There’s something magical about a road trip with your best friend, especially when it crosses borders. Two girls, one car, endless possibilities. The thrill starts the moment you leave the familiar streets behind and let the road guide you through new landscapes, new cultures, and new discoveries. On this trip, it’s just the two of us, laughing at wrong turns, singing along to the same playlist on repeat, and discovering the little gems only a road trip can reveal. Borders don’t slow us down; they make the journey even more exciting. And with every mile, every stop, and every unexpected detour, we’re collecting memories that will last a lifetime.
As a guest of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, we set out on the road in the brand’s first fully electric car, the Spectre. It heralds the beginning of all-electric era for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. From the hills of Budapest to the charming landscapes of Slovakia, a beautiful route awaits, promising both elegance and discovery. Every mile in the Spectre is a quiet, effortless glide an experience that blends luxury with the thrill of exploration. Crossing borders in absolute comfort, we are reminded that a journey can be as inspiring as the destination itself. Our journey feels like a nod to the tastes of Andy Warhol himself. In 1974, Warhol owned a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, a car that would later capture the imagination of collectors worldwide. Sotheby’s sold the car at auction one year after Warhol’s death. Inside, the cabin shimmered with 5,876 soft stars stitched into its Starlight Doors, while the illuminated fascia hid galaxies only visible when the car awoke. It felt less like a vehicle and more like stepping into a moving art installation Warhol might have adored this, perhaps multiplying its silhouette in neon shades the way he did with Marilyn and soup cans.
Art and memory
Before crossing the border, Budapest had offered us its own gallery of memories. If you are to follow in our tire tracks, do not miss these:
Hungarian National Gallery (Magyar Nemzeti Galéria): Inside Buda Castle, where Hungarian masters hang alongside international movements.
Museum of Fine Arts (Szépművészeti Múzeum): A treasure chest of El Greco, Goya, Velázquez – like stepping into the heart of Europe’s Renaissance and Baroque pulse.
Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art: For those who want Warhol, Lichtenstein, and the pulse of postmodern dialogues.
Even in the city streets, Budapest itself feels like an architectural museum: Art Nouveau facades, Neo-Gothic cathedrals, Ottoman baths. Every corner seems to whisper, “stay a little longer.”
A historical statue in Budapest, Hungary, September 2025. (Photo by Funda Karayel)
A table for two
No journey is complete without the flavors that anchor you to the place. In Budapest, you must taste:
Gulyás (Goulash): Not the tourist broth, but the deep, smoky version in small taverns where paprika perfumes the air.
Lángos: A golden fried bread, topped with sour cream and cheese street food made for long walks.
Dobos Torte: Layers of sponge and chocolate, crowned with caramel so glossy it could be mistaken for lacquer work in an art museum.
A return with ghosts
On the return to Budapest, we swapped the electric whisper of the Spectre for the confident purr of the Ghost Series II. If Spectre is a canvas of the future, Ghost is the timeless portrait of the present every line softened, every detail deliberate. Rolls-Royce chose Istanbul’s Bosporus for its Turkish debut; we chose the Danube as its stage curtain.
Funda Karayel poses near the Rolls-Royce Spectre, the brand’s first fully electric car, Budapest, Hungary, September 2025. (Photo by Funda Karayel)
Director Corporate Communications Central/Eastern Europe and Central Asia of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Frank Tiemann, said: each Ghost carries a different character, a different luxury code.
The fairytale ending
Some journeys are measured in kilometers. Others in stories, tastes, paintings remembered, and conversations had in the quiet hum of a car that feels more like a dream than an object.
From Budapest’s gilded galleries to Slovakia’s green horizons, from Warhol’s pop visions to the Spirit of Ecstasy catching the light at dusk, our road trip was less about where we went and more about how it felt: like inhabiting a living artwork. And perhaps that is the greatest secret Rolls-Royce has carried for over a century its cars are not just driven; they are lived.
