I was lucky with my garmin as the seller on ebay wiped his trips and then updated the uk and eu maps for me for 2018 so that was really nice. It is supposed to be possible to get free upgrades now each year, but I think these will be fine for a couple years. I think next year on my trip over, I might then try for some road trips in Europe from UK, at least I'll be driving on the US side for most of that trip. I just have to remind myself when I get home to get back to the other side of the road after the UK :)
I actually really like using coffee shops as an office/studio part of the perk of living a digital life I suppose :)