I've a fair amount of travel booked this year. My wife and I are kicking it off with a couple weeks in Europe.
We just made it to our place in Dublin. We're only here for the day; tomorrow we fly to Malta and after Malta for a few days, Sicily. Good times.
I'm very glad that all those years ago I learned RHD; that makes Dublin a lot more accessible. The rental is (good news!) a manual Dacia Sandero. I won't be driving in Malta but will be driving in Sicily.
Anyway, I left Phoenix and it was 104 and dry and sunny. Dublin is 52 and cloudy. Excellent.
Dang, a Dacia Sandero? You're living the dream. 
The Dacia is a delightful E36 M3box. Clutch is easy to work and the shifter shifts. It has no power and the brakes are grabby. No backup camera but it is small, so that helps.
Weirdly, though, it has no volume knob. In fact, the all the media (source, seek, volume) is controlled only and entirely by a stalk on the right side of the steering wheel. This makes it super annoying, especially when navigating traffic: The passenger cannot adjust the sound at all, in any fashion!
My wife and I are wandering around Dublin. Weirdly and completely by accident, we just walked into a cheese shop we visited last time we were in Ireland (2 or 3 years ago). I didn't even realize we were even in the same part of Dublin at all, let alone in the exact same place I've stood before.
On to Malta. Returned the Sandero. That was definitely a car. 64 horsepower out of a 1L 3-cylinder; the Romanians sure didn't set the bar high! Then again, the Sandero costs under 9k GBP brand-new and that's pretty astonishing. Expectations shouldn't be high at that price point, and it's hard to believe you can even deliver a car for that price.
We only had a few days on Malta but it was super interesting. Tons of history there!
Now we're in Sicily. Weather is beautiful and I'm enjoying a nice bowl of pipe tobacco. This isn't bad. The rental car - a diesel Opel Astra wagon - is a typical Euro E36 M3box, but who cares?
Back at 52N.
Well, 51N. I'm in London briefly before heading to Romania in a couple hours.
I like to travel but this is my third major intercontinental trip in 6 months. That's a bit much.
GRM is awfully quiet when it's daytime in Europe.
Jet lag is a bitch.
And now I'm in Bucharest. Tomorrow is the Transfagarasan highway!
Set-off point for the Tess rally in Brasov
That rally grid looks amazing!
That rally grid does look pretty sweet! I did the same thing on a trip this weekend, ended up somewhere I was last trip by accident lol
Headed to Poland soon, Inshallah
