I don't think elwe don't have such a tradition of road trips in Europe but still I remember most fondly not of any traditions per set, but more like snippets, cutsceans from time when iron curtain fell and after much of saving money we finally got to visit mystic "west".

- cars! O boy lot of cars. So many brands, so many interesting cars, sports cars!

- visiting supermarket for a first time. It was like I don't know, circus or fun park. So many things, so many types of fruit we never saw! We spent there hours just browsing (we didn have money to buy actually anything). At the end we decided to buy cheapest fruit which we didn't know (kiwi). But since we also did not understand the language we did not get, that the price is not per kg but per piece, so it was actually expensive, not cheap. 

- mum making lunch on some busy spot in park near Geneva, using propane gas cook

- crossing Alps with one faulty brake circuit on our old car because we didn't have money for repair abroad. 

... And so many others