I’m still not entirely sure why I settled on two months in Europe for the final part of my travels in 2018; I’d had ideas of Canada, South Africa and more. A big part of it was that despite visiting quite a few times for holidays, I hadn’t felt like I’d really explored the continent that’s right on our doorstep. A chance to get away from some of the tourist-heavy cities was appealing and, although I don’t want to overstate this, with the UK leaving the EU I thought I would be good to get to know our closest neighbours a little better. Whatever the reasons, I know that I don’t have a single regret about the choice.
I investigated train and bus travel but I quickly settled on hiring a car and all the freedom that it provides. I had a rough idea of where I wanted to go (basically a big circular tour) but Prague became my launch pad for no other reason as this was the cheapest place, by some distance, to rent a car for the 60 days that I needed it. My wagon to take me on the next couple of thousand miles was a 1 litre, Skoda Citigo. She didn’t look like much, and rarely liked to overtake (Swiss mountains were an issue too), but I quickly fell in love and she never let me down.
You can view my general route below (ignore the letters) and as you can see I ticked off a fair number of countries – I think it’s eleven if you include Vatican City and Monaco. All of them were special in their own way and I have such fond memories of this incredible summer.
It’s obviously impossible to share all of the highlights in one blog but instead of writing about my trip chronologically I’ll be doing it thematically instead, exploring topics such as the World Cup, friends and family, airbnb’s, road trippin’ and more!
As has become the case with my travel blogs, if you can’t be bothered to read then you can watch my video highlights instead. I hope you enjoy.
davecoles 