Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - FIRST-TIME IN EUROPE--TRAVELING BY CAR, NEED ADVICE PLEASE

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FIRST-TIME IN EUROPE--TRAVELING BY CAR, NEED ADVICE PLEASE

We are two female friends who are traveling in Europe this October. 1s to Paris, then the ferry boat to the UK, and crossing over to Ireland, and then back to Paris. From there we were going to pick up a car, and travel through Germany, Switz.,Italy & maybe Spain. (1) HOW IS DRIVING IN EUROPE? IS IT FAIRLY MANAGEABLE FOR A FIRST TIME DRIVER THERE? (2) ATM machines, are they very accessible, and hassle-free? (3) Have you discovered any particular beautiful and must-see spots not written up in travel guides? Care to share a few? (4) Any words of caution (especially seeing as we are female and young adults, i.e., university grads) about any particular locations? Any words of advice/information would be very much appreciated. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE.

Kathy, Do you have a lot of time in which to do all this??? It sounds like a couple months at least to me. If you search on this site for places you are interested in you can narrow down your choices considerably and you will find that many of us have shared that one little wonderful spot we like most of all. In general driving is like fast driving in the U.S.---LA or any major city for instance. I would never recommend driving in Rome and if it is your first trip to Italy you will want to see the major cities and that can easily be done via train. European gas prices are very high and the tolls on the highways are steep. If you take the smaller roads, you pay for it in time. I would stick with the trains most of the time, the one exception being Ireland. The UK train system is very easy and they have the ultrafast trains in Europe--very convenient, very safe. Other general advice, pack very light, be "city smart" particularly as you are young women--don't risk iffy neighborhoods and situations. ATMs are very easy, but you need to have a 4 digit pin. Visa and Mastercard accepted almost everywhere. Amex a little less so. As for other advice, do some reading and develop a tentative itinerary before returning back to ask specific questions. You might also investigate Rail passes or a fly and rail package. It's all on the Internet. Good luck.

Like the other responder said I think you are seeing 2months worth of countries. If it were me, and I know you're not, but here's my 2 cents worth: Stick to UK, Scotland and Ireland or see Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Northern Italy. My sister just went for 3 weeks and had a rail map sent to her which shows the routes. From that she carefully picked her iteniary. She took her teenagers on a hike thru the Swiss Alps and saw the Matterhorn. If you go into EXCITE search engine there are wonderful travel pictures and information on almost all major European sites. I brought one up of the Matternhorn that is gorgeous. If you still want to try to do it all why not fly into Shannon, then over to UK then over to Paris. Why criss-cross back and forth. You are paying double that way. Ferries are slow. Its pretty cheap to fly. Come visit us in Cheap Flight Forum- Eurotrip its at www.eurotrip.com- discussion boards. Also a discussion board on hostels. Ivan is very knowledgable!!

If you want info on driving in Europe subscribe to Frommers daily e mail newsletter. Its e mailed every morning to me. He has been advertising a company that rents cars for $98 a week. My husband drove us around for 3 weeks in Europe (Holland and Germany) very, very expensive but for 4 people cheaper than rail. The VW ate up the oil and gas but we got around ok. Holland is easy, as everyone speaks English and there are Mac Donalds all over Europe. Just pull in one and rest! A good place to find out about rentals is also Eurotrip- click on Web links then car/auto and a host of websites comes up! Good luck!

Here is my 2 francs worth: -driving is fine, but seems to be much faster that in the US. If I were you, I'd stay pretty much in the right lane until I got my bearings. -gas and car rentals are much more expensive, as other posters have said. -most cities in Europe are much safer than any major US city (that includes Paris, where we live). You just need normal city smarts and you will be fine. -a word of caution to US women: we Americans are a warm and friendly culture, a trait that is much appreciated by many people in other countries. However, be aware that some men in some European countries, esp. southern European countries, may take this friendliness for more than it is. This is just a cultural difference to be aware of, to avoid misunderstandings. Say what you mean and mean what you say and you will have no problems and possibly make some friends.

I would ditch the car idea and use public transport, especially the train. Buy yourself a Eurail pass after you have decided which places to go to. I too would suggest narrowing your route down to 3 or 4 countries. You can always return to the others or even to the same ones and explore different parts of them. I live in U K and hate driving. Petrol is expensive, parking is hard to find and there are too many vehicles in too small a place, quite simply. Trains are fast and usually on time and go to all the major places.