continental driving
in [UK Drivers]
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From: Brimstone on 5 Jan 2010 14:43 I'm thinking about taking myself off on a tour of western Europe a bit later in the year, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium etc. Can anyone point me at useful sources of info regarding driving requirements and cheap places to stay? Any pointers to potential pitfalls would be useful as well.
From: NM on 6 Jan 2010 02:16 On 5 Jan, 19:43, "Brimstone" <brimst...(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > I'm thinking about taking myself off on a tour of western Europe a bit later > in the year, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium etc. > > Can anyone point me at useful sources of info regarding driving requirements > and cheap places to stay? > > Any pointers to potential pitfalls would be useful as well. As you probably know I have spent a large chunk of my life driving to every country in Europe, The Middle East and North Africa, I could give you a lot of useful information however as you are known to troll and the details of your proposed trip are vague I am reluctant to spout volumes of advice. Some bits of general advice, becoming more obvious the further you get from Dover, 1, Learn the phrase "I don't have any money" in as many languages as you can. 2. Carry small denomination notes, if you have to pay out for a bribe or to get out of trouble you won't get change from a big bill, don't rely on credit/debit card service being available in spite of the adverts to the contrary. 3. Some places the secondary currency is cigarettes, find out the preferred brand in the country concerned and make sure you have a supply. 4. Take care to have the correct documents in France, a very expensive frogmarch (no pun intended) to the ATM could await you if you don't. Why not post more detail of your intended trip. I may be driving to Zambia in the latter part of the year with my friend who has had a stroke, to visit his family before it's too late for him, if you fancy crossing the Sahara with a guy in a wheelchair get in touch.
From: Clive George on 6 Jan 2010 07:37 "NM" <nik.morgan(a)mac.com> wrote in message news:0a8e9f1f-dc26-462c-b162-0ebc4a8a861c(a)o28g2000yqh.googlegroups.com... > On 5 Jan, 19:43, "Brimstone" <brimst...(a)hotmail.com> wrote: >> I'm thinking about taking myself off on a tour of western Europe a bit >> later >> in the year, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium etc. .... > 1, Learn the phrase "I don't have any money" in as many languages as > you can. > > 2. Carry small denomination notes, if you have to pay out for a bribe > or to get out of trouble you won't get change from a big bill, don't > rely on credit/debit card service being available in spite of the > adverts to the contrary. > > 3. Some places the secondary currency is cigarettes, find out the > preferred brand in the country concerned and make sure you have a > supply. All a bit overkill for western Europe, even for much of eastern. France 24H petrol often relies on cards, and doesn't accept UK cards, so fuel at night can be tricky - though autoroute stations will be fine if expensive. Look up the various rules for continental driving on motoring organisations websites. Don't MLOC. Otherwise even Italy is easy enough.
From: Brimstone on 6 Jan 2010 08:57 "NM" <nik.morgan(a)mac.com> wrote in message news:0a8e9f1f-dc26-462c-b162-0ebc4a8a861c(a)o28g2000yqh.googlegroups.com... > On 5 Jan, 19:43, "Brimstone" <brimst...(a)hotmail.com> wrote: >> I'm thinking about taking myself off on a tour of western Europe a bit >> later >> in the year, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium etc. >> >> Can anyone point me at useful sources of info regarding driving >> requirements >> and cheap places to stay? >> >> Any pointers to potential pitfalls would be useful as well. > > As you probably know I have spent a large chunk of my life driving to > every country in Europe, The Middle East and North Africa, I could > give you a lot of useful information however as you are known to troll > and the details of your proposed trip are vague I am reluctant to > spout volumes of advice. This is no troll. The details are vague because I don't yet have any firm plans. It's not unknown for me to go out, pick a direction and drive several miles before deciding where I'm going. The last time I did that I'd gone 90 miles before stopping and making a decision. > Some bits of general advice, becoming more obvious the further you get > from Dover, > > 1, Learn the phrase "I don't have any money" in as many languages as > you can. > > 2. Carry small denomination notes, if you have to pay out for a bribe > or to get out of trouble you won't get change from a big bill, don't > rely on credit/debit card service being available in spite of the > adverts to the contrary. > > 3. Some places the secondary currency is cigarettes, find out the > preferred brand in the country concerned and make sure you have a > supply. > > 4. Take care to have the correct documents in France, a very expensive > frogmarch (no pun intended) to the ATM could await you if you don't. Thanks for those. > Why not post more detail of your intended trip. I may be driving to > Zambia in the latter part of the year with my friend who has had a > stroke, to visit his family before it's too late for him, if you fancy > crossing the Sahara with a guy in a wheelchair get in touch. Now that sounds like fun. What type of vehicle are you likely to be using?
From: Bod on 6 Jan 2010 05:08
Rank I Mong wrote: > On Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:16:08 -0800, NM dribbled: > >> On 5 Jan, 19:43, "Brimstone" <brimst...(a)hotmail.com> wrote: >>> I'm thinking about taking myself off on a tour of western Europe a bit >>> later in the year, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium etc. >>> >>> Can anyone point me at useful sources of info regarding driving >>> requirements and cheap places to stay? >>> >>> Any pointers to potential pitfalls would be useful as well. >> As you probably know I have spent a large chunk of my life driving to >> every country in Europe, The Middle East and North Africa, I could give >> you a lot of useful information however as you are known to troll and >> the details of your proposed trip are vague I am reluctant to spout >> volumes of advice. >> >> Some bits of general advice, becoming more obvious the further you get >> from Dover, >> >> 1, Learn the phrase "I don't have any money" in as many languages as you >> can. >> >> 2. Carry small denomination notes, if you have to pay out for a bribe or >> to get out of trouble you won't get change from a big bill, don't rely >> on credit/debit card service being available in spite of the adverts to >> the contrary. >> >> 3. Some places the secondary currency is cigarettes, find out the >> preferred brand in the country concerned and make sure you have a >> supply. >> >> 4. Take care to have the correct documents in France, a very expensive >> frogmarch (no pun intended) to the ATM could await you if you don't. >> >> Why not post more detail of your intended trip. > > Which part of "Western Europe" don't you understand? > > RIM > > So you class "Western Europe" as a detailed report of his trip then? I suggest that you don't know the meaning of "detailed". It was a fair question. Bod |