Further preparations for three-year mega trip “4-Xtremes – The World Tour”

Here it is, our fully newly designed Axor! The colour is brown-red matt and comes from the Netherlands. As a lot of it was needed, the import was delayed, but once the painters got started, one thing was immediately clear: it was going to look great! The relaunch took four weeks, and the effort was worth it.

Today we are reporting from the Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles centre in Mannheim. Our truck is getting an intensive two-day customer service here. Steering, brakes, tracking stability, fluid levels: everything is checked, readjusted and refreshed down to the last detail. It’s great to see that professionals who know every Mercedes-Benz truck inside and out are working hard.

The team is here for its customers 365 days a year and 24/7 – luckily for us! Due to the extensive preparations, we were only able to set a date for the maintenance at a late stage. But that was no problem for the flexible Mannheim team. Everyone here wants our tour to start as planned. One thing is already certain: with regards to the technology, we can set off on a new adventure completely relaxed.

Planning marathon – in difficult circumstances.

The fact is that the current situation is well and truly going to mess up our timetable and our route for 2020. Many European countries have closed their borders and imposed other strict requirements. Iran is severely affected, too. The only thing we can do at the moment is to follow the situation closely and hope for the best – for both our own interests and for everyone.

At the beginning of January, before the current situation could be foreseen, we started the intensive planning phase. Many things have been going well, but there have also been setbacks: the entry ban into Turkey, which Mike received on our last tour because of a visa problem, still applies. We now want to circumnavigate Turkey by ship on the Black Sea. We have had to take Egypt off our itinerary as there was no way to travel to the country with our drone.

– Andrea and Mike Kammermann

Even experienced globetrotters experience surprises.

Another surprise: entry requirements for our dog Aimée are sometimes just as complicated as for ourselves. That’s why there is still an appointment at the Saudi Arabian embassy to attend. But we are happy to have Aimée – especially as we regularly get away from our laptops because of her. That also applies here in the commercial vehicles centre, where we are busy planning further thanks to the Wi-Fi.

While the Axor was being painted, we lived in a furnished flat. Mike spent the winter working at a municipal maintenance depot. I, Andrea, photographed the World Economic Forum in Davos. It’s quite a sedentary life. So it’s high time that our world tour started!

Photos and video: 4-Xtremes