My Euro Trip Driving Experience

Recently my girlfriend and I decided to drive across the southern half of Europe. We spent weeks planning each stop and what we would do when we got there. We booked hotels, found the routes, and picked the attractions we wanted to see when we got to each location. We did not, however, foresee the actual driving through the downtown areas of major European cities as an obstacle. As an American from the Midwest, I am used to driving 70 mph on big long straight highways. I expected something similar in Europe. Of course, I was wrong… very wrong. For the most part, on the major highways, the driving was pretty stress free. The roads were a little narrower and you are only allowed in the left lane if you are passing another car. We drove through the Alps where we spent almost as much time in tunnels as we did out of them. Not a straight road in sight. The vistas however were magnificent. I got to drive a small turbo charged car that hugged the road harder than TMARs President of Vices gives bro-hugs. All was going very well until one night, driving through Italy, there was an accident. The road crew, very efficiently, closed off the highway and detoured traffic onto the back roads. At this point, the GPS decided that it did not like the route we were taking and repeatedly told us that we had to turn around and go back the way we came. So, we followed the rest of the traffic and ignored the GPS. After a quick stop, it was my turn to drive. We made the GPS take us a different route since, at that point, the traffic had left us behind and we were all alone. Let’s just say that I didn’t follow the GPS to perfection and ended up driving up a very narrow road. There were cars parked on one side and a tall granite wall on the other. Then, of course, a car came from the other direction. Having seen us, he pulled over as far as he could to let us pass. I was so concerned about hitting his car, that I never saw the wall come out and grab the mirror on the passenger’s side. Many expletives later, I pulled over and my girlfriend got out and retrieved what was left of the mirror. At this point, I would like to say that the car I was driving is her brand spanking new Mini Cooper 2-door hardtop S. When I got out of the car I looked at the damage. Luckily, all I did was manage to remove the outer cover of the mirror and not actually scratch the side of the car. This was the last time that I drove in Italy. We did make it back to our origin without further damage to the car. She even let me drive it again.

#Europetrip #roadtrip