My recent 6-week road trip through Europe.

[FUEGO]

Re: rental car costs - we're half way through renting for 10 days here in Slovenia. Total cost was USD$170 (maybe a bit more with the new forex I'll get hit with when we settle up). So far we've driven across the country twice and had to put 20 liters in the tank ($1.14/L so about USD$25). The on board computer says we're averaging 4.5-4.8 liters of diesel per 100 km. That's about 50 mpg in American figuring, and about USD$0.10/mile for fuel costs. We're driving an Audi A3 automatic transmission, and it's a pretty small car. My 3 kids in the back seat say it's a little smaller than my old 2000 Honda Civic. Drives like a champ on these mountain roads though!

I'm curious how the gas mileage will drop when we do this mountain road with 50 hairpin switchbacks in a couple days. Probably be a little worse than 50 mpg. Especially if I have to stop more than once to let the kids vomit.

 

[FUEGO]

Thank you, but I don't think we are among the frugalest. We have never backpacked, and those youngsters spend a lot less than we do.

I overheard a couple of young Canadian girls here in Ljubljana griping about the state of the various hostels and shared lodging they've done. Bathrooms are gross, floors always wet after others shower, grungy, stinky, trashy, etc. Makes me glad we're a couple steps up from the cheapest hostels in town Though we're still firmly in the budget travel category I'd say.

I'm like you for meals - if it's not something special I'm not going to drop $20-30 for a boring meal when I can have something incredible at my airbnb for a few bucks. We NEVER eat breakfast out because it's way more convenient to eat in, not to mention a lot cheaper and healthier.

 

[Nemo2]

Thank you, but I don't think we are among the frugalest. We have never backpacked, and those youngsters spend a lot less than we do.

Stayed in a hostel in Colombo, Ceylon, just prior to my 21st birthday......they'd switch off the power at 10:00 p.m. and the rats would come out.....I was on the top bunk and don't know how many times I awoke because one was pulling my hair.......saw green eyes...followed by scampering sounds.

Guess we were all lucky not to have been bitten.

(We moved locales shortly thereafter.)

 

[FUEGO]

Stayed in a hostel in Colombo, Ceylon, just prior to my 21st birthday......they'd switch off the power at 10:00 p.m. and the rats would come out.....I was on the top bunk and don't know how many times I awoke because one was pulling my hair.......saw green eyes...followed by scampering sounds.

Guess we were all lucky not to have been bitten.

(We moved locales shortly thereafter.)

I've stayed in some $5 and $10/nt hotel rooms in Mexico. Turns out some also rented by the hour in addition to by the night. My girlfriend at the time traveled with me and said "next time we go back to Mexico we're not staying in those $5-10/nt hotel rooms!". She ended up marrying me in spite of that, so the rooms must not have been Ceylon-bad. No rats, just some cucarachas and folks yelling "puta" at her as we walked back to the hotel together with her holding some roses that a little starving street urchin girl guilted me into buying for "su mujer, tan bella!; Pero mas bella con flores, no?".

 

[Nemo2]

I've stayed in some $5 and $10/nt hotel rooms in Mexico. Turns out some also rented by the hour in addition to by the night.

I recall mentioning this some time back, (where I can't recall).........my oldest friend, of some 50 years, of Japanese origin, born in a British Columbia internment camp, was traveling in South America, circa 1970, with his English then girlfriend, now wife of many decades............they inadvertently went into a hot pillow joint.....when he asked for a room for the night the incredulous desk clerk said "Por la noche, Senor?"

Apparently a small crowd gathered to observe this, obviously superhuman, guest.

 

[FUEGO]

I recall mentioning this some time back, (where I can't recall).........my oldest friend, of some 50 years, of Japanese origin, born in a British Columbia internment camp, was traveling in South America, circa 1970, with his English then girlfriend, now wife of many decades............they inadvertently went into a hot pillow joint.....when he asked for a room for the night the incredulous desk clerk said "Por la noche, Senor?"

Apparently a small crowd gathered to observe this, obviously superhuman, guest.

Man, what they must have thought of me when I requested a room for two or three nights.

 

[Nemo2]

Man, what they must have thought of me when I requested a room for two or three nights.

"It's a Bird... It's a Plane....it's..."

 

[NW-Bound]

I recall mentioning this some time back, (where I can't recall).........my oldest friend, of some 50 years, of Japanese origin, born in a British Columbia internment camp, was traveling in South America, circa 1970, with his English then girlfriend, now wife of many decades............they inadvertently went into a hot pillow joint.....when he asked for a room for the night the incredulous desk clerk said "Por la noche, Senor?"

Apparently a small crowd gathered to observe this, obviously superhuman, guest.

Like dis?

 

[Nemo2]

Like dis?

They'd be older now.

 

[NW-Bound]

I was thinking of the gathering observers.

 

[Nemo2]

I was thinking of the gathering observers.

So was I.

 

[neihn]

Car expenses/day: $30 rental + $30 for gas/toll/parking
Airbnb lodging expense: $80/day

The car rental cost is for a smaller car for 2, with all insurances and no deductibles. You can save a bit of money with a car with stickshift. My first car when I was 19 was a stickshift, but in unknown cities with crowded streets I prefer to have all my attention devoted to other cars, pedestrians, and street signs. In addition, my wife cannot drive a stickshift and I want her to be able to help if I get sick.

The Airbnb expense of $80/day assumes that you stay mostly in the countryside (the reason to have a car!), and not in the cities. Look at Airbnb's in Paris and London to see what they cost, vs. Airbnb's in small towns in Provence, Tuscany, or Umbria. In this trip, we alternated between small towns and large ones, although in the latter case we stayed mostly in the suburb in order to have a parking space. The gas/toll/parking is from my recent trip, and it will be lower for someone who drives less.

That adds up to $140, and leaves you with $60/day for admissions, groceries, bars, and restaurants.

NW-bound, thanks for your detail reports. We are planing a trip to Europe in the fall of 2018. We love to travel Europe your style. I have few questions though

1. Did you rent your car with Avis or Hertz? Did you rent it for the entire trip?
2. AirBnBs, did you book all of them before leaving the US? or you book them on demand? We did not nail down the exact itinerary yet
3. Did you get your international driver license? Any tips here.

We plan to have an open ended trip (one way ticket to Frankfurt) and get the rental car there and start our travel from there.

Thanks, Hien.

 

[kcowan]

1. Did you rent your car with Avis or Hertz? Did you rent it for the entire trip?
2. AirBnBs, did you book all of them before leaving the US? or you book them on demand? We did not nail down the exact itinerary yet
3. Did you get your international driver license? Any tips here.

1. Switched from Europcar to Hertz because the second driver costs was 50 Euros instead of 77 Euros for the week.
2. Nailed down ahead of time, including eliminating a scam by contacting airbnb management when the listing sounded too good to be true. Berlin was fabulous and Paris was OK. Nice was through an agency (Pebbles) and excellent.
3. No need for any special license. Only required for long-term stays.

 

[explanade]

What happened to NW-bound. Haven't seen him posting in awhile.

 

[NW-Bound]

Hey, I am still around and poke in every so often, and in fact posted a day or two ago.

True that I am not here much recently, because I am preoccupied with designing hardware and software for a BMS (battery management system) for my future solar system.

To answer neihn's questions:

A poster asked what car agency I used. As my trip was longer than 30 days, I could not get a normal rental car. I don't know if it was the law or not.

I used Auto Europe, and it was technically a leased car, spanking new, and registered in my name! Their service was impeccable.

French registration system showed me as the owner of the car. Hence, when I was clocked over the speed limit in Germany and Switzerland, they mailed the tickets directly to my US address, but with the country shown as "FRANCE". Obviously, between the French and US postal systems, they managed to get the mail to me, else I would not know. This interesting thing was talked about in another thread.

I booked all Airbnb's stays in advance. I needed to study the parking situation at each location. No room for errors here. Except in the country side, it is rare that the Airbnb would have a private parking spot, and so I would need to know where to park and if it was safe (never leave things in the car!). I also need to study the distance from the Airbnb to the nearest train/metro/bus station, etc...

I did get the international driver permit at the local AAA office. It cost me $20, but would be free if I were an AAA member. Was never stopped by the police, so did not know if they would ask for it. Read on the Web some people were hassled in Italy for not having one, so I figured $20 was cheap for peace of mind.

 

[neihn]

NW-bound, kcowan thanks.

Great tips about checking for airbnb parking. Couple more questions
Did you just get a new cellular phone plan or a prepay in Europe?
Did you have to look for internet cafe to get email, or you have wifi at airbnb?

I have a Garmin Smartdrive 5LTM, and plan to buy Europe map for it - does it sounds right?

Thanks, Hien.

 

[Brat]

I downloaded the Nordic Garmin map and it was fantastic! The systems in their cars are no more useful than ours.

 

[explanade]

NW-bound, kcowan thanks.

Great tips about checking for airbnb parking. Couple more questions
Did you just get a new cellular phone plan or a prepay in Europe?
Did you have to look for internet cafe to get email, or you have wifi at airbnb?

I have a Garmin Smartdrive 5LTM, and plan to buy Europe map for it - does it sounds right?

Thanks, Hien.

If you have an unlocked smart phone, you can use Google Maps app. in conjunction with a local SIM with prepaid cellular data in Europe.

Garmin will probably want as much as $100 or more for a Europe map.

You can also use your smart phone in Europe if you have a T-Mobile contract, under their Simple Choice or One plans. The speed is slow but you get "unlimited" data and free texting and 20 cents per minute for calls in Europe.

A local prepaid cellular data SIM will probably be in the range of 10-40 Euros, depending on how much data you want, which country you buy it in, etc.

I use Google My Maps to plan my trips, so you can create custom maps with all the locations of places you will be visiting, such as hotels, restaurants, attractions. I can do that on a desktop computer and then on the trip, open those maps on my iPhone, by signing into my Google account.

 

[walkinwood]

NW-bound, kcowan thanks.

Great tips about checking for airbnb parking. Couple more questions
Did you just get a new cellular phone plan or a prepay in Europe?
Did you have to look for internet cafe to get email, or you have wifi at airbnb?

I have a Garmin Smartdrive 5LTM, and plan to buy Europe map for it - does it sounds right?

Thanks, Hien.

We use local SIM cards in europe on our unlocked phone (Verizon 4G phones are unlocked - for others you should check with your carrier). The coverage and data speeds are quite good and it costs about $20-$30 for 1G data + calling & text. SIMs are good for the country of origin since some have high roaming charges. We just buy them in each country we visit. Takes 30 minutes to locate, buy and activate. You may need to do some manual configuration on your phone, but instructions are quite easy to come by onlline.

We use google maps though they are not as good in Europe as they are here. Many times, they would take us through one lane roads (yes, one lane for both directions) for miles, when there was a perfectly suitable 2 lane road nearby. I took to checking on the map before leaving the airbnb/hotel.

We've used local wi-fi when available, but the 4G coverage has been quite good in the UK (except rural cornwall & wales), Sweden and Finland on recent trips.

 

[explanade]

We use local SIM cards in europe on our unlocked phone (Verizon 4G phones are unlocked - for others you should check with your carrier). The coverage and data speeds are quite good and it costs about $20-$30 for 1G data + calling & text. SIMs are good for the country of origin since some have high roaming charges. We just buy them in each country we visit. Takes 30 minutes to locate, buy and activate. You may need to do some manual configuration on your phone, but instructions are quite easy to come by onlline.

We use google maps though they are not as good in Europe as they are here. Many times, they would take us through one lane roads (yes, one lane for both directions) for miles, when there was a perfectly suitable 2 lane road nearby. I took to checking on the map before leaving the airbnb/hotel.

We've used local wi-fi when available, but the 4G coverage has been quite good in the UK (except rural cornwall & wales), Sweden and Finland on recent trips.

Since June of last year, all Euro local SIMs have some amount of free data roaming throughout the EU.

You're not guaranteed full 4G LTE speeds when roaming but it should be fast enough for Google Maps.

Also worth considering getting the most data you are willing to pay for, because often, mobile data has better speeds than wifi at many hotels.

Prepaid Data SIM Card Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia

 

[NW-Bound]

Maps:

I prepared and preloaded Google maps into my Android phone. It worked, but nowhere as well as the GPS in the leased car which I sadly did not bother figuring out how to use until past the half-point of the trip. Here's the difference.

The car GPS map has details of the highways and city streets that the Google map does not have. For example, while Google map will tell me that I will be merging left at the next highway interchange, the car map display will tell me that there will be 3 lanes going left, and 2 going right. That helps me prepare better, and I do not have to move to the outer most lane just in case there's only one lane going left. Overhead highway signs often do not give me enough advance notice, and making last minute lane merging is stressful.

The Google map app has quite a bit of lag, with both the display and the aural guidance. I often encounter two roundabouts within one or two hundred feet of one another, and any second of delay means frustration in navigating and staying on the planned route. When using the Google map on the phone, I needed someone in the passenger seat to man the phone and to guide me through roundabouts. With the car display that has a much faster update, one glance at the console and I knew what to do.

A portable GPS such as a Garmin may be better than a map app on a smartphone. I don't know, but the above was my experience. Google map on a phone is plenty good for walking around town though. It ran down the battery fast, however.

Phone:

About the phone, I had AT&T service back then, and paid $40/month additional during the trip to get international coverage, so that I could call or text the Airbnb hosts to arrange for arrival. What AT&T allowed for data was so meager, and I went over it on my last day in Paris when using Uber to get transport to the airport. That month, instead of the $40 extra, it cost me $100!

My traveling companions had T-Mobile, and they were surfing all the time with the free international coverage. We now are on T-Mobile 55+ plan, which offers the same.

 

[explanade]

Google Maps don't can't all the roundabouts and don't always have lane guidance.

But in a lot of cases, you're driving 2-lane roads and most of the places where you have to turn are the roundabouts, which can have different number of exits.

I will take the Google Maps guidance but I also see what the signs indicate on each of the exits too


Main advantages of Google Maps is that if you have a pretty recent phone, the interface will be much smoother than dedicated GPS units, which have weak processors and screens which aren't as good for touch input.

Also you can use Google Maps to preplan your trip on a desktop computer, so you can pin a lot of the locations you plan to visit ahead of time. You don't have to search and input these destinations each time you get in the car.

Also try searching for places in a dedicated GPS vs. typing in a place or name in Google Maps on a modern smart phone. World of difference using an onboard keyboard on a Garmin vs. a smart phone.

 

[NW-Bound]

Google Maps don't can't all the roundabouts and don't always have lane guidance.

But in a lot of cases, you're driving 2-lane roads and most of the places where you have to turn are the roundabouts, which can have different number of exits.

I will take the Google Maps guidance but I also see what the signs indicate on each of the exits too...

When I entered a roundabout, Google map might call out "take the 4th exit", and once or twice, there was no 4th exit.

And what the road signs said and what Google map labeled the road/street often did not match!

The car built-in map is superior to Google map on my smartphone which is only 3-year-old, but having any kind of computer map at all is a necessity. I really do not know how drivers were able to drive in Europe in the old days using paper maps.

 

[explanade]

In theory, Google Maps are constantly up to date.

The ones in Garmin and cars need to be updated almost every year.

But I think that's mostly for POI or places with names like hotels and restaurants.

I usually look at the icon and see where it's pointing to, so I estimate that it wants me to exit at 10 o'clock or 3 o'clock, relative to the car I'm driving, which would always enter at 6 o'clock.

 

[Brat]

We had no problem following Garmin instructions at roundabouts. The other thing we liked was the fact that the Garmin unit was held by a suction cup tool on the front window, no looking down to follow a map. Also the voice was clear and not annoying.