After a futher night in Wiesbaden with Franz-Albert and Stephan, two university friends and moderately drinking companions, I tried to focus on the most urgent things: the stolen equipment.
Some hours later in Wiesbaden: a small street, a dirty shop window stating "Services", closed curtains... inside I found the laptop dealer whose address I got from Switzerland... the newest version was ready, the price reasonable... I somehow had the feeling that this guy would sell me a tactical warhead if I only had asked... (but the car could not take that additional weight). Equipped with a new laptop I found myself back on the way to Great Britain! Finally!
Driving through Belgium I tried to further persue my case study: how fast should I drive in order to safe as much fuel possible per 100km? The initial test with 135km/h resulted in 22 litres per 100km. Ok, the car is tall and heavy, but come on - that's way off! So what about 110km/h? The next tank stop in France proved the hypothesis to be right: we were down to to 15 litres per 100km. Still a lot.
After a night in the French countryside close to the channel and the discovery that the roof-tent and my sleeping bag are not made for artic temperatures, I reached the ferry from Boulogne to Dover. A French girl at Raphael's castle had told me that this was the cheapest connection. YES - as long as you drive a small car such as her Citroen 2CV. For cars higher than 2 meters (the panmundo car measures 2.3 meters) they ask for 50 Euros. Wow. However, I was happy to see the White Cliffs of Dover! I had left the European platform behind me! Panmundo and my world-trip has really started!!