I live in Amsterdam and in terms of transportation, I think this is heaven. When the weather is OK, I bike to work (20 minutes one way). I can walk to the nearest shopping center for groceries, and most other daily items. There is good public transport when it is raining. Parking is a problem downtown, so we either bike or tram to the city center. For long trips, we take the train when our destination is conveniently close to the train station; I have read hundreds of novels on the train. For destinations which are not so easy to reach by public transport, we have our car. Sometimes, we don't use the car for more than a week. <BR>I hate cities where you are basically a handicapped person if you don't have a car. I tried being a tourist without a car in Los Angeles and Atlanta, and didn't enjoy the experience.

I have owned a car in Europe on three different occasions. I have always rented a car when on holiday in Europe. I have always enjoyed the experience of driving in Europe. Now I am sick of it: too much stress for one thing: one too many cases of getting caught in a snarl on an autobahn; one too many 'diversions' when you have entered a strange town with the route to your hotel all worked out and bingo, the signs send you in another direction; one too many near misses. And, as the sole driver, I'm the one who gets to see very little but the white line down the centre of the road as we drive through the French Alps or along the scenic ocean road.<BR><BR>So from now on it's trains, bikes, buses, taxis, camels, whatever, but NO car.<BR><BR>Harzer

I've done most of my European travel by train, but I've also rented cars several times in Europe, and I've found that...<BR><BR>-you can usually get where you're going faster, more comfortably, and often more economically by train. <BR><BR>-trains relieve you of the "work" involved with driving - navigating an unfamiliar car through unfamiliar territory, reading unfamiliar maps with unfamiliar symbols in an unfamiliar language, learning another country's driving rules and habits, getting through traffic jams, and, of course, finding your way again once you've become hopelessly lost somewhere. On the train, I'm really on vacation. I just gaze out the window, sip some coffee, and chat with my companions, without a thought as to how I'll get where I'm going or what time I'll actually get there. <BR><BR>-Cars are great if...<BR>1. you have some physical disability that prevents you from using the stairs usually found in train stations.<BR>2. you like to carry too much luggage or buy lots of stuff while underway.<BR>3. you are an automotive enthusiast who wants to test his/her skills on the Autobahn or who feels separation anxiety if you're not behind the steering wheel at least once every 24 hours.<BR>4. you have a kid in diapers.<BR>5. you don't want to plan your trip at all and wish to flit around with total spontaneity (for me, this sounds more like anarchy than a vacation.)<BR>6. your destination doesn't have a train station (however, most towns without stations are linked to nearby stations with timely bus transport.)<BR><BR>I'll not drive again myself in Europe unless #6 appliesin a serious way.<BR><BR>That said, I can't imagine life in the US without a car. The whole country is built around cars, and public transportation in most places absolutely stinks. At home, I'd rather lose an arm than my wheels. It's no surprise that many Americans' dependency on cars follows them to Europe - good public transport is inunimaginable for most of us.<BR><BR>

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Cars...I've got three of them including a gasp...SUV!!!!<BR><BR>And you can have my cars just about the same time you can have my guns...when you can pry them out of my cold clammy hands.<BR><BR>Until then, I'll drive where I want and when I want. And if gasoline goes up, I'll just pay more. <BR><BR>And BTW, the US woudln't be needing so much imported oil (and BTW most of it does not come from the ME) if all the environmental wackos would utilize a bit of reasoning and stop complaining about 1/10th of 1% of Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.<BR><BR>Heck they're not going to be happy until your animals have more rights than you do and you're forced to walk everywhere!<BR><BR>Enough already!<BR><BR>US

Sold out, you are longing for a US that will never return, so get over it.<BR><BR>This is not a subject to argue about, some people like to drive for the fun and freedom and some people dont see the fun and freedom of driving. My family and I take long drives on the weekend and stop when and where we want to explore or have a meal.<BR>I can see why it would be nice to have public transportation to and from your place of business, but for pleasure give me a car.<BR>

Uncle Sam, it is people like you that make others hate the US. You are a stupid, selfish, egocentric asshole. Hopefully one day, you will shoot yourself through your stupid brains. (or what is in that spot where other people have brains)

European,<BR><BR>I do not give a d---- if you like me or not. I'm entitled to my opinions and I'll stand behind them. You don't like them, tough!<BR><BR>However, nimrod, care to show me where I am wrong. You may not like my psotions, but you do not disprove them only fail to approve of them. <BR><BR>And I do not need your approval for anything, thank you!<BR><BR>US

Actually, I saw an interesting program on PBS where they talked about the development of the American highway system and how it was influenced by big business, I think the automobile industry. (Or was it the oil industry?) And this in turn influenced the development of the suburbs. The U.S. simply isn't laid out like Europe, except in very dense cities like NYC. <BR><BR>I'd love to go carless but my hometown has horrible public transportation so it's just not a feasible option.<BR><BR>I prefer to travel without a car in England, although I'm finding that many out-of-the-way spots I'd like to visit are impractical by public transportation - once you take the train that may or may not link the two places you are thinking of, then switch to a bus, etc. It's absolutely great if you're traveling between big cities or common destinations!<BR><BR>

Why does anyone bother responding to the angry person who uses "Uncle Sam"? If you all would just ignore him, maybe he would leave.<BR><BR>I have not seen any original travel advice from him, and his political comments to not enhance this forum either.

This is a stupid argument. I can see why some people would want to drive cars with high gas mileage to help the environment. But most of us need and want our "beloved" cars, so what?

Correction on that last sentence in earlier post, meant "do" not enhance...<BR><BR>All he contributes to is the ruining of a good thread.

Why?<BR><BR>1. Suggest you do a search for some of my travel comments.<BR><BR>2. I find it interesting that you and those like you are allowed to have opinions on everything from why America is responsible for all the world's ills to why if you don't ride a bike you are a selfish idiot.<BR><BR>3. Suggest you scold European, he is the one that called me an a$$hole.<BR><BR>4. Is your concern that I do not believe or feel the same way you do...then get over it.<BR><BR>US<BR><BR>PS I'm not angry, you've not seen me angry!

I agree with Uncle Sam!! Lets kill all the animals, destroy the wilderness and pave over everything so we can run around shooting each other from our forstinking giant SUVs. (Except for Nan, of course, you will be out cruisin' in her SUV looking for a Burger King!

To S:<BR>Yes it is culturally-induced. To many it is an entitlement as an American and it is not a negotiable point.<BR><BR>To those who say they wish they could go carless, but can't because of poor public transport and city layout, how have you been voting on land use and public transportation issues? Who are you voting at elections? Those who promise better road now or public transportation to benefit years from now?<BR><BR>I have lived in one place long enough to go thru several city planning cycles. The sequence goes this way:<BR><BR>1. I have to drive because the public transportation is bad and places I need to go are so far apart (because so and so in the past decided to layout the city this way, it is not my fault..)<BR><BR>2. Therefore I vote for more road and not more public transport. Public transports are waste of money and it would not benefit me now. Put the big malls and businesses in open space out of congested suburb and we will be fine.<BR><BR>3. 10 years passes. The roads funded previously are even more congested, road widened but the pace of development has overwhelmed the road system.<BR><BR>4. Go back to 1, continue to complain about lack of good public transport system. So and so (who?) in the past decided to put places I need to go so far apart. Vote for more road. <BR><BR>Meanwhile, light rail system passed despite major oppositions from car centric folks as waste of money has been operating over ten years now, it ran on time then, it still runs on time now.

As far as air pollution goes, I've always wondered which one is actually worst. A large SUV with a computer and all those anti-pollution gizmos or those small 2-stroke European motorcycles/scooters that run on a gas/oil mixture and spew that blue cloud behind them? If they both covered the same commuting distance in a year, who is the worst air polluter?

I will be cruising but not for Burger King, I am a vegetarian!<BR>We have one small car, one mid sized and one truck. We are a mobile family and we would have it no other way. Public transportation is not for us.

The reason for urban sprawl in the US is cheap land and cheap fuel. The reason this post is ugly is because people are pig-headed and do not listen to others' points of view. How many of you car people have tried a high-speed train?

A high speed train, where? In the US? In Europe?<BR>I, for one, have taken a train across the country (USA) and I have taken trains across Italy and France.

s, I'd love to post on this thread, but the censor at Fodor's has been running amok today, and your thread will probably be shot by firing squad by dawn.