scdreamer

We will be driving through Luxembourg and into the Mosel River Valley (staying in Ellenz-Poltersdorf, Germany) and although we will hopefully have GPS (car rental says yes, but who knows until we pick up the car in Riems), I would like to have a map. I think the Michelin Map 719 is the one we should get. Is this correct? Any others that might be better - as this one covers a large area we aren't visiting this time around. I just can't seem to find anything that is more dedicated to our small travel area.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/20...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

bilboburgler

do you have a mobile phone?
down load a map app
download the relevent map
GPS is free

rinse, repeat, free.

scdreamer

Bilbo - That's what we were told when we last traveled abroad. We have Verizon, and we did exactly what you are telling us to do - and found that when we were driving and not in range of a specific wifi signal, our phone GPS did not work at all. That was even after I signed up for the Verizon travel plan. Luckily for us, the car we rented came with a GPS - unexpectedly - or we would have been in trouble. I will definitely try again this time around, but I want to be sure we can figure out where we're going in the event that the same thing happens again.

And I never think it's overkill to have a map as back-up anyway. I've been steered in the wrong direction too many times by GPS.

bilboburgler

I agree, having a paper map is a good back up.

Not sure who Verison is, I'm European. However, I use a standard android phone which is not linked to any phone company (I just stick a card in to make it link up to the service which in Europe has to be a consistent rate across the EU). I use "here (we go)" and "mymaps" for cycling and driving holidays (just back from one) and took and used no form of GPS special machine or paper (again). mymaps allows you to preprogram a special route while here and mymaps will plan you a route on various parameters.

Why a Verison phone is unable to operate like a standard android phone all over the world is beyond me.

Meanwhile, have a great time in the Mosel (an area I love) if you follow back my name to Sept last year you should see a wine tasting write up for the area (and two years before that).

Macross

My husband brought out gps from home. The car we rented in France also had one but it was in French. We could not figure out how to change to English or even if you could. We were on a lot of back roads and went into the tourist shop in front of Reims train station and got a map,

scdreamer

That's what I am a little concerned about - you're not the first person to have had that experience with the GPS and language. The only GPS we have at home is a very old TomTom, so I don't think we would bring it - nor do I wish to buy a new GPS. If we can't get the phone to work, a map will be fine. We have almost a month of driving, so if we get lost a time or two, it will just be part of the adventure.

A second question - did you take the train from CDG to Reims? We're flying in and planning to take the train directly from the airport to Reims - wondering if you did that, too, how was your experience?