We had an absolutely incredible trip to Italy back in 2019, and made plans to return to different parts of that country in 2020, but had to cancel due to the global pandemic. We couldn’t go in 2021 for the same reason. Finally, in 2022, restrictions around the world were loosened, and we were able to consider another big trip. This also coincided with this being the year of our 40th Wedding Anniversary, which gave us even more reason to consider something special. I sold an expensive motorcycle which I wasn’t using much to help finance the trip, and we figured we might as well go for it!
In the Porsche magazine (Panorama) we’d seen ads for a company called Autobahn Adventures (https://autobahnadventures.com/), which arranged various luxury European tours through the year, where participants actually drive Porsche 911s through different countries, staying in 5-star resorts, with lots of other cool amenities. It was expensive, but looked absolutely amazing. So, back in February I pulled the trigger, and booked the flights, hoping that things like pandemics or wars wouldn’t prevent us from going. Finally, on September 17, we took off!
First stop on our journey was Munich. We arrived Sunday morning, Sep 18. After getting little to no sleep on the overnight flight, we were pretty tired! We had to wait a few hours before check-in time, so we took a walk around the nearby Marienplatz, the city center, full of historic buildings, shops and restaurants. Not many were open, since it was Sunday. We found a traditional restaurant and had some lunch – Weiner Schnitzel, of course! Then, we walked around and marveled at what a cool place this is.
Oktoberfest was in full swing, and there were tons of guys in Lederhosen, and women in Dirndl.
While we waited for our room to be ready, I watched the MotoGP race live on my iPad in the lobby. Usually I’m watching at home live at 6 AM, now I was watching live in Europe at 2 PM!
We checked in, took a nap, and then had a late dinner at the hotel. The official tour didn’t start until Monday, so Sunday was just a day to get acclimated to the new time zone.
Monday the skies were a little clearer. We did more walking and sightseeing, and later in the day I walked over to check out the enormous site of Oktoberfest. It was huge! I always thought it was the tents with lots of beer and stuff, but it’s that along with a giant amusement park / fair / festival with huge rides and other attractions. Everyone was having lots of fun.
We went into a Leica (camera) store, and they had some cool prints on the wall of great driving roads in the Alps. I took a picture of one, knowing that we would soon be headed to just these types of Alpine passes in our Porsches. So excited!
Monday afternoon, the entire group (14 couples) and our hosts met up in the hotel, and got our itinerary packets and so on. Next it was time to choose our cars for the tour! They had a whole selection of 911s in the garage, both coupes and Cabriolets. Most were 992 Carreras, with a couple of GTS models, some 4S, etc. They let us choose in order of how early we had booked the trip. We wound up being in position 4. Our first choice was a Gentian Blue GTS, but #3 snagged that one. Our next favorite was this Chalk colored Carrera Cabriolet with cool racing stripes. We grabbed it. Mrs Whip immediately named it “Chalky White,” which somehow she’d remembered as a character from the TV show Boardwalk Empire, played by the late, great Michael K Williams.
Although not as elite in spec as some of the others, we loved the way Chalky looked, and I knew it would stand out nicely in my photos. It turned out to be a really fun, fast, comfortable and impressive ride for our adventure. It sure was awesome to be able to put the top down along the way when the weather was appropriate!
Monday night we all got together for a big German feast at a famous Munich restaurant (Ratskeller). More Weiner Schnitzel! 🙂 They like their meat over there in Germany, that’s for sure. We got introduced to all of the couples from around the USA. We generally had big group dinners together with everyone, with just a couple of other group activities, otherwise we were on our own to do whatever, whenever. It was pretty perfect for us, since we definitely like to be on our own on vacations. Everyone was really nice, with the common love of Porsches.
Tuesday morning we were off to Italy for the start of our touring adventure! We drove along the Autobahn for a while, which was really cool. I got Chalky up to 240 kmh, which is around 150 MPH, then that short section ended. I gave Mrs Whip my phone to film the next bit, but then there was no next bit, as the speed limits were lower in the sections ahead. Oh well!
We crossed briefly through Austria, then we were in Italy. We stopped for lunch in Trento, a really cute small town in the mountains. Thankfully the waitress spoke just a little Inglese, so we were able to communicate.
Before long we were on the shores of Lago di Garda, which looked spectacular. Big lake! Lots of windsurfers and parasailers out on the water.
The hotel/resort we stayed in was absolutely spectacular. Wow! The Lefay Resort, high on the hill above Gargnano. What a view! The pools, the facilities, the room, the restaurant, all amazing. The pictures don’t even do it justice.
Ridiculous. So nice. We had a lovely Italian dinner that night at the hotel with the group. The next morning I got up early and flew the drone for the first time to get some sunrise shots.
Such a cool place. We were there for a couple of nights, and it was really hard to leave!
On Wednesday we went on a private boat tour around the lake with our group from Autobahn Adventures. The forecast had been calling for rain, but it turned out to be a really nice day. We stopped at a couple of different little lakeside towns and did some strolling and shopping – and shooting photos, of course. So nice.
So, if I advertise the company name in Europe (my hat), can I write the trip off as a business expense? Hmmm…
Of course, while in Italy, Mrs Whip and I had to stop for some gelato!
That evening we had a nice Italian dinner with the group at a lakeside restaurant.
Thursday was a free day to do whatever we wanted. In Mrs Whip’s case, that meant sleeping in and having a massage at the spa. In my case, it meant getting up early (surprise!) and finding the coolest, twistiest nearby roads to go drive and take photos. I decided to try continuing further up the road we took from the lake up the hill to the resort, which seemed to get very tight and twisty and ultimately wound up by another smaller lake (Lago d’Idro). It wound up being absolutely awesome!
Many spots along the way were super narrow, with just enough room for one car. Occasional turnouts so you could let someone going the other way pass. Thankfully there were only a handful of cars and motorcycles, and we kept it safe.
I’m so glad I brought the drone along! In the months leading up to the trip, I upgraded the drone to the Mavic 3 for better image quality and battery life, carefully researched the drone laws in the various countries, and got the necessary licensing. As you’ll see, I was able to get some really cool shots in my travels along the way.
I took a wrong turn at one point and went way up a very narrow road to a dead end at the top, but it was still fun.
In the photo above you can see the approach to Lago di Idro. Here’s a broader panorama view.
I grabbed a cappuccino at a little cafe in the village there, and continued a little further to an ultra-cool climb up the hill toward Bagolino, and the ridiculously tight hairpins above that town.
Chalky and I were having a blast. Of course I had to stop frequently as I kept seeing amazing vistas to shoot.
Just completely ridiculous. The scenery back at home is great, but this! Unreal. I was having so much fun. I stopped at a little “spaghetteria” for some pasta for lunch, with a view. Nice little Nonna in the back, freshly preparing everything.
Time to head back to the resort, but of course a few more pics along the way, along with some spirited driving wherever there wasn’t too big a risk of a head-on collision around the many blind corners on tight roads. By then it had warmed up a bit, so of course the top had to come down. So cool to be driving those roads in a Cabriolet!
A perfect day. One of my all-time favorite driving and photography days, ever!
Another nice dinner with the group, and the next morning we’d be off to our next destination – Switzerland! We’ll cover that in part two.
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