United in adventure on 45-day road trip

Abu Dhabi: A Turkish farmer handed the man driving the car a large watermelon, when he asked the route to the nearest town.

He and his family, also in the car, tried telling him they didn't want to buy the fruit, but the farmer started explaining the way in sign language. When they tried to pay him for the watermelon, he refused, saying, "You are my guests and it is my gift to you."

This is just one memorable incident among many encountered by two Abu Dhabi-based families, one German and one Indian, who recently undertook a 45-day road trip to Germany, passing through 15 countries in total.

The families embarked on the epic journey in two specially-designed minivans.

They began their once-in-a-lifetime vacation by staying eight days in Germany in the hometown of one of the families and spent the remaining 37 days on the road.

Friendliest people

The trip, across Asia and Europe covered Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany.

On their return journey, they passed through Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, before they finally returned to the UAE.

Turkish villagers were the friendliest people they said.

"A Turkish woman who was selling fruit and vegetables at her roadside shop taught me the basics of her language," recalls Nikhita, 13, an Indian who travelled with her father Nath Bahadur, her mother Usha Nath and her brother Nikith, 17.

Their German family friend Wolfgang Ochockai and his wife Meriam Ochkai accompanied them in the other minivan.

Because of the length of the journey, many people did not believe that they were driving all the way from the UAE to Germany.

"In Italy, we met a group of South African tourists who were surprised to hear about our trip," said Nikhita.

Although originally they had planned not to stay in hotels, they found it was too hot to camp in Saudi Arabia for two days and Petra in Jordan was the same.

Minor hurdles

However, except for those three days, they camped outside every night, sometimes in camp sites and sometimes along the road.

They kept eating out to a minimum and mainly made their own food.

"We cooked the food and took fresh fruit and bread from the shops," Ochockai said.

Except for minor mechanical problems with both vans, which happened in Saudi Arabia and Turkey and delayed the journey by four days, they did not have any major issues.

"In Turkey, we had to wait for the spare parts of the vehicle to come from Istanbul, which was 1,200km away," Bahadur said.

The enthusiastic group visited more tourist sites in Turkey while they were waiting and that made it more enjoyable.

"Still there was a lesson to be learned, you have to check the availability of spare parts of your vehicle in the foreign countries," he cautioned.

Apart from the mechanical expenses, the trip cost both families around Dh130,000, which they say was money well spent.

"After coming back to Abu Dhabi, I felt so bored," Merium said. "Because there was nothing new to do...."