Romania
In Romania payment for the ride is almost always expected. The local currency is the Leu (exchange rate: 1 Euro = aprox. 3.5 Lei). It is still cheaper than trains and buses though. When hitchhiking, it's best to hold a sign with the name of the place you want to go. Try and pay the driver about 1Euro / 50km, though, this rate decreases as the distance grows. Also, you can tell the driver you don't have any money; 4 out of 5 people will take you anyway.
Cities in Romania
Number plates
Romanian license plate numbers usually have 2 formats:
- Regular number plates: XX-yy-ZZZ (black writing on white background, blue strip on the left, with the country code "RO" and the Romanian or EU flag)
- Temporary leasing number plates: XX-yyyyyy (red writing on white background, blue strip on the left, with the country code "RO" and the Romanian or EU flag)
Where XX is the two letter code of the county (see below), y is a random number, and Z a random letter.
There are also special number plates:
- diplomatic: TC-xxxxxx, CD-xxxxxx (blue writing on white background, blue strip on the left, with the country code "RO" and the Romanian or EU flag)
- Ministry of Internal Affairs: MAI-xxxxxx (blue writing on white background, blue strip on the left, with the country code "RO" and the Romanian or EU flag)
- Romanian Army: A-xxxxxx (black writing on white background, no other markings on the plates)
- some cities have special, internal, or local license plate numbers, usually used for machinery (excavators, rollers, public transport ...)
Where x is a random number.
County license plate codes
Alba - AB
Arad - AR
Arges - AG
Bacau - BC
Bihor - BH
Bistrita-Nasaud - BN
Botosani - BT
Brasov - BV
Braila - BR
Buzau - BZ
Caras-Severin - CS
Cluj - CJ
Calarasi - CL
Constanta - CT
Covasna - CV
Dambovita - DB
Dolj - DJ
Galati - GL
Giurgiu - GR
Gorj - GJ
Harghita - HR
Hunedoara - HD
Ialomita - IL
Maramures - MM
Mehedinti - MH
Mures - MS
Neamt - NT
Olt - OT
Prahova - PH
Satu-Mare - SM
Salaj - SJ
Sibiu - SB
Teleorman - TR
Timis - TM
Tulcea - TL
Valcea - VL
Vaslui - VS
Vrancea - VN
Bucuresti - B
