This was a very special day for us! We met Faye Gilbert and Luc Tremoulet who came all the way from the UK to film us for a documentary about the Volkswagen Beetle. They’re covering Herbie’s World Tour as an example for the worldwide VW enthusiasm.

As Faye and Luc were coming via Germany, we arranged to meet in St. Kolomann, a little town just outside the city of Salzburg. Unfortunately we had a foggy Saturday, so we weren’t able to cover the beauty of the Alps, but we still got Herbie in motion pictures.

Today we headed to Salzburg for a film shooting. A British production company wants to cover Herbie’s World Tour for a documentary on the legendary Volkswagen Beetle.

The plan was to film Herbie driving through that beautiful mountain scenery, but the weather forecast isn’t well-disposed to us. We hope for the best and wait until tomorrow!

Herbie carried us along the freeways “A2” and “A10” across the Austrian provinces of Lower as well as Upper Austria to Salzburg and a town called at St. Kolomann.

We’re staying at “Gasthof Alpenrose” (Guesthouse “The Rose of the Alps”) in the incorporated village of Wegscheid (St. Kolomann), just about 30 kilometers from Salzburg.

After more than 30,000 kilometers (or 19,000 miles) Herbie needed a pit stop at Friedrich’s shop in Vienna. Finally the Love Bug got a new master brake cylinder as the old one was leaking since a Togolese mechanic ruined the filler plug.

We also replaced the brake cylinders in the back as well as one of the rear wheel bearings, which was accompanying us on our tour round Africa with a weird pulsating noise. Herbie’s now ready to make a trip to Salzburg next weekend!

The Spanish traveler, Monserrate Espinosa, who we’ve met the first time in Wadi Halfa, Sudan, stayed with us for almost two weeks in our hometown Klosterneuburg, Austria, after we had toured together trough Egypt, Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary.

Yesterday Domi escorted Monserrate to the freeway “A2” from where he’s heading towards Italy and home. As Herbie is at the workshop right now, Friedrich lent us one of his “Jubilee Bugs”. But next weekend we’ll drive with our Love Bug to Salzburg!

In South Africa we had the chance to meet people like Wernher Hartzenberg as well as Christian and Gisela Figenschou, who traveled East Africa already before Herbie did.

Wernher, our lovely host in Pretoria, South Africa, toured Africa together with Espen Svenson in their VW Kombi from 1959 named “Mabel” in 1999 – an “Aircooled Wonder“!

And Gisela and Christian started just about one year later. They were driving their “Zebra Bus”, a 1975 Fleetline Kombi made in Brazil. Check them out “the Zebra Safari”!

We arrived back home! Safely! Herbie made it again – and this while pulling a caravan the long way round Africa. Our dream of traveling this last missing continent (except Antarctica of course) became actually reality. Since September 2009 we visited 80 countries while driving two Volkswagen Beetles from 1963 with campers in tow for more than 115,000 miles (or 185,000 kilometers) around the globe.

We need a break and Herbie a pit stop! Therefore we’ll stay home for quite a while before hitting the road again. But there is more to come! What about Alaska!? Herbie’s World Tour is not over yet! The Love Bug’s still got the Travel Bug!

After overlanding Africa back and forth, we eventually reached Eurasia (Turkey) by ship, coming from Port Said in Egypt. Herbie and the camper simply rolled on and off.

Together with our fellow travelers Monserrate from Spain as well as Terence and Geoff from South Africa (from left to right), we went on board the “Nissos Rodos” from Greece.

There are still four countries to drive across before arriving back home in Austria. We are already on our way touring Turkey and later on Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary.