[Brno trip 9-14th July 2016] Day 1: Győr - Pezinok, Slovakia (36 km by train + 75 km by bike)

It was not the best start ever as we stayed up until 12:30 the previous night and got up at 5:30 to finish the packing for the trip. At around 9 a.m., we left for the train station heading to Mosonmagyaróvár, 36 kilometers away, to save time and energy. This route we had done in March during our first trip to Bratislava and didn't quite enjoy it due to the boring view. Just 17 minutes later, we arrived and the trip really started.

The first challenge came unexpectedly not long after the start. The thing was, we have a Tatonka alcohol burner stove, which uses the cheap and easy-to-be-found alcohol fuel to work. Turned out not! We had gone around the city of Mosonmagyaróvár and checked all the supermarkets we saw, no alcohol found! Not even until we got to the Hungary-Slovakia border! Maybe we could get it somewhere in Bratislava? Oops, we didn't have a single euro with us, only some Hungarian Forint and a bankcard, which is probably not accepted everywhere. We saw a huge chance of going-to-sleep-with-an-empty-stomach!

Tatonka alcohol burner

After another round of alcohol hunting, finally, Linh found a pharmacy in a mall, where she could get 200g of medical alcohol (now became as precious as gold for us), which is perfect for our stove baby. This is the first lesson that we learnt, always prepare beforehand the essential things to survive the first use, even if it seems to be available everywhere.

Finally, we found it!

Slowly, the darkness covered our way, it's time finding a camping site to settle down for the night. Pezinok is a small town with more wine-yards than citizens, especially those who speak foreign languages. After some  failed attempts at communicating to the locals, we found a couple, who spoke perfect English and even some Hungarian. The husband took his bike and led us to a lake nearby, which is a famous camping spot of the locals. We had a nice sleep in the sound of singing crickets, fluttering leaves and the moving lake-waves, such a lovely thing! The 2 bikepackerz slept as two babies after a tiring day, didn't know that an even longer and more exhausting day is waiting tomorrow...

(To be continued...)