To take it easy on our first day, we had a route planned to go south from the Budapest airport and connect to the main highway going west to Slovenia. Big surprise! There was a massive wreck on the bridge over the Danube River on that route, so Google map helpfully routed us right back to the center of Budapest - exactly where we had hoped to avoid. Another surprise, one wrong turn and we spent a couple of hours (crawling past another wreck, through alleys, etc.) to get back on route. 

Our leisurely introduction to motoring in Hungary was a pretty stressful ordeal. 

After that, the throughways were good, with easy on and off areas for services. 

Automatic cars cost significantly more to rent than stick shifts. There is just not that much demand for them and the rental companies say they cost a bit more to buy, but really, they just know they can charge more for them. We got one anyway, because we thought it would be easier and safer to have one rather than trying to use a clutch along with all the other challenges of the unknown roads.

If you get a car big enough to put your large luggage in the trunk, the good news is that your luggage will be out of sight of thieves, thus safer. The bad news is that that size car will be too big to fit down some small lanes and alleys you will encounter. We got a Toyota Corolla, which is not considered a big car in the U.S., but it is where we went in Europe. 

Study the traffic signs and laws before you take off. It is vitally important to know if a sign is telling you “No Parking” or “No Entrance.”

Google maps will mostly do a good job guiding you on throughways, but in towns it will sometimes route you down small lanes if that is technically the shortest route, but sometimes going an extra couple of blocks out of the way, would be far easier to traverse and probably get you there faster anyway.

Always have a navigator. There is no way you will be able to drive, look for road signs in a foreign language and make the correct turns. If at all possible, it would be good if your navigator was a native speaking local with a lot of tolerance for frustrated and yelling drivers (rather than one’ spouse, who will understand all of the yelling and probably not be as ……understanding, in the moment). 

Be sure you find out about tolls. Some can be prepaid by the rental car company, some must be paid when you enter a country and some are paid at toll booths. This can be very confusing. When in doubt, pay. 

Be sure you are covered with insurance. Your credit card might cover some or all. Just be sure you are covered. 

We really enjoyed the freedom we had to explore for a couple of weeks with a car.

We were sure to book hotels with parking. Trying to park in bigger cities is expensive and frustrating, but smaller towns were no problem.