General: 3000 Mile Euro Trip - Tips and Advice

[andy_d]

A Good breakdown cover that Does cover all the countrys you intend to travel to/through.
2nd the "full size Proper spare wheel/tyre" 50 on the "space saver smartie" might be ok here,,but if your the other side the alps ,its Going to suck,,big time.

[Tall Ed]

Sounds like a great plan Macca.

I was on a 20.000 km road trip trough 25 European countries myself this summer, also with a Volvo S60 D5 MY2005. If the car is in a good state of maintenance at the start of the trip you don't have to worrie about it breaking. Things that come to mind to give a bit extra attention before leaving are the tires, brakes, cambelt (considering the millage of yours, I don't know if its already changed), parking brakes and clutch. I did not take any spare parts aside from tie-rips, duct-tape, spare bulbs and a hand full of bolts. To take all parts that can possible break with you, you need a second car! And if you take just a few spare parts you always end up needing an other part then you took with you ….... The only exception here probable are parts already under suspicion before leaving home. Oh yeah, make sure your airco is working! Also don't forget your laptop and mains plug adapters. Planing on long long-distance phonecals? Install Skype on the laptop then, saves a ton.

What you should also take with you as required by regulations in some or all country's
- Safety Vest
- Fire extinguisher (never use it, unless you have to save someones life, it will wreck your car)
- Light-bulbs
- Danger triangle
- First aid kit

- Green card

I also took a tow-cable and a safety-hammer and lots of small tools with me. What exact tools you should take kind of depends on your skills as a car mechanic, its a bit hard to give advice, but if its small, you have room in the car and you know how to use it, take it with you.

The route you have in mind towards Slovakia seems ok to me. I would have picked: Ferry from Dover to Calais/Dunkerque and then strait north to Belgium to avoid the toll on the French motorways. Next Germany followed by either Austria or the Czech Republic (for either of those you need to buy a toll vignette or face a penalty when back home)

Slovakia is a sort of 'in between country' in Europe, its not comparable with the Ukraine, Romania or Bulgaria, but still I would only park the car overnight in a guarded place. Slovakia offers some possibility's for day trips to neighboring countries too, in Poland former Nazi concentration-camp Auschwitz is not that far away, in the west is beautiful Praha and in the south the just as beautiful Budapest. To the east Romania, that I found one of the most inspiring countries of Europe, but the most beautiful parts of it will be to far for a day trip. Ukraine might be tempting to fill up the Volvo tank with cheap diesel, as it cost 45 Euro cents a liter there, but while its pretty easy to get in the Ukraine, it can take up to 24 hours to get out.

IDK what route you have in mind from Slovakia to Napels Italy, but a few options come to mind.

1. Easiest one: through Austria: Wien, Graz, Klagenfurt, Venice, Roma Napoli. (have your wallet ready for the Italian toll!)

2. A bit more adventures: Budapest, Zagreb, take some time to visit national park Plitvicka Jezera if you go this route! (you need toll vignette for Hungary and Sovenia if you go on the motorways in those countries)

3.Drive trough Romania and Bulgaria to Igoumenitsa in Greece and put you car on the ferry to Brindisi or Bari (saves a lot Italian toll but the ferry will cost you like 250 Euro)

On our trip this summer we where in Napoli too, but to be honest I did not like it a bit. Its like the most dirtiest city of Europe and everything seems to fall apart or is covered under layers of graffiti The ruins of Pompei and mount Vesuvius tho are really worth a visit tho. You can take an excursion to the crater of the vulcano with a special allwheeldrive army like bus, it takes you almost to the top. Unfortunately you are not allowed to drive up the road yourself.

A route back from Napels to UK in two days? Thats hard work, it will take you already a day to get to the border of France. We took the Col de l'Iseran to get over the French Alps as its the highest mountain pass in Europe, and has beautiful scenery, but if you want to drive back from Napels to the UK in 2 days you wont have time for that and need an easy road like the A43/N566 (E70) To find a hotel, I always use booking.com (you need a credit card)

If you have any questions that you think I could help you with, ask away, there is also a lot info on our site http://www.drivingaroundtheworld.com (its a blog, so on entering you look at the last page)

Have a good trip!


On an other note, as this is my first post, I think its a good idea to introduce myself. I am Ed from Amsterdam (explains the funny English) and I drive a S60 D5 starting February this year. Before the Volvo I did drive Alfa Romeo for 20 years or so, last 6 years an Alfa 156 1.8 TS. I might stick to Volvo for a while now, really starting to love this car.

[maccas]

Wow!

Thanks for the great response guys, especially Tall Ed, some great really useful advice there.

I'm actually going to Slovakia to get Married so I know it pretty well but thanks for the tourist tips. We've been all over Slovakia now and it's a beautiful place.

The car is fully serviced and has had the cambelt changed so no drama there. I'm not hands on with cars at all so I'll take a few bits and rely on the European Breakdown service. We have to take our laptop to swap the Western and Eastern Europe maps around - silly limitations of the Tom Tom version that I have.

We were going to follow the Tom Tom route to get to Italy (actually staying in Sorrento for our honeymoon) but were staying in the Tuscany region on the way down so we can't really do any exploring.

I know 2 days back to the UK sounds a challenge from Italy but I think we'll be OK. I'm planning on using the fastest roads and don't mind paying the toll charges. I've done the trip out to Slovakia before in an Audi A4 estate (not mine!) in the winter and we made it in 17 hours non stop.

Thanks for all the tips, I'll also check out your blog site.

Lets just hope everyone can make it out there with the potential Airport strikes looming!

Cheers

Macca

[Nick44]

Hi Tall Ed, and Welcome.
How did you manage to drive an Alfa for 20 years? Most people have a job driving one for 20 Miles. ( Just Joshing with you )

I always take colour photcopies of all my documents with me as well, and don't forget your EU EHIC card with you.
(European Health Insurance Card) it's free from the DWP.

[nickhedges]

I live in Brindisi and made a UK trip in June. My route is straight up to Austria (tolls 61 Euros in Italy) via the Brennerpass (another 7euros). Then cross country from Inssbruck to Munich which is fun and cuts out about 100kms. Autobahn all the way through Germany, into Belgium, then France, hop on the tunnel and you're there. Brindisi - Munich was 14 hours with 2 drivers and a few coffee breaks. I would definately pre-book as it took 2 hours to find a hotel and it cost 170euros. Munich to Calais was 7 hours with coffee breaks but the traffic was light.
On the way back I stopped at Innsbruck at a hotel booked through laterooms.com for 70euros.
Avoid France like the plague, a friend did it last week and they spent over 200 on tolls.
I would also avoid Switzerland as they charge you 30euros (you get 2CHF change) annual road tax, and if you have any new good on board you have to pay duty and reclaim it when you leave. Also, it's non EU so check your Green Card.
The Italian Autostrade now have average speed cameras throughout so watch your speed. I put cruise on at 140kmh to be safe (sat nav read 134).
Good luck

[Bernard333]

[QUOTE=Tall Ed;722748]Sounds like a great plan Macca.

Austria or the Czech Republic (for either of those you need to buy a toll vignette or face a penalty when back home)[QUOTE

You can ignore any penalty coming from Czeck Republic or Austria for road tolls , once you are out of the country they cannot enforce anything unless you are in the country or you have committed a more serious offence . The law is different for the mainland european countries where cross border motoring fines are easily enforcable . There was a case a few years ago reported on the news of someone being chased for a parking fine from Sweden , it was ridiculous , a good UK solicitor would have got it sorted and costs awarded against the stupid debt collectors who came looking for the money .

[maccas]

Originally Posted by nickhedges

I live in Brindisi and made a UK trip in June. My route is straight up to Austria (tolls 61 Euros in Italy) via the Brennerpass (another 7euros). Then cross country from Inssbruck to Munich which is fun and cuts out about 100kms. Autobahn all the way through Germany, into Belgium, then France, hop on the tunnel and you're there. Brindisi - Munich was 14 hours with 2 drivers and a few coffee breaks. I would definately pre-book as it took 2 hours to find a hotel and it cost 170euros. Munich to Calais was 7 hours with coffee breaks but the traffic was light.
On the way back I stopped at Innsbruck at a hotel booked through laterooms.com for 70euros.
Avoid France like the plague, a friend did it last week and they spent over 200 on tolls.
I would also avoid Switzerland as they charge you 30euros (you get 2CHF change) annual road tax, and if you have any new good on board you have to pay duty and reclaim it when you leave. Also, it's non EU so check your Green Card.
The Italian Autostrade now have average speed cameras throughout so watch your speed. I put cruise on at 140kmh to be safe (sat nav read 134).
Good luck

Cheers for the tips, I've just booked a hotel in Innsbruck and will use that route to get back.

[Tall Ed]

Fordy,

Did you take the route trough Finland around the Gulf of Bothnia or did you take a ferry from Sweden to Estonia? We did initially plan a trip like that too, but then kept adding country's and in the end we dropped the Baltic states in favor of Russia and the Ukraine. The Baltic states are still on my 'to do list' tho as I often read its very nice there.

And yes, driving styles differ a lot between the European country's, where in my opinion Sweden is the most save and Albania the most dangerous country to drive a car. Germany being a special case, the Germans drive good, but not all visitors fully understand how fast a Porsche can grow in your mirror on the Autobahn.......

Nick,

Good point about the photocopies, I took those too.

About the Alfa .... After driving the Volvo S60 for a half year, I don't really understand any more why I liked the Alfa's so much :/

[Fordy]

We took the ferry from Stockholm to Tallin. Originally wanted to drive all the way round but looking into visa issues and insurance for a quick dip into Russia didn't seem worth it.

In the end we just drove straight through Estonia to Latvia as it has rained all week in Sweden and we just wanted to drive south of the rain! Latvia/Lithuania/Poland are superb.

We also scanned and emailed all car documents to a gmail account just in case.

[chiptivo]

Originally Posted by Fordy

We also scanned and emailed all car documents to a gmail account just in case.

What fantastic advice.