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I had something added to my Model S :) Short video (please ignore the zoom problems):

Late in the evening at 22:30 finally Supercharging again - what a blessing! Afterwards, I returned to Monfalcone in order to wash the still sandy car and to sleep. For the next 2 days I slowly cruised home with intentional detours via Venice - Bologna - Milan - Turino - Supercharger Aosta -...

Found it. But, no RFID worked. I asked the airport staff for help, and even though they tried hard and made some calls, they also couldn't figure out how to activate it. I show to the parking guard which kind of adapters I got with me and based on that he offered me to charge at a CEE...

The Italians at the agency were in a really good mood, friendly and helpful. We were joking around and were exchanging EV stories, as they also had some experience with shipping EVs and there were some odysseys... BMW i3 shipped to Cyprus, but there it couldn't drive off the vessel because its...

On May 13th we left the car with 31 km typical range at the port of Ashdod. I assumed that afterwards it was charging for about 2 hours, leaving the car with approximately 130 km of typical range. On May 24th the vessel left Ashdod with the Tesla on board. On May 30th I checked the SoC via app...

On May 24th 2018 the vessel "GRANDE DETROIT" departed from Ashdod, heading towards Italy. First stop: Turkey. At that time, nobody knew how long it would take to get to Italy. On May 30th 2018 GRANDE DETROIT arrived in Italian waters, but it first cruised on the Southern side of Italy. Anyway...

Thanks Fred. The story wasn't over yet, so here it continues... First, the promised videos. Actually, it's just 1 looong video - 18 hours - simply all dashcam recordings put after another (except parking). But, most likely no normal human will watch a 18-hour long dashcam video, so here are...

I drove constantly with TACC at 80 km/h (50 mph), the last third with 60-70 km/h. Consumption was being shown at below 100 Wh/km but still, something was weird and the range dropped quickly. Driving slow like that I was hoping we would reach Ashdod with 100 km typical left in the battery, which...

Here, at the last SuC in Jordan, which is also the last SuC for us on this trip in the Middle East, we're charging up to 100%, that means to 392 km / 243 miles typical. My 85D won't charge higher than that anymore. (Note: Odometer 05/2018: roughly 250.000 km / 155,000 miles. To compare: 440.000...

Supercharger Aqaba - King Hussein International Airport Finally, a Jordan Tesla in the wild! The guy is happy when I tell him we came all the way from Germany, but also for him it doesn't seem to be a big deal. :D He tells us that there are 800 Teslas in Jordan but almost all of them are...

From Petra we're lucky to drive about 70 km on the King's Highway - fun! Supercharger Gweirah

Top right: The Monastery Pest... I really hope that's just a typo and they meant to write Best as in Best View. ;-) --- Bottom right: End of the world coffee shop. Wife insisted on riding a donkey. We didn't have much time left. Up to the Monastery it's 850 steps. The guy promises to get...

I ask the guy on the WiFi-camel whether it's OK to take a picture of them. He: "1 Dinar!" Me: "Ah, no thanks then." He: "I'm just joking!! Put it on Instagram!" First, the cat brushes up to me, then the kid. The kid follows us around for a while until my wife presents him some small pen...

Mooooo... The Indiana Jones-moment is near... I can almost sense the Holy Grail ;-) ...in reality this building is called "Treasury".

The next day... Let's visit Petra: Horseback riding is included in the entrance fee they all were yelling. Really? Ok then. But immediately followed by "Baksheesh!" (tip). Ok. Wife rides horse. At the end of the short track she says "Thanks" and the guy replies "Baksheesh!". She gives him...

This reminds me of some videogame sequence... intro or outro...

Arrived. Destination Charging @ Petra Marriott Hotel At first the DeC didn't work. "It just doesn't work!" :) But after an hour or so someone flipped the switch and we were charging at full 32A 3-phase/22 kW without interruption - nice! Impressive...

Still on our way to Petra... almost there...

Small whirlwind at the SuC ...

Supercharger Al Qatranah

A bit sandy the next day: Continuing to Petra, the rock-cut city... Greetings from Indiana Jones...

Amazing: You're really floating. I expected that maybe the salty water will make you not sink that quickly/strongly, but no way, diving is impossible because there's 0 chance to go below the water. Most casualties in the Dead Sea happen because they lose their balance, flip over and swallow the...

Jordan DeC situation as of 05/2018: Mud bath - recommended. :)

German Model S in Jordan: Then we continued towards the Dead Sea... Destination Charging @ Holiday Inn Resort Dead Sea On this trip, we booked our accommodations on the same day or the day before. We planned to visit the Dead Sea and there were several hotels with DeCs available. We didn't...

Tesla Store & Service Center Amman It really does exist. Somehow I wasn't 100% sure whether this Tesla Store and SeC actually exist, but, in fact, they do! I'm running into the store, totally excited, like I'm delivering the best news of the whole century... "Hello, we came here all the way...

Yep, that's a squirrel in the restaurant. Being fed by the guests. A few meters away there's a dwarf rabbit hopping around. On the roof there's turtles and on the car in front of the place there are 2 geese living there permanently. :D No Peking Duck BBQ.

Amman... Sugar cane juice - a true miracle cure ;-) Roman Theatre: Pizza Roma Cafe / Amman Pasha Hotel - a very special place! :)

Ok, that wasn't entirely fair towards Israel. There is indeed an EV scene in Israel, consisting of a few hundred Renault Fluence ZE, a dozen or so Nissan Leaf and a handful of i3's. This is the information I got from a Fluence driver in Israel. For those who are interested in how a few hundred...

Amman, Jordan. Also called "City of Stairs". Yeah, the direct way is not always the easiest way. :) And there are ups and downs all the time. A Ford Electric charges with "flying wiring" - no one seems to care. Prius Owners Jordan! Cool! While we're at it: I saw a lot of...

Supercharger Al Noaymah/Irbid - arrived with 35 km typical left:

To get an better idea, this is the Tesla Supercharging + Destination Charging infrastructure in Jordan as of 05/2018:

Border @ King Hussein Bridge, Israel-side Jordan-side. We're being asked whether we are diplomats. That might have been because many Teslas in Jordan belong to the government. Everything was unproblematic here. We had to pay around 40 USD in local currency for the local car insurance. The...

Originally, we wanted to drive as follows: Ashdod - Jerusalem - Bethlehem - Jericho - Caesarea - Tel Megiddo - Netanya - Haifa + Akkon - Nazareth - Lake Genezareth - Irbid (Jordan) - Amman - Dead Sea - King's Highway - Petra - Red Sea (Eilat) - Ramon Crater (Israel) - Be'er Scheva + Negev Desert...

SIM can't register. Internet through WiFi + mobile hotspot + Israeli SIM in cell phone. There's maps data, but the car doesn't have any navigation data for Israel and Jordan. We're navigating using cell phone + Google Maps. Charging @ CEE red 3-phase 32A using NRGkick in the warehouse...

It's May 9th. Our plane back to Frankfurt, Germany departs from Tel Aviv, Israel on May 13th. The car will get shipped from Ashdod back to Monfalcone, but this time, we won't be on board. So, we got 4 days to check out Jordan. We're a bit fed up with Israel for now. (While it's still a great...

May 6th, Sunday in Germany (everything's closed), Monday in Israel (meaning: offices are open). The office of Allal*uf, a partner of Grimaldi. Here we have to pay a fee (100 USD), and then, with the payment receipt, head on to the harbor and customs. When I see this company logo I would love...

Ok, enough culture. Let the roadtrip begin, right?! :) It's May 5th and FIDES arrives at Ashdod today, which is 80 km away. YEEHAA! Let's haul ass to Ashdod. :) By taxi, an Arab is driving because it's Shabbat and there's no public transportation until sunset... Ashdod, Israel: FIDES is...

Scarf Return Station when entering/leaving the Arab quarter @ Wailing Wall: Bethlehem. Short story about that. Taxi driver offers flat-rate package: Driving to Bethlehem and back and a personal/dedicated guide who'll show us the Church of the Nativity. Ok, let's do it. Guide brings us to the...

Next, by bus to Jerusalem, 70 km away. Short visit to Bethlehem, need to pass into Palestine, but not a problem by taxi. Jerusalem: Wailing Wall: Real Musk :) Stone of Anointing @ Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Supposedly where Jesus' body was prepared for burial:

Tel Aviv - Middle East's Amsterdam: Old Jaffa (Link) Suspended Orange Tree (Link)

...and then to finally make it to Tel Aviv, Israel:

By taxi and with a small share of our luggage - the better part remained in the car - we're returning from Koper to Monfalcone... deja-vu... Since we won back some free time now which has to get filled we decide to fly from Triest, Italy via Rome, Italy... (Pic: C-zero @ Rome airport)...

We're talking to the captain and asking for permission to leave the ship tomorrow in Koper, Slovenia, and that our Model S will continue the trip without us to Ashdod, Israel, where we're going to pick it up. He agrees. That was the only solution we could come up with where we could still check...

The food was plenty. 3 times per day a serving like that. Good luck. :) Venice from another angle for a change: Docking: Koper, Slovenia:

The ship is docked for about 18-22 hours per harbor. We finally started cruising the next morning: First signs of boredom? Somehow you have to keep yourself busy... :) Now we're learning that we first have to cruise to Ravenna, Italy. Not a problem, it's kind of on the planned way. But...

The crew is 25 men strong. Half of them from Bulgaria, the other half from the Philippines, and 2 Maltese. This is the recreation and dining room for the Bulgarians and Maltese. The Filipinos used a separate room. The captain was a young guy, Bulgarian as well. Food was being served 3 times a...

"Limit for passengers" in the back on the right. You weren't supposed to walk beyond that mark. The Maltese cadet welcomes us on board: "This is your cabin... outside you have a bench for your use... that's it... have fun." :) The cars were being loaded/unloaded until around 03:00 in the...