feature I | road trip unplanned.

two classic cars, a weekend between munich and lake garda and the decision not to plan too much. this is a story about another journey we took in our 944. on paper, it had everything that defines a good road trip: beautiful scenery, lake views, mountain roads, and many corners to enjoy behind the wheel of a classic car. or two classic cars in this case. to be precise: our familiar porsche 944 targa and, this time, a mercedes a124 convertible alongside it.

two cars from a similar era, but with very different characters. the 944 feels light and direct, eager through tighter sections. especially with the targa panel out and the windows down, letting in warm late-summer air. the a124 is calmer, more effortless, roof down, covering distance with ease. both cars expose you to your surroundings in their own way. different temperaments. still a good combination for the same stretch of road.

the plan was not to make too many plans. we knew where we wanted to go, but not much more. the idea was to head to lake garda for dinner and a view of the lake, then take the mountain roads toward bolzano for the slower way back to munich. beyond that: no itinerary to follow. no fixed route. no lunch spots. no hotels. it was an exercise to not plan ahead but enjoy what unfolds.

part of the fun of this journal for me is to sit with certain moments and think about the things that actually stayed with me. sometimes it’s a place. sometimes it’s an object. sometimes it’s something else entirely. we tend to prepare for experiences by refining what can be controlled. the right location. the right car. reservations at the right restaurants. departure times that avoid traffic and promise the best light. it feels responsible to optimize these variables, as if precision guarantees that something will matter.

yet when i recall this trip now, many of those specifics have already faded. the exact roads. the hotel for the night. the spots for food or an espresso on the way. what remains is not the arrangement of those external details, but how i felt moving through them: the ease of having nowhere we absolutely had to be, the spontaneity of choosing directions in the moment, the absence of pressure to turn each day into a highlight. my memory did not preserve the plan. it preserved the state i was in without one. the unique feeling of not knowing what comes next — and being fine with that.

what made the journey memorable was not a particular mountain pass or the dinner reservation we never made. it was the decision to leave space unfilled. wandering in the absence of structure. no pre-defined highlights. just decisions made in motion, trusting that it would work out.

cars can create that kind of wandering — if you allow them to. not as tools to reach a certain place in the shortest time possible, but as open doors to explore with no goal in mind. sometimes, that is what stays.