On 15 May; I met a guy who shared my compartment and has another classic car like MINI, the new red bettle from Munih. Bettle guy and me became friend and agreed successive driving until Munich. Train has passed the Srbia and Croatia, so arrived to Austria at night.
On 16 May; after unloading ROMEO from mototrain, started driving session again with red bettle back to back all night. With the first sunlight I was in Stuttgart, Germany. Called my MINIlover friend Axel aka bigagsl on the net, he came and took me to speedy autobahns and kurvenreich roads. That was so funny driving with MINI. Thanks Axel for that. After some hard-cornerings with MINIs approx 2 hours, we arrived in a garage, fully loaded with lots of MINIs, counted 26 masterpieces MINI there nearby Babenhause, Germany. I met great friends like Darcy, Susanne, Jasmin and the others in the garage, were spending time on their MINIs to prepare to MU09. What a surprise for me, there was a dinner with all of those friends. Huge meals, delicious chats and a FatihV with big smile on his face so happily.
On 17 May; one of the milestones… Nurburgring… Just drove to the circuit earlier at the morning. So crowded and rainy day, so what. Took a ticket and I was in. Did my best – joke-. I tried to take photos and videos in the lap. But when I noticed the exotics passed me like an aeroplane, then drop the camera and pushed hardly the lap. Guess what happened, an accident in front of me and lap cancelled. But in spite of that I enjoyed so much. Now I am able to say : I was there.
On 18 May; followed E40 autobahn that was the longest one ever seen, arrived to Brugge, Belgium. This city fascinated me. Houses, castles, canals, bridges churches and bells rang the melody of 9th Symphony-Beethoven all round the city. Walked the city from end to end all day. And promised to myself to come again in the future to Brugge. Time was up for to Calais.
On 19 May; arrived to Calais, France, because of the EuroTunnel Cross. Before crossing the UK, that city was the last stop. Took some photos and videos. While I was sightseeing, saw a restaurant named Efes and İstanbul, so I was so surprised. While thinking about lunch, some Turkish letters appeared suddenly in front of me. I just got in and ate somethings, talked about the homesickness, with the owner Turk boss there. That was interesting far away from homeplace.
On 20 May; earlier I loaded my car to EuroTunnel wagon. It took about only 30 minutes to get across to the UK. With sun at the morning, I was in the vice-versa traffic, oh my god. I got accustomed to that easily. When stopped to fuel up my MINI, met a MINI dealer from Lille,France at the park area near to my car, a bit chatting and said bye until MU09. Drove to Tunbridge,HorseMonden and Maidstone in the UK. My navigation device did not work properly. It was a little painful. But I managed to find out my friend’s house. That was the another milestone of my journey. David, Jayne and Simon were waiting for me. Now I was so close to target, MU09. We went to a MINI dealer there, which was prepared a new cabrio JCW for me. I had a fantastic test drive with new r57 Jcw and thanks to Mr.Lee from Cooper Ltd. At the afternoon, we had a carwash time in the garden of Jayne’s mom house. Two Cooper S , one GP and one ONE got cleared for MiniUnited. At night, we were in a pub with Paul, Elaine, David, Simon and Jayne. Another delicious dinner.
On 21 May; we were on the roads of UK, to Oxford, with all my friends from Kent&EastSussex MINIClub. After driving some miles we were in the plant that our MINIs were built and born. That was incredible to attend MINI factory addict tour including special sections like suspension testing, painting area, quality department and assembly area. The massive production band was going on near to us, while taking the tour. It was so sad that not being allowed to take some piccies and videos of inside plant. Then I left the group for preps to MU, and went to tent-camping site where was in 10 minutes distance to festival ground.
On 22 May; so excited cos the time for Friend, Festival, Challenge. I was at the main gate at 5 am. I waited for hours and managed to be the first incomer Minilover. It was proud. Immediately went to main tent for registering to MINI Challenge Taxi-Ride and Track Your Own MINI activities which are most populars of MiniUnited and rapidly gone out. All the day, I joint amazing activities like MINI Car Wash with Show Girls. The best was Taxi-Ride. Challenge MINI was insane. Reached 200 kmh and brake strongly near to curve. Magnificent.Also tried my RoMEO on Silverstone F1 track. The lap was a bit slow due to PaceCar, but it was an extraordinary experience. On the other hand, there were some guests from Turkey MINI Dealer for lunch. We had a nice meal with managers from Istanbul.
On 23 May; I met a Turkish-originated German guy named Ozan and his girlfriend Annky with their blue MINI. We became good friends and enjoyed so much. They were so lovely couple. Nice to met them there. We were together during all the event. I raced with go-kart, pulled MINI, had interviews with Turkish and German tv. Chatted with my friends Axel, Jasmin, Susanne, Darcy and from Ukraine Ira and Masha. Also filled a form to win the Longest trip award against to Russians. I had an autograph from John Cooper and also from Russ Swift, who were two stars of festival. Another exciting action was the reveal of two new model of MINI. Mayfair and Camden. White Silver coloured Camden was especially important for me because of including new Harman/Kardon hi-fi system. Harman Kardon Istanbul dealer supported me for this journey and I put some stickers on my car. I made an interview with Harman/Kardon product manager in Camden while listening to new hi-fi system. Night went on with Paul Weller concert.
On 24 May; another milestone was waiting for me. I was not in the list of 100 Flaunt MINI category but they agreed that I was special from Istanbul. So I was on stage with my MINI and showed off my car proudly. People applauded me. I was on cloud nine. But the day did not go so superb. The award went to the Russians. Nevermind. To relax a bit, I lay down grass with my friends Ozan and Annky. After that, I tried to spray a MINI roof and make stripes to bonnet in the course. It was funny. I spent so many sets of stripes to make it correctly. But managed at least. I watched MINI Challenge Race Series. I tried the slalom test with a flat tyred r56s in Dunlop stand and made a fast lap there. In the park area, I had a dirt penalty notice from MINI Car Care Police again. And all day under the sun, had a bronze skin. The time was to say goodbye to my KAES MiniClub friends and to special German friends. I invited them to Istanbul. Then again guess what happened. My car did not work. Called Axel urgently cos I thought he was the first-aid for me and nobody else in the festival area. He came with MINI and some cables, to charge my battery. But it didn’t work. We luckly cought a service van that had a strong battery charger. So Axel managed to fix my problem, thankfully. My MINI didn’t want to leave MiniUnited so behaved like that. I cancelled my London tour and drove to Dover harbour for crossing to continent Europe via ferry. All night I drove without headlights, music and air con for charging my battery. It was too hard to achieve.
On 25 May; I was in France again, road to Paris. At the afternoon in Paris, I was on the top of Eiffel Tower. Drove my MINI in Paris traffic. The same with Istanbul rush hours. I saw the Triumph and Stade de France. I turned towards Lyon and then Nice. Paid so much incredible prices for French autobahns. Slept in the car at night.
On 26 May; target was Monaco. My dreamful city forever. I thought the last milestone was visiting Monte-Carlo. I passed a long tunnel and then dream city appeared. Mountains, sea and yatchs. Luxury. And only two days ago, there was a Formula 1 race on the street of Monaco. Tyre barriers and grandstands were stil standing. My camera was open during the all circuit, I took a complete lap in Monaco streets. Unluckily it started to rain. Maybe God mentioned so luxury was enough for me. That was incredible and impressive to get in three circuit in ten days. Passed Italy and amazing things on the road. I crossed approx 50 tunnels to Genova and Livorno. So impressed with the quality of asphalt and tunnels. Also a plus for funny snake-style roads. At night I was in Pisa, Italy.
On 27 May; on top of Pisa tower. Took some photos and again road to Roma. Date was important. The Champions League Final was in Roma, so I increased my speed. I arrived to Vatikan City firstly. The second was Colloseum. The third was Fonte Di Trevio. A photo was necessary with my MINI tee in front of the fountain. I did it. At the evening, I entered a cafe that full of Barcelona fans, and watched the match. Drove all night to Napoli and Brindisi. I lost for a while on Potenza Mountain roads. At the morning I reached to harbour for ferry to Greece.
On 28 May; on ferry took so much then expected, 7 hours to Igoumenitsa, Greece. So bored. In Greece there was a problem. My map is showing the autobahn but there was no autobahn there. Strange and frustrating. I lost again in the county and village roads. Time was goning quickly. I found the right way to autobahn and drove to Thessaloniki and Kavala. I was near to my second home in Alexandroupolis. Long and boring driving on Greek roads…Arrived to my home and took a shower and a bit slept.
On 29 May; again the date is important. Istanbul was conquered in 1453, on 29 May by Fatih Sultan Mehmet who was the most heroic leader of Otoman Empire. We are namesake. And by incidence I was coming from outside to the city at the same date on history with the same name. That was so charismatic. I passed customs between Greece and Turkey via the Meric Bridge, connects two country borders to each other. My friends Kemal and Umur met me near the custom gate. And drove together to Istanbul. I was at home at night with fatigue and happiness.
What a birthday .What a forthnight. What an adventure.
