#KUGAdventure : Poland to Lithuania roadtrip

Animated hands are embellishing another of Anastasia’s wonderful ‘short’ stories as we navigate the route out of Warsaw and into the wilds of Eastern Europe…  We are, as would become customary for us on this road trip, running late from the off, on this occasion due to that stop in the old town.  I have already spoken (literally) with the Kuga sat nav and plotted our destination.  Gliding through the golden tree lined roads perhaps a little faster than we should be, perfectly at ease in cosy cream knit matching the Vignale’s hand crafted interior.  And the 500km roadtrip from Warsaw, Poland to Vilnius, Lithuania begins…

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jumper – French Connection   |   jeans – American Eagle
kickstart sneakers – Keds
Ford Kuga Vignale

   

Somehow I was not quite convinced that Ford would really hand over the keys and leave us to it, crossing borders, navigating from the other side of the road and deciphering directions in another tongue.  Pre travel I convinced my anxious mother there would almost certainly be a guide accompanying us.  I lied.

Opportunities like these are what make us, or break us I suppose, and I like to think of myself as a yes girl.  And if you’re going to send me an email with a hashtag including ‘adventure’, then we’re going to get along just fine.  So with a car that basically parks himself and brakes when he thinks you’re getting dangerously close to that traffic in front, what could go wrong?  Well, as much as I would love to exaggerate for the sake of a good story, nothing it seems.

Arriving in the lake district near Augustow and a wave of a muddied white sneaker (you know, photoshoots) under the hands free tailgate later, we were carrying our almost certainly oversized luggage (again, the photoshoots) into the hotel…

The next morning brought more gutsy weather, aka freezing sideways rain, and a new ride, the Kuga ST Line.  A red sporty number, I was naturally feeling somewhat smug that somewhere in the depths of my giant case were my co-ordinating pieces, the red accented Barbour Kelsall and Sorel boots.

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kelsall jacket – Barbour   |   breton top – Boden
leather pants – Boden   |   major moto boots – Sorel
cornforth bag – Radley
Ford Kuga ST Line

Naturally a hot chocolate old town pitstop, a fast forming tradition, was happening and this time over the border in Kaunas.  Ask the Kuga to ‘find parking’ and he will, what a guy.  All those autumn trees and the beautiful old architecture…  we were chatting and snapping and forming the kind of firm friendship that surely can only be developed on road trips.  And was it possible that this country was colder than the last?  Back in the Kuga the heated seats were toasting our buns and the steering wheel thawing my fingers and it was dawning on us that crossing the border had literally stolen an hour, damn time difference, and, with just an hour to gate closing and 100km to cover, the race to the airport was on.

We made it of course and it was an adventure, not only for us but for the anxious Ford team at the airport and now, a 48 hour blur later, we have these photos and our memories and perhaps a slew of speeding fines in the mail…

   

With thanks to Ford for the adventure.  Outfit photos by Anastasia.