Some thoughts on crossing Europe by car...

In order to get to our new home in the south of France, we crossed Europe in a 1996 Volkswagen Polo that we had just purchased in Finland. It took us three days to cover the 3,000 km. Here was our route:

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And here are a few thoughts about our adventure, in no particular order:

• Motorways are fast. Ok, I know that's obvious. But we got to appreciate this more than ever here. Our first leg, from Tallinn to Warsaw, was roughly 1,000 km so a third of the trip. But with hardly any motorways, it took us 18 hours to complete, compared to 12 hours on the other days, which were all motorway.

• Motorways are boring. Well that's the downside, isn't it? Overtaking is way too easy so for driver and passenger alike, it's not much of an experience. 

• Not much nice scenery to report. Exceptions were north-eastern Poland, Bavaria, and parts of France.

• Here were the CDs we had with us: I'm With you (Red Hot Chili Peppers), The Blues Brother (Soundtrack), Ouvert à Double Tour (La Rue Kétanou), The Best (The Doors), The Beatles Nova (Auguścik Grażyna, Garcia Paulinho), Live at Montreux (Paul Rodgers & Friends), Yellow Page Girl (Eeppi Ursin), Remasters (Led Zeppelin), and Ella sings Jobim (Ella Fitzgerald).

• The cheapest petrol, by far, could be found in Estonia.

• German autobahns have speed limits these days. But many people don't seem to pay any attention.

• Going for a run in the morning before setting off from Germany was a great idea. One of the hardest things on the trip was to be sat still for so long. This helped a lot.

• Even though we complained a lot about how long each day was taking, we are sad that it's over. It was quite an adventure!