I’ve now overshared on our unfortunate events, but I need to share the good stuff too! So here is the “best of” listed by City/country area and my favorite highlight from that area.

Berlin and The Berlin Wall

We’ve heard this was a good city for families and I agree. It was an easy city to drive and we easily drove past tons of monuments and memorials.

It was our first stay in a hostel. I honestly can’t imagine ever traveling solo and sharing a room like that with complete strangers. I had a hard enough time with my own family! But it was an interesting experience. The hostel was a close enough walk to the Berlin Wall so we went there right after checking in.

The Berlin Wall was the highlight of Berlin for me. It’s one of the few historical moments-in-time (the collapse) that we have visited that happened in our lifetime. I believe I remember seeing it on the news as a kid.

It is so much larger and longer than I thought. The memorials and info about it were endless and impressive.

We walked along it for what felt like miles, seeing more and more of the wall, guard towers and other remains. Eventually, we stumbled upon a cute cookie store. We were drawn in by the fun signs (in English) and the allure of cookies. Turns out the draw was really because the owner is American 😂. What we didn’t even notice upon walking in is that we stepped over a small rocky border to cross into the building – that was part of the wall also. She explained the how her building was an old communist building that had since been remodeled, but there are still remnants from the wall and the previous regime.

Final highlight of Berlin was the Humboldt Box/museum. The muesum exists as a temporary forum while they rebuild the Berlin Castle, Stadtschloss, which was bombed twice in WWII then later demolished by the German government. The museum had the best hands-on fun for the kids and was FREE! It also had decent views of the city from its deck.

Poland and Auschwitz

Polish pottery debacle aside, Poland was a fantastic destination. First, we were the only guests in a giant castle near Wroclaw, then we had a super fun cabin in the mountains. We got to visit Boleslawiec, Wroclaw, Krakow and Zakopane, and briefly visited Auschwitz, which was my highlight of Poland.

Wroclaw has little metal gnome statues throughout the city and that thoroughly entertained the children as they ran around searching for them (win!).

It was also amazingly beautiful, super cheap, and afforded us fun and traditional polish food – pierogies, golabki, kielbasa!

When we left the Wroclaw area, we were headed to the mountains, but we stopped last minute to see Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was originally in our plans as we backtracked home, but we shifted last minute. This may or may not have been a good idea since they were sold out of entrance tickets. But we were able peer through the gates and see the main rail line in. It probably wasn’t enough for me, but I can’t imagine how hard it would’ve been to walk through.

I know sounds strange to be a “highlight” but it truly was and I am thankful to have been able to see it. I’ve watched countless documentaries and have read numerous books since we’ve been here and it really puts a ‘face’ to the images – definitely hard to really fathom the horrors that this land held.

Other Polish highlights – Krakow was beautiful even in terrible weather and the mountains near Zakopane have fun hiking trails that lead to a giant waterfall. It was trying for me and my bum feet, but I did it, all 3 miles. I just couldn’t walk in Prague the next day 😬.

Prague and the Special Effects museum

Prague is an amazingly beautiful city, though awfully crowded. Even with the crowds, it now ranks as one of our top favorites. The architecture is incredible and the number of churches and classical music concerts is never-ending. The girls and I even went to see Swan Lake, the ballet.

But our favorite part (or at least mine) was the Karel Zeman museum – a 20th century movie and special effects museum. The kids got to test out old school equipment and see how they made movies with perspective and creativity and without computers.

So fun!

Final stops

We returned through Germany with a quick stop in a cute city, Rotenburg on de Tauber, with its original city walls still intact AND still allowed to walk on. The city fed us traditional German schnitzel, pork knuckle and potato pancakes and introduced us to a new dessert – Schneeball (???). They were much, much prettier than they tasted 😂 and they were kind of difficult to eat.

But what would a super long roadtrip be without a stop for the kids? A stop in Little America, also known as Ramstein Air Force base. It’s always good to get a little America back in you after months and months of Europe. We needed you, swimming pool, PF Chang’s and Chili’s!

Sometimes I feel like I should rename my blog “Misadventures in Europe”, because what would our trips be without them?

Justin thrives off of trip planning. It’s the only thing that helps him get through his less-than-favorite job. He’s been planning this fall break trip since mid-summer when every other nation took their MONTH (yep, a month) of summer leave and he was stuck working alone. He’s been so looking forward to getting the heck outta dodge (work), but as summer was ending, the problems began.

The car

First the A/C in our Expedition went kaput (likely from the enormous amount of energy I required in the car since there is no A/C anywhere 😂)…but it’s not an easy fix. Some kind of valve leak somewhere and untrustworthy mechanics here had us deciding to hold off on fixing. Could we make the drive without it? Sigh, yes, but it will suck as I like to use A/C even in the winter!

Next, the tire started leaking air. After waiting a week or so to actually investigate, we finally found out that there were two giant nails stuck in the tire (Belgian roads!). So we ordered a tire plug and took the advice of a few friends and the American auto shop (they can change oil and put tires on but can’t order), and ordered tires from TireRack- “They arrive in roughly a week”. Well a week came and went and nothing – checked tracking and they don’t even appear to have shipped. We dallied a little longer hoping maybe they just didn’t get scanned and so we asked the post office to get the same response “really? They usually come in a week”. Finally we call the company and because we have a monster car, they have to go standby on a ship. Excellent. 4-6 weeks. The best part is that everyone we retell this fun story to says the same thing “really? Ours came in a week!” 😐

We kept waiting and hoping the tires would come, but they did not. So as we waited, we took some days out of the trip, then more, then more, then finally decided to rent a car. Sigh.

I guess it was good we cut a few days out of the trip since the car was €500 more than we planned to spend (wait for it 😬). The rental was also much smaller than our car and didn’t have a roof rack for our roof bag, but was likely better on gas mileage and would get us on the road.

So in a jam-packed car, we set off 5 days later than we had originally planned.

First night

We left later than we wanted (always), arrived later than we wanted, ate dinner later than we wanted and ate noodle soup (lame) since everything was already closed.

Turns out soup (liquid) at 9 pm is a terrible idea for a known travel-bathroom-issue-kid (Every. Single. Trip.) Luckily 😐 said child was sleeping ON a true down comforter ON a couch and didn’t tell us until it was WAY too late. And luckily 😐 we had 4 more days/nights planned without a washing machine. So we carried a half-rinsed and damp favorite blanket in a plastic bag in the packed car for 4 more days. Smells good!

Polish Pottery

It’s kind of a ‘thing’ here. I have tons of friends that have full sets of dishes, and casseroles and bowls and such. At first, I didn’t really see the allure other than that it was pretty. But over time I got it in my head that I NEEDED it to replace our everyday dishes. It was the one Libby stop on the roadtrip and I was pretty excited!

Boleslawiec, Poland is the Polish Pottery mecca and is full of factories and stores and outlets. The roundabouts and buildings are adorned with giant vases and bowls. The prices are amazing and the outlets have even cheaper items (as if Poland wasn’t already a total steal! Seriously, vacation in Poland, it’s awesome).

Well, first I was a little worried that we seemingly had no room in the car, but Justin assured me we could fit it. We go to the first place – a factory outlet with a end-of-line clearance tent. I probably told the kids a freaking 1000 times “DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING”. You can see where this is going 😐. We did a quick browse and decided to check another store. But before we left, I decided to check the end-of-line tent one more time. Just the girls came with me. It was crowded. People are rude. Pottery was precariously placed. I had a basket with a few items and I set it in the middle where no one was and asked the girls to JUST STAND next to it. But Meredith couldn’t JUST stand. Next thing I hear is a giant crash. And with that, I am the proud new owner of 280 polish zlotys ($80) worth of stuff I had no intention of buying (a giant vase and tea cups and saucers – literally the opposite of what I wanted to buy – plates). Not really sure what she was doing, but of course I yelled and cried. No one bothered to help as she was still awkwardly holding what she could. Man, if I could go back…I’d take a picture 😂😂😂 kidding.

But look, I should’ve known. I had Justin take this picture of me earlier 👇🏻in the store and look what is happening on the right!!!!

So I cried and asked to just leave without anything. Just leave. I just wanted to leave the whole town. The experience had been ruined for me AT THE FIRST STORE. I know, I know – why did I take the kids with me??? Sometimes it’s just hard to shop alone. You need opinions and help. And sometimes that ‘help’ turns into giant crashes.

But Justin insisted that I try other stores and I did. I ended up buying some more expensive plates because I was just too ashamed to go back to the original store.

Lessons learned…and we are going to keep this vase forever. Or maybe I’ll just save it and give it to her for her wedding gift 😂.

The rental car

Seinfeld wouldn’t have had an episode about rental cars if it weren’t the truth…but he had the extra insurance…and we did not 😬.

It WAS a great morning. We had this super little cabin in Poland (so affordable!) and the kids were playing outside and loving it. We were getting ready to go for a hike, one of the very few things the kids do NOT complain about. It was going to be a good day!

We pulled out of the driveway and drove 50 feet and smash. Next door, someone was backing out of an inclined and blind driveway. He must’ve had to gun it a bit to get up the hill because it just smashed right in the side of the car as we were driving – so it’s not just one spot, it’s the whole darn side of the car and the scraped wheel – IN A RENTAL CAR 😳.

He spoke no English and had to get the owner of the house (who also owned the cabin we were staying in – awkward). Two hours later the police finally came – nothing uncomfortable about police in a foreign country with a damaged rental car.

It was the other driver’s fault but the rental car agency doesn’t give a damn. He basically told us we’d be liable for the entire amount of the car and they’d just put it on our credit card. Hahahahahahahaha – who the hell has €25000 available on their credit card???

Our actual insurance should cover most of it (we hope, per our conversations with them) but the rental agencies are so ruthless and really want you to feel like you owe them your next child! I’ll tell you what, if they charge the entire amount, then we have a new car. No way in hell would I turn in a car and pay for it! WTH?

But how this ends may or may not end in a whole new blog in a few weeks.

Side note: the tires for our expedition arrived 5 days into our trip 😬.

The end

All-in-all it was a great trip (and I will share all the good stuff too!) and after reading and re-reading what I’ve written, maybe it wasn’t that bad? But there is always tomorrow! 😂 One last drive home with fingers crossed!

Pretty much every time we mention to anyone that we’re planning an extended road trip through any part of Europe, we get wide eyes and lots of “wows”. It’s definitely true that a ‘road trip’ is MUCH less common on the European continent, but we somewhat vowed to prove the naysayers wrong. Just like people telling us WDW in Florida is too spread out to really park hop…the Cobbs can hit 3 parks in one day!

We’ve now been ‘on the continent’ for a year and a half and have undertaken 2 major road trips and tons of minor ones. With each one, the ‘why nots’ become more obvious…but it won’t stop us (Justin!).

ROADTRIP rationale

Our main reasons: cost and ease of travel (neither of which is really an overwhelming ‘win’ by conventional standards) and being able to conquer more on each trip.

Cost: is it cheaper? Probably not. I’m sure if we really compared all the fees, they would end up roughly the same. Flying or training somewhere requires 6 tickets on main mode of transportation, plus the secondary cost of transportation to and from airport or train station (sometimes 2 separate taxis or even the astronomical cost of a 6 seater rental car), followed by transportation throughout town while visiting, and that can add up quickly. Conversely, the cost adds up quickly also when filling up our American beast car with Euro-priced gas and paying tolls and buying country-specific driving vignettes, but it has the added advantage of ease of travel.

Ease of travel: is any travel with 6 people “easy”? I say no, especially when only 2 are adults. Buuuuuuut, our car has become an unintentional security blanket for me. First, we can pack whatever we want…and we do! I’m sure everyone has heard me complain about the lack of A/C. Well guess what? If you take your own car, you can bring FANS! We also have a roof bag, so if we really want to overpack and bring every item we own, we can shove it up there without paying any extra baggage fees (Ryanair, I’m talking to you!). Plus the car is a great storage locker – we can keep it in there or take out as needed. (Though our lack of pre-trip organization sometimes leads to frustrating thrashing through bags and unloading everything to get the things we need when we need them. The when we need them part is what I desperately need to master in terms of packing).

Another huge benefit to driving is food. I mean kids need snacks, right? 😂 We (over)pack a bag full of car snacks and a bag full of easy-to-cook non-perishables like spaghetti and canned soups. It makes for kind of lame meals, but it fits in the car, saves a decent amount of money wasted on food the kids don’t eat. A super bonus is that the weird local milk we buy isn’t refrigerated so it travels really well (tastes better when cold though 😂).

But the main reason we love to roadtrip Europe is to exponentially expand what we can see. Our road trips aren’t just a point A to point B – they’re really a complex journey. We don’t just head to one place, we get to stop and see 5 different cities or regions on the way. If we flew, we’d be confined to a much smaller area and would miss out on so much.

Why don’t I like to fly?

I’ve already mentioned two reasons I don’t love to fly with my family – cost (x6) and limited travel radius. But the biggest frustration for me is the logistical nightmare of navigating taxis, shuttles, trains, airplanes with uncooperative children and more bags than we have people to carry them. We made our grand voyage to Europe via a transatlantic cruise that had all kinds of weather changes and I wasn’t sure how to pack. So I overpacked. Luckily I arranged for a large van to get us into the city, but for us to leave London to head to Brussels, we required 2 cabs to get us to the train station then we each carried like 12 bags, me while pushing a stroller and cat-herding the others. From the taxis, we took a Eurostar train to Brussels, then a local train to our sponsor’s house. Thank God they met us before the local train. I don’t know if I could have gone up and down platforms with those bags and the kids one more time. I may have cried when I saw them because the travel was so exhausting and overwhelming. That alone may have forced me into my love affair with my own car. Obviously there’s also an issue with packing skills, but I just can’t quite figure it out. My idea of need to bring and want to bring are messed up.

Why don’t Europeans ROADTRIP?

I’m not a European and have done zero actual research, but my observations are as follows.

The cost: gas is a lot more expensive here. It’s usually €1.70/L, which comes out to roughly $6.70/gallon. Then add in the tolls I mentioned and the country-specific driving vignettes. Pricey.

Pictured below is one set of our driving “receipts” (the vignettes). Best part is that we literally had to scrape all of them off at the end of the trip when we got a new windshield 😢 and they weren’t salvageable. The price range is usually €30-€40 per sticker and without the sticker, a lovely €150 or so fine awaits you (AP!).

The cars: not built for long trips. Obviously not all cars, but a LOT of European cars are smaller, more compact and much less comfortable. I speak from experience here. Our other car is a local 😂. In the past few weeks, we’ve done some travel without kids or with one or two kids, so we chose to drive the euro car since it has a much easier time parking and it is work. When you get there, you feel like you’ve been riding a darn motorcycle for hours.

The roads: this one is multi-faceted. First the laws generally require that you drive in the right lane, which leads to a situation where there is NEVER a comfortable driving speed. The drivers are quick to flash, quick to pass, scarily quick to merge back over and there is a ridiculously large range of speeds between lanes.

The roads also vary per country, as do the signs and the languages. So one country may have decent roads but the next does not.

Questionable GPS guidance – even with a European GPS. We routinely run 2-3 different GPSs at one time and have still ended up in some hairy situations – and let me tell you, you don’t realize how unnerving it can be to be totally lost in a really foreign country (especially ones with really unreadable languages) until you’re there and you also don’t have cell service 😮.

The cell service: This one is probably just a Cobb issue and likely not a reason that Europeans don’t roadtrip (again I did ZERO research), but if they have the service we have then maybe. I’m pretty sure we have the worst service of any company in Europe. Even with the law they passed last year that prevented roaming charges, I still get crazy charges for data use, which I need when I’m in another country (well, I don’t need Facebook 😂). What’s great here is that when I’ve reached some limit, they just shut off my service all together, which is really helpful and only seems to happen when you are really lost and need Internet.

Last thoughts

As I write this pro-roadtrip blog, we are a finishing up a 12 day Germany, Poland, Slovakia, and Czech trip. The trip has been an interesting one (along the lines of Lemony Snicket’s – series of unfortunate events) which one would think would have is question our choices to 1. Travel at all and 2. Travel by car, but that’s all for the next blog 😂.