Four Months by Sidecar: A Family Journey Across Europe and Morocco

The motorcycle had a name, Zair, and the journey had three travellers: Romanian photographer Mihai Barbu, his partner Oana and their son Vladimir. In summer 2015, they set off for an extended trip with a sidecar carrying part of their travelling home.

Their photographs show big landscapes and small family moments: a ferry, a campsite, a swim and the pleasure of stopping somewhere new. Vladimir was four during that journey; the story does not describe his age today.

Follow the trip as a personal account

In Barbu's original photo story, the family described roughly four months and 28,000 kilometres of travel. The collection ranges from northern Europe to the Mediterranean and includes Morocco.

Morocco brings a North African chapter to the journey, extending the family's route beyond its European stops.

The first-person words and photographs belong to Barbu. The appeal of the account is its particular family perspective, not a formula every parent should reproduce.

Let the child have a different highlight

Adults may remember an extraordinary road or a famous viewpoint. A child may remember the ferry cabin, a playground or the animal seen beside the campsite.

Build space for both. Let a young traveller choose between two manageable activities and give them a simple role, such as finding a picnic spot or drawing something from the day.

The result does not have to look educational to be worthwhile. Curiosity often begins with a question that was not on the itinerary.

Design days around stops as well as distance

For your own family road trip, plan the time away from the vehicle before deciding how far to drive. Meals, play, rest and an unhurried arrival all need room.

Choose transport and child restraints that are suitable for your child and comply with the requirements of each place you travel. The sidecar in another family's photographs is not an equipment recommendation for every age, route or weather condition.

Our guide inspired by Travel Mad Mum's first family journey explores the same principle at a younger age: the child's needs shape the trip, rather than being fitted around an adult schedule afterwards.

Keep the memories manageable

A short daily ritual can preserve a long journey. Ask each person for one favourite moment, save a ticket or make a quick drawing. You do not need to publish every photograph to make the experience count.

Leave some images imperfect. A muddy campsite, a tired afternoon or a silly meal can become part of the family story without being turned into a lesson about bravery.

Barbu's collection is memorable because the landscapes remain connected to the people moving through them. Your own version might last four days instead of four months, but there is still room for the same combination of discovery, routine and time together.

The places that make the distance tangible

Mihai Barbu’s original 2015 account described four months, 41 countries and 28,000 kilometres with Oana and their four-year-old son Vladimir. Their 2014 Ural Ranger sidecar was named Zair. These are the family’s reported journey details, and the photographs give them a human scale that the mileage alone cannot.

The gallery moves through Scotland, Austria and the Baltic-to-Finland ferry crossing, then includes Finland’s roads, Norway’s Lofoten Islands and Atlantic Road, England and Ireland. Later scenes include France, Porto and Cabo da Roca in Portugal, and Andalusia in Spain. These are selected captioned stops rather than a full list of the reported countries.

Morocco belongs in the story too

The photographs include Morocco, with Merzouga, a Sahara sandstorm, rooftop sleeping and Marrakesh, followed by the ferry back to Spain. Describing the entire collection only as Europe would leave out a substantial part of what the family shared. Monaco, Italy’s Stelvio Pass, Montenegro, Dubrovnik and Greece also appear in the later gallery.

The map starting in Bucharest explains the journey’s reach, while the campsite scenes explain its daily scale. A meal, a curious cat and the final sticker can hold memories that a route line cannot. In Barbu’s sequence, those details sit beside the grand roads and mountains rather than competing with them. That is a useful idea for a family album of any length: let each person’s small favourite moment belong in the record. Four days together can still produce a story richer than a list of places reached.