Europe on the road

We managed to clock up nearly 4000 kilometres on our summer holiday to Croatia.

We drove through Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 

Italy and Switzerland, saw the number plates of over twenty different nationalities.

We spent around 70 hours in the car. Some journeys the GPS told us would take eight hours 

would turn into fourteen as we came upon holiday traffic, tolls, border crossings and accidents.

All places have their own driving quirks, with most drivers picking up the habits of
the location. The drivers in my home town of Perth, Western Australia will NOT
merge, drives me crazy every time I go home!

I had lots of time to observe the drivers from all over Europe and their driving styles,
 which work well when everyone is driving to the same 'rules' but when you put
many nationalities on the same stretch of motorway the different driving styles become obvious
and sometimes quite scary when mixed together!

Romania

Belgium

Austria

It appeared that Austrians aren't fans of merging...I wonder if those Austrians who

migrated to Perth are the reason behind Perth's non merging stance!

Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Bosnians were either crazy, passing on blind bends or really, really slow,
nothing in between, though mostly they were crazy!

Slovakia

Germany

Germans like to drive really fast...the have their no limit Autobahns after all.
They also tailgate which can be far more intimidating. If you leave a gap, they will fill it.
Look in your rear view mirror and they will be so close you can barely see them,
get used to it, somehow it works...in Germany!

Switzerland

Netherlands

Ninety per cent of the Dutch cars on the road to Croatia had a caravan attached. 

If they had no caravan they had a rooftop storage pod or a trailer carrying everything

from sun loungers to the kitchen sink, nearly all had a bicycle or four secured somehow.

Italy

The Italian drivers were the masters of  speeding and weaving in and out, none of this passing 

in the left lanes only! Unnerving to have someone overtake from the inside lane

after living in England and Germany! Another thing Perth drivers a good at

and something I don't miss from home...lots of Italians in Perth!

Serbia

Albania

Montenegro

Luxembourgh

Great Britain

Not too many Brits on the road to Croatia. Brits must be the most polite drivers on the planet. 

Always allowing others to merge, stopping to let cars turn in front of them in heavy traffic

and always the 'thank you' wave! I miss driving in the UK!

Norway

These Norwegians were a long way from home!

Slovenia

We were behind this Slovenian car at a border crossing and I noticed this.....

Australia!

Australian stickers on the car...My little family wouldn't let me get out and ask if they were

Australians like us...spoil sports...not often you see another car with an Aussie flag in Europe!

Russia

It was also noted that the back number plate was always far cleaner....

Russia

Than the front number plate! Bugs from Russia...with love!

Spain

A long way from home!

Estonia

Also a long way from home!

As an Aussie it was pretty cool seeing so many nationalities on the road at the same time.

This blog post has my opinions of drivers I noticed in my lengthy times in our car on this trip. 

I am not saying that ALL Germans tailgate or ALL Bosnians are crazy drivers....

This post is also not an indication of my skills as a photographer. 

Many of these photos were taken on the road, as a passenger...obviously...

 and have been heavily cropped for privacy.