Holiday is over

[Craiglxviii]

Over the last 3 weeks saw us taking an extended summer vacation, driving from central UK to southern Turkey via France, Switzerland, Italy and Greece.

Final stats:

5117 miles.
841 litres of diesel.
88 hours of driving.

[M.Becker]

Motorbike Maniac?

No, because Diesel. Brother of a friend did that on a bike.

[Craiglxviii]

Motorbike Maniac?

No, because Diesel. Brother of a friend did that on a bike.

No, this was the whole family, wife & I and all 4 children, in an SUV.

[Nik_SpeakerToCats]

Bravo !!

Back in the 20th Century, we drove/camped to Greece and back several times.
Once via Bulgaria.
Watched Yugo-land claw itself from 3rd-world to 'European', before later imploding in faction fights.
Still remember how coils of rebar shed by a side-swiped truck became giant, car-eating 'Slinky Springs'...
Ick...
Nearly got conscripted at Greek border after the Colonels' coup: Fortunately my passport was 'UK', not the optional 'Dual'. To check I was genuinely a Brit, not a local teen travelling on my passport, the Border guys wheeled in a 'Master Sergeant' who swore at me in language you'd have to steam-clean off walls it left standing. Happens I recognised some as epithets from their 'Classical' roots, insults that were old when 'Helen of Troy' was flirting. I was too surprised to recognise their antiquity to be offended...

Several, I was unable to reverse-engineer thus: Back in the car and away, I mentioned them. Mum went very pink, declined to translate...

Any-how, after 1979, fuel prices soared, UK Pound devalued, so we ventured abroad no more...

[Zen9]

Hope it went well.

I've loved my drives over to Poland, even if it's sometimes been a fraught experience.

[Craiglxviii]

Hope it went well.

I've loved my drives over to Poland, even if it's sometimes been a fraught experience.

Aside from Italy, which was unpleasant, the rest of it went very well indeed!

[Nik_SpeakerToCats]

Italy...
Aaah...

Our route came through Austria, cut across the corner of Italy into Yugo-land.
We'd stop for snacks --Bread rolls & cheese-- and, yes, fresh pizza.

I can honestly claim that even that short run on Italian roads was scarier than anything Yugo-land drivers or commuting Turks could throw at us. Which included the car-eating 'Giant Slinky Spring' incident...

IMHO, those [REDACTED] Italians were even worse than the Athenian kamikases...

[Craiglxviii]

Italy...
Aaah...

Our route came through Austria, cut across the corner of Italy into Yugo-land.
We'd stop for snacks --Bread rolls & cheese-- and, yes, fresh pizza.

I can honestly claim that even that short run on Italian roads was scarier than anything Yugo-land drivers or commuting Turks could throw at us. Which included the car-eating 'Giant Slinky Spring' incident...

IMHO, those [REDACTED] Italians were even worse than the Athenian kamikases...

This was the route returning home…

IMG_6716.jpeg

This was the trip computer as we arrived… that was all done in the same day, three stops for toilet and food breaks.

IMG_6550.jpeg

I was <tired>