taking shifts walking around town.

The lovely train station we sat at for 4 hours.

trying to keep busy

random photoshoot

After our 4/5 hour setback we were on the road again. With only a few wrong turns we arrived to the hostel at 1:30pm. Thankfully Katie studied a semester in Italy and was able to get out and ask for directions in Italian to get us back on track.

The next morning we woke up early so we could spend a few minutes in Trento before hitting the road again. 

Early Morning, Trento, Italy

At 8am we were good. Starting new. Back on track. Leaving Trento, Italy at 8am we would surely be in Schwäbisch Gmünd by 1pm. 2pm at the latest.

Well it might have been 1pm, or 2pm at the latest if the whole continent of Europe wasn’t on holiday the same week. We ended up getting caught in standstill traffic for 3 hours. But we pushed on and made it through. We endured the traffic and were back on the road again continuing our game of follow the leader.

playing follow the leader

a castle on a hill in Austria.

…until traffic picked up again and we got separated from our leader and made a wrong turn… with no map in the car or an exit off the highway for 100km.

Thankfully there was a rest stop where we picked up a map and were able to navigate our way to the conference center. Arriving around 7pm and only a half hour after the first car.

To Be Continued: Part 2: the conference, and Part 3: the adventure home