Tag: holidays

Preparations for our next travel and driving adventure are almost complete.

Setting our plan some months ago, we researched our destinations and thought we had come up with a pretty good driving route. We made sure our driving days would be leisurely and not too long. Most importantly, we must arrive at our destination before nightfall.

Over the months we have dedicated a great deal of time to read about our destinations, thought a little more about where we would like to dedicate more time (a hard decision to make as we would like to stay a little longer everywhere) and have made tweaks to our driving route. Our plan is now firm.

All this time and effort and we haven’t taken off yet! We could just sit back and enjoy the journey gazing through a coach or train window or let a tour operator determine our itinerary.

Here are 10 reasons why we choose to self-drive:

1. We enjoy learning about where we are travelling to and when tailoring our own itinerary, we learn much more about everywhere we are going to.
2. We decide when to leave. Unless it’s going to be a long driving day, we can still enjoy a morning walk to have a last look around the city or town before we hit the road. There is no 7am bags outside the hotel room, breakfast and on the coach at 8am for us.
3. The backroads are more interesting to drive along than aiming to get from point A to B on a busy motorway. Just driving through little villages which lie off the beaten track can be enlightening.
4. We get to pick where to stop for a coffee or lunch break. There are so many beautiful towns to pass through when we take the “toll-free” route. No stopping at a busy service area on the side of a motorway to line up at the restrooms, grab a quick bite to eat and gulp down a drink for us.
5. There is always the opportunity for unplanned and spontaneous diversions. Sometimes someone we’ve met in the previous town has recommended an attraction devoid of tourists. How often we see something from the road then turn off the road to have a look.
6. We love to turn on the radio and listen to local music. It’s an opportunity to move out of our comfort zone and listen to something new even if we can’t understand a word.
7. We can randomly stop at the side of the road to enjoy a stunning view or taste grapes straight off the grapevine – the vineyards are often not fenced off!
8. There’s no drifting off to sleep by the gentle roll of a coach or the clacking of a train on the tracks. We’re wide awake, there is so much to see.
9. We have the pleasure of interacting with local people; even if it’s just to see the fear in their eyes when they realise you are unused to driving on the wrong side of the road. A smile, nod and a wave are sometimes all it takes.
10. We get to drive a brand new car – a make which we have no intention to buy at home.

And so, for us, the first day on the road will be a little daunting. We’ll have to familiarise ourselves with driving on the “wrong” side of the road again. There is no doubt, we will be the slowest car in the “slow” lane. And, as much as we would like to, we won’t always be able to reach our destinations by the back roads.

We’ll get used to drivers honking their car horns at us! But we know that, unlike our drivers at home who honk and gesticulate loudly to show their displeasure when a driver makes an unintentional driving error, their European counterparts are just letting us know that they are coming up behind us ready to overtake. It’s not road rage, it’s part of the driving culture in Europe. Honk honk. “Hi, it’s Tony. I’m just about to overtake you on this blind corner. Wish me luck!”

And, even though we will have instructed our trusty GPS to avoid “no vehicle” and inner-city congestion charge zones, we’ll still somehow end up driving straight down The Mall towards Buckingham Palace!

Driving yourself means you can drive around the Arc de Triumph as many times as you want!

Travel is an adventure. We could just sit back and let someone else do the driving but there is no adventure in that!

We’ll be sharing our journey on Facebook and Instagram if you’d like to join us on our driving adventure. Follow us via the links above to make sure you don’t miss our “snap of the day” as we explore parts of eastern Europe.

One more thing …

If you’re travelling in Europe, look out for cars with the distinctive pink numberplate. They are travellers like us who lease their vehicle. More info on why and our preferred supplier here. We hope to see you on one of the many spectacular backroads in Europe.