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The Last European: Romanian Driver Navigates the Soul of the EU
- RoboSeldon 11y agoOthers were back in Romania only briefly because they needed to take care of paperwork in Budapest. Hilarious that the author thinks Budapest (this is the capital of Hungary) is in Romania :). Maybe he thought of Bucharest.
- jacquesm 11y agoBucharest and Budapest are often confused.
- RoboSeldon 11y agoI know :) but I still find it amusing. In a similar vein, in most Hollywood movies Romanians are presents as thugs, but with Russian names.
- neokya 11y agoIt is indeed confusing. Looks like proof readers also missed it.
- vixen99 11y agoNo, hilarious is your not bothering to read the article properly. Budapest and Bucharest are each mentioned exactly once and appropriately in context. "A Hungarian police car stops the bus shortly before Budapest, and once again demands €200" and " Others were back in Romania only briefly because they needed to take care of paperwork in Bucharest."
- jacquesm 11y agoThese vans are the most dangerous cars on long car trips to and from Romania. I've done quite a few of them and I don't think there was a single year when I wasn't either nearly pushed off the road by one who misjudged how much time it would take to overtake or where I've seen one of them upended in the ditch or in some other curious location (the one that I remember most clearly was one that had overtaken me about an hour previous that had somehow managed to cartwheel and land with the rear wheels over a pretty steep drop on top of the guardrail). These guys should really drive at least with two drivers on those long trips if they are going to do it nearly non-stop, 3 hours of sleep really isn't enough to maintain your driving abilities, that's just playing the lottery. The corruption (both the Hungarian and the Romanian variety) described in the article is very real, I've seen this many times up close and it is a source of much frustration with me. If not for that element Romania would have a much better chance to keep its talent and to move ahead.
- shimshim 11y agotwo drivers with what money to pay them?
- jacquesm 11y agoCheaper than a bunch of funerals. 100 hours of solo driving in 4 days should be simply classed as 'reckless' and should result in your license being taken away before you kill a bunch of people. Especially when also transporting passengers.
- Oletros 11y ago> that makes for 8,000 kilometers of driving, 100 hours at the wheel in a bit more than five days. And the article calls him a hero?
- mnglkhn2 11y agoRomanians are to EU what Latinos are to US: running and fighting for a chance to improve their lot in life, whichever way they know how.
- vixen99 11y agoYou know enough to make that generalization? Romania pop. 22m. came 13th in the 2015 Int. Math Olympiad while the UK pop. 60m. came 22nd. I mention this because there's a more interesting story among others which follows from that.
- InclinedPlane 11y agoYou seem to assume that the parent post was making some sort of negative comparison.
- Natsu 11y agoI read the GP post as complimentary out of admiration for their work ethic. But perhaps that's because all of the individual Romanians I work with happen to be skilled and hardworking people.
- adventured 11y agoRomania has had at least 5% of its population emigrate in the last few decades (13% population decline since 1990). The median income in Romania is $400-$500 per month. The parent's statement is neither offensive, nor out of line with reality. It also says absolutely nothing about the math skills of the Romanian people, rather it speaks to the inherent nature of all people to seek greater opportunity for themselves.
- cristianpascu 11y agoI'm pretty tired, as a romanian myself, of always pointing out how good we are at math and that NO, we're not gypsies. Something like, you know, gypsies are to Romanians what latinos are to US. Fk that! Like any nation on this earth, we have it all. From math semi-geniues, to a vast number of drunk-wife-beating-jerks. OP was pointing out that Romanians are treated as brute work force, although there is a part of romanian imigrants that work in hospitals and IT and what not. It was not to say to Romanians are stupid or something, "like latinos".
- pcrh 11y agoWith regards to corruption in Romania, contrary to the implication of the article, there has been a big push to eliminate it. Some articles: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/05/opinion/romanias-anti-corruption-mania.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/05/opinion/romanias-anti-corr... Romania anti-sleaze drive reaches elite: http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-eu-31537338 http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-eu-31537338
- codeshaman 11y agoThe essence can be reduced to this quote: "He sees it as a sport. He would like his daughter in Romania to grow up well, so that she can go to college later and live in a nice house. If he obeyed the German rules that wouldn't be possible. So he does what he must. And Germany does what it must. And Europe too. " This article is too dramatic and generalizing too much. Of course fewer and fewer Romanians are like this, things have changed there. And it's one of the most beautiful countries in Europe. Romanians I know are programmers, start startups or work at Microsoft or Google, are quite hip, go to music festivals, take acid and travel around the world. It's all a matter of perspective (and selection bias :).
- falsestprophet 11y ago"Romanians I know...take acid... It's all a matter of perspective." It's all a matter of selection bias.
- contingencies 11y agoA similarly biased selection of Romanians I've met in western Europe include an architect (UK) and a bank manager (Loire region of France). However, I actually spent a month cycling around Romania in 2010 and never saw any crazy vans. It was really pleasant, never had any problems, lots of educated people with perfect English, great food, wine and beer. Highlights were cycling up this - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transf%C4%83g%C4%83r%C4%83%C8%99an https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transf%C4%83g%C4%83r%C4%83%C8%... - Brasov and Rasnov, plus the old tumble-down mansions on the backstreets of Bucharest, once known as the Paris of the East. Great country!
- jacquesm 11y agoThose vans typically drive on the Bucharest-Pitesti-Catiulata-Sibiu-Deva-Arad-Nadlac route, outside of that you won't be seeing them but on that road they're impossible to ignore. That's also a road on which you simply should not cycle. Now that the M1 is open on a large part of those stretches it has gotten a lot better, there are still three dangerous segments left (along the river, up the black mountain and near Lugoj).
- stefantalpalaru 11y agoI don't understand why would anyone pay 120€ for a small van with only one sleep-deprived driver when for 115€ they can get on a regular bus with 3 drivers that rotate and respect European regulations for the number of driving hours in a day: http://www.booking.atlassib.ro/csp/onlinecardpayu/infocursepayu.csp?lang=1&taraplecare=6&plecare=422&taradestinatie=18&destinatie=650&affid= http://www.booking.atlassib.ro/csp/onlinecardpayu/infocursep... Just for the opportunity to transport forbidden items and the convenience of being dropped exactly at their destination?
- xyzzyz 11y agoThe last mile can be surprisingly expensive in countries like Germany or Spain.
- dilap 11y agoDoes anyone know if original german version is available online?
- rasz_pl 11y agoMove clock 25 years back and you can replace Romanians with Poles.
- jedrek 11y agoTen.
- rasz_pl 11y agoFlood of cheap grey labour from Poland started right after 1989. 10 years go Poles used ryanair or easyjet, not sweaty mini buses. Jobs also moved from legendary dishwasher to engineers and managers.
- jedrek 11y agoTen years ago Poland joined the EU. The majority of people did not fly to the UK, they drove or took the bus. How many of these buses crash every year? The last major crash was around Easter in Germany.