When flying to exotic lands, we are used to experiencing marked differences between distant nations. However travelling by car between countries, we time and again found that people don’t exist in isolated nations, segregated by hard political and cultural borders. Over land, the world feels more like a continuum. Individuals inhabit a unique point in the spectrum as one culture flows into another, blending and melding like dyes in water.
I think because of this gradual shift, as we moved across Europe, no single nation jarred; we haven’t crossed a border and suddenly felt alien or out of sync. We’ve adapted gradually, as ones body does with heat or altitude, so our brains have become acclimatised to the customs of the nations the further east we’ve travelled.
This slower travel has in many ways been easier than expected. The driving, navigating and arranging accomodation has all been very straightforward. Perhaps this is Europe, and undoubtably it is technology-aided. In previous travels, we’ve found impassable communication barriers. In Japan in 2015, both the language and the alphabet were indecipherable; and back then, we didn’t have roaming phone contracts, Google Translate, or even Generative AI whose perfection in translation is unparalleled. Even getting a taxi was out of the question. We wouldn’t face those barriers today, and so the world has become smaller, and more accessible.
Of course, part of the communication ease has been due to English being so widely spoken. As testament to our laziness (or perhaps just the number of countries we’ve travelled through), we frequently haven’t attempted to learn even the basics in each country. Beyond a cursory Hvala, Efcharisto or Blagodarya, we’ve generally just oafishly blundered about spouting English… Polyglots, we are nots.
During the first few weeks of our travels, we found ourselves getting a bit tetchy. Whether due to packing up our home in a rush, leaving our loved ones behind, or embarking on an adventure with an uncertain future ahead of us, we were bickering more than usual, and we had several strained moments.
After 4 weeks, we’d eased into the swing of things. We’d stopped driving into frenetic metropolises, we’d found a navigation equilibrium. Regular breaks from driving combined with longer stops and more exposure to nature all helped ease away the early tensions. Additionally, our house sale concluded in mid-August, releasing a weight that had clearly been on our minds.
Now, as we’ve left the car behind, we have the next four months planned out, with routes, travel and accomodation largely booked ahead. While not exactly on rails, it releases cognitive load, allowing us breathing space to experience the journey, reflect, and look ahead to the future.
Packing
In my last ‘reflections’ post, I promised that we’d dive into packing, travel kit, supplies, cool boxes, and other exciting car-travel accoutrements. Feel free to skip as this isn’t for everyone, but as an aide memoire for us, it is useful.
Starting with packing and travel kit. This trip has been our most difficult to pack for yet. We’re normally both pretty good at travelling light – years of business travel optimised trips down to a small carry-on bag. However, this is a bit different, and we are a pair of very heavily laden swallows.
- I like photography and have a big camera with a couple of big fancy lenses. This in itself feels increasingly redundant with the near-perfection of phone cameras today. Most casual travelers have done away with their DSLRs, and only the Gen-Z posturing retro junkies carry small digital cameras. While the Canon is unwieldy, I like the flexibility and creativity it affords, as well as the continual learning curve. We also needed to bring two sets of binoculars for a later part of the trip. This stuff in combination is HEAVY (don’t tell the airlines, my cabin baggage is probably about 15kg).
- We have had to prepare for lots of climates, including some very wintery conditions later in the year, so we have cold-weather kits of gloves, hats, buffs, thermals and down jackets. This stuff is bulky.
- We are doing a fair bit of diving, and after years of using rental fins to the detriment of our feet, we’ve brought our own (+ masks, snorkels, dive-computers, SMB’s, dive torches, and rash vests). The jury is out on whether this was sensible. So far, it’s been cumbersome.
- We’re doing lots of hiking (once toes are less broken) and have the luxury of hiking/running poles, which are very light, but take up precious space.
- We both exercise, so have quite a few items of dedicated exercise clothing.
In addition, like a good little Boy Scout (which I was categorically not. I was booted out of the scouts for refusing to pledge allegiance to God and the late ‘Her-Majesty’) – I’ve also got a few Very Useful Items, as below.
In my main bag I also have clothes pegs, paracord, gorilla tape, glasses cleaners, cleaning cloth, sporks, & nail clippers.
We’re full adopters of the packing cube and use these to effectively segregate our clothing. We use dry bags for wet clothing and laundry.
One of the most challenging elements of travel like this is shoe-choice. We have trainers (road running/daily wear) and trail shoes (trail running and hiking), Shona has some sandals and I some flipflops and I’ve got some canvas shoes for smarter occasions. My trainers were once white, but no longer are. We also picked up some water shoes which are handy for beaches and shore dives. We have each sent shoes home with the car, along with a smattering of other superfluous clothing and gear.
From an electronics perspective, in addition to the camera + lenses, I’ve got an iPad Pro, a kindle, a GoPro, a head torch, AirPods, and over-ear headphones for flights, a pleasing cable/spare battery pouch (marvel at its magnificence) in addition to a 70w fast travel charger which is invaluable (3x USB-C and 2x USB ports).
For the car, we had the aforementioned cool box, which is a proper plug-in fridge. This was excellent on the road. We would decant items from here into a cool bag for hotel fridges, or bring the full box in and plug it in where practical. Milk, water, cold drinks, and breakfast stuff was great to carry with us.
We had an emergency driving kit, with items variously required in different European countries – and inevitably, not checked or used once: Powder fire extinguisher, high viz jackets, emergency triangles, breathalyser, spare bulbs, headlight adjusters, GB sticker, torch. We also carried an EU map, plenty of cables for charging on the move, tissues, wipes and a dry food bag.
So, lots of stuff, but not much that’s been superfluous (aside, so far, from winter and dive gear). We have day packs, and I carry a discrete satchel-style camera bag. It’s tight to fit everything into our Osprey Sojourn 80 bags, which are big, but aren’t hugely efficient space-wise. We have got a secret weapon, a spare bag secreted in one of our main bags that could expand our carrying capacity if needed. The only challenge is that some airlines only allow a single piece of hold luggage. We’ve many flights ahead of us so are practising our doe-eyed apologetic looks.
The Stats
We’ve covered a lot of ground so far and I can hear that you’re crying out for data. So, here are the stats and the facts up until Bulgaria:
Days travelled: 66
Countries visited: 17
UNESCO World Heritage sites: 31
Distance driven: 8281km
Hotels: 25
Airbnbs: 9
Boats: 15
Car: 1 (+2 taxis)
Top speed: 169kph (Legal! Autobahn in Germany).
Favourites roads: Greece, through the mountains.
Least-favourite roads: Montenegro and Albania.
Best drivers: the French.
Worst drivers: the Italians.
Hairiest moment: Montenegro coast road.
Most roadkill: Bulgaria (two hedgehogs, one fox, one cat, and one dog – in one day 😢).
Cheapest fuel: Bulgaria.
The next Reflections post will be in a month or so, after we’ve travelled across the Silk Road.
Travels with Sklaroffs 