1 Toyota Aygo - 13 countries - 18 days - 4500 miles
Discussion
After some deliberation and a little motivation from some PH members in one of my previous threads, I thought I'd throw this thread together on my recent European road trip. Some may recognise my username from previous barge ownership, I made the decision to let the Jaguar go and have regretted it since. It's replacement last July was a new Aygo. Whilst it will never be a direct replacement, it is far more reliable and economical, as such it has released some funds to allow me to do road trips like these rather than throw all my money at a broken old Jaguar which was became difficult to justify as a student.
After a midweek excursion to Paris with the OH for my 18th earlier in the year, we started planning a summer holiday. I run my own business at the moment so was flexible with dates, we maximised her leave from work and booked the Eurotunnel for the 11th of July, returning on the 29th. My expectation was 2 and a bit weeks, somewhat bored, on a beach in the south of France. I was a little on the excited side when she mentioned that she would find this boring and would rather travel and see some countries she hadn't visited before. Some planning took place and we booked a number of hotels near mutual places of interest, and a route fell into place.
Some of the photos aren't brilliant and I do apologise but they weren't taken with the intention of a write up.
We boarded the Eurotunnel in the small hours on the 11th with our first night stay booked in Brussels. We stopped off in a couple of little villages, something we'd anticipated to do in every country as one can't really savour the local culture from visiting the capital.
IMG_6265 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6267 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
The next day saw us stopping in Venlo, NL primarily because the OH has always fancied some clogs. The overnight halt was in Hannover which allowed for a slightly spirited run on an unrestricted stretch of Autobahn which saw us reach the dizzying heights of 104mph before running out of steam!
13680741_10206486612906317_1696512741001288454_n by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_726 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
We then proceeded into Berlin via a few small towns and villages before continuing to the hotel for that night on the outskirts. Managed to find a parking space along the Berlin Wall to get a quick shot of the car with it in the background, albeit with an ugly fence spoiling the picture somewhat.
IMG_6321 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6332 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
We crossed the Polish border on the motorway, the condition of which massively deteriorated as we neared Poland. We then drove south and ended up back in Germany and crossing into Poland again on an awful cobbled road - the locals drove down the middle and would stray back to their side with oncoming traffic.
IMG_2265 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
I'm Polish but have thus far refused to speak the language to the OH unless a little on the drunk side. Therefore the next location was chosen very much by the OH with the hope of hearing me speak Polish. My Polish isn't brilliant and I was generally spoken to in English and treated like a foreigner! I also managed to order fries as a main instead of a side, cue some confusion as to why we didn't want meat with our main; on another occasion I asked for nuggets but was presented with a schnitzel. It was also interesting to note that their vodka shot measurements are double what they are here; a single is a 50 and a double is a 100 which came as a surprise to us when we ordered a double.
IMG_2257 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
We spent two days in Poland and drove right through the country. We stopped in Zielona Gora and Walbrzych as well as a rather odd looking forest. It was probably the worst country we visited with regards to driving; and the only country in which we experienced road rage. It came from a Transit minibus full of men which was doing some peculiar things. I can't see me as being to blame for the road rage apart from having a UK registered car in Poland - something which is unfortunately not as welcome as it really ought to be. During a toilet break on the drive through Poland at a service station, the OH emerged with a truckers name as a present for me. I allowed it in the window for a picture and it was destined to the bottom of the boot and classed as 'tacky'!
IMG_6341 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_2285 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
The next location was Prague, probably the most beautiful city we visited, in contrast to Poland which seemed rather run down in the places we visited. Took the opportunity to get a caricature on Charles Bridge and had lunch in a cafe which served drinks by model train.
IMG_6377 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6388 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6382 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
A quick look over the map showed that we were a stones throw away from the TPCA factory near Kolin so we thought we really ought to stop there for a couple of pictures. We did make some enquiries into a factory tour but as it was a Sunday, this was not possible. For those observant enough to remember the number plate of the Aygo at this stage, the purchase of the fake number plate will make sense as the car has now been christened 'Pavel'.
IMG_6393 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_2340 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
We stopped off in Bratislava for the night before proceeding to Budapest where we would allow ourselves a whole two days so I could have a little break from driving. It also meant we could go out drinking. We stopped at a point at which three countries meet on the way into Hungary and took some pictures at the old border crossing on the road running parallel to the motorway.
IMG_6406 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6409 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6422 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6418 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
The next day saw us heading for Croatia after a change of initial plan as the OH didn't like the pre-booked hotel near Lake Balaton. Smelt funny and looked like her grandma's front room, apparently, personally I thought it had a certain charm.
We stayed in a mountainous region of Croatia for the first of two nights we planned to stay there. Unfortunately we got here later than anticipated, following the last minute change of plans. This meant most things locally were closed and we didn't see much, still went out for a little drive around the local roads and up to Slovenia's border. The hotel on this night provided us with the best greeting in the form of some large glasses of their own wine. Some bottles were purchased and promptly emptied upon our return home!
IMG_6438 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_2491 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_2475 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
We visited Zagreb the next day and stayed in a lovely air conditioned apartment - the only air conditioning we experienced in any of the places we booked and it was joyous!
IMG_6442 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
We went through Slovenia in passing and experienced the first mountain roads of the trip, Vrsic pass.
IMG_6445 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6447 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6448 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
Before continuing briefly into Italy, we stopped on the border at another point where three countries meet, Tromeja. This was signposted as a 3 hour walk, alternatively, there was a road. We were following some Subaru 4x4 mini SUV type thing which gave up on the mountain climb the minute the road turned to gravel. With teenage stupidity, and great caution, I continued. The road went on for a good few miles and was effectively a loose gravel track up an Alp, the plucky little Toyota coped perfectly on both the way up and the descend with the precaution of the traction control off on the way up. Who needs four wheel drive? Thankfully, any hikers promptly got out of the way of the car as I'm not sure the drive would have gone very smoothly if I'd stopped.
IMG_6454 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6456 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6460 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
We stayed the night in Reisach, Austria before heading back into Italy with the destination of Venice. We had intended to cross into Italy on Passo Pramollo but it turned out it was closed due to a collapsing tunnel. This meant more motorways to go around it and a little time added to the journey. We had initially intended to go for a walk and see some sights in Austria but for the duration of our stay, the heaviest rain I'd ever experienced didn't stop so we stayed in the hotel for the evening.
IMG_6464 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
The weather started to take a turn for the worse, as much as it can in 30 degree heat and we had continuous rainfall whilst in Venice. We also encountered, and seemingly angered, a resident of Venice by crossing into the underground part of the multi storey in Venice to get across to the other side having paid for parking. We were rudely informed that it is for residents only and were basically to sod off, in broken English. We were certain there were signs pointing down the stairs as this was the only way to get across from one side of the car park to the other but you can't satisfy everybody!
IMG_6466 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
The next day was spent driving to our first overnight halt in Losone in Switzerland, stopping off in Verona and Lake Garda. At this point I found out the OH has no interest in seeing lakes, labelling them boring, so we stopped in Como. Cue some considerable bemusement.
IMG_6477 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
Some more mountain passes were pencilled in once in Switzerland, San Gottardo and Susten Pass weren't too much of a detour and as such no whining OH. We stopped overnight in Interlaken and spent the afternoon wondering around before heading home via Colmar in France for our Eurotunnel crossing in the morning.
IMG_6481 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6486 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
13782132_10206572116563855_2258412395973567877_n by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6498 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6499 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
Scan 27 Oct 2016, 10.44 pm by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
After a midweek excursion to Paris with the OH for my 18th earlier in the year, we started planning a summer holiday. I run my own business at the moment so was flexible with dates, we maximised her leave from work and booked the Eurotunnel for the 11th of July, returning on the 29th. My expectation was 2 and a bit weeks, somewhat bored, on a beach in the south of France. I was a little on the excited side when she mentioned that she would find this boring and would rather travel and see some countries she hadn't visited before. Some planning took place and we booked a number of hotels near mutual places of interest, and a route fell into place.
Some of the photos aren't brilliant and I do apologise but they weren't taken with the intention of a write up.
We boarded the Eurotunnel in the small hours on the 11th with our first night stay booked in Brussels. We stopped off in a couple of little villages, something we'd anticipated to do in every country as one can't really savour the local culture from visiting the capital.
IMG_6265 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrIMG_6267 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrThe next day saw us stopping in Venlo, NL primarily because the OH has always fancied some clogs. The overnight halt was in Hannover which allowed for a slightly spirited run on an unrestricted stretch of Autobahn which saw us reach the dizzying heights of 104mph before running out of steam!
13680741_10206486612906317_1696512741001288454_n by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickrfullsizeoutput_726 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrWe then proceeded into Berlin via a few small towns and villages before continuing to the hotel for that night on the outskirts. Managed to find a parking space along the Berlin Wall to get a quick shot of the car with it in the background, albeit with an ugly fence spoiling the picture somewhat.
IMG_6321 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrIMG_6332 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrWe crossed the Polish border on the motorway, the condition of which massively deteriorated as we neared Poland. We then drove south and ended up back in Germany and crossing into Poland again on an awful cobbled road - the locals drove down the middle and would stray back to their side with oncoming traffic.
IMG_2265 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrI'm Polish but have thus far refused to speak the language to the OH unless a little on the drunk side. Therefore the next location was chosen very much by the OH with the hope of hearing me speak Polish. My Polish isn't brilliant and I was generally spoken to in English and treated like a foreigner! I also managed to order fries as a main instead of a side, cue some confusion as to why we didn't want meat with our main; on another occasion I asked for nuggets but was presented with a schnitzel. It was also interesting to note that their vodka shot measurements are double what they are here; a single is a 50 and a double is a 100 which came as a surprise to us when we ordered a double.
IMG_2257 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrWe spent two days in Poland and drove right through the country. We stopped in Zielona Gora and Walbrzych as well as a rather odd looking forest. It was probably the worst country we visited with regards to driving; and the only country in which we experienced road rage. It came from a Transit minibus full of men which was doing some peculiar things. I can't see me as being to blame for the road rage apart from having a UK registered car in Poland - something which is unfortunately not as welcome as it really ought to be. During a toilet break on the drive through Poland at a service station, the OH emerged with a truckers name as a present for me. I allowed it in the window for a picture and it was destined to the bottom of the boot and classed as 'tacky'!
IMG_6341 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrIMG_2285 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrThe next location was Prague, probably the most beautiful city we visited, in contrast to Poland which seemed rather run down in the places we visited. Took the opportunity to get a caricature on Charles Bridge and had lunch in a cafe which served drinks by model train.
IMG_6377 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrIMG_6388 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrIMG_6382 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrA quick look over the map showed that we were a stones throw away from the TPCA factory near Kolin so we thought we really ought to stop there for a couple of pictures. We did make some enquiries into a factory tour but as it was a Sunday, this was not possible. For those observant enough to remember the number plate of the Aygo at this stage, the purchase of the fake number plate will make sense as the car has now been christened 'Pavel'.
IMG_6393 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrIMG_2340 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrWe stopped off in Bratislava for the night before proceeding to Budapest where we would allow ourselves a whole two days so I could have a little break from driving. It also meant we could go out drinking. We stopped at a point at which three countries meet on the way into Hungary and took some pictures at the old border crossing on the road running parallel to the motorway.
IMG_6406 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrIMG_6409 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrIMG_6422 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrIMG_6418 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrThe next day saw us heading for Croatia after a change of initial plan as the OH didn't like the pre-booked hotel near Lake Balaton. Smelt funny and looked like her grandma's front room, apparently, personally I thought it had a certain charm.
We stayed in a mountainous region of Croatia for the first of two nights we planned to stay there. Unfortunately we got here later than anticipated, following the last minute change of plans. This meant most things locally were closed and we didn't see much, still went out for a little drive around the local roads and up to Slovenia's border. The hotel on this night provided us with the best greeting in the form of some large glasses of their own wine. Some bottles were purchased and promptly emptied upon our return home!
IMG_6438 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrIMG_2491 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrIMG_2475 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrWe visited Zagreb the next day and stayed in a lovely air conditioned apartment - the only air conditioning we experienced in any of the places we booked and it was joyous!
IMG_6442 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrWe went through Slovenia in passing and experienced the first mountain roads of the trip, Vrsic pass.
IMG_6445 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrIMG_6447 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrIMG_6448 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrBefore continuing briefly into Italy, we stopped on the border at another point where three countries meet, Tromeja. This was signposted as a 3 hour walk, alternatively, there was a road. We were following some Subaru 4x4 mini SUV type thing which gave up on the mountain climb the minute the road turned to gravel. With teenage stupidity, and great caution, I continued. The road went on for a good few miles and was effectively a loose gravel track up an Alp, the plucky little Toyota coped perfectly on both the way up and the descend with the precaution of the traction control off on the way up. Who needs four wheel drive? Thankfully, any hikers promptly got out of the way of the car as I'm not sure the drive would have gone very smoothly if I'd stopped.
IMG_6454 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrIMG_6456 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrIMG_6460 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrWe stayed the night in Reisach, Austria before heading back into Italy with the destination of Venice. We had intended to cross into Italy on Passo Pramollo but it turned out it was closed due to a collapsing tunnel. This meant more motorways to go around it and a little time added to the journey. We had initially intended to go for a walk and see some sights in Austria but for the duration of our stay, the heaviest rain I'd ever experienced didn't stop so we stayed in the hotel for the evening.
IMG_6464 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrThe weather started to take a turn for the worse, as much as it can in 30 degree heat and we had continuous rainfall whilst in Venice. We also encountered, and seemingly angered, a resident of Venice by crossing into the underground part of the multi storey in Venice to get across to the other side having paid for parking. We were rudely informed that it is for residents only and were basically to sod off, in broken English. We were certain there were signs pointing down the stairs as this was the only way to get across from one side of the car park to the other but you can't satisfy everybody!
IMG_6466 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrThe next day was spent driving to our first overnight halt in Losone in Switzerland, stopping off in Verona and Lake Garda. At this point I found out the OH has no interest in seeing lakes, labelling them boring, so we stopped in Como. Cue some considerable bemusement.
IMG_6477 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrSome more mountain passes were pencilled in once in Switzerland, San Gottardo and Susten Pass weren't too much of a detour and as such no whining OH. We stopped overnight in Interlaken and spent the afternoon wondering around before heading home via Colmar in France for our Eurotunnel crossing in the morning.
IMG_6481 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrIMG_6486 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr13782132_10206572116563855_2258412395973567877_n by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrIMG_6498 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrIMG_6499 by Kamil Burczyk, on FlickrScan 27 Oct 2016, 10.44 pm by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
Nice trip 
I hardly ever see any real english folk just taking his car and traveling that far, everyone says I'm nuts when I tell them where I have been with my car...
did a similar trip a year ago, 2 people and a 12 year old Jazz at the time where we slept in,no single hotel was used in the trip.
did:
Estonia-Latvia-Lithuania-Poland- Czech republic- slovakia-austria-slovenia-croatia-italy-Monaco-switzerland-germany and all the way back..
spent something like 350euros in LPG to cover more or less most of the europe
car gave 0 troubles in the 5000+ miles, ehh what's not to do it in a brand new car..
I hardly ever see any real english folk just taking his car and traveling that far, everyone says I'm nuts when I tell them where I have been with my car...did a similar trip a year ago, 2 people and a 12 year old Jazz at the time where we slept in,no single hotel was used in the trip.
did:
Estonia-Latvia-Lithuania-Poland- Czech republic- slovakia-austria-slovenia-croatia-italy-Monaco-switzerland-germany and all the way back..
spent something like 350euros in LPG to cover more or less most of the europe
car gave 0 troubles in the 5000+ miles, ehh what's not to do it in a brand new car..
Edited by kurwa on Friday 28th October 00:16
No hiccups thankfully, it did all go surpassingly smoothly. Almost felt too good to be true at points to the point where we expected failure of some sort purely because it had yet to happen.
The odometer certainly is at 34k odd in that picture, it does get about to say the least. It was registered in July 2015 so it was effecting 35k in a year. It is currently sitting just shy of 45k. With the miles its done, it probably will end up a keeper as no one will want the damn thing a few year down the line!
The Aygo coped fine with the trip, people say these are noisy but by supermini standards I don't think its bad at all. I specced this one with a full length sunroof as well and it is just as quiet as the hardtop courtesy car I've driven on occasion. Though I can't compare noise levels to the VW Up! trio as I haven't driven one myself.
It even coped fine with the outside lane of the Autobahn, it would sit at 100 quite happily. The issue was when someone came up behind at 150+ and I had to pull in and slow down as building up speed does take forever. Some inclines in the alps did have to be done in 1st, especially if held up by a tourist as it needed quite some momentum to keep rolling in 2nd up the steepest inclines.
I've toyed with the idea of PXing it for something with a little more go and a little more space but couldn't bring myself to go through with it as I've very much formed a bond with this car.
I've probably become immune to the seats with the amount of time I spend in the thing - my arse only really starts to go numb if I've spent more than 6 hours of the day in the car.
Everyone says I'm nuts when I tell them where my car has been, with most commenting how they consider London a long drive. Bearing in mind we're in Norfolk.
The odometer certainly is at 34k odd in that picture, it does get about to say the least. It was registered in July 2015 so it was effecting 35k in a year. It is currently sitting just shy of 45k. With the miles its done, it probably will end up a keeper as no one will want the damn thing a few year down the line!
The Aygo coped fine with the trip, people say these are noisy but by supermini standards I don't think its bad at all. I specced this one with a full length sunroof as well and it is just as quiet as the hardtop courtesy car I've driven on occasion. Though I can't compare noise levels to the VW Up! trio as I haven't driven one myself.
It even coped fine with the outside lane of the Autobahn, it would sit at 100 quite happily. The issue was when someone came up behind at 150+ and I had to pull in and slow down as building up speed does take forever. Some inclines in the alps did have to be done in 1st, especially if held up by a tourist as it needed quite some momentum to keep rolling in 2nd up the steepest inclines.
I've toyed with the idea of PXing it for something with a little more go and a little more space but couldn't bring myself to go through with it as I've very much formed a bond with this car.
I've probably become immune to the seats with the amount of time I spend in the thing - my arse only really starts to go numb if I've spent more than 6 hours of the day in the car.
Everyone says I'm nuts when I tell them where my car has been, with most commenting how they consider London a long drive. Bearing in mind we're in Norfolk.
What a great post - I really enjoyed reading it.
It's all proof that you don't need some great big car to do this and reminds me of my own experience when I lived in France in the late 80s and took my little 957cc Fiesta all over Europe - all of my favourite most memorable Euro trips were done in that little car, often with very little money and usually with some random girl I'd hooked up with.
I'm really liking those new Aygo/C1/207 (is it a 207?) - especially in that purple "grape" colour; they look a lot more expensive than they are and if you've got Carplay in there then you're all multimediad up.
It's all proof that you don't need some great big car to do this and reminds me of my own experience when I lived in France in the late 80s and took my little 957cc Fiesta all over Europe - all of my favourite most memorable Euro trips were done in that little car, often with very little money and usually with some random girl I'd hooked up with.
I'm really liking those new Aygo/C1/207 (is it a 207?) - especially in that purple "grape" colour; they look a lot more expensive than they are and if you've got Carplay in there then you're all multimediad up.
Great little write up, Kamil.
I remember driving past you once when you were in your wee little sinclair way back when! My mrs worked at the highschool you went to as a teaching assistant for a year or two before we moved up to Yorkshire.
I completely know what you mean about people considering different things 'long drives'. If you ever come up to Yorkshire it's even worse - got some friends in Swinton (near Rotherham) and despite York being only about 50 miles away by the way they talked about the journey you'd have though they needed visas and shots for it!
If you were to do a similar journey again is there anything you'd do differently?
I remember driving past you once when you were in your wee little sinclair way back when! My mrs worked at the highschool you went to as a teaching assistant for a year or two before we moved up to Yorkshire.
I completely know what you mean about people considering different things 'long drives'. If you ever come up to Yorkshire it's even worse - got some friends in Swinton (near Rotherham) and despite York being only about 50 miles away by the way they talked about the journey you'd have though they needed visas and shots for it!
If you were to do a similar journey again is there anything you'd do differently?
Great write up and great trip! You missed the Giant Jesus statue overlooking Tesco in ?wiebodzin, Its quite a sight!
I live in Poznan and the driving isn't about having a UK plate, They are just appalling drivers here and they treat everyone with contempt, How is your Polish?
My wife is forcing me to learn and its a bloody difficult language to speak. (Reading is easier and vodka does help)
What is the road to Croatia like? Its on our bucket list and according to Google Maps it improves south of Wroclaw.
I live in Poznan and the driving isn't about having a UK plate, They are just appalling drivers here and they treat everyone with contempt, How is your Polish?
My wife is forcing me to learn and its a bloody difficult language to speak. (Reading is easier and vodka does help)
What is the road to Croatia like? Its on our bucket list and according to Google Maps it improves south of Wroclaw.
Edited by CDB1983 on Friday 28th October 14:55
Luckily for me, we both travel rather light. We left with just a boot full of things, though by the time all the frivolous junk was bought in every country this ended up covering the back seats too.
Youth does help I imagine but I don't really remember becoming achy or uncomfortable on the trip.
The new shape ones do come with a fair bit of kit, and I almost wish I had the patience to wait for a factory order rather than buying a car from stock so I could have specced it exactly as I wanted. Lacking CarPlay in these unfortunately, they come with some MirrorLink system but it rarely works and only with about 5 handsets.
May I ask who the Mrs was, I may well remember? To be quite honest, I'm probably more likely to recognise what you drove at the time!
In the future, we would probably not pre book hotels but try and find an overnight halt where it fell naturally rather than pre booking. We found some of the places we had planned to stay at didn't have enough to fill our time so a little time was wasted sitting around in hotels with nothing to do.
Must say, I've never heard of the Giant Jesus statue, something for the future maybe, if I'm in that part of the world.
it did come to ur attention that they were generally appealing. The Uk plate assumption was down to what the parents told me with their experience of driving a UK plate there, though as you say, they are pretty appalling generally and it could be sheer coincidence.
My Polish is okay when speaking to family but when it comes to strangers and especially starting a conversation, its useless and I lived there for the first 7 years of my life. Reading is far easier and I will agree, it is a bloody difficult language to learn.
We crossed into Croatia from Hungary on, what looked like, a very recent stretch of motorway. Probably the emptiest stretch we came across, drove a good 30/40 miles into Croatia before coming across any cars and even then they were few and far between. This was on a weekday afternoon.
Youth does help I imagine but I don't really remember becoming achy or uncomfortable on the trip.
The new shape ones do come with a fair bit of kit, and I almost wish I had the patience to wait for a factory order rather than buying a car from stock so I could have specced it exactly as I wanted. Lacking CarPlay in these unfortunately, they come with some MirrorLink system but it rarely works and only with about 5 handsets.
May I ask who the Mrs was, I may well remember? To be quite honest, I'm probably more likely to recognise what you drove at the time!
In the future, we would probably not pre book hotels but try and find an overnight halt where it fell naturally rather than pre booking. We found some of the places we had planned to stay at didn't have enough to fill our time so a little time was wasted sitting around in hotels with nothing to do.
Must say, I've never heard of the Giant Jesus statue, something for the future maybe, if I'm in that part of the world.
it did come to ur attention that they were generally appealing. The Uk plate assumption was down to what the parents told me with their experience of driving a UK plate there, though as you say, they are pretty appalling generally and it could be sheer coincidence.
My Polish is okay when speaking to family but when it comes to strangers and especially starting a conversation, its useless and I lived there for the first 7 years of my life. Reading is far easier and I will agree, it is a bloody difficult language to learn.
We crossed into Croatia from Hungary on, what looked like, a very recent stretch of motorway. Probably the emptiest stretch we came across, drove a good 30/40 miles into Croatia before coming across any cars and even then they were few and far between. This was on a weekday afternoon.
Looks like a good trip, Prague is lovely and one of the most beautiful cities in the world but did you visit Krakow? in some ways i actually preferred it to Prague
How did you find driving in Budapest? was there recently and the city appeared to be 1 big traffic jam! saw a few accidents too (great city though)
How did you find driving in Budapest? was there recently and the city appeared to be 1 big traffic jam! saw a few accidents too (great city though)
ChrisR99 said:
Awesome, thanks for sharing! Cool little car to do it in, and sounds like it handled all that you threw at it!
Did the ODO say 34k miles in one pic, that's a lot in a year, especially for a little car like that!
Isn't this the age old myth about cars. We Brits still have a notion that the only car for long journeys are C-Segment 2.0 diesels. Superminis have come a long way since and apart from overtaking oomph are acceptably comfy.Did the ODO say 34k miles in one pic, that's a lot in a year, especially for a little car like that!
As an illustration I was tasked to go up from Maidstone to Derby to collect something for my parents. I could have taken the 520d or the ClubmanS both of which are excellent cruisers. Instead I went in the 1.0 Daihatsu Shed. I left at 4.30am to avoid traffic, had breakfast at The Wyvern Retail Park by 8am. The car was fine and comfortable cruising at 70mph. 80mph was strained and noisy.
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