[Idyllchat] Single traveler

[Jay Cloidt]

That's a good point. Most first time travelers to Europe do not realize that
a manual transmission is usually the default from rental car companies. I
know I didn't. You need to request and reserve an automatic transmission.

The first time I traveled to Europe, my boss and I got in the rental car. I
was driving. I looked down and said, "Wow, it's a stick". My boss got this
panicked look on his face, and said, "You know how to drive one, don't
you?". I replied, "Sure. I just wasn't expecting it." Unless you rent a
high-end sports car, American rental car companies never have manual
transmissions, and it just caught me off guard.

Sometimes it works in your favor. I was traveling to Germany with a
colleague who did not drive stick, so we reserved a mid-sized automatic.
When we got to the rental counter in Frankfurt, they had just rented the
last Opel Vectra automatic. They upgraded us to a Mercedes Benz. That was a
great trip.

On my last 2 business trips to the Netherlands, the rental cars were
automatic by default. I didn't request it. But that's not a guarantee. This
was Hertz, but other companies may have other policies. Automatics are
becoming more common in Europe, but they are not entrenched like here in the
US.

  - Jay in New York

On Jan 28, 2008 11:24 AM, J Douglas Hart <jdhart at nc.rr.com> wrote:

> Dolores and I were in southern Tuscany last spring and found it
> enchanting.  To make travel easier, we would upgrade to an automatic
> transmission car and bring along a Garmin GPS loaded with the latest
> Italian maps.  You could find your way easily this way and not worry
> about getting lost.  There were three of us with all sorts of maps
> and got lost frequently, missing road signs or turnoffs  that were
> not marked well.  No matter, it was well work it.  People and helpful
> and friendly.  Doug and Dolores Hart
> _______________________________________________
> This message was sent by IdyllChat.
> To reply or send a new message, email to:
> IdyllChat at lists.untours.com
>
> Visit the IdyllChat archives:
> http://mailman.dca.net/pipermail/idyllchat/
>
> Search Idyllchat Archives for any subject at:
> http://search.dca.net/sites/untours/main.html
> >
> Read real Untourists' candid accounts of their Untours:
> > http://www.untours.com/triplogs.html To unsubscribe, change to digest
> delivery, or
> temporarily pause delivery, visit:
> http://mailman.dca.net/mailman/listinfo/idyllchat
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.dca.net/pipermail/idyllchat/attachments/20080128/3929111b/attachment.htm