I am going on a Euro road trip tomorrow!

I am leaving on a Euro road trip in less than 24 hours! Even though I have been to many places in Europe by flight, I had been wanting to go on a grand road trip through Europe ever since I watched that movie called “Eurotrip” when I was about 13. Now after almost 5 years of living in Europe, it’s actually happening. I have been on a short European road trip a couple of years back, but this one that I am embarking on tomorrow feels more adventurous and interesting.

Tatra mountains seen from Slovakia

It was a result of a random plan of my boyfriend and his friend while they were drinking beers on a gloomy December evening last year, like “hey lets go to Croatia next summer on our motorbikes”.  When he expressed that to me, I was obviously very excited and we immediately created an event page on FaceBook with the three of us as attendees. It irked me that it was all those months away but time flies! All this to say that after 8 months long wait, it is finally happening from tomorrow. 🙂

What is most exciting about this trip is that we’re traveling by sport motorbikes! Like those fast ones which I am not a fan of but had no say in it as a car journey meant hours and hours in traffic. And the boys love it, so there was no work-around it. I was in Zakopane and northern part of Slovakia on motorbike last year, and it was an okay experience (the part of being the passenger). This time I hope I can manage the body ache and concentrate on enjoying the scenery along the way without caring much about how difficult it can be to be a passenger on a fast motorbike for hours and hours.

Last year at Poland-Slovakia border

Not just the traveling itself, but I also enjoy the long process involved before it: researching about the destinations, hotels and cars, the activities to do etc, doing those what other people might find boring. I absolutely do not mind spending time going through numerous pages on internet about the possibilities. So we’ve come up with an itinerary and have all places of stay booked. We will be gone for 11 days, and this might be short, but we plan to make the most of it. Our itinerary which by now I know by heart looks like this:

 

• First day: Lodz, Poland to Bratislava, Slovakia. Spend the night in Bratislava.
• Second morning: Bratislava to Budapest, Hungary. Spend the whole day sightseeing and spend the night in Budapest.
• Third morning: Budapest, Hungary to Mostar, Bosnia&Herzegovina, the second longest stretch of our whole trip at about 700 kms. Spend the evening and night in Mostar.
• Fourth morning: Do some sightseeing in Mostar and go to Kravice waterfalls. So, so excited about Bosnia altogether. In the evening, leave for Kotor, Montenegro.
• Fourth evening: See old town in Kotor if time permits. Spend the night.
• Fifth morning: See more of beautiful Kotor. Ride to a nearby national park for excellent views.  Leave for Dubrovnik, Croatia.
• Sixth day: Do sightseeing in Dubrovnik. Leave for Zadar in the afternoon.
• Seventh, eight, ninth days: Relax in an island called Dugi Otok , near from Zadar, Croatia. Personally I look most forward to this.
• Tenth morning: Leave for Ljubljana, Slovenia. Do sightseeing for a couple of hours.
• Tenth evening: Arrive in Graz, Austria from Ljubljana, Slovenia. Spend the night.
• Eleventh morning: Long journey from Vienna to Lodz. The longest stretch of our trip at 780 kms!

It might look a lot to take in in few days, but I couldn’t be happier. Balkans is a very interesting area, and have you seen the photos of Croatian coastline? Gorgeous is an understatement! I can’t wait to enjoy a real summer vacation this year, while the not -particularly-hot and rainy Polish summer continues and see all those fabulous places.

[UPDATE: You can click here to read the stories from the trip. :)]

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