Driving around Europe in summer

I am thinking of renting a car to drive around Europe this summer,
especially France and Italy, spontaneously booking overnight
accommodation at the end of each day. How difficult would this be for a
solely-English speaking person? I am particularly wondering about
navigation and finding reasonably-priced accommodation.

Ivan Skivar wrote:
I am thinking of renting a car to drive around Europe this summer,
especially France and Italy, spontaneously booking overnight
accommodation at the end of each day. How difficult would this be for a
solely-English speaking person? I am particularly wondering about
navigation and finding reasonably-priced accommodation.


This is the best way to enjoy travel. I wouldn't wait until the "end of
the day," however. Locate a room by 5 or 6 pm. You will rarely have a
problem finding a room, or finding someone to interpret for you. Get
some good maps and a translating dictionary and you're on you way.
John Bermont
--
------------------------------------------------------
* * * Mastering Independent Budget Travel * * *
http://www.enjoy-europe.com/
------------------------------------------------------

Ivan Skivar wrote:
I am thinking of renting a car to drive around Europe this summer,
especially France and Italy, spontaneously booking overnight
accommodation at the end of each day. How difficult would this be for a
solely-English speaking person? I am particularly wondering about
navigation and finding reasonably-priced accommodation.


This is the best way to enjoy travel. I wouldn't wait until the "end of
the day," however. Locate a room by 5 or 6 pm. You will rarely have a
problem finding a room, or finding someone to interpret for you. Get
some good maps and a translating dictionary and you're on you way.
John Bermont
--
------------------------------------------------------
* * * Mastering Independent Budget Travel * * *
http://www.enjoy-europe.com/
------------------------------------------------------

Depends a lot on where and when. The summer resort areas can be very
crowded, with high traffic levels and low room availability. Personally, I
find trying to book at the last minute inhibits you more than it frees you.
You have to start looking before it's too late to move on if you can't find
anything, and you are limited to what is available, usually not the best
deal or acomodation. I prefer to choose a home base, and move out from it
to explore, then move on to a another. I like a town large enough to have
facilities and restaurants, but one that is easy to get in and out of,
unlike a large city.

As to navigation, the answer is yes and no! It's not hard to get from place
to place with a set of good maps and by following the signs, especially if
you stick to the Autoroutes and Autostradas. Once you get off these,
though, naviagation can be trickier and requires a lot of attention. In
France I follow the signs, leading you from one town to the next, but you
have to have a good idea of your route. Smaller places may not be listed by
name, or the route may point to a large place either on the way or beyond
your destination. And traffic circles (ronde-points) take getting used to.
While this has caused me a lot of stress in the past, it also leads to
finding yourself in a place you never expected, with all the joys of
serendipity. Italy can be somewhat harder since I don't read Italian and
often can't interpret signs that warn about construciton and other things.

The most difficult driving is in cities. Large cities should be completely
avoided if possible. The traffic is bad and they are very confusing. The
maps you have will probably not include enough detail for easy navigation
unless you buy a city map at the outskirts, before entering. However, even
these can mislead, as they did me in Florence, where there are many one-way
streets not marked, as they change direction frequently.

That said, I still think driving is the best way to see large parts of these
countries. It gives you a freedom to come and go as you wish. You can
explore anywhere you want, stop where you want. You also have the comfort
of a "home base" where you can store things you want with you (like a
jacket) but not have to carry around all the time.

A good, if not total solution, to all this is to take a hand held GPS unit
which can give driving directions. They are expensive, but a good
investment in my opinion. I have a Garmin iQue 3600, which is a Palm-type
device that can be used as a PDA as well. As a navigation unit it is
reliable and accurate. The only problem is that they European map set is
quite expensive ($500) and coverage is not as complete as in North America
(this is a limitation of mapping agencies I believe, not Garmin). You might
be able to buy a unit with the European maps included and purchase the North
American set later. Michelin (www.viamichelin.com) also sells GPS hand held
units (look in their store, under PDA) but I don't know if there are North
American maps available for them. Unfortunately, their maps won't work with
the iQue. There is a company called Tom Tom (www.tomtom.com) which sells
the N. American maps, but they don't have Europe. However, they may be
compatible with the units from Michelin.

"Ivan Skivar" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am thinking of renting a car to drive around Europe this summer,
especially France and Italy, spontaneously booking overnight
accommodation at the end of each day. How difficult would this be for a
solely-English speaking person? I am particularly wondering about
navigation and finding reasonably-priced accommodation.

My pattern is to drive into a town and look for signs that sy "hotel." Not
"hotel something" -- just "hotel." Ask to look at the room. Always cheaper
than "hotel something," and and usually clean and pleasant, although the
bath is often down the hall.
Book the room late afternoon, then go eat.
rjf

"Ivan Skivar" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am thinking of renting a car to drive around Europe this summer,
especially France and Italy, spontaneously booking overnight
accommodation at the end of each day. How difficult would this be for a
solely-English speaking person? I am particularly wondering about
navigation and finding reasonably-priced accommodation.

On 27 Feb 2005 07:25:40 -0800, Ivan Skivar wrote:
I am thinking of renting a car to drive around Europe this summer,
especially France and Italy, spontaneously booking overnight
accommodation at the end of each day. How difficult would this be for a
solely-English speaking person? I am particularly wondering about
navigation and finding reasonably-priced accommodation.

If you've driven in and around Boston, you'll get an idea of what its
like. Smaller streets can wind all over the place (and it gets worse in
the cities), but major arteries are easy to follow. Street signs in towns
are often limited to small placards attached to buildings (not on poles).
Still, its a great way to get around and get away from the big cities, and
if you have a few people it can be the cheapest.

There are website like viamichelin which you can use for route planning. I
used this for pre-set routes that I followed; some were to rather obscure
places but all were accurate enough to follow. Maps may not have the small
roads, but will be fairly easy to follow.

I always had reservations (needed triple rooms, which are not so common),
so I'm not sure about last-minute booking. I imagine it depends a lot on
the month; August is a busy traveling time for Europeans.

As far as language goes, it varies. In places like Germany or Benelux, it
seems like everyone speaks English; I didn't find this to be as much the
case in Italy & France. Obviously, places which get a lot of
English-speaking tourists will have lots of English-speakers. If you plan
to leave the beaten path, you should learn enough local language to book a
room, order meals, etc.

--
-BB-
To e-mail me, unmunge my address

On 27 Feb 2005 07:25:40 -0800, Ivan Skivar wrote:
I am thinking of renting a car to drive around Europe this summer,
especially France and Italy, spontaneously booking overnight
accommodation at the end of each day. How difficult would this be for a
solely-English speaking person? I am particularly wondering about
navigation and finding reasonably-priced accommodation.

If you've driven in and around Boston, you'll get an idea of what its
like. Smaller streets can wind all over the place (and it gets worse in
the cities), but major arteries are easy to follow. Street signs in towns
are often limited to small placards attached to buildings (not on poles).
Still, its a great way to get around and get away from the big cities, and
if you have a few people it can be the cheapest.

There are website like viamichelin which you can use for route planning. I
used this for pre-set routes that I followed; some were to rather obscure
places but all were accurate enough to follow. Maps may not have the small
roads, but will be fairly easy to follow.

I always had reservations (needed triple rooms, which are not so common),
so I'm not sure about last-minute booking. I imagine it depends a lot on
the month; August is a busy traveling time for Europeans.

As far as language goes, it varies. In places like Germany or Benelux, it
seems like everyone speaks English; I didn't find this to be as much the
case in Italy & France. Obviously, places which get a lot of
English-speaking tourists will have lots of English-speakers. If you plan
to leave the beaten path, you should learn enough local language to book a
room, order meals, etc.

--
-BB-
To e-mail me, unmunge my address

http://www.hotelformule1.com/formule1/

Cheap and cheerful - usually out of town - well sign posted in France at
least. Used them lots of time - good value.

http://www.hotelformule1.com/formule1/

Cheap and cheerful - usually out of town - well sign posted in France at
least. Used them lots of time - good value.

"nobody760" wrote in message
...
http://www.hotelformule1.com/formule1/

Cheap and cheerful - usually out of town - well sign posted in France at
least. Used them lots of time - good value.

But not very good for ad hoc usage as the reception is closed
most of the day and you can't get in.

Pre-booked you get a code to open the door, but without a
booking you may have to go somwhere else because there's
no-one there to tell you if there are rooms available.

Personally I prefer the better quality of Ibis and as they are
a (low end) business hotel they are rarely full in August often
haveing special offers for booked-on-the-day arrival.
Good for France, Benelux and Germany.
Sparse coverage in Italy (and there they may be full)

tim