Category: Travels

Jun 9 

We have now confirmed our upcoming itinerary.  We will be departing for Verona tomorrow for three days and this will be followed by Slovenia for five days.  We will then make out way to Vienna and Salzburg. 

We are in Milan now to see the “last supper” painting which apparently isn’t open to the public without special appointment.  On the way there we went to park at lampagno but it was full and we had not wanted to drive right into Milan. That was a bit stressful but we ended up finding some parking at a grocery store near the metro.  We made our way in and saw the duomo and the castle and now wait for our appointment to see the painting.
   
 

June 8 – Next legs

we are in Arona area until Thursday at which time we will leave towards Verona for two days and Slovenia for five.  After that we will do Salzburg, Vienna, and finish up Germany by July 15 and from July 15 – August 10 we will see Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. From Aug 10 onwards we will be in the UK trying to sell the UK version of the Tesla before departing for the Cayman Islands (our home)

So far we’ve seen Como, Stresa, and Arona.

Today we go to the thermal spas in the alps and Tomorrow we are going to Milan and have a VIP showing of the last supper painting arranged (the owner of the B&B knows the director/Curator).

    
       Lugged this bad boy around and decided to have once fully out of Malta and relaxed!

  Lake Como

  Awesome vegan burger with vegan mayo and cheese!

  Kingston wanted no press/pictures. So I snuck up and took one.

  Como

Jun 6 – Trip Report

From Malta to the Laplands and everywhere in-between (in a Tesla S)

The Start

Waking up at 4am, we showered and got into the car, ready for a very long and exhausting day dealing with language difficulties and stressful driving conditions. We had prudently packed the car the night before, fitting in 3 suitcases, an iMac, and several smaller items. Most of it fit in the Frunk (front trunk in electric cars) though our biggest computer and suitcase fit in the back seat along with Irina. We arrived to the Malta ferry at about 5am and though we were supposed to board, the attendant informed us that we have to pay extra for our car as it is so long. So that took up some time and annoyance. Once aboard, the 1.5 hr ferry ride was smooth, we said good bye to Malta and I got in a quick nap in preparation for the drive through Sicily.

Arrival in Sicily

Once we arrived in Sicily we had about 350km range. We made our way to the Ikea in Catania which was perfectly positioned right off the highway. Southern italy city driving in the Tesla (a very large and wide car) is a dangerous affair and one I try to avoid at all costs.  We got there with about 180 km range and we topped up to about 350km. We spent about 2-3 hours in Ikea while the  kids played in the play area and the Tesla charged. Charge completed at about 1pm. We left towards another charge point in Palermo. Then the S-show started. It wasn’t a public charger but rather a private one in the ENEL (think Hydro) building.  It took Ash like 30 minutes re language difficulties to have the security guard open the gates and let us charge, that was no easy feat. Pulling in the car was even tougher, the maniacal parking near the gate gave us maybe 1 inch wiggle room and that required us backing up and adjusting several times (into insane traffic) all the while hoping the gate didn’t close on us. Once in, we finagled our huge car in-between some of the smallest spots and we topped it up to about 240km which was more than enough to get us to the Dorno supercharger after departing from Genoa upon arrival.

The Ferry

The ferry is an absolute hell hole.  Pretty much the worst thing you can experience on a “paid for” ship experience.  Our 3 bed suite was basically a queen size bet with a small couch. The smell on the ship was body odour combined with stale smoke. The condition of the ship was gross, we had a 13 inch CRT tv from the 80s in our room. The lines/waits for getting on and off were bad as well. We got there early and were first on which meant most bottom garage (i.e. last out) So we were first in and last out.  We had to exit our cabin at 5pm and wait till about 8:30pm in the hallway beside the garage enjoying the wonderful smells as mentioned before.

The Drive to Arona

What a beautiful drive!  We drove up to the Dorno supercharger and had a bite to eat. It took about 20min to get a charge and we departed towards Arona. The autostrada was so smooth and a great drive. The speed limit is 130 and we set the cruise at 140 and made it to the B&B at 11:15pm.  The trip starts here:

Arrived in Arona

We’ve arrived to our first stop on the first leg of the 3-month trek through Europe.  It all started at one of the most southern points (Malta) of Europe and will reach out to the most northern in the Swedish laplands.

Arona is one of my favorite places and it made sense to start the journey here.  It’s got to be one of the most relaxing places in Europe.  Can’t speak enough about it.  Thanks to a fellow Tesla driver for introducing it to me when I picked the car up in Tilburg last August.

The first part was difficult. Two ferries and 40 hours later we arrived which is no easy feat with a 3 and 5 year old . More about that soon.

                 

   

 

From Malta to the Laplands

We’re about to embark on a 3 month family road trip in our Tesla from one of the most southern points of Europe to one of the most northern.  We’ll be using Superchargers along the way.

We leave Malta tomorrow at 5am and board the Virtu Ferry to Sicily. From Sicily we’ll disembark from Palermo aboard the GNV ferry to Genoa.  Once in Genoa, we’ll make our way to a B&B in Arona and that’ll be our first real stop. From there, we’ll figure out where to next. The idea is to go to Innsbruck, but we might just head over to Lyon instead and loop back over towards Austria later. We prefer spontaneity, however, one thing is certain, we’ll be making our way up towards the northern part of Sweden and back.

The idea is go go through Northern Italy, head towards France and then back through Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria and through Germany (Dresden, Regensburg, Heidelberg, Berlin, Hamburg), Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and finally the UK).  We are moving from Malta to Cayman Islands so we are going to try to end the leg selling the Tesla in the UK (so we can repurchase an American version in Cayman).

 

 

 

May 27 – Trade Plan

The market cracked that important 2120 area and proceeded down quickly (as expected if it broke that area) and it even briefly went through the next support at 2100 only to close at about 2104.   So we’re now about 1.5% off of all-time highs but the attitude and sentiment are very bearish (much too bearish when we’re just 1.5% away from ATH) which usually lends itself to a bounce as it typically means many people are under-exposed to the market (already sold or unexposed = less sellers going forward). AAII Bullish sentiment is at 5 year lows, Stocktwits stream is quite low etc etc which usually means that the worst of the selling is likely over. We’ll probably extend a bit lower through 2100 but I’d expect up momentum soon.

My plan?  I’ll give the downside on the RUT until about 30 delta to adjust and the downside on the SPX to hit 25-27 delta before adjusting.  Not a whole lot of plan 🙂

I added a 1270 calendar to our RUT trade on Thursday as a slight delta adjustment for any upside risk. Other than that, there’s been no adjustments since Thursday. The MIC trade is sitting at about 4.5% which is fantastic given yesterdays waterfall decline and increased volatility. I gather without that increased volatility the trade is sitting at 5-5.5%.

The SPX trade is sitting at 4.2% and hasn’t been touched since Thursday. It’s sitting at about 7-10 points away from a downside adjustment and I’ll monitor that closely. If we can get a slight bounce and end the week anywhere between 2095-2140, we’d be sitting very nicely with the trades.

The Protector Alpha is down about 0.7% yesterday (as expected) with a decline like that.  A new thread appeared on the main forum/community that I am a part of, and it is a discussion talking about new methods for the protector.  I am quite excited by the developments and will start putting some thought into it.

As for the Paris trip:

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Epic Tesla Road Trip

Haven’t updated the travel part of the website in a while but as you’ll see below, you can expect a lot more updates in the coming 3 months.

Ash and I are going on a solo (sans kids) trip to Paris on the 23rd for 3 days.  We will get back on the 26th and finish packing, and leave for the 30th on an epic 3 month road trip across Europe.

We’ll be driving in our electric Tesla and be utilizing the superchargers (free gas!) along the way. We’ll go from Malta by Ferry to Sicily and onwards through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and finally France and the UK. We depart the UK in late August to arrive back to Cayman Islands so the kids can start school.

We’ll be staying in B&Bs, airbnbs and hotels along the way.

Leg 1:

From Malta, we’ll board the Virtu Ferries and arrive in Pozzallo, Sicily. It’ll be a 3 hour drive to Palermo where we will board the GNV ferries to Genoa.

From Genoa we’ll travel to Arona and stay at a B&B for 4 days. We’ll then make our way to Innsbruck, Austria for another 4 days.

From Innsbruck, we’ll hit Salzburg and Vienna and make our way up towards Germany (Regensburg, Heidelberg/Rothenburg, Cologne, Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg)

Black square are places we’ll likely stay and red dots are the super chargers.

 

 

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Leg 2:

Sweden, Norway, Denmark

Leg 3:

France, Belgium, Netherlands

Leg 4:

UK/Scotland