Our Thuraya satellite phone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuraya) arrived from Bulgaria today and it works! Made a short call over 70,000 kilometers from the living room to the garden and sent an SMS back for 2 Euros. Still, roaming with Thuraya is cheaper than GSM roaming in some of the countries I am frequently traveling to, I will take it on my next business trip.

Michal and myself went to the garage today, actually we wanted to test drive the car for the first time, but due to new problems (bolts fastening the exhaust pipe to the manifold broke) the engine was out again in the morning. After tapping the threads we mounted the engine again and spent the time helping (less) and watching (more).

How much is a brand new Thuraya satellite phone? In Austria more than EUR 700, on ebay I just got one for EUR 380! Well, I paid EUR 380 to someone in Bulgaria with a feedback score of only 1 and now hope to get a phone in exchange. No risk, no fun.