The perils of driving in Europe

Travelling on the opposite side of the road, it seems so easy. Sure, you have to reverse 20 years of learned behaviour, turn into the opposite lane when turning into a road and check for oncoming traffic in the opposite direction, but overall the concept is the same.

At least, that’s what we assumed when we took to the road for our first time in Europe. Took to the right side of the road, that is, not the left, where we are so used to driving.

But so many people before us had braved driving on the opposite side of the road, how difficult could it be?

What we hadn’t anticipated was how difficult it actually is.

Oh and did I mention the gears? Of course we were driving a manual car, so had to recalibrate our thinking to changing gears with the right hand and hanging on to the steering wheel with the left.

We headed into the heart of Konstance, with its cobblestone laneways and traffic control signs funnelling all traffic – in both directions – into single lanes. And left with a minor scratch down the side of the car.

Not off to a good start, but we not to be deterred, we connected our satnav punched in our destination and left Konstance for Appenzell.

With a mantra of “stick to the right” and “look to the left” we followed the deserted country roads through the quaint towns of Germany, past the picture perfect – and clichéd - cow-filled meadows back into Switzerland.

We didn’t lose our nerve, not even when the satnav took us along roads we were certain were actually part of private farms, or urged us to drive straight ahead, when our road had clearly ended!

At least, we didn’t lose our nerve until we arrived in Appenzell, where the roads were built up again and the biggest problem? Turning right into a side street with a barge down the centre, try as we might we couldn’t get used to turning into the right lane of the road.

The car survived our stay in Appenzell – perhaps because we chose accommodation within walking distance of a train station, and left the car in the garage! 

The beauty of Konstance

After a night spent with family and a quick walk through Epalinges we were on the road again. This time we were headed for Konstance, just over the German border, with Jonathon. We had to stop at Zurich airport to change hire cars, but even with that stop, the trip probably only took about four hours. Coming from Australia, the thought of driving four hours into another country is unthinkable – it takes longer than that to drive into another state!

Again, the drive was stunning – past snow-capped mountains, castles and cow-filled meadows.

Konstance is a beautiful historic little town on Lake Konstance. The lake itself forms the border of Germany, Switzerland and Austria – what a position! We spent half the day meandering through the old town of Konstance, marvelling over the buildings which date back as far as the 1300s.

Full of cobbled streets and historic vistas, Konstance is an easy city to walk around. The old town is nestled next to the Lake, though the most interesting streetscapes are a short walk away from the Lake. Unfortunately the trainline intersects between the old town and the Lake, making it difficult to move between the two.

The city more than makes up for this slight inconvenience with its sheer beauty.

From the top of the Cathedral spire – 42 metres high – you get amazing views over the city and the lake. You can walk up higher, to the balconies in the spire – at about 56 metres.

I had to laugh as Adrian had an indepth discussion with a man on the balconies all about camera equipment – the man didn’t speak a word of English, Ade doesn’t speak a word of German, but they spoke the universal language of Canon!

Getting ready for Europe

Flights are booked and a rough itinerary is done, we’re off to Europe. We are so prepared this time; we’ve even booked most of our accommodation. This is in stark contrast to our usual travel style which consists of booking flights a few months before we leave, nutting out a rough plan of where we want to go and then turning up at the airport just in time to check in and board the flight.

I would not recommend this approach for anyone travelling to India! Somewhat foolishly, when we travelled to India a couple of years ago we arrived in Delhi at 3am and headed straight to New Delhi station to board a train for Gwalior. Fighting off Tuk Tuk drivers and keeping one step ahead of travel scammers is not easy after a 16 hour flight!