Romania
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Information | |
Language: | Romanian |
Capital: | Bucureşti |
Population: | 22,276,056 |
Currency: | Leu (RON) |
Hitchability: | (very good) |
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Romania is one of the newest members of the European Union, located in South-East Central Europe. It shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova to the northeast, and Bulgaria to the south.
In Romania payment for the ride is often expected, although foreigners often aren't asked for anything. People expect to be paid for giving a ride, but if you tell them in advance that you are unable to pay, 1 out of 2 will take you anyway. It is still cheaper than trains and buses though. The local currency is the Leu (pl. Lei). When hitchhiking, it's best to hold a sign with the name of the place you want to go. The most common method is using the 2-letter county code for the place you want to go.
Getting a ride can sometimes be difficult, as some of the cars that pass seem tiny, ancient and packed with more people than there are seats. This is probably due to the low rate of car ownership in some areas, and the fact that hitching is still a common way for locals to travel, particularly in the country. Getting a lift in a truck is fairly rare in Romania compared to the surrounding countries.
Romania has a long established hitchhiking tradition from the communist era. Back then, few people had cars, and there was a constant fuel shortage, so sharing a ride was the best way to get from A to B.
Romania has very few kilometers of real highway. You can stand directly on the national roads and thumb, though junctions are always best because cars go more slowly there. Don't drink the tapwater(explain why?? i think it's good in Transylvania, but bad in every other region)!!
Language
Romanian is one of the few non-Slavic languages of Eastern Europe. It uses the Latin alphabet and is related to French, Italian, Spanish etc. Speakers of one of these languages will find it easier to pronounce and understand Romanian.
Regions
Cities
> 1.000.000: Bucureşti
300.000–500.000: Cluj-Napoca • Constanţa • Iaşi • Timişoara
100.000–300.000: Arad • Bacău • Baia Mare • Botoşani • Brăila • Braşov • Buzău • Craiova • Drobeta-Turnu Severin • Galaţi • Oradea • Piatra-Neamţ • Piteşti • Ploieşti • Râmnicu Vâlcea • Satu Mare • Sibiu • Suceava • Târgu Mureş
Roads
The roads are very outdated. There are only 3 motorways in all of Romania:
- The A1 going 127 km from Bucureşti to Piteşti – the only fully operational motorway in Romania
- The A2 or Sun's motorway, going 204 km from Bucureşti to Constanţa – only 75 % completed
- The A3 or Transylvania motorway, going 588 km from Bucureşti to the border with Hungary – under construction, due 2013
Most of the other roads are in poor condition, the European routes being the best. Even so, hitching a ride is quite easy, especially on the major European roads that get a lot of traffic.
Number plates
The most used type of license plate uses a cc-99-xyz format, where cc is the 2-letter county code, 99 a random 2-digit number, and xyz 3 random letters.
It's quite possible to see Bucharest registered plates (B-99-xyz) all over the country, as all the leasing companies are based in Bucharest, and people are obliged to use Bucharest plates while their cars are in leasing.
County license plate codes
County | Code | Residence | County | Code | Residence | County | Code | Residence | County | Code | Residence |
Alba | AB | Alba Iulia | Buzău | BZ | Buzău | Gorj | GJ | Târgu Jiu | Prahova | PH | Ploieşti |
Arad | AR | Arad | Caraş-Severin | CS | Resiţa | Harghita | HR | Miercurea Ciuc | Satu-Mare | SM | Satu-Mare |
Argeş | AG | Piteşti | Cluj | CJ | Cluj-Napoca | Hunedoara | HD | Deva | Sălaj | SJ | Zalău |
Bacău | BC | Bacău | Călăraşi | CL | Călăraşi | Ialomiţa | IL | Slobozia | Sibiu | SB | Sibiu |
Bihor | BH | Oradea | Constanţa | CT | Constanţa | Ilfov | IF | Bucureşti | Teleorman | TR | Alexandria |
Bistriţa-Năsăud | BN | Bistriţa | Covasna | CV | Sfântu Gheorghe | Maramureş | MM | Baia Mare | Timiş | TM | Timişoara |
Botoşani | BT | Botoşani | Dâmboviţa | DB | Târgovişte | Mehedinţi | MH | Drobeta Turnu-Severin | Tulcea | TL | Tulcea |
Braşov | BV | Braşov | Dolj | DJ | Craiova | Mureş | MS | Târgu Mureş | Vâlcea | VL | Râmnicu Vâlcea |
Brăila | BR | Brăila | Galaţi | GL | Galaţi | Neamţ | NT | Piatra Neamţ | Vaslui | VS | Vaslui |
Bucureşti | B | – | Giurgiu | GR | Giurgiu | Olt | OT | Slatina | Vrancea | VN | Focşani |
Border crossings
Ukraine
There is no border crossing between Ukraine and the Danube Delta region of Romania. Travelers going between eastern Romania and southern Ukraine must pass through Moldova. There are private boats that may ferry travelers, but they ask into the hundreds of euro for the service.
Moldova
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