It was late November and the last planned day of our stay in Spain during a several-month-long trip. GPS set to Wrocław, oil checked, coolant topped up. The van started at the sight of the key. We thought it was a good sign. Alright, time to go! And so we left Barcelona. The weather was beautiful, the biometeorological conditions favorable, and the highway surface solid.
Slight Vibrations
During the drive, at some point, I felt slight vibrations in the car. I thought, "oh, these Catalan highways." But at least there are always two lanes available, unlike here on the toll section of the A4, which I've never seen without roadworks.
But it wasn't the road's fault. A few minutes later... Boom! I look in the mirror, sparks are flying from the rear axle like during cutting a steel pipe with a Bosch, and suddenly our wheel emerges, starting to overtake us. Since it's a 1.9 Diesel engine without a turbo, 4-speed gearbox – you probably know – that overtaking us isn't the peak of capabilities even for a Seicento.
The wheel, speeding ahead, passed the green belt and stopped somewhere on the other side of the highway in a ditch, miraculously not causing a collision with other cars. Then I knew: Spain wasn't going to let us go home so easily...
France, Elegance. Far from it
Do you think this is the end of the story? No, no, no... With a VW T3, especially my van, the story never ends. France welcomed us with baguettes, smelly cheese, and a COVID passport check at the border. It was early December, snow was falling heavily, and we had sneakers and summer rain jackets, over which we threw some cheap ponchos from Granada bought for 10€. We felt like two Gringo conquerors of the world. Honestly, the drive through France is so boring due to the repeating patterns of small towns, where the center has a bar, a church, and a bakery with baguettes, that you think it's some déjà vu and you're just going in circles.
Roundabout Surfing
It was quite cold, and the van wasn't equipped with a Webasto heater, so we decided to stop in Zurich for two days at our friend's place. What happened next was the most extreme experience I've ever had.
Imagine you're an ordinary, normal citizen of a bankers' country, living in a small town, a bit more developed than those small French ones, but still very small. You're returning home at 5 PM from work the same way as usual, there's a heavy snowstorm, and from around the corner – from which nothing ever comes – a VW T3 appears, on summer tires with a surfboard strapped to the roof, taking every roundabout sideways. Rear-wheel drive, summer tires, and the surfboard like a cherry on top.
Has anyone ever seen anything like this? I don't know exactly how we managed to get there, but we almost ended up in a ditch several times, and I won't even mention avoiding a collision with a snowplow. In hindsight, did it teach me anything? Yes. There are no better adventures than with the good old VW T3. You have to be a hawk standing at the head of other hawks.