Getaway to Tallinn

On Valentine's Day I went to Tallinn with my husband for one day. This time the kids stayed home with my parents. We have visited Estonia and especially Tallinn many times with the whole family. There are fun things to do and it's not very expensive.

One day getaway without kids

We took our car on the ferry, and traveled two hours to Tallinn. It's really handy to live nearby Helsinki, because you get to Estonia in only a few hours. In one day we had the opportunity to relax, sleep well, eat a nice breakfast an do some shopping.

Usually we go to the same hotel, because the spa there is really good. So we went to Hotel Kreutzwald and had a lava stone massage.

I didn't have much time to take pictures. The weather was also mostly a bit gray.

Do you have a favourite place or hotel in Tallinn?
 

Next week I will write again about our road trip.

Toll roads in Europe

There are quite a lot of toll roads in Europe. Toll roads are mostly motorways, expressways or ways that travel through tunnels.

From here it's possible to see all toll roads and estimate the expenses.

Europe toll roads

In a couple of places you may need to purchase a Vignette (toll sticker) instead. Tolls are paid in proportion to the distance traveled on each toll, especially this is so in Italy and France. In Denmark and Sweden it's mainly the major bridges that carry tolls.

There are usually options provided for cash and credit card payment, you have to choose the right lane for preferred method of payment.

Are the toll roads expensive? Some of them can be. For example in France the toll roads from Calais to Nice costs about 108 €.

Here you can find all important information about tolls roads in Europe.
Highway tolls in Europe

The route for road trip

Now it's time to start planning the route for our road trip. Which roads have the best landscapes?

Skyscanner listed the 20 best European road trips in 2019

• Germany: Autobahn
• Germany: Route 500
• Ireland: Ring of Kerry
• Italy: Amalfi Coast
• France: Les Corniches
• France: La Route Des Grandes Alpes
• Norway: Trollstigen
• Switzerland: Klausen Pass
• Portugal: Estoril Coast Drive
• France: Route Napoleon
• Germany: Romantic Road
• Italy: Great Dolomite Road
• Switzerland: Furka Pass
• Norway: Atlantic Road
• Italy: Stelvio Pass
• France: Col de Turini
• Romania: Transfagarasan (DN7C)
• Portugal: São Miguel Island
• Portugal: The Algarves
• Iceland: Ring Road

Exciting, can't wait to plan the route for our road trip in Europe.

This Friday, on Valentine's Day we'll make a short getaway with husband southwards.

Speed limits and car equipment

Amazing, it's already February and our road trip is getting closer.

Now it's time to think about speed limits in different countries and car equipment.

Speed limits

In EU Member States there is a general speed limit for motorways. The speed limit is mostly 120 or 130 km/h. Germany has a recommended speed of 130 km/h and no general speed limit for motorways. For rural roads the general speed limit in EU Member States is mostly 80 or 90 km/h and for urban roads 50 km/h.

List of speed limits throughout Europe

Car equipment requirements

From 1 July 2012, all cars in France must have a working breathalyser in it, ready to be used.

Compulsory or recommended equipment for European countries:

• First Aid Kit
• Fire Extinguisher
• Warning Triangle (compulsory in most European countries)
• Spare Bulbs
• Headlamp Adjustment

The requirements are a bit different for every country.
Car equipment requirements

Driving from Denmark to Sweden last Summer

Navigation system for road trip

What kind of car GPS navigation system is good for a road trip?

In my home country I use only my smartphone and Google Maps. There is no need for a car navigation system. When going to another country, only a smartphone might not be enough. And especially when the route is planned in advance, the easiest way to reach the daily destination, is a car navigation system. It's not fun to get lost on a road trip!

The problem with having only a smartphone is that the smartphone depends on internet connectivity and battery power.

Some important features for navigation system:

• Route planning and way points
• To get you to the destination
• Traffic updates
• Offline maps

There are navigation systems with more features than others. We have a quite basic TomTom and will use smartphones too on our road trip. TomTom has been travelling with us in Estonia, Great Britain, Sweden and Denmark. And it has usually taken us to our destinations. Sometimes with the help of smartphones if the GPS signal has been lost.



There are features in this one, that could useful:

• accurate traffic information (routes can be planned around traffic)
• Lifetime World Maps (with road changes and revised speed limits updates)
• Smartphone Messages

Another nice one could be:
Garmin DriveSmart

This one has:

• Driver alerts for dangerous curves, speed changes, railroad crossings, school zones, speed cameras, fatigue warning and more

• Live parking information for on and off street parking at your destination.

Well, our old TomTom will be just fine. 

TomTom on the road

Driving home today.

The 10 Best Car GPS Navigation Systems 2020

Best car GPS 2020; 13 devices for road trips and daily commutes

Equipment for road trip

There is equipment for the car, that can be useful on a road trip.

I took a step outside my comfort zone to find out about the equipment. To be honest, the first time I heard the word "dash cam", was last Summer. My brother in law bought one for his road trip.

To be honest, usually hubby takes care of the car equipment. It doesn't matter. I guess I can learn these things too?

Challenge accepted!

Dash cam

A dash cam is relatively inexpensive. It records a variety of data and stores it for a period of time. The camera is mounted on the dashboard of your car and it records sounds and images while you are driving. The data can be used later to prove that you're not at fault in the event of an accident.

That's why we have already bought a dash cam for our road trip. Our camera is an inexpensive one. Now I will test the image quality.

Testing the HD Car Camera

Reading the manual

Dash cam ready to go

Watching video from computer

Test results

It was really easy to use the camera. All I needed to do was to insert the charger end of the car charger into the car's power socket. The dash cam started recording immediately when the engine had started. 

The quality of the video was ok. I tested it at daylight, wouldn't count on this one for nightlight. No GPS tracking in this camera,  

Best dash cams to buy

8 Strong Reasons Why Should You Consider Buying A Dash Cam

Amazon Best Sellers

Other useful things:

• USB and Triple Socket  (when you need many devices; navigator, dash cam etc.)

• Multi-Device Car Charger
• First Aid Kit
• Compressible Pillow
• Blanket
• Sunglasses

Navigator

Let's take a look at navigators next week.

Road trip plans

Life is an adventure.

We decided to buy a Mercedes-Benz (320 CLK Cabriolet) that was available in Spain. This car is owned by my brother-in-law and his wife, who live in Spain. They don't need it anymore, so now it's (almost) ours. We only need to drive it home from Spain.

Instead of buying an all inclusive holiday, we will do a road trip in Europe. We will cross about 10 countries on our way home, and our two kids (age 5 and 9) will see changing views from the windows. On our way home we try to find interesting places where to stop for a while.

We have already booked flights to Malaga for next Summer. The route will be something like Spain-France-Italy-Switzerland-Germany-Poland-Lithuania-Latvia-Estonia-Finland.

Now it's time to start planning!

Starting from next week I will write about things, that are good to know when planning a road trip.

They are:

- equipment needed in the car (dash cam)
- speedlimits in different countries
- comparing navigators
- emergency numbers, police
- payment methods
- roadworks
- road trip route
- travelling with kids
- facts about the car
- car maintenance
- attractions

I will post the route plans when we now more about them.

Do you have any tips or suggestions for the road trip route in Europe?

Sledding in Finland

I wish it would snow! This Winter we haven't seen much snow. So it was good to drive a bit north to visit relatives. We enjoyed the snow and the kids wanted to go sledding.

The first sled hill was in Pieksämäki. It was a bit icy, still good for sledding.

The next day our sled hill was in Jyväskylä. My personal favourite. I tried it too, and it was fun!

Now the holidays are over. I'm starting to write about our road trip to Europe next week.