Road trips are a great way to make a journey part of the travel experience. Taking a car and hitting the road means more flexibility for you and you can take in some views of the country in between your destinations. My wife and I took a European road trip in 2022 and here are five of the most important things that we learned while taking our car eight thousand miles across the continent.
Plan your route to make sure you see the good stuff
Google maps will find the fastest route for your European road trip but it is rarely the most scenic. Look at your route map and do a bit of research into the areas nearby. Sometimes a short deviation from the motorway can provide an unexpected memorable experience.
Don’t be too ambitious on your travelling days
It may look like a four hour driving journey will leave plenty of time to get to know your new neighbourhood, visit the museum, and have a nice meal at a restaurant but this was rarely the case for us. If our day of driving was around the four hour mark we assumed it would eat up most of our day and it usually did. Once you include time for check out, toilet stops, meals and traffic delays you can easily add on an extra one or two hours. We also found that arriving in a new place was always a fun but time-consuming experience. Finding accommodation, parking, checking in and showering-off the day of travel, again might add another hour or more.
Know the rules of each country on your European road trip
Much of Europe may be borderless but that doesn’t mean countries share eachother’s road rules. National speed limits, international driving permits, clean-air zones and onboard emergency provisions vary from country to country. Back in 2018 we got a ticket for driving through down-town Pisa at the wrong time of day; an easy but costly mistake to make! A little bit of research before your jouney will go a long way.
It is easy to get carried away when looking at your map while you plan your trip; places look so close together on paper
Plan enough time off the road to enjoy your destination
It is easy to get carried away when looking at your map while you plan your trip; places look so close together on paper. And while it is certainly possible to drive one hundred miles per day, it gets old fast. When visiting somewhere we wanted to properly enjoy we made sure we stayed for at least two nights. One night typically became an evening meal, a night’s sleep and breakfast before we set off again, leaving no time to enjoy the place.
Choose a popular car for your European road trip
If you have a choice, choose popularity and function over style. We took our road trip in a Ford Mondeo and even Montenegro and Albania had plenty of Ford mechanics. Parts are easy and inexpensive to get hold of so if you have the misfortune to breakdown you know you will not be far away from someone who can help.
We had an incredible experience on our European road trip and I encourage anyone else considering it to go for it. Knowing these five things will help make that driving experience all the more pleasuarble and let you focus on the important part of your adventure…having fun!
Jon
Jon is an adventurer at heart. He has driven 8000 miles across Europe, completed multi-day hikes and swum with sharks. He has had a long and impressive career managing in a training and education business as well as leading transformational change during Covid-19. He has now taken the brave decision to step away from corporate life to pursue his creative ambitions. He is currently editing his first book as well as creating this blog. Together with Lauren, Jon has embarked on many adventures including a winter road trip of Italy, a sleeper train tour for his birthday and kayaking in the Galapagos Islands.