I recently came back from my European excursion and I’m eager to share with you all details of my itinerary, but before that you need to know why a road trip throughout Europe will give you life!
I was super excited to be in Berlin!
1. You are on your own time.
In our day to day life, most of us have to follow strict deadlines and time crunches. I’m really not about that life on vacation! Vacation is meant to be eventful, not stressful. That’s the beauty of driving, you are following the time and general mood of the group versus a train, bus, or flight schedule.
Because we were own our own schedule it made spontaneity easier! Like the time we randomly decided to stop at a Polish beach to dip our feet in the Baltic Sea.
2. You are able to see more.
Driving maximized our ability to see a lot in a short period of time. Overall, we visited 12 cities in 6 countries! Our drives* between destinations ranged from 2-6 hours. The ride never felt bad because we made stops in different places during the longer routes.
* I must note that Jacek is the real MVP and did all the driving during the trip! Driving stick shift isn’t really Jess and my thing.
Here's our main route!
3. You save money.
Our 1,586 miles excursion cost us $170 per person for gas, parking and tolls. Parking was easier than I anticipated (well, anything is better than my hometown, NYC, parking!). We were able to park on the street in the majority of the places we visited. Budapest was the only place we had to park in a garage. We used local transportation (an additional $70 pp) or walked around when we arrived in the cities.
The happy moment when Capital One decided to let me be great and withdraw my money in Berlin. I attempted to withdraw money at 5 other ATMs before this beauty blessed me with Euros! #bbhmm Pro Tip: When abroad try to withdraw money from ATMs connected with a bank. They will give you less trouble.
4. It’s a unique experience.
Between blasting Jacek’s early 2000s Hip-Hop and R&B CD, hours long car karaoke, and Jacek’s Eastern Europe history lessons, there was never a dull moment in the car! As I mentioned in my last post, Jacek and I met 8 years ago in NYC. He was visiting with his best friend and approached my friends and I looking for a club, but we were too young to get in at the time. We probably talked for about 20 mins during our interaction and exchanged FB information. We’ve been really good at keeping in contact over the years. The most beautiful part of our friendship, even though it’s been 8 years since our first 20 min interaction we naturally picked up where we left off. To be able to share this experience with Jessica, one of my favorite people in the world, and the first person I traveled to Europe with, made this trip even better!
Jewels + Jessica+ Jacek= J-unit! ( We listened to way too much 50 cent in the car). First J-Unit Selfie in Old Town Market Square in Warsaw!
Considering going on a road trip throughout Europe? Check out this list of European road trip itineraries!
When was your last road trip? Let me know about it in the comments!
