road trip

DonQui’s Tips for Road Trips

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Having been home for a couple of days, DonQui Oaty has been reflecting on his wonderful road trip through France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy (and also a tiny bit of Austria). He drove 3000 miles (well 2955 to be exact), took 1 month over it, stayed in some wonderful places, ate a lot of good food, and drank a lot of good wine (and beer too).
So what are his top tips for those readers contemplating a European road trip?

Your Car

The success of the trip hugely depends on your car. DonQui had his fully serviced a couple of weeks before leaving. If the tyres are still OK but becoming worn – replace them. Same for windshield wipers and anything else that is borderline. The last thing you want is to have a breakdown or spend time searching for a garage and try to get things fixed en-route.

The AA provides good advice of what you need to drive in various countries They also sell a kit containing some essential items such as safety triangle, high vis vest, UK sticker and other things you need when driving in many European countries

Paperwork

Obviously you need a valid up to date passport. DonQui is blessed to have an Irish passport and so does not have to contend with the myriad of new post-Brexit complications for non-EU passport holders. New visa waiver systems are coming into force soon which will apply to all non-EU passport holders entering Europe. The will make the already long delays at the channel even more fun.

Driving licence, car insurance certificate valid for Europe, and proof of car ownership (V5C logbook) are also essential. Donqui got into a bit of bother at the Swiss border when they were looking for some form he did not have, however with the above they did let him through. He still does not know what form they were after even after searching the internet. 

Also for both Austria and Switzerland you need to pay the road tax in advance. This can be done on-line or purchased from a service station just before the border. 

Insurance

Breakdown insurance covering all the countries you are travelling through is also pretty important. Fortunately DonQui dot not have to use his but he has in the past. Should something go wrong with the car you don’t want to be trying to find help in another language without a clue of where or whom to go to. 

The same is true for medical insurance. DonQui likes to think he is invincible but accidents do happen.

Pre-Book

DonQui is not a natural planner. He is very much spur of the moment. However pre-booking accommodation in Europe these days is essential if you want to stay in nice places — and DonQui does like to stay in nice places. He travelled in May-June. Although off-season many good places were booked out months in advance. This does mean sticking to a schedule but DonQui always pays a little more to allow cancellation should he wish to change his mind. 

He also advises pre-booking for exceptional restaurants and popular tourist sites. Some, such as Versailles, only allow visitors at pre-set times and prime times are filled days in advance. Others — Juliette’s house in Verona for example, do not sell tickets at the door. You have to book online in advance and carry the ticket on your phone.

Your Phone

These days almost everything from entrance tickets to parking requires the use of a smart phone. It is also hugely helpful for navigation. Therefore it is well worth paying in advance for a package that will not cost you an arm and a leg when downloading data.

Parking

Most street parking places in France and Italy (but not all) used the Easy Park App. Once downloaded and details filled in it was — well, easy to park. For those other places the instructions were relatively easy to follow with some available in English. A touch screen allowed payment by phone or card. In Germany, however, some meters still required coins.

Cash or card?

Pretty well everything in France can be paid for by card or phone. Not so in Germany. With only one exception, every restaurant that DonQui went to in Germany was cash only. He has experienced similar in Austria. So before entering the Germanic world, make sure you have plenty of Euros.

In Italy most places happily take cards but for smaller transactions they prefer cash. On a couple of occasions DonQui was told that they accepted cards but unfortunately their card reader was ‘broken’. So always useful to have a bit of cash in pocket.

Speaking of cards, many UK banks charge for every foreign transaction. It is worth having a card from a bank that does not do this as the charges can really add up. DonQui has an online account with Starling Bank which he uses for travel as they do not charge extra fees. Other banks do similar. It is worth setting up such an account in advance.

Short hops

One of the joys of a road trip is that the journey is a big part of the experience. DonQui likes to keep each leg relatively short to allow him the opportunity to stop off and visit places en-route as he did from Genoa to Arles. 

Most of his drives were about 3 hours (excluding stops). This made each leg not too arduous to allow not only time to explore along the way but also for a late start and early arrival. 

DonQui did have a couple of longer drives. Crossing the alps from Germany to Italy was five hours straight driving, taking seven hours to arrive at Verona after stops. This he found quite tedious, especially as the traffic around Milan was horrendous. The drive from Périgord to Versailles was also a bit too long to be enjoyable.

In future DonQui will try to limit each leg to 4 hours maximum (excluding stops). 

Really long trips can be broken up by a one night stay at someplace mildly interesting between the main destination points. Donqui did so at Arras, Genoa and Toulouse. None of these were places he desperately wanted to go to — they were merely stops along the way. In each case, however, he throughly enjoyed his quick stop-over.

For these quick one-night stops he found it handy to have a small pack which contained the overnight essentials so he did not have to drag all his baggage into the hotel.

Fine dining in Alsace

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Eating well in Alsace is not difficult. There is very little about Alsatian cuisine than DonQui does not love. On this trip he decides he will try some of the best. He has managed to secure reservations at two of the top restaurants in the region: Au Crocodile in Strasbourg and L’Auberge de l’Ill in Illhaeusern just off the Route des Vins about half way between Strasbourg and Colmar.

Au Crocodile gets its name from a stuffed crocodile brought back from Egypt by Captain Ackermann, one of Napoleon’s officers. It became a restaurant in 1840 and the original crocodile is still there on display.

Taking his seat DonQui is most impressed by the ambiance. There is an intimate feel the the restaurant and a sense of its history with the painting of 1840s Strasbourg dominating the dining room. The waiters are very knowledgeable and professional.

Feeling adventurous, DonQui opts for the chef’s ‘discovery menu’: starter, fish course, meat course and desert. It is less expensive than 3 courses à la carte but it is what the chef has decided with no indication of what that is. Even the waiters say they do not know the menu. So DonQui must trust the chef’s expertise.

The absolute highlight of the meal is the starter of snails cooked with speck in a sabayon sauce with cheese — and snail caviar on the side. The flavours are perfectly balanced and the snail caviar an interesting addition. It is far less salty than the more usual fish caviar.

A close second is the pollock with spring vegetables and wild garlic mousse. It is the wild garlic mousse that really makes it. DonQui has some wild garlic in his garden and will attempt to do something similar next year (it being too late in the season by the time he gets home). He is advised by the knowledgeable waiter to pick the wild garlic before the flowers come out.

Being a bit of a cheese lover DonQui cannot resist sampling a selection of cheeses before moving on to desert. The star of the cheeses is the local Munster, kept under a glass dome — no doubt to prevent the pungent aroma from permeating the dining room.

L’Auberge de l’Ill has more of a country feel which is appropriate given that it is out in the countryside far from urban development. This time DonQui orders à la carte.

The homemade terrine de foie gras is absolutely delicious.

As is the filet de veau main course.

Then comes flambéed crepes filled with cream and sour cherries. If that is not calorific enough there is also a side of ice cream! DonQui washes this down with a fine calvados.

Both restaurants provide excellent classic dishes without fuss and without trying to be too clever or ‘chefy’. DonQui finds each dish executed to perfection by confident chefs who have no need to show off.

So if he could only choose one, which would it be? It is a difficult choice because the food at both is wonderful. If he had to make a choice, DonQui would probably go for Au Crocodile because of the ambiance and highly professional service. Incidentally the price of his meal at Au Crocodile was less than at L’Auberge de l’Ill.

From Jungle to Desert

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After two weeks in Ecuador, DonQui sets off on the third leg of his around the world trip. Next stop Southern California. 

It is a long two day journey: canoe back up the Cuyabeno, car to Coca where he stays overnight, and then three flights in quick succession — Coca to Quito, Quito to Miami, and then on to Los Angeles. He only just makes the connection in Miami thanks to long queues at security and US immigration.

Hiring a car in LA, DonQui drives off towards the Mojave desert.

His first destination is Sacred Sands at the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. 

DonQui is more than pleased with his accommodation which is quite a contrast to roughing it in Amazonia.

Joshua Tree National Park is breathtakingly beautiful.

The iconic joshua trees look like a cross between a cactus and palm tree. They are in fact yuccas, which DonQui learns are somewhat bizarrely related to asparagus.

The rock formations dotted across the desert landscape are as impressive as the trees…

… none more so than the other-worldly skull rock.

The small town of Joshua Tree is very pleasant with an artsy, alternative vibe. DonQui finds souvenir shops selling crystals and incense underneath posters advertising spiritual retreats, yoga, sound healings and other sorts of new agey stuff.

The entrance to the Joshua Tree Saloon looks as if a bus load of hippies pulled up several decades ago and stayed. Quite probably they did.

Inside the saloon DonQui feels as if he has entered a movie set with a couple of characters from central casting making good use of the pool table.

DonQui settles in for a couple of hours to watch the locals and enjoy some very good food and beer.

DonQui had expected the desert nights to be cold but his arrival is timed with an unseasonal cold snap with high winds. As he leaves the saloon he is more than a little shocked to find it is snowing. This is not exactly what he had been expecting.