Was MM/N8IK in May 2013 (that's Scotland, not Maritime Mobile). Did some APRS from the rental car but not much else ham radio. Drove about 800 miles in 3 days time but once we got northwest of Glasgow no one heard me again - not many digipeaters in Scotland. I did have an antenna on the roof of the car but more than 5 watts would have helped a lot.
Note in the image below from aprs.fi that my DX call is in the "status" field so that I'm legal under CEPT rules. My Yaesu VX-8DR handheld radio will not accept a stroke in the "callsign" field since that's not part of the APRS specification (based on the AX.25 protocol).
Off to Alaska in August 2017 on the Harley-Davidson with KG4LTB. Only 10,420 miles. Up on the Alaska Highway there are not many digipeaters but some did hear us. Running the Yaesu VX-8DR handheld through a Mirage B-34 amplifier to a 5/8 wave antenna on the trunk. A 1/4 wave counterpoise under the trunk liner keeps the amplifier happy. The antenna has a 3/8-24 stud and I was able to find a 6mm adapter so I could replace the stock AM/FM antenna. The AM/FM antenna is now a dipole hidden under the front fairing - a standard H-D option.
We stacked up our various callsigns in the APRS "status" field to keep us legal: N8IK/VE6, N8IK/VE7, N8IK/VY1, and N8IK/KL7.
Next stop, Iceland. Was TF/N8IK in June 2018. Rented a car for a couple of days and used a Kenwood TH-D74A and a magmount antenna. Very few digipeaters in Iceland and only a couple are iGates. There is also a local digipeater in Akureyri.
Need to replace the internal lithium ion battery in your aging Kenwood TM-D700A transceiver because the TNC will no longer hold the date/time/UTC offset? Click here for pictures/notes on how I replaced the battery in mine. The usual disclaimer applies - if you screw up and trash your radio it's not my problem. And no, I can't replace your battery for you - no time, sorry. Your local radio club surely has a new ham who needs elmering!