Michael Ronge goes on a world tour with his VW T3. Then the corona pandemic breaks out and he prefers to play it safe.
Wolfratshausen - Actually, Michael Ronge next wanted to take the ship from Morocco to Italy in order to continue with his VW T3 towards Turkey. But now the bus is parked with his parents in Wolfratshausen. In view of the corona pandemic, the 32-year-old had to interrupt his trip around the world. How and when will it go on? "Unfortunately I can't say it," says Ronge on the phone with our newspaper.
As reported, the Wolfratshauser quit his job as a car mechanic last year in order to realize his dream. In October he went on a long trip with his retreaded bully from 1987 in pistachio-mint green. The first goal was Africa. Ronge took a lot of time in Morocco, drove down to Gambia and back.
On his way, the world traveler “got to know an extremely large number of people,” he reports. All the locals were friendly, especially the people of The Gambia. But above all, Ronge made contacts with other travelers and therefore very rarely traveled alone. “We used to cook together and we all sat around the campfire until night,” he says.
Great freedom by bus - then the Corona virus breaks out.
When the corona situation tightened, the 32-year-old camped with Markus from Landau in the Palatinate, who was traveling by truck, at hot springs in Morocco. "Markus would have had a month to travel," reports Ronge. He had a residence permit for three months in Morocco. "Who knows what would have happened and it would have been difficult for me to communicate with the police because I don't speak Arabic."
Therefore, as a precaution, the two men decided to go home. At this point, the German embassy already said that the borders were closed. "But it wasn't like that," says Ronge. Luckily. Among hundreds of other motorhome drivers, they were waiting to get a place on a ferry. From Spain it went via France to Germany. "Pretty cold here," Ronge describes his arrival with a laugh.
He now wants to use the time in Germany to convert a few things on the bus - the first thing he needs is an auxiliary heater. "I hope things will continue relatively soon," says Ronge. He does not want to stop completely. "There is still a lot to look at."
He has never regretted his “breakout from the hamster wheel” five months ago. Even if everything did not go as he had planned. His girlfriend Lorena, with whom he wanted to travel on from Senegal, did not come. For this he now has a bitch: Saly. The story of how he got to the four-legged friend is typical of his experiences on the trip.
Ronge was out in M'bour when a beach buggy passed him. The driver - a German - noticed the "WOR-LD" mark and stopped. "She and her husband live in Senegal and invited me over for a beer," says the Wolfratshauser. The beer became an overnight offer and a stay of several days. Saly, named after a vacation spot in the region and puppy of the dog of the German couple, took a liking to Ronge and he to her. "I always wanted to have a dog, but that never worked." He was also able to fulfill this wish.
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Michael Ronge shares his travel experiences on the social network Instagram under “free_road_of_life_.
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