Växjö – Prishtina. 3000 km+

In Croatia. Dubrovnik in the background.

I was originally going to fly. Just check in and letting somebody else be in charge would be making it easy for myself… Until one day when I realised that it would better to have my own car considering how much I had planned to move around once I’d arrived. I would become mobile, independent and free to go wherever I wanted at any time. It seemed like a good idea.

But… where should I sleep along the way? How much would the gas cost? Could I handle the traffic? Was it safe to go alone? Would the car be OK?

Some people thought I wouldn’t make it – it was too hard and unsafe. But most people supported it. I asked some diaspora Kosovoalbanians for advice. What was the smartest and fastest route?

They say that preparing is the most important part of a road trip. I didn’t prepare a lot… For example, I didn’t book any hotels before-hand (in Croatia I didn’t have any friends to stay with), I left home with a three year old navigator that stopped working south of Ljubljana due to old maps and didn’t buy a map of Europe until I reached southern Austria.

Instead, I focused on having a fully functional car. I…

• let an auto repair shop take a good look at the car
• checked that I had a first aid kit, warning traingle, extra motor oil, reflex vest, flash light, extra tank of gas, fire-extinguisher etc
• picked up an International Insurance Card, a so-called Green Card from my insurance company and other relevant car documents