Daoushy ED write up

Originally Posted by LDV330i

I think we all now know why they did not want to give him a visa, I think the consul could see that there would be a driving maniac on the loose running all over Europe.

Do you need a visa for a bicycle trip?

Hi from CDG

Typying this from the bussiness lounge on an iMac with the annoying French keyboard so it will be short....

I am glad that you all are enjoying my write up.... I have so much ,ore details to post for the Genoa and Nice parts of my trip.... And the Egypt part which will start in a few hours...

Will continue the write up from since I have to get out of the Business lounge to join my friend woh is flying coach

I just wanted to post saying that I already miss my car the good news is that it reached the drop off in a perfect condition... I will post tips and so later...

Off to Cairo in 1 hour

Still HATE the French... even more

Originally Posted by daoushy

the good news is that it reached the drop off in a perfect condition

As the French say, "incredible" - as the Austrians say, "Gott sei Dank."

Can't wait to hear about part II from the Middle East! Please be careful.

Originally Posted by daoushy

Just love the car... 135 in the bimmer is like 90 in my neon.. and it very quite

NICE upgrade... Neon to a bimmer

...mmmmm...pretzel.....

Had to wake up around 9AM to catch breakfast and not lose too much of the day… Now I reached a point where I had way too little sleep… in 6 days I had a total of 21 hours of sleep… and the longest sleep was like 5 hours… even for me this was becoming too low.. but anyway, we are in Venice

Made it to the Toronchetto parking in Venice, ala Rick Steve’s, it wasn’t busy yet so I got a very nice spot next to a wall so only one side of the car was exposed…

A little long wake and we got into the Vapprotto and reached San Marko…. Venice is a totally different city than what you can try to imagine. You feel the history everywhere and the water ways are impressive.
However, it is way too touristy, duh, and you feel that the whole place is trying to sell you something, any thing…I didn’t really like that..

Picked a couple of walks from Rick Steve’s book… Was not too impressed…

By 6 PM I meet my cousin and her Italian husband who gave me the bad news… We walked the “bad” side of Venice!!! The good side was the other way… I won’t blame Rick Steve’s too much since he had all the area covered, BUT he didn’t point which one is more “Venice”

Our Italian guide took us to a local restaurant very deep in Venice with very few tourist… Very nice food… After we were done turned out that the chef is Egyptian and this “local Venetian” place is owned by an Egyptian.. Go figure

The highlight of the day.. Gelato, Gelato and more Gelato

Some pics from Venice attahced

Day 3 ½

The drive to Genoa….

We took off from Venice at 1 AM… needless to say, little sleepy… However, we HAD to make it to Milan (165 miles) and then to Genoa (120 miles) that night… no comment…

Windows down and Stereo loud and off we go… in 20 miles my 3 friends were out ;
I had to relay on my ability to stay awake and since the car was past the 1000 miles mark I gut put my foot down….

In 120 miles my average speed went from 51.1 to 69.6 that includes stopping at too many toll stations and going “slow” for a 5 miles in the company of 2 police cars !!! Lucky for me I spotted the police car coming out of a stop before I reached it.. I slowed down and then another police car showed up but they were not interested in me ; that was close

With 45miles to my destination we were surprised with a shut down autostrada !!! that was totally not expected nor welcomed… Navi got us another route off the autostrada and we reached our first destination at 4:20AM…

We dropped off 2 of my luck friends to their hotel and decided that since we made it to here to go all the way so we want blow up the next day. My remaining friend who slept for like an hour and a half asked to drive but after a 10 mins pit stop and I was still OK to drive as long as he doesn’t sleep and keep me company… so off we go to Genoa hoping that by the time we reached the hotel we would still have our room…

With dense fog most of the way I was not able to speed…. However, all this effort was generously rewarded .....

10 miles before reaching Genoa the road became extremely twisty.. Its an Autostrada.. 2 lane in one way.. no opposing traffic.. and I’m full awake since its morning already.. Fog is gone and dawn was almost here.. and I’m almost the only one on the road. .. and I have over 1200 miles on the ODO ……

You probably guessed it by now… High tempo sound track.. Adaptive headlights on… and Gear selector on the left ….

The best 20 mins in my whole trip… got it all on video.. will upload it once I’m back to the states

I have to go now.. the plane is landing and I have to shut off my laptop….Cairo here I come

Originally Posted by daoushy

.. and I have over 1200 miles on the ODO

Very well done!! Enjoyed reading your travel adventures!!

...note to self: Put daoushy on ignore if he posts more penis pics from Cairo...

Wadyah Daoushy......I noticed you posted in the "passport problem" thread.......are you in Misr?? PICS PICS PICS!!!!!!

My French Riviera part of the trip was not too exciting.. especially with the feel of the drop off date approaching...

Cannes has nothing special.

I likes Nice a lot.. I had some very good sea food and Ice Cream on the beach..

I also checked out Fenoccio which is an Ice Cream joint that carries 83 flavors, including Rose, Lavender and tomato !! I got regular flavors and was not the best Ice Cream I had... Nothing beats Italian Gelato

In Nice my friend missed his flight to Paris because the French shuttle driver at the airport did not let him in the shuttle after he closed the door though he was stopping anyway, oh the French ...

My friend was extremely late to the airport since he remembered when we arrived at the Nice airport that he forgot his 100 euro worth of French Cheese back at the hotel's fridge since there was no fridge in the room.... He went through hell to get back quickly to the hotel and once he got there they told him that they throw the cheese away since it smelled bad... My friend asked them, is there any French Cheese that doesn't smell bad !

any way.. It ended up OK since he made the next plan and met me in Paris for our flight back to Cairo..

Moral of the story... The French really really suck... at least all those who I met in my few days there

Originally Posted by daoushy

My friend was extremely late to the airport since he remembered when we arrived at the Nice airport that he forgot his 100 euro worth of French Cheese back at the hotel's fridge since there was no fridge in the room.... He went through hell to get back quickly to the hotel and once he got there they told him that they throw the cheese away since it smelled bad... My friend asked them, is there any French Cheese that doesn't smell bad !

Oh yeah, they ate it. No question. I'd be

Originally Posted by daoushy

I likes Nice a lot.. I had some very good sea food and Ice Cream on the beach..

You mean you did not try the Salade Niçoise?


Though at times trips do have hiccups but that is what make trips so memorable. It looks like your ED trip will be one of those you will remember forever.

I see an American land yacht (aka, Cadillac Sedan de Ville) amongst those yachts.

Originally Posted by LDV330i

I see an American land yacht (aka, Cadillac Sedan de Ville) amongst those yachts.

Wow! A rare sight indeed! Once I saw a corvette on the Autobahn, I did a double take since that was about the last car I was expecting to see.

Originally Posted by Me530

Wow! A rare sight indeed! Once I saw a corvette on the Autobahn, I did a double take since that was about the last car I was expecting to see.

I saw at least 3 Chrysler Cross Fire in Germany.. Was not expected as well...

Originally Posted by LDV330i

You mean you did not try the Salade Niçoise?

Of course I did and it was and it looked exactly like your pic

Originally Posted by LDV330i

Though at times trips do have hiccups but that is what make trips so memorable. It looks like your ED trip will be one of those you will remember forever.

For ever and ever I had so many permanent memories that would make this trip stand out... And I had even more fun in Egypt.. Will post soon

Originally Posted by LDV330i

I see an American land yacht (aka, Cadillac Sedan de Ville) amongst those yachts.

Looks like you know your boats... After going to Nice it looks like a boat would be my next big purchase... Can I but a BMW boat with ED... That would be perfect

Drop off time

Went to drop off at Nice.. Had no problems at all finding the place with Navi !! The process went smooth enough... But again, the French...

The lady they had on the PC was EXTREAML?Y slow... she was typing on the PC using ONLY her right index finger.. You know the type...

In the whole place there was only 2 who speak English... They had no small bags or whatever for me to collect my stuff from the car..

They did provide a shuttle service to the Airport (10 mins) and they totally refused to drop us off in down Town Nice which was the same distance ... French

I got my license plate, triangle, first aid kit, tools, plastic key with adapter and one of the fobs... I am not feeling the pain yet since I'm still on vacation.. but I see it coming...

Final Statistics:
1449 miles on the Odo in 4 days
27 hours of driving in 4 days
Average speed 46.6MPH mostly due to delays in the way to Milan since they closed the autostrada right before that my average speed was 65.9
20.1 mpg... small fortune in gas low mpg due to speeding
Top speed 135MPH... sustained for 30 mins in Italy at 4AM in the way to Genoa (1200miles on the ODO)
2 Ultimate drives one up the Alps in Divonne, France (before the bike fall) too bad i didn't take it down The other was for like 10 miles before Genoa... amazing.. got both on video and will post a link when I get back to the US
Traffic Violations other than excessive speeding ... Made only a couple of mistakes in Germany as I posted earlier.. didn't cause any problems after that...
Break-in I did not really follow the rules no one mentioned it while picking up the car and I didn't get to it in the manual
Damage to the car a very minor scratch in the front bumper while parking to close to the curb in a very narrow street in Italy... That is it no curb rash on the tiers and wheels
Things I forgot to take from the car: The flash light, which was there..
Where is my car? I have no idea not tracking it since I'm still on vacation.. will start the OCS in 2 days when I'm back home
Bottom line The BEST way to buy a car.. Can't wait for my next car

I miss my car

Nice Daoushy Way to scratch the paint and clear coat by putting things on it

Originally Posted by beewang

Nice Daoushy Way to scratch the paint and clear coat by putting things on it

Those "things" included YOUR Navi disk.. Other alternative is to leave it in the car I don't think you would have liked that ... Thanks one more time for the disk, it saved my whole trip too many times.. Will send it back once I get home for the next lucky EDer

Originally Posted by daoushy

I saw at least 3 Chrysler Cross Fire in Germany.. Was not expected as well...

The crossfire is made in Germany and largely based on the pre-2005 SLK.

I had a BLAST in Egypt... Most of the time was spent with my family or eating out I gained 4 pounds in 5 days.. not bad

The Airport in Cairo has been impressivly renovated, that was a nice welcome surprise for me. I think its one of the best airports I've been through. I hope they can keep it up.

My friend picked me up in his 2002 318i.. Driving in Egypt is WAY crazier that it used to 3 years ago.. I was in shock... Those who say Paris or Italy are no places to drive should check Cairo out.. I don't know how ppl are doing it..

My friend said all you need is a faster processor so you can react and avoid others !! The pics are dark but you would get the idea.. I will convert the videos and post them soon.

The food is still AMAZING.. and the hospitality that goes with it.. I ate every thing that I was missing.. twice

Sorry I don't have too much "touristy" photos of Cairo since most of my time was with family.

Here is some more Pics of the airport and the food

And my brother's crazy dog

Went for a one day trip to Alexandria.. ~200 miles each way.. with the same group of friends who met me in Europe and my brother.. 400 miles of driving is no sweat for us buy now though we were 5 adults in a VW Polo

Alex was amazing.. It had a major face lift... Didn't have time to check out the historically famous Library of Alexandria after the renovation.. but it looked cool out side... Again, too much food and not much sight seeing, hence the photos

Back in the USA after 2 extremely intense, sleepless and fun packed weeks... Hit the 405 at 4:00PM

Got home and my now 1 year old kid still remembers me

got much needed 12 hours of sleep and I'm on the 'fest again.. I'm off work till Monday which was the smartest decision I took

Conclusion:
1. BMW ROX...
2. Europe, not impressive enough for me...
3. Driving a BMW on the Autobahn at 135MPH is an experience of a life time
4. I'm now officially baned by my wife of any sport on a mountain (the bike accident is my third after a rock climbing fall when I almost tasted death 10 years ago and a skiing fall when I fractured my shoulder 3 years ago) So what if I like coming down fast
5. Venice is nice, but way too touristy and commercialized
6. Italian Gelato is the best Ice Cream ever. When in Italy eat pizza from a "Pizza Forrno" (pizza bakery) not a restaurant.. WAY better...
7. Egypt is still amazing.
8. If you can drive in Cairo then you are either crazy or ... too crazy
9. Alexandria is an Egyptian Nice with way better water and no fancy boats.. Alex is 5 times bigger than Nice
10. Egyptian food is the BEST food anywhere.... except for Gelato....

This was a trip of a life time ... Next car will be an ED.. Hopefully with my wife and kid and a much slower pace.....

I hope you all enjoyed my write up and pics..

The full photo album of my ED can be found here:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/daoush....net/my_photos

The wait begins...