Budapest and Back

[jbecks]

Hi all,

I've been very quiet lately with my house move and carrying out the work, but this weekend the wife and I needed to drive to Budapest and back for which she asked me what vehicle we would travel in. I choose my faithful Land Cruiser 95 series our other vehicle is a LWB Mercedes vito dual liner which is very nice as it has leather seats etc working air conditioning but as it is used mainly for my wifes business, it would have made things a little more difficult in the event of an accident or breakdown...Plus I find Japanese cars have the most comfortable seats, my previous 5 series use to cause me to start fidgeting after a few hours with lower back pains and sores.

So Google said it was 18hours drive one way...which ended up being nearer to 30! and the wife and I do not know where the other 9 hours went...we stopped for regular coffee breaks and I had a hour and half sleep but we encountered no traffic jams I noticed along the route quite often the satnav would get lost or loose signal and at one point around a junction which was closed due to road works it rerouted us so that may have been where the extra time went. we had around 6 hours sleep and drove back which took about 24 hours.

My truck was perfect and comfortable..no aches or pains and she never missed a beat, she was like an old donkey and kept chugging along laughing at all the miles we covered all that was required was a top up of oil, but is what I expected after running almost continuously for 55hours with just a 6 hour rest in between.

I have driven in America, North Africa, Middle East and Europe before but for some reason I never really noticed before the following;

Belguim, I hate belguim the place is evil and can see why the EU is buggered as its HQ is in this land of evilness. Petrol stations on their motorways are a rare sight and I had to visit 3 of them to find one which was open at 9pm on Friday evening ...I then had to pay first before filling up, just to walk back and get a refund they don't bother cutting the trees which block the road signs and they are terrible drivers I did find it amusing how they mostly seem to drive french cars and that on the side of the motorways are little laybys with a sign of a guy looking under a bonnet with a spanner in his hand...O and the place is Evil I tell thee...EVIL!

All through my trip in Europe I never saw any rubbish in the central reservation or on the hard shoulders which is depressing when you see all the crap that is littered down ours. I love the autobahns in Germany and think not having a speed limit works well and lorrys not allowed to overtake is great too! I think its also the reason why they have such great lane disciple and it illustrates just how bad most of the UK are when driving on our motorways! I never saw any middle lane scaletrix drivers in Europe...as soon as I get back to the UK, up the M20 and they are all driving up the middle lane on a clear road I also only saw one accident which involved 2 German police cars which I assumed may have been from a pursuit, however within an hour of being back on UK Soil all three lanes are closed on the M20 as a single vehicle managed to crash in the wet. Road rage seemed to be less as I was not shouted at and had a long blast from the horn when I made a mistake and cut someone up in Budapest, they also seemed to allow me into the right lane if I needed to move over.

Also what happened to Budapest? I thought it was once a nice old city? it looks really run down now and I felt like I was driving through a city like Cairo, I also never saw one Land Cruiser My truck got alot of looks from people in Germany and Hungary for some reason? anyone know why? the Germans seemed most amused by it some guy in Hungary gave my the thumbs up when he went past in his new looking E class so the old girl must have some sex appeal still

I'll start looking seriously for a 100 series next year I reckon

 

[Ben]

Interesting read.

You never mention what you had to go there for though.

If you think lane discipline is bad in the UK you should try driving on Australian roads!

Its terrible over here and theres no communication between drivers, no one flashes to let people in or out! If I flash to give way to some one they usually panic and think they've done some thing wrong.

 

[Bob]

Interesting that you mention getting looks from people, I noticed that too in Italy this year. Almost like they were happy to see it... Strange. Nice trip though.

 

[frank rabbets]

Belgium is a dump. Been there several times and the roads are terrible. In fact it is so terrible that the French thought Germans would never set foot there......twice.

 

[Firewout]

I agree! Roads over here are not really fantastic.
but what do you think about Duvel, Trappist, Hoegaarden, Gueuze, Jupiler, Westmalle, Liefmans, Dekoninck, Orval, Achouffe, Grimbergen and Leonidas, Jacques, Cote d'Or, Godiva....

grtz
wout
btw thanks for helping us out some 100 years ago....
btw2:in Belgium, tax & insurance is only 500€/year for an 80 series landcruiser....

 

[clivehorridge]

I've only been to Belgium once, to a beer festival in a coach. It was a long time ago and the return journey was just a blur, for obvious reasons...

Please don't knock UK drivers too much, here it's like a war, lane dancing, no lights on many old cars at night, certainly no indicators, well not at useful times anyway, and driver patience and curtesy at an all time low. The roads are small, windy, hilly and poorly maintained, all in all its a much easier life driving in the UK, IMHO.

 

[Julian T]

I also noticed that my 80 attracted a lot more attention in the Pyrenees and Hungary/Austria than it does in the UK, in Budapest I saw on more than one occasion people nudging their friends and pointing, even had a police officer stop traffic and wave us through, In the Tatra mountains (Slovakia) when I pulled over to take some scenic photo's I had a polish gentleman wanting to talk with me about Thirsty and where I had been with her.
Seems to me that our vehicles are better appreciated abroad than at home lol.

As for the driving, Budapest I thought was easier/better than London, the drivers in Slovakia are lunatics, Hungarians were not bad, Austrian and German drivers were the best, roadworks in Belgium delayed me but I thought the drivers were better than the French drivers and England was England.

 

[clivehorridge]

I often get locals come to talk to me about the truck. Their first question is the engine capacity, and the next is its consumption! They always wince when I tell them between 15 and 17 l/100km down to 20 offroad!

 

[Shayne]

I often get locals come to talk to me about the truck. Their first question is the engine capacity, and the next is its consumption! They always wince when I tell them between 15 and 17 l/100km down to 20 offroad!

I get the same about the Hummer , its thirsty yes but if your talking km to the gallon Clive there's very little difference in the Hummer's mpg

 

[Julian T]

I always tell people that you cant compare a 3 ton 4 lt 4x4 with a 1.5 ton 1.5 lt eco box for fuel consumption as they are built for a very different purpose, the 4x4 to be tough and take on any terrain and the eco box to be economical on good roads, just like you cant compare apples with oranges they are not the same lol.

 

[Tractionman]

Clive, in your description of drivers and driving in Romania, I could have sworn you were describing U.K. Had to re-read, lol !!

John

 

[wobbly]

I sold my Chevy Dayvan to a German guy who was retiring to Hungary, apparently its a bit like Spain for us Brits, but probably cleaner and better run.

Cant remember much about Belgium, must be almost 40 years since I was there!

Of all the roads in Europe, Portugal must be quietest, maybe followed by inland France or Spain.

Hired a car in Prague and returned it after 30 mins, fair scared the $hit out of me. Used taxis instead, which, if anything, was scarier.