European Tourist Caching Transportation

[+TEAM US2]

A couple years ago I spent four months touring the USA to find the oldest active cache in each state. I was recently reading that Western Europe is about the same size as the continental USA and consists of 50 countries. This got me thinking about a quest to find the oldest active cache in each of those countries. 
 

Living in Florida and having my Jeep to tour (and sleep in) made my USA tour a test of endurance, but fairly straightforward. My question to the group is what kind of transportation should I plan for on a European tour since obviously I won’t be driving my Jeep. Rental car? Uber? Buy/sell a car to use while there? Public transportation? Hoofing it? 
 

I would like to hear from cachers who live in Europe as well as cachers living in the USA who have done this. For the USA cachers, how long did it take you to cache Europe? Thanks!

Edited August 16, 2023 by TEAM US2
Clarification

[+peter-tvm]

If you plan to find the oldest cache in all European geocaching countries there are 55 of them. That includes smaller self governing areas like Aland island, Guernsey, Jersey, Sark and Faroe Islands and countries like Ukraine, Russia and Belarus that you probably would like to skip visiting for a while.

27 of the countries belong to EU, some to Schengen, of the rest some are visa-free and some demands a visa.

 

With that in mind it will be necessary to use a mix of different kind of transportation getting around. 

There is a wide network of trains and buses. But that will get you to cities while the oldest cache might be in a remote area.

Low budget airlines is also a cheap way to travel around Europe.

Rental cars will probably have limitations on driving them outside of the country where they are rented. 

[+TEAM US2]

Thank you!!! I especially appreciate the reminder about visas! I had not considered them! So, I think I hear you suggesting to fly city to city and use buses/trains to get around. Is Uber/Lyft a reasonable option for more remote areas? I may need to lower my expectations and grab any cache in each country rather than going for the oldest active.

 

I would definitely pass on some areas, such as Ukraine and others. I was looking at GCJVHV near Sarajevo, Bosnia. In the cache description they warn not to go off trail because of land mines, but added that the trail was “probably” safe! I wasn’t sure if this was a serious warning or a bit of hype to make the cache seem cooler. Either way, I would stay on the trail for sure!

[+GerandKat]

13 hours ago, TEAM US2 said:

I wasn’t sure if this was a serious warning or a bit of hype to make the cache seem cooler.

We would take those warnings serious, the civil war was hell, and landmines are dangerous even decades after they were placed. 
 

 

15 hours ago, TEAM US2 said:

Buy/sell a car to use while there?

There might be limitations for foreigners buying a car with a lot of bureaucracy at least compulsory insurance, taxes and so on.
 

15 hours ago, TEAM US2 said:

Uber?

Don't count on the availability on uber in a lot of countries esp. with the old caches beeing  in quite remote areas. We've searched and found some of the oldest around europe, and  just a few of those countries have their oldest one within a city perimeter (Denmark, Gibraltar, Sweden, Liechtenstein (not quite in the city but not so far away))

 

[+capsai]

If you have time, for travelling in central europe, there is quite a dense network of long running international trains (EuroCity) and of course FlixBus.

 

In Germany, i would recommend the 49-€-Ticket, but i am not sure how an US-Citizen could buy this, because it is on monthly subscription basis. With this ticket, you can use nearly any local and regional train and public busses how often you want.

 

In big cities like Berlin, you can rely on public transport, but for more remote areas.... sometimes there are just a few busses a day.

 

Rental cars on the other hand are for sure an option, but keep in mind that most rental car companies have a fixed mileage per day and for every mile more, you have to pay, and centrally located rental car facilities have very stupid opening hours.