Last weekend we visited the 2^nd VW Beetle Show of Nappersdorf in our province of Lower Austria. Together with all the other visitors we drove to the border of the Czech Republic and the so-called “Excalibur City” within the two frontiers.

June 28 is the official birthday of Walt Disney’s Love Bug. Therefore we’re celebrating Herbie’s 50^th anniversary this year and especially on this particular day, even though our Love Bug wasn’t manufactured on that exact date. But one is for sure, 1963 is the year in which Herbies all around the world were made. Happy Birthday!

Domi celebrated Herbie’s B-Day together with our friends Georgy, Matthias and Florian (from left to right) and their Beetles at a vintage car show in the South of Vienna.

Today, June 22, we’re celebrating the International Day of the Volkswagen Beetle. Thanks to this unique car we were able to travel all around the world within the past four years.

Today Domi and his friend Matthias, nephew of Friedrich Hübsch, picked up a 1960 Volkswagen Bug in the very South of Burgenland, one of nine Austrian provinces.

The black Beetle resides in its original condition. It still has the original paint, six volt and 1,192 cc with 30 horsepower. And it seems like that this vehicle has never been welded.

The only question remains is, who the next owners will be? Either Katharina, a friend and DLV club member of ours, or Domi and Zainab. Anyway, Herbie found a new friend!

Matthias, Georgy and Domi visited the biannual air-cooled Volkswagen show in Laxenburg. More than 100 vehicles showed up – from Beetles to Kombis and Buggies to Brezels. Thanks to the “VW Beetle and Bulli Lover’s Club Laxenburg” for that wonderful day. The “DLV – Aircooled Community” are patronizing you.

Yesterday we visited the legendary “Hot Summer Nite” at the SCS (Shopping City South). A lot of air-cooled Volkswagens and Porsches attended the show. Here the pictures:

Somebody hurt Herbie last week! His rear bumper got hit and the radio antenna broken. We traveled around the world in 80 countries and nobody ever did this to Herbie.

It is very sad that people do such things. It is actually a shame that Austrians can behave like that. The bumper got hit even two times – deliberately or unintentionally?

We’ll also have to buy a new antenna as somebody broke the old one off. Why would this person do this? Sometimes we just don’t understand other human beings.

Although we are an “Aircooled Community”, we couldn’t avoid coming across water on the streets of Eastern Austria. As Herbie is tucked away safely on a hill, we’re driving “Trabi” these days. Herbie encountered enough “watering obstacles” on his way round the world. Yesterday Domi and his friend Flo (from DLV) inspected some local flooded roads.

The South African adventure travel magazine “Drive Out” features a story on Herbie’s World Tour in its latest edition including six full pages about Herbie’s “gravel travel”.

Herbie and his friends from “DLV – Aircooled Community” visited the monthly “Friday Night Cruising by Altblech” at the SCS Shopping Center in the South of Vienna.

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.

Herbie accomplished the long way round Africa! While most overlanders “just” travel along the east coast, the Love Bug included the western side of the continent as well. We’ve driven 30,000 kilometers (or 18,650 miles), exploring 21 African countries! Tomorrow we’ll hopefully get on board a ferry to Turkey, from where we’ll be driving back home.

On the entire Africa trip, Herbie “broke down” only once, when we meant to go swimming in Congo. In Angola we also tried to teach him how to fly. And in Cameroon and Kenya, he had to face the most horrible battles against mud – dry as well as splashy. (Just click on the words written in blue to find out more about Herbie’s biggest challenges!)

Herbie made it! Again! The same applies also to all the others, who we’ve met on our long way around, touring across this huge continent. It was really a challenging “Safari”!

Yesterday we got to know Geoff Biermann and Terence Tracey (right), who’ve driven their “Hillman Imp” from 1964 all the way up, coming from Johannesburg, South Africa. Check out their blog! They will still travel all across Turkey and Europe towards the UK.

And we met Slobodan Vukojevic from Serbia, who’s been traveling the world on a “Suzuki” motorbike since 2010. He managed to enter Egypt without a “Carnet de Passages”, going now south, heading towards South Africa. His website is called “Ride the World”.

And of course our lovely friend from Spain, Monserrate Espinosa, who’s been exploring the world in a “Toyota 4Runner” since 2009. Unfortunately he doesn’t have a webpage anymore. We’re hanging out with him since we met him for the first time in Sudan.

Port Said – we are waiting for our ship to come. Tomorrow or on the day after we’ll go aboard a ferry to Iskenderun, Turkey, from where we’re going to travel back to Europe.

Yesterday we arrived at the Atlantic shore, after spending some time in Cairo. It has its shady sides, but we enjoyed hanging out there, visiting family and strolling around.

We love the diversity of Egyptian nature. The Nile as well as the Sahara Desert and its wonderful oasis are more than worth a visit. In 2009 we traveled all over the country.

Egyptian traffic is real crazy! This was the first time on Herbie’s World Tour we were a bit unlucky: The camper got hit! Egyptian drivers are always very “touchy”. No wonder!

When we entered the city limits of Port Said, we had to stop at a speed bump. In this moment, an Egyptian pick-up, carrying horse and donkey “smashed” into our tail light.

Meanwhile, Herbie and the caravan, QEK, are parked inside the port in order to finish customs duties. We already gave our temporary Egyptian license plates back.

In Cairo we stayed at the “Dahab Hostel” – it’s a simple but also very nice place to stay. The only pity is that they aren’t offering any parking (they are on the seventh floor).

Before we traveled across the desert in order to reach Cairo and eventually Port Said, we visited the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor. Simply magnificent to see these tombs!

Yesterday we visited family members of Zainab, who are living here in Cairo.

On the picture above you can see Zainab’s cousins Mona, Hoda, Mahmoud and Mohamed (from left to right) as well as Hoda’s husband, Ahmed (right). But we also met their mother, Zainab’s aunt, their father and another brother, named Ahmed. We really enjoyed spending time with these lovely people. Last time we saw them exactly four years ago. Thanks so much for your warm hospitality! We’re so looking forward to visiting you someday again!

After a long drive across the Egyptian Sahara Desert, we eventually reached Cairo and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: The Pyramids of Giza.

Herbie made it again! Pretty strong head winds and the heat of the Sahara Desert couldn’t stop Herbie from touring our last African country to visit: Egypt.

In Cairo, we met again Monserrate Espinosa, the Spanish overlander. He stays at the same hostel, in the heart of Cairo, just a few hundred meters from Tahrir Square.

Egyptian traffic ranked among the most chaotic, dangerous and challenging in the world. We drove through the streets of Cairo already in 2009, but not towing a caravan.

This time we are here, pulling our house along these completely packed city roads. And we even drove right into the center of Cairo, trying to find a suitable parking spot.

We’re staying at the Dahab Hostel, which we got recommended by the German travelers from “Remember the Birds”, who we’ve met in Wadi Halfa, Sudan, last week.

After visiting family and friends, we’ll be back on the road, heading to Port Said at the Mediterranean Sea, from where we want to take a ferry to Iskenderun, Turkey.

The Austrian newspaper “Heute” published another article on Herbie’s World Tour today!

Our Love Bug safely arrived in Aswan, Egypt. Herbie was shipped from Sudan across the Lake Nasser together with just one other car, as those barges are really small.

Monserrate Espinosa, a Spanish fellow traveler, put his four-wheel drive Toyota on the boat. He is also on his way back to Europe, after traveling Africa for a couple months.

We met Monserrate, who’s also traveling the world by car since 2009, when we went on board the passenger ferry in Wadi Halfa. Since then our paths crossed quite often.

We just received an email from Mazar Mahir, our “fixer” in Wadi Halfa, who was so kind to drive Herbie and the camper on the barge. As you see, he even sent us some pics of it.

Our beloved Herbie set-up is now on its way cruising the Nile across Lake Nasser (or Nuba), crossing the border totally uncrewed. Have a safe and wonderful journey, Herbie!

We’re now hoping to be able to leave Aswan including our beloved Volkswagen and the camper, QEK, on the weekend, after we’ll have finished all the customs paper work.