I'm finally back home after spending almost all of last month away. I had a great time visiting Hong Kong, Macao, France, and Spain. My Hong Kong trip was early in the month and I never got a chance to write about it so hopefully soon I can fill you all in on the great stuff I did there. But for now I want to talk about my Europe trip while it's still fresh in my mind.

Are these really turn lanes?!? I'm confused..

For most of our trip my friends and I decided it would be a great idea to rent a car and drive instead of taking the train. It cost a lot less for one thing, especially when since we were all sharing the costs. And it was faster, so we could see more. Instead of taking the train to a couple of different cities, we could drive everywhere and see loads of cities! What a great idea we thought. And so economical of us.


Things didn't turn out exactly as we'd planned however. First, about the cost. Yes it's cheaper when comparing the price of the car rental to the price of train tickets. But then you have the other fees - 10 euro a day for GPS, extra for an under 25 driver (we decided only I would drive - I am, ahem, slightly older than 25), tolls throughout France and Spain (we easily spent at least 100 euro on tolls) and gas - probably another 150 euro or more on gas. So in the end, I don't really know if it was any cheaper than the train.

I sure hope this is a one way street because my big lug of a car takes up every inch of space!

We definitely did pack in the cities though. In our 15 days on the road between France and Spain we visited 14 cities. This too had some ups and some downs. We saw a lot but after a while it all seemed the same and ran together. And we only had a little time in each place so we didn't really get a feel for most cities we visited, sometimes only having enough time to stop for a meal before we were back on the road.

Where the heck am I going?

Speaking of roads... there's nothing like driving into a walled city in a big Dodge SUV, worrying about scraping the side mirrors on 500 year old stone walls. Until we started making our way through the tiny streets of Avignon and through the parking garages where 3 point turns were necessary just to make it up the ramps, I had wondered whether the rental car company was being nice to us by upgrading to the SUV, or whether maybe they were messing with us a little bit. NEVER try to drive a big car in Europe - it is a curse I hope to never encounter again.

You want me to drive where?

Part of the trouble can be blamed on the GPS. It was truly both a blessing and a curse. Trying to navigate the tiny and confusing streets of any of the small French cities we went to would have been hell without that ridiculous female British voice, but she did take us on some pretty horrible roads. It was her idea to go through the walled city for example. And likewise up one of the steepest dirt roads I've ever been on, taking us the back way to the tiny town in Provence we were supposed to spend the night.

At least I know how to circumnavigate a round-about!

The worst experience of all was in Madrid. We changed cars in Spain and got lucky with a beautiful BMW 3 series from the best rental car company I've ever used - Sixt Rent a Car, which I definitely recommend. I don't know what I would have done in Madrid with that big boat of a vehicle we'd had earlier in the week. Even with the BMW I was frazzled after 2 1/2 hours of driving, trying to find parking on a Saturday evening. The title of this post is inspired by the time I spent driving in Madrid - it became my new favorite phrase as lanes would appear and disappear, funneling lines of cars into nowhere, needlessly creating congestion. After a while I stopped asking "what happened to my lane," and replaced it with the shorter and more to the point "what the hell!" or just a few honks, fitting right in with everyone else.

Madrid looks deceptively peaceful on a Sunday morning - no remnant of the hellish driving the night before

I'm not sure if I would do it again. We definitely got to see some amazing things we wouldn't have seen had we taken the train, and we did visit a lot of smaller towns we would have skipped otherwise. But the stress of it definitely put a damper on my fun (and left me craving a drink as soon as I got out of the car every night just to calm my nerves! Bring on the Sangria!) I think it might have been a less stressful and more enjoyable trip if we'd just visited a few cities and spent longer in each one. I definitely could have used a few more days in Madrid or Lyon. On the brighter side of things, I definitely feel like I could drive anywhere now.

Have you ever driven in a foreign country? If so, did you find it difficult or did you have a great time? Leave a comment and tell me about your experiences!





If you're crazy enough to try driving in Europe:

5 comments

1. Hannah on October 11, 2010 at 4:39 AM

   Woah...I would never try that. You're way braver than I am! Congratulations on surviving!

    
2. Anonymous on October 11, 2010 at 8:20 AM

   yes, you are a true European driver. I am definitely grateful for your insane driving skills.
   -Bri

    
3. Nova Walsh on October 11, 2010 at 7:30 PM

   @Hannah - I'm not that brave really. I was pretty scared at first, but after a while I got into it and it didn't seem so bad. Looking back on it though, it was pretty nuts.
   
   @Bri - And I'm grateful for your navigational/GPS skills :) We definitely had some interesting experiences!

    
4. Nancie on October 21, 2010 at 8:58 PM

   I will live this adventure through you. Driving in foreign countries is not my cup of tea. Love photography.

    
5. Blogger on January 16, 2017 at 9:40 AM

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