Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

I have written mostly about the destinations since we started this blog, and I thought we would talk about the journey itself—especially our transportation experience on our trip to Eastern Europe.

In the fall of 2024, we visited Eastern Europe. This was a unique trip in that we decided to drive through eight countries on a ten-country trip! It was a lot of fun, but there were definitely some stress points along the way. So here it goes…

We flew from Istanbul to Budapest, Hungary, early on a Saturday morning. After spending three days in Budapest (I wrote separately about our experiences in Budapest—one of my top ten favorite cities), we began our driving excursion. Before going into the details of this driving trip, let’s talk about the mechanics of renting a vehicle. During my research, I discovered that of all the major rental agencies, only Sixt Rental Car in Budapest would allow us to rent a car that we could take to all eight countries on our list. Everywhere else, you could go to some countries but not others, which made the decision simple as to where to rent our car. Another thing I found was that the largest car they allowed me to rent that could go to all eight countries was a Toyota Corolla Station Wagon—so that decision was also made for us!

People often ask me about rental car insurance. I find it unnecessary because my credit card (most travel credit cards, including the Costco card, have this benefit) covers car rental insurance. Outside the US, it is what is known as primary insurance, so if anything happens, they will cover the cost as long as you rent the car using that credit card. Within the US, it is secondary, so your own car insurance takes the claim, and your credit card covers your deductible.

Anyway, the day before our rental, the car company called and asked what time we would be at their location. This was a remote location, so they only sent someone when a customer had a reservation. I asked if they could deliver the car to our hotel, and they agreed! So on the first day of driving, our car arrived. The agent went over the car’s condition with us. Outside the US, it is very important to document every little scratch and dent, as they charge you $100 for a scratch and $250 for a dent. I find it useful to take photos or a video to ensure we know the car’s condition at the time of rental.

Before the agent left, he mentioned that they had paid the fees for the Hungarian highways, but we would have to purchase highway permits in each country we entered. This was news to me, so I asked him about the process. He said he had never been outside Hungary but thought you could buy them at gas stations near the border or something. So off we went.

Our first destination was Bratislava, Slovakia, approximately a 2.5-hour drive from Budapest, mostly on highways. There was a lot of construction on the highway, with large trucks, heavy traffic, and rain. Driving alongside large trucks on narrow roads due to construction was definitely unpleasant, and I thought, “This is not going to be a fun experience.” Fortunately, that was the only time we encountered such conditions!

About an hour and a half into our drive, we crossed the border between Hungary and Slovakia. The border crossing was easy, and there was a sign directing people to buy highway permits. They offered three options: 1 day, 7 days, and 30 days. Since we were just driving through, we opted for a 1-day permit. All they needed was our license plate information, and that was it—it’s a digital permit.

It was still raining in Bratislava, so we didn’t spend much time by the riverfront. After a delicious lunch (we had what looked like a Caprese sandwich on a bun) and some souvenir shopping, we continued on to Austria. By that time, the rain had stopped, and we were on a highway with very little commercial traffic, so it was a fun drive. Within 30 minutes, we were entering Austria. We tried to find an office to buy a highway permit and stopped at what looked like an office, but it was closed. We then stopped at a border patrol office, where an officer directed us to a small, tucked-away booth. Our options were 1 day, 10 days, and 30 days. Since we planned to stay in Austria for a while, we opted for a 10-day permit. Austria was the only country we visited that did not have digital permits; they gave us a sticker to put on the driver’s side windshield.

Our son Ish was visiting us in Vienna, so we spent a few days with him (more about that in a separate blog). We then continued our journey from Vienna to Maribor, Slovenia, with a stop in Graz in the Austrian countryside. When we were leaving Vienna, I thought of getting gas, and the price was around €1.5 per liter. Once we were on the highway, the price jumped to €2.5 per liter. That’s some price gouging! For us Americans, the price of gas is a very sensitive subject—we’ll drive 10 miles to save 10 cents on a gallon!

The drive to Graz from Vienna was beautiful, with rolling hills and mountains reminiscent of Ireland. We drove through at least a dozen tunnels, some as long as a mile and a half. After a few hours in Graz, we continued to Maribor. At the border between Austria and Slovenia, we stopped to purchase the permit. The cashiers did not speak English, and they didn’t understand what we wanted. The store was small, so I just asked out loud if anyone spoke English. A guy said he spoke a little and explained that we needed to ask for a “vignette.” Since we were going to be in Slovenia for a few days, we purchased an e-vignette for three days. Again, you give them your license plate number, and you’re good to go.

After Maribor, we headed to Zagreb, Croatia. When we crossed the border between Slovenia and Croatia, we stopped at an office where there was a big sign stating they did not sell Croatian vignettes and that you pay on the highway. Croatia uses a pay-as-you-go system for highways—you take a toll ticket when you enter and pay based on the distance traveled when you exit. I found that Croatia had the most expensive highway tolls; we ended up paying close to $50 over a three-day period in tolls.

When we left Zagreb, our destination was Belgrade, Serbia, with a detour through Bosnia and Herzegovina. Before visiting any country, I usually check its travel safety rating by the US State Department, which rates countries on a scale of 1 to 4. A rating of 1 means the country is the safest (very few countries receive this designation; for example, Japan is rated 1, while England is rated 2). A 4 rating means “do not travel” (typically for active war zones), and a 3 rating means avoiding unnecessary travel. I only travel to Level 1 or 2 countries (although, during my working years, I did visit Level 4 countries for business). Bosnia and Herzegovina was rated as a Level 3 country, so we did not plan to spend much time there. However, I still wanted to add it to my list of visited countries, so we decided to cross the border from Croatia on a small, remote highway.

This was our first time driving from an EU country to a non-EU country. Since we were on a small highway, there were only three cars ahead of us at the border. The Croatian officer asked why we were visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina and how long we planned to stay. I told him I was counting countries (which is usually a good icebreaker) and that we would be back after a cup of coffee. He asked if we had anything to declare and then let us through. On the Bosnian side, the officer didn’t care much; he just waved us through (I guess he figured if the EU vetted us, it was good enough for him)!

Once inside Bosnia and Herzegovina, we only wanted to visit the border town. Unfortunately, there wasn’t even a coffee shop in town, just a small gas station. My wife asked for a souvenir magnet at the gas station, but they didn’t have any. We found a small church, took a couple of photos, and that was the extent of our visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina! On our way back into Croatia, we encountered some lines at the border crossing, but since we had just left less than 30 minutes earlier, they stamped us in without any questions.

We then continued on toward Belgrade. The highways were nice, but the scenery changed, and we were driving mostly through flat farm country. After about an hour, we arrived at another border crossing—this time between an EU and non-EU country, on a major highway. The lines were more than a mile long, with truck lines even longer. The processing was efficient, but there simply weren’t enough officers working at the checkpoint. After waiting for more than an hour, it was finally our turn. The Croatian officer asked a few questions, I gave him my usual spiel, and they let us through. The Serbian officers didn’t ask anything and just stamped our passports. Before we knew it, we were in Belgrade.

After spending a couple of nights in Belgrade, it was our final day of driving. We were heading from Belgrade to Budapest with a stopover in Timișoara, Romania. The drive from Belgrade to Timișoara is on small, local roads, passing through small towns and mostly single-lane roads. But the roads were nice, and the drive was beautiful. After about two hours, we reached the border between Serbia and Romania. This was a very remote crossing—a single-road checkpoint manned by two officers (I think they had two just to keep each other company!). One officer asked what we were doing in this remote area, and I explained that we were counting countries and were on our way to Timișoara. He asked if we would be coming back to Serbia, and we said we were continuing on to Budapest. He then asked what the remotest country I had been to was. He took our passports inside, probably flipped through every page, and after about 15–20 minutes, returned with his coworker. They said we were good to go but had a few questions. One officer asked about a stamp on my passport for the Equator. I explained that in Ecuador, there is a zero-latitude line where you can stand with one foot in the Northern Hemisphere and the other in the Southern Hemisphere, and they will stamp your passport. He also asked about the Galapagos Islands stamp, and I explained how Charles Darwin found inspiration there. After some pleasantries, we continued into Romania.

Our next stop was downtown Timișoara, where we planned to have lunch and take a couple of hours’ break. However, the city center had no parking at all. We circled around for a good 30 minutes, but eventually gave up and decided to skip the stop and continue on to Budapest. Needing a break from driving, we stopped at a McCafé in Timișoara (they had decent pastries!). The highway from Timișoara to Budapest was excellent. Though there was a lot of traffic, we could easily drive at 130 km/h or more. After a couple of hours, we reached one of the busiest border crossings. The lines stretched for kilometers. People were cutting in line, and there seemed to be no system in place. I needed to stretch my legs, so I handed the wheel over to my wife and walked alongside the road while we waited. There were street vendors selling Romanian souvenirs, and my wife bought something. After nearly two and a half hours, it was finally our turn at the checkpoint. The immigration process was quick—just a few questions. The bottleneck was the customs officer, who took everyone’s passports and stared at his screen for ten minutes before handing them back! Finally, after three hours, we crossed the border. Within a couple of hours, we were back in Budapest. Our rental car company asked us to simply drop off the car and keys.

That was some experience! We had an awesome time. If I had to do it all over again, I would make two changes: 1) avoid crossing borders on major highways—find alternate internal roads; 2) avoid driving in big city downtowns. Other than that, I thought it was a great trip. What do you think? How would you handle some of the situations we faced? Let us know in the comments. Until next time…

Oh, I almost forgot about the train part! We were supposed to take a train from Krakow, Poland, to Prague, Czech Republic. However, due to historic flooding in the area, this particular train was canceled. So, we did not get a chance to experience the train system, except for the city metro in Budapest and Vienna (which I’ll cover in separate blogs).