This post is written in July 2026, but was dated back to when the trip originally happened.

I attended Kotlin Conf in Munich, and a wedding in Ulm the following weekend. It was supposed to be nice weather and I decided to combine the two and travel by motorcycle.

Day 1: Journey to Munich

The plan was to travel along cities to stretch out the range and delay stopping for a charge. Which I did in Ulm where a charging station was conveniently placed right next to a bakery. Time for lunch.

The trip had started with the best weather. But during my last charging stop in Augsburg it started to pour down heavy rain. I set the bike to rain mode and pressed on. Somewhere between Ismaning and Aschheim the streets got dry again but at that point I was already soaked through.

3 KMs before my destination my legs started to cramp and I had to decide whether to stop and rest or press on and be done. I decided to go on.

Immediately after arriving at the apartment, I began to dry my clothes and hang them in the bathroom with the light on so the dehumidifier could do it’s thing.

Day 2: Conference

There was a charger at the main entrance of the conference. But it was always occupied by other people. The ones at street level were either all occupied, and one free I finally found didn’t want to start the charging process.

There was an underground parking garage which supposedly had about 30 charges, but motorcycles and underground garages normally don’t go along well. But lacking any other options I had to try.

It didn’t say no motorcycles allowed anywhere, so I approached the gate. It was one of those license plate reader ones. But when I was about to turn away, it opened. I didn’t check whether it had captured my license plate.

In the parking garage there wasn’t just one spot for electric vehicles but lots of small islands with 2 chargers each. They all were pointed to by different and partly contradictory signs, which made it extra confusing. I finally found one and it worked¹.

After the charging I went to the payment machine and entered my license plate, but it couldn’t be found. Pressed the “call for help” button, which connected me to two people at the same time. They could hear each other, and I could hear them both, but they couldn’t hear me. It took them a while to find out that both are garage employees and after they hung up I pressed it again. This time just one clerk and we could both hear each other. I explained the situation and he said I don’t have to pay just drive out.

Hopped on the bike, followed the signage to the nearest exit and then I noticed that the gap between the barriers was big enough for me to drive through, so I didn’t wait in front of it to open and went out.

My clothes still were damp to the touch. I spent the evening drying off clothes in the bathroom with the hair dryer.

Day 3: Journey to Ulm

I had to check out of the apartment but the conference would go on for another day. I packed everything to be ready for the road, dressed “conference casual” and took my motorcycle clothes with me to the conference and checked it into the garderobe there.

In the afternoon I then got it back, disappeared into a bathroom stall and switched to the motorcycle clothes, which unfortunately still were a little bit damp on the inside. After half an hour riding in the hot sun that was taken care of.

I deliberately took the long way round back through small villages and rural towns. Ate late lunch at a bakery next to a parking lot with chargers ².

And then arrived timely in Schelklingen. Originally my plan was to leave the bike there, attend the wedding and the next day drive towards Ulm to charge. But the hotel had their own dedicated customer charging spot, which they put on the hotel bill at the end.

Day: 5: Home

The drive home was uneventful and beautiful. And since it was a sunny Sunday morning I encountered lots of other bikers.

Résumé

Weather was nice, except for the downpour on my way there. Charging was annoying but never an actual issue³. Conference was nice. Wedding was nice. Would do it again, but this time I’d pack differently.