From Finland to Albania by Vespa
In June 2024, I will be travelling by Vespa across Europe to Albania, via nine countries. My journey goes through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro.
My destination is Vlorë in southern Albania, on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. Vlorë is the third largest city in Albania and one of the oldest cities in Albania.
The current plans are for an eight-night trip. Daily distances will vary between 150 and 500 kilometres. I’ve been driving to Albania with a two-night tactic, but now I’m going to take it much more easy.
My intention is to avoid motorways as much as possible and to take quieter routes where I can look around.
In general, the name Vespa evokes the legendary moped, which is very easy to sympathise with. Now I’m going to ride its big brother, the Vespa GTS 300, which is not exactly a moped but a medium-powered motorcycle.
This is where I update my travel blog. Come along and follow my journey!
The trip to Albania is approaching and the travel bug is starting to set in. One more month of hard work ahead, planning for the next academic year and the new school. Then I let the pupils go on summer break and lock the school doors for the holidays.
My plan is 4. On June I’m going to drive from Jyrinkylä in Ylämylly with a fully packed Vespa towards southern Finland. The itinerary has changed somewhat. The Baltic countries will be missed out, as part of the journey will be made by Finnlines by sea. This will reduce the journey by around 500 km, saving one night’s stay ashore.
Here is a map of the new route. The safe speed on Vespa is 80 – 100 km/h, so I like to drive on small roads and look at the scenery. I prefer to skip the motorways. The number of countries along the way will be reduced to seven unless the route changes even more closely.
The serviced Vespa has now been put into service after the winter and there is still time to do some practice driving. The fitting-out of Vespa is underway and the installation of accessories has begun. The necessary bags and navigation equipment are already in place. I’ve found some good tips on how to get them in Facebook two-wheeler groups. For example, the footwell bag(Seansand) specifically designed for Vespa was found that way.
The blog will continue in the near future..
