There are some places you can visit easily without a car and you wouldn’t be missing out at all, you’d probably be saving yourself some heartache. Busy cities, with well built metro systems and public transport connecting them are perfect examples. I personally would hate to drive a car in the bicycle dominant streets of Amsterdam, Singapore, Hong Kong… actually most Asian cities I’d rather avoid driving. There are, however, some places where a road trip is almost a right of passage. Driving down some of the famous roads in America, enjoying the outback in Australia and the Ultimate European Adventure – there’s a lot of great road trips to be had.
Australia is really big and often people visit and don’t appreciate the size and scale of this country. Because of Australia’s size, you have to be realistic about how much you’ll visit and within what kind of time frame. Many long term visitors to Australia take on a working holiday visa and then dedicate a portion of their one year or two year visa to traveling around this interesting country. Australia is lined with some gorgeous beaches right around the coast and the middle of the country is desert with a landscape unlike anywhere else. There are a few decent sized cities dotted near the coast, namely Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth. Each of them have their own style and scene. If you want to buy an affordable car for your stay in Sydney, there are lots of options available, including John Hughes which have a great selection of cars to suit all budgets.
Road Trips in America:
One day I’d love to hire a camper van or a van and drive across America, from coast to coast. Stopping in small towns along the way and getting a taste of “real America”. On my only trip to America, I barely scraped the surface. I only visited Los Angeles, San Diego and Palm Springs. Needless to say I feel like there are so many places I still need to visit. The great thing about traveling America is that there’s so much to see, that you can make your trip as short or as long as you want. I’d love to go down the coast from San Fran all the way down to San Diego and then go across to New York.
If I could plan my ultimate European road trip, I’d start off in Prague and make way to Istanbul, by car. I actually covered this route by way of public transport last year, after I finished living in Spain. I think traveling by car would be a bit more fun as you could customise where you stop along the way. I’d head straight to Salzburg, Austria before making my way to Vienna to indulge in some incredible museums. Then I’d stop off in Budapest, which is just right around the corner and drink some delicious wine while admiring the beautiful buildings. Last time I went to Zagreb and then made a quick bolt to Sofia, Bulgaria and straight to Istanbul as I was running out of time. However, if I was driving I’d visit Slovenia and drive right down the coast of Croatia, into Montenegro, Albania, and round through Greece before finally heading into Turkey. One of the best things about road tripping in Europe is that you can work to your own schedule, which is a lot harder when you have to book flights or bus tickets in advance.
Road tripping is such a fun way to see a country. I can’t wait to plan some smaller trips when I’m in Europe next year. Let me know where your favourite road trip has been in the comments below:
