Bus or Car Or Bike or Train?

There is a reason why transportation systems are different in the United States than they are in Europe. For starters, as everyone is aware, Europe is not as large as the United States. You can drive through three countries in less than a full day.
Europe also has an excellent public transportation system in comparison with the States. Subways, trams, and buses are all very accessible, some are 24 hours and almost all are very inexpensive to ride.
On this note, however, I would like to point out that the States are miles ahead on roads, road signs, and drivers....at least in my experiences.
For example, two weekends ago, three friends and I rented a tiny little Fiat to drive to Budapest. All was good in theory, except the driving friend figured she knew the best way to go based off a tiny map I had in a traveling book. Error number one.
8 hours later on a trip that should have only taken 6, we were still no where near Budapest. No road signs were even telling us what road we were on or if we were even going the right way. Kilometer after kilometer of bumpy and pot-holed roads, and still no clue of where we were. Not only had we not seen a single road sign in over an hour, but we had nearly been run off the road several times due to impatient drivers behind us. Not only did they pass us, but they sped off into the distance, down the topsy-turvy roads, only for us to hear them squealing tires turn after hairpin turn. As if they had a death wish.
10 hours later, we have finally spotted a sign for Budapest while we were in Slovakia. Tiny, inconspicuous, and out of the blue, we had no clue if we had been going the right way or not until we stumbled upon this sign. And it was the only one we saw until we reached Hungary and were about 10 minutes outside of the city.
Finally arriving in Budapest after 12 hours of driving, double the amount of time it should have taken, we still had to navigate the city to get to our hostel. However, in Budapest, all the names of the streets were posted on tiny signs in seemingly 12 point font on the side or a corner building.
"Is this Erzbeth?"
"I don't know, I can't see...."
Passing the turn.
"Yeah, that was Erzbeth."
I think we must have pulled at least 20 u-turns getting to the hostel.
The trip was great, but then the return home was also a nightmare. Before leaving, we looked up directions on Google Maps to avoid another 12 hour adventure. But no one wants to listen to the American driver when she points out that it would be much quicker to cut through the corner of Czech then it would be to drive straight across the middle of Slovakia. European drivers, even ones that have only driven from Wroclaw to Budapest once before, apparently know better.
So, a 10 hour drive home, with many more rocky shifts, crazy drivers passing us at the speed of light, and guessing at which fork in the road to take, we arrived safely home in Wroclaw.
I think I prefer Europe's public transportation, and I think next time I'll take the train.