Driving across the world can be an excellent experience, one you will likely cherish for quite some time. However, doing this is not as easy as renting a vehicle and then driving as far as you can. This effort will require real planning, planning that might take weeks to complete. If considering your great international road trip, especially over the vacation months, then you must keep a few things in mind for greater success. In order to kickstart your great automotive plans, consider the following, and you’re likely to see success on the other side.
Borders
Crossing borders can be a relative pain, and it will require a full and complete list of driving and personal documentation to cross. It might be in some instances you need to call ahead in order to make your arrival a little less unexpected. These borders can sometimes come with tolls, fines, and long waiting times. Borders are not only on the edges of a country, but can be within districts, zones, and maybe even popular cities depending on where you are at the time. Reminding yourself that you do not always have the right of way can help you attribute competent driving plans and backup plans to either enter or reconsider your ideal route.
It might not be that you enter the country via the border, but instead take a transportation method that might have you meeting a port authority. It’s important to know how to communicate and plan for this in advance. Check out this guide to shipping cars to Cyprus for example, for a clear and concise telling of the requirements of driving in a beautiful yet unfamiliar country.
Driving Regulations
Driving regulations vary from country to country, and again from zone to zone. Special documentation for international vehicles, a full and complete list of your car specifications, and of course multiple forms of identification and insurance information are important to bring along with you, as is a full and competent working knowledge of how the road rules behave in the country that you enter. Sometimes, it’s not enough to simply know which side of the road to drive on, but what words to look out for in foreign languages, and what forms of calculation they use to measure speed and other significant vehicle maintenance habits.
Vehicle Maintenance
Your vehicle maintenance must be consider if taking a long road trip, particularly in an area that you know little of. For example, backing up your GPS with another unit could be considered a safety contingency in case you get lost, as can keeping more than one map in the glove box. However, spare tyres, pressure gauges, spare oil, water for the cooling tank, a functional knowledge of your engine (at least shared by one of the party travelling,) and enough funding to see to issues or to rectify them completely is essential if you hope to travel long distances. Keep this as a priority if travelling long distances, but in unfamiliar territory you must prepare even more for any and all problems that could arise.
With these simple tips, you’re sure to be a little more competent in exploring the world, and will likely craft some excellent driving memories.
