I think you still remember our travel to Romania and Moldova, which Simon and I did a few weeks ago. It is about time to finally write more about the trip and our adventures on the blog.
We have decided to travel to Romania and Moldova with our 4×4 vehicle overland from Slovenia. If you ask yourself if 4×4 is necessary for traveling to Romania and Moldova, let me tell you it is not. So, why have we traveled there with it, if a normal car would be good as well and also much cheaper? Traveling with the 4×4 and having a bed inside gives us so much freedom, on which you just cannot put a price tag on. Unspoiled nature and wild camping somewhere in the middle of the forest, field or the coastline is something we miss having at home. The extra adrenalin, which comes with that, is just an icing on the cake, which we both like and enjoy in.
If you ask yourself, what was the reason to choose Romania and Moldova for our next travel, read more in the separate blog post here. We started our journey in Slovenia, as this is where we come from. We were driving for about 7 hours, before reaching Romania. I cannot really describe the drive, as I was sleeping most of the time. It is kind of strange, but as soon as I am sitting on a plane, in the car, bus or train, I immediately fall to sleep. Hmmm… Maybe the travel blog should get a new name, something like Nina sleeps and not Nina travels. 😉 Oh well, at least Simon gets some time out from my talking and singing while driving around.
To drive on the roads in Hungary and Romania, we first needed to buy a vignette, which is possible to get on-line. The price depends on the days, you need it. I must admit, that before reaching Romania, we did not know much about this country and we were actually afraid, we will not like it. But as soon as we made our first few kilometers there, we just looked at each other and smile. Waaaaw, this is Romania? What a wonderful surprise it was – good roads, picturesque towns, friendly people …what more could we ask for?
Our first day was nothing really special or adventurous, as after driving 900 kilometers we reached our final destination for this day only in the late evening. Finding a place to stay would be easy, as there are lots of hotels or pensions, but finding a camping place near the town of Cluj Napoca was a bit challenging. We did some driving around, but at the end we have found it and staid there for one night. The camping place was called Faget and it was nothing special, but it did have everything needed – even a free wi-fi. Unfortunately we forgot to take coordinates, so you will have to find it by yourself.
Before heading to bed, we cooked dinner and took a shower with hot water – what a luxury this was! I guess we were not happy to get into bed because our long drive, but more because what the bed in the car represents us – the feeling of adventure and the feeling of being on the road –love it! We felt asleep immediately and could not wait to get up tomorrow morning to see, what Romania has in stock for us – if we would not be bitten from the vampires of course 😉
Travel costs:
Camping for two: 35 LEI (8,75 EUR)
Hungarian vignette: 4.780 Ft (16,76 EUR) / 30 days
Romanian vignette: 30,81 LEI (7 EUR) / 30 days
Looks lovely. I think the best thing about road trip is being able to see all these beautiful but tiny places inbetween destinations.
Hi John, you are right, the best things about doing a roadtrip or a self-drive tour are all places inbeetween, which stay overlooked when traveling by public transport.