"Stephane" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > A few more elements to consider in addition to gaz and rental costs:
    > - Highway toll fees can significantly increase the cost of your
    > journey. Most European countries make you pay to drive on their
    > highways.

There is a translation problem here. To someone in the USA, "highway" means
any major road, not just the limited access "Interstate" quality roads.
Stephane means the limited access roads when saying that tolls are charged.
Even some sections of the French ones are free. You'll see a lot more if
you avoid them much of the time - but you won't get to your destination as
soon. BTW, the limited access roads are often free close to the big cities
in France - so they provide a way to bypass the worst congestion.

    > - Vehicles in Europe -especially rental cars- with non-local license
    > plates are targets for break-ins, and you should remove all luggage
    > from vehicles once parked. This is especially true in Southern
    > countries for cars with northern European licence plates. Extra
    > source of information:
    > http://www.andalucia.com/tourism/pettycrime.htm

My friend who lives on the coast in Murcia said that even cars with Madrid
tags were more apt to be targets of crime. He borrowed a garage to hide the
rather flashy Renault I had rented (at the smallest-car rate). Most hotels
in Spain have a garage or fenced parking area - for which you pay. With
that flashy car, I used them where available. OTOH, the only car I saw in 10
days of driving that had clear break-in damage was an ancient Citroen that
had been up on blocks for years - from the looks.

Bob C.

We "bought" rented a brand new Renault in Paris and drove through many
countries with no problems. You can do this through that company and
also some others I think. We chose Renault as it had lots of dealerships
throughout most of Europe and insurance was included in the price which
was very good. It turns out we had an accident and with the police
report called into Renault offices and when we returned the car with
dents, etc. it was absolutely no problem. It was a really good
experience, except for the accident was upsetting, but no injuries,
thank god! If you want more info on how to do it...contact me directly
and I'll give you the names, etc. It was all on the up and up.

faye



QuiltShopHopper wrote:

    >What are your thoughts on renting a car in Barcelona, driving into France,
    >Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and back to Barcelona in 3 weeks?
    >Is gas too expensive?
    >Car rental rates too high?
    >Need a special licence if American?
    >How difficult is it to cross country boundaries in a rental car?
    >Crime against rental cars too high?
    >Anyone here have done that and could share their experiences, please?
    >thanks
    >qsh
    >

"Barbara Vaughan" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > > I wonder why the supposed translation has validity that is so much
    > > shorter than the license that it is supposed to be translating? Are
    > > they expecting the languages to change?
    > I have no idea. But it is a real translation, not a supposed
    > translation.
    > Barbara

I was asked for mine at a random stop by Carabinieri last Sunday evening on
a small road between Arezzo and Citta` di Castello. I needed my documents,
passport and license, and when he saw I was a foreigner he asked for the
IDL.

Following up to R J Carpenter

    >My friend who lives on the coast in Murcia said that even cars with Madrid
    >tags were more apt to be targets of crime.

I suspect this is why they have now abandoned area identification in
the plates. As hire cars have a quick turnover this is already showing
up in the fleets.
--
Mike Reid
Land of roast meat "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk/castile.htm"
(see web to email)

Following up to Judith Umbria

"Barbara Vaughan" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > > I wonder why the supposed translation has validity that is so much
    > > shorter than the license that it is supposed to be translating? Are
    > > they expecting the languages to change?

Is it a lot shorter? I remember a grey book of quite a few pages?

    >I was asked for mine at a random stop by Carabinieri last Sunday evening on
    >a small road between Arezzo and Citta` di Castello. I needed my documents,
    >passport and license, and when he saw I was a foreigner he asked for the
    >IDL.

Hello Judith!
Surely because you were a non *european*, i'm a foreigner with a valid
license :-)
BTW Are Italian police "straight" or do the traffic police take
bribes?
--
Mike Reid
Land of roast meat "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk/castile.htm"
(see web to email)

What are your thoughts on renting a car in Barcelona, driving into
France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and back to Barcelona in 3 weeks?
Is gas too expensive?
Car rental rates too high?
Need a special licence if American?
How difficult is it to cross country boundaries in a rental car? Crime
against rental cars too high?
Anyone here have done that and could share their experiences, please?


Highly suggest traveling Europe by car. It's cheaper than Eurorail if
you have a group of people. Rates are reasonable--especially if you are
renting for 3 weeks. Gas is expensive but you make it up with gas
conservative automobiles. American licensure is adequate and you have
the option for insurance via rental. European boarders are open. I
never had a problem with rental car crimes. I have travelled Europe by
train and car and perfer driving. Highways are easy to understand and
use. I would suggest mapping out your driving plan in advance when
driving long stretches. I used mapquest.com in conjunction with regular
maps and compared routes. Saves in travelling time when you are seeking
serveral destinations.

Hope this is helpful. Enjoy your trip!!

Amy

What are your thoughts on renting a car in Barcelona, driving into
France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and back to Barcelona in 3 weeks?
Is gas too expensive?
Car rental rates too high?
Need a special licence if American?
How difficult is it to cross country boundaries in a rental car? Crime
against rental cars too high?
Anyone here have done that and could share their experiences, please?


Highly suggest traveling Europe by car. It's cheaper than Eurorail if
you have a group of people. Rates are reasonable--especially if you are
renting for 3 weeks. Gas is expensive but you make it up with gas
conservative automobiles. American licensure is adequate and you have
the option for insurance via rental. European boarders are open. I
never had a problem with rental car crimes. I have travelled Europe by
train and car and perfer driving. Highways are easy to understand and
use. I would suggest mapping out your driving plan in advance when
driving long stretches. I used mapquest.com in conjunction with regular
maps and compared routes. Saves in travelling time when you are seeking
serveral destinations.

Hope this is helpful. Enjoy your trip!!

Amy

Larry wrote:

    > I sent a long answer but it was returned because your address is invalid. I
    > should have remembered that and not wasted my time!

Is there something fundamental about Usenet that you just don't
understand? If I post a question here, I want an answer in this
forum. That's what it's for. I don't want an e-mail from anyone
in my in-box unless we go off-topic and agree beforehand to take
it to e-mail.

So shaddup and quit your whining. If you can't be bothered to post
your response here (where other interested people might *also* see it),
quit being an incosiderate whining dickhead about it. And don't bother
e-mailing me about this; my address is munged to avoid "well-meaning"
knotheads who think that my inbox is their sandbox. Every time you
repeatedly post this whiny crap about attempting to e-mail somebody,
you waste *everyone's* time, which does nothing more than make you
eligible for the killfile. Is that what you want?
--
DGS

"QuiltShopHopper" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > What are your thoughts on renting a car in Barcelona, driving into France,
    > Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and back to Barcelona in 3 weeks?

Too much driving is my first thought. Why don't you check out your proposed
itinerary on one of the mapping programs like www.maporama.com or
www.mappy.com ? Or the Michelin site? Then you'd get an idea of how many
hours of driving are involved. Some of these programs will also estimate gas
usage and report highway tolls on your route.

Marianne

In article , [email protected] (DGS)
wrote:

    > Larry wrote:
    >
    > > I sent a long answer but it was returned because your address is
    > > invalid. I
    > > should have remembered that and not wasted my time!
    >
    > Is there something fundamental about Usenet that you just don't
    > understand? If I post a question here, I want an answer in this
    > forum. That's what it's for. I don't want an e-mail from anyone
    > in my in-box unless we go off-topic and agree beforehand to take
    > it to e-mail.



To be fair to Larry, when I once asked him (in email) why he did this, he
provided a half-persuasive and certainly well-considered list of reasons
why he preferred to respond via email rather than in the group. I don't
really agree with him, but it's not a case of someone who doesn't
understand Usenet.

Thanks so much for everyon'e advice! I didn't know about such a website.

Y'all are wonderful!

    >Why don't you check out your proposed
    > itinerary on one of the mapping programs like www.maporama.com or
    > www.mappy.com ? Or the Michelin site? Then you'd get an idea of how many
    > hours of driving are involved. Some of these programs will also estimate
gas
    > usage and report highway tolls on your route.
    > Marianne

I do that to avoid spam. I don't know Larry, and I won't take a chance that
he's a collector of email addresses for spammers.

> To be fair to Larry, when I once asked him
(in email) why he did this, he
    > provided a half-persuasive and certainly well-considered list of reasons
    > why he preferred to respond via email rather than in the group. I don't
    > really agree with him, but it's not a case of someone who doesn't
    > understand Usenet.

[email protected] wrote:
    >
    > In article , [email protected] (DGS)
    > wrote:
    >
    > > Larry wrote:
    > >
    > > > I sent a long answer but it was returned because your address is
    > > > invalid. I
    > > > should have remembered that and not wasted my time!
    > >
    > > Is there something fundamental about Usenet that you just don't
    > > understand? If I post a question here, I want an answer in this
    > > forum. That's what it's for. I don't want an e-mail from anyone
    > > in my in-box unless we go off-topic and agree beforehand to take
    > > it to e-mail.
    >
    >
    >
    > To be fair to Larry, when I once asked him (in email) why he did this, he
    > provided a half-persuasive and certainly well-considered list of reasons
    > why he preferred to respond via email rather than in the group. I don't
    > really agree with him, but it's not a case of someone who doesn't
    > understand Usenet.

I agree that he knows damn well he's supposed to post in the newsgroup.
I wish he would get it through his head that if he insists on doing
otherwise, WE DON'T WANT TO HEAR HIS COMPLAINTS!!!

Barbara

Barbara Vaughan wrote:
    > [email protected] wrote:

    > > To be fair to Larry, when I once asked him (in email) why he did this, he
    > > provided a half-persuasive and certainly well-considered list of reasons
    > > why he preferred to respond via email rather than in the group. I don't
    > > really agree with him, but it's not a case of someone who doesn't
    > > understand Usenet.

    > I agree that he knows damn well he's supposed to post in the newsgroup.
    > I wish he would get it through his head that if he insists on doing
    > otherwise, WE DON'T WANT TO HEAR HIS COMPLAINTS!!!

1. Do you have a mouse in your pocket?
2. No one is forcing you to read his posts.


--
greg byshenk - [email protected] - Leiden, NL
hate spam?

QuiltShopHopper wrote:

    > What are your thoughts on renting a car in Barcelona, driving into France,
    > Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and back to Barcelona in 3 weeks?
    > Is gas too expensive?
    > Car rental rates too high?
    > Need a special licence if American?
    > How difficult is it to cross country boundaries in a rental car?
    > Crime against rental cars too high?
    > Anyone here have done that and could share their experiences, please?

I had a couple of very good trips travelling around Europe in rental cars.
Despite the cost of the rental and high fuel costs it was better than paying
multiple train or plane fares. Your US licence will be adequate, though you
might feel better about getting an international, which is nothing more than a
multilingual translation of your home state licence. There are no problems
getting the car across borders in the EU. You will have to watch closely for
the borders. Otherwise, you'll drive from one country into another without
even realizing it since there are no border controls within the EU. Car rental
companies do not allow you to take their cars into eastern Europe.

I hope that you can drive a standards transmission, because most European cars
are stick shifts, and you will have to pay a premium for an automatic.
Parking can be a problem in some places. In some cities it will be hard to
find parking, and it is likely to be very expensive.