Road Trip

After a night to rest in Shkodër, today was the day we were going to rent a car and begin our road trip through Albania. Transport throughout the country can be quite difficult without a car, while renting one isn't overly expensive. As a result, the three of us could split the cost of a car for a week and pay around €140 each. There were cheaper options available, but we had mates who had used this company before, and we were happy to pay a little extra to avoid getting stitched up with hidden fees.

From everything we'd seen, the roads through Albania looked hectic, so we decided to play it safe and get an automatic. This ended up being a hugely important decision. I'm not sure I would have survived driving through the cities in a manual with the craziness that happens on the streets. Not to mention, they drive on the other side of the road, which although not a huge issue, the gear stick being on the wrong side steering wheel is. Having to adjust to shifting gears with my right hand instead of my left would have been very challenging. In retrospect, the worst drive was the very first one. Because I was the only one over 25, all the insurance was in my name, meaning I was supposed to do the majority of the driving. So, I climbed into the car, drove it out of the rental place and headed towards the highway.

Unfortunately, the crazy drivers of the city don't suddenly become less crazy once they hit the highway. Additional lanes appeared along the shoulder whenever someone was in a rush, shepherds herded sheep along the side of the road, and people sold puppies through car windows while everyone was stuck in traffic. It was comical and stressful all at once, but genuinely a unique experience. And the roads are apparently even worse in the north of the country, so driving in general was just a bit chaotic from the moment we left. Before we left Shkodër, we also encouraged Erin to go to the hospital and get her cough checked out. She'd had two weeks of basically non-stop coughing, so she finally obliged. While she was there, Lewis and I watched some boxing - Diaz vs. Paul. It was basically an exhibition match, but I watched it anyway.

We then picked Erin up from the hospital and learnt the news: pneumonia. She'd been given antibiotics to treat it, but it meant she wouldn't be able to drink for almost the rest of the time we had together. Either way, she was very keen to get rid of the sickness and get back to normal. Eventually, we arrived at our first destination: Durrës.

We were mostly using Durrës as a stopover, but the main esplanade was really cool and surprisingly lively. Lewis and I wandered around while Erin stayed at home to recover from her pneumonia, which we still didn't fully appreciate the severity of at the time. We grabbed some groceries and headed back to cook up some dinner and get to bed. A classic backpacker meal of frozen vegetables, sauce and pasta was more than enough to keep us going. Nothing fancy, but it did the job.Read more