What I learned from driving 4500km through Europe with an electric car

- 'What?! Are you crazy?' This was the most common reaction of people when we told them that we'd drive an electric car from Finland to Cyprus this summer.

It wasn't the first thing that came to my mind either when planning our summer holidays. But when Serdar asked me if I'd go on a big European road trip and bring an electric car to Cyprus, I didn't hesitate. Even though I had been longing for a staycation doing absolutely nothing after a very busy and demanding year, the thought of such a trip brought the adventurer out in me and I immediately started to think about all the places we could visit on our drive. Our journey would go through 10 countries!

I'm not going to lie - I love traveling. It's my zest in life. It's why Lyfta was born. I love the thought of going to places I haven't been to before, meeting new people and learning new things. I also love having to use my problem-solving skills and challenge myself outside of my comfort zone.

But most of the time I do that kind of travel on my own. This time we were going to do it with a 10-year old, who doesn't like to sit still (unless he is playing a video game). But we knew that it was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip that he'd be talking about in years to come. Sure he'd be frustrated and difficult at times but so would we. Armed with some great tunes, games, an ipad and plenty of snacks we'd manage anything!

Helsinki - Travemunde (ferry)

We set off on July 30th from Helsinki on a cargo ship that took us and our car from Helsinki to Travemunde in Germany. Being on a ferry for 32 hours was a novelty for Jaxon who had never been on one before. We enjoyed fun shows by a magician, visited the sauna and jacuzzi and ate too much at the buffet. We also watched about 15 episodes of Young Sheldon in our cabin :)

Travemunde - Berlin: 315km

Our first stop in Berlin was brief. Berlin is a city we both love and we had hoped to stay in a bit longer but after a doner kebab with a good friend and some shopping we set off for Prague. We didn't manage to charge the car in the hotel we stayed at, despite them offering electric charging. So after a stop at a Tesla supercharger in Berlin, we were off.

Berlin - Prague: 350km

The journey to Prague is only about 4 hours and we just made our restaurant booking at 9pm. Prague was very special. We had some really menacing, dark clouds on our way there that made the entrance to the Bohemian city even more enigmatic. The last time Serdar had been there, he had landed there in a really bad thunderstorm.

The restaurant we ate was right next to Charles Bridge and served some traditional Czech dishes with a modern twist. They even had wine for kids!

The old town in Prague is magnificent. It was my first time there and it certainly won't be the last. We had a short walk, took in some of the main sights and stopped to marvel at Czech donuts that are made with almond and barbequed on a skewer rather than deep-fried. Somehow it makes them feel healthier ;)

Prague - Budapest (via Slovakia): 525km

Our next stop, about a 6-hour drive away, was Budapest. Our route went through Slovakia, but we didn't stop there so we can't really claim to have been there. In Budapest we stayed with the principal of Budapest International School and his wife, who also teaches at the school. The school has recently started using Lyfta so it was exciting to be able to stay with a new customer :) David and Hillary recommended an amazing thermal bath (Palatino) on the Isle of Margarita, so we headed there for the day and had the best time, trying out the massage pools, the wave machine and some Hungarian fast food. David and Hillary were wonderful hosts and they treated us to a lovely barbeque in their gorgeous garden. The next day it was time to continue our journey to Serbia.

Budapest - Belgrade: 380km

I had caught a cold in Budapest the previous day and I was nursing a cold for the drive to Belgrade and in the days to come. Serdar took one for the team and ended up driving about 80% of the way. We arrived in Belgrade in the afternoon, where we had booked a lovely bed and breakfast that was recommended by one of my best friends in Finland. Smokvica B&B https://smokvica.rs/en/smokvica-bb-2/ is a gorgeously decorated old townhouse in a cute neighbourhood in Belgrade. Dotted with small hipster coffee shops and bars, where the young cool clientele would bring their dogs, and drink oat lattes, it reminded me of Cihangir neighbourhood in Istanbul. Our B&B also had one of the best restaurants in it, so we stayed and had dinner in the atmospheric garden. I warmly recommend a stay there if you are traveling to Belgrade.

Belgrade - Thessaloniki (via Skopje, North Macedonia): 670km

This was going to be our longest drive so far. And also the most unknown and unplanned. Until the night before we were deliberating over whether to drive via Bulgaria to Turkey or go through North Macedonia to Greece. We had heard from several people about police corruption in Bulgaria and the risk of being stopped by police asking for bribes. So we decided it would be North Macedonia and Greece. We set off around 9am from Belgrade. Due to the lack of fast chargers in the city centre, we had to make a stop pretty soon after leaving the city. By this point on our trip, we had been quite successful in finding Tesla superchargers that charge the car very fast, and had learned that they are usually located within big outlet malls or at hotel carparks.

On the border to Macedonia we had our first challenge. We hadn't done any research about driving in the country and as Serdar had bought European car insurance, we just assumed it would be included. We were wrong. The border officials told us we needed to purchase a green card for 50 euros. They only accepted cash though and the nearest cashpoint was 2km down the motorway in Macedonia. Which we couldn't drive to because they wouldn't let us through. There was a moment when we thought we'd have to turn back and change our plans, until I remembered that I had a 5 pound note in my wallet, and that prompted Serdar to remember that he had 40 pounds in his jeans pocket. We dug out all the cash we had and went back to the counter. They accepted our pounds and gave us our green card. I still can't believe that we were so lucky to find the exact amount!

Our second challenge happened in Skopje. We needed to charge the car again, in order to have enough battery to get us to Thessaloniki that night. If you are planning a road trip to North Macedonia with an electric car, I suggest doing your research on chargers. There are very few around. We used an app called ABRP that works Europe-wide and shows all the electric chargers that are available and shows you where and when you need to charge the car when traveling from A to B. The only fast charger we found in my app was located at a Porsche dealer in Skopje. Google told us it would close at 6pm. So we raced down and arrived there at 5.20pm, to find out that the chargers were locked up as the dealer actually closed at 5pm. Despite our pleads, the staff told us to come back in the morning. We started to drive off and suddenly a man appeared at our window and told us to open it. He told us that there is another charger in the town which noone knew about. He gave us directions to it, as it apparently doesn't show up on Google. Armed with his directions in a city we've never been to before, and slightly unsure if he was telling us the truth, we did find the charger, at the back of a service station. Hurrah! The instructions and payment page was all in Macedonian of course, so with the help of Chat GPT we finally managed to get the car charging. Having had these experiences, what is mind-boggling to us is why each electric charging point has its own website or app that you need to register for. Why can't it be just like a petrol station where you fill up and tap your card to pay? It definitely could do with some more service design!

We drove all the way to Thessaloniki that night, through the mountains of Macedonia, in the dark. It ended up being a 13-hour driving day and as we arrived we all fell into bed.

Thessaloniki - Istanbul: 600km

Feeling weary and tired from the long day, we didn't feel like another big drive the next day. So we thought we'd drive as close to the Turkish border as possible and stay somewhere overnight. After a lunch and a short walk, we set off from Thessaloniki around 2.30pm. It was all going well so we thought what if we did drive all the way to Istanbul. Instead of spending another night somewhere, we could just wake up in our friend's house and relax the whole next day, so we pushed on. The queues and formalities at the border took over 3 hours. When we eventually got over the border hurdles around 10pm we decided to stop and eat something at a small kebab house and charged the car up. It was a long night. We arrived at our friend's house in Istanbul at 3am. But we would have two full days to rest up.

Istanbul - 2 rest days

After 27 hours of driving in the last 2 days we were shattered. Serdar had done all the driving as well because I was feeling sick. Jaxon had been extremely patient, especially during the long wait at the border. We rewarded ourselves with lots of rest and some good food. Istanbul is a city we know very well, having lived there for nearly two years in 2012 - 2013. It felt good to be back in a familiar city where we knew the language and our way around.

Istanbul - Bodrum: 725km

Time to push on, we set off at 7am towards our next destination, Bodrum. Bodrum is a gorgeous part of Turkey, a peninsula on the southwest coastline. It was our first time there and we were staying for 4 nights. Another 12-hour drive later, we arrived at our hotel in the southern corner of the peninsula. We found that the charging network in Turkey is very well organised and efficient. We could find lots of fast chargers and were able to book them ahead of time via an app. By this time, we had become pros with time management, and the journey felt easier and smoother than in previous days. Roads were a mixture of amazing big motorways to small windy country roads passing through sleepy villages. Our days in Bodrum were blissful and the cool Aegean sea washed away our tension and gave us the energy for our final leg of the journey.

Bodrum - Tasucu (with a stopover in Alanya): 820km

Tasucu, a small coastal town in South-Eastern Turkey is where boats to North Cyprus depart. The distance was over 800km from Bodrum and almost all of it was on small roads, some that climbed up high on mountains, where speed limits were between 30 - 50km / hour. This meant we needed to stay for a night in Alanya. On Wednesday the 14th of August we finally arrived in Tasucu and got on a small ferry that transports people and up to 12 vehicles. 3 hours later we disembarked in Kyrenia, our hometown in Cyprus. It felt almost surreal to step on Cypriot soil after 16 days, and 4500km of driving. We were home and so happy and relieved to be here.

There is something symbolic about driving from my country of origin to Serdar's country of origin. Would I do it again? Probably not. But I'm so glad we did it, as we experienced lots of new things, and spent a lot of time together as a family. More than ever before. This brought us closer and despite a few difficult, frustrating moments, more of the trip went really smoothly and we can proudly say that it's possible to drive an electric car across Europe. I'm starting to plan my next staycation now :)