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links/resources: car travel europe
international driving permit
Many countries require of foreign drivers no license apart from
a domestic drivers license. However, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzogovina,
Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Ukraine,
and Vatican City do, by law at least, require non-Europeans to carry
an International Driving Permit (IDP) along with their domestic license.
(See the country listings posted on the New Zealand Automobile
Association's Website. EU residents should reference the
relevant page on Britain's Automobile Association Website.)
Basically an IDP is a means by which police in a foreign
country can know — in terms of translations in nearly a dozen
different languages —
that your domestic driver's license is indeed recognized as being valid by
the proper authorities in your country. (See the
excellent article at
Drivers.com.)
The local office of your auto club (AAA, CAA, etc.) sells IDPs for
about US$10. If you need an IDP, take
your license, two passport-sized photos and the requisite cash to the club office. (Though for about US$6 the
club may snap Polaroid photos for you.) Ten minutes later you'll be able to
legally drive on any European road—assuming you're at least 18 years of age. If you
plan to operate a motorcycle in Europe, be sure to have the auto club certify your
qualification to do so. The USA's AAA now has a Webpage whereby drivers
licensed in the USA can obtain an IDP:
AAA's application for IDP.
Web searches will bring up a host of Websites selling documents that conform
to the model delineated in annex 10 of the United Nations Convention on Road
Traffic (1949); but according to Article 24 of that convention,
a truly valid IDP is one which is "issued .. by the competent authority of
another Contracting State or subdivision thereof, or by an association duly
empowered by such authority ...." The US State Department says it has
empowered only the American Automobile Association (AAA) and the American
Automobile Touring Alliance (AATA) to issue IDPs. (The AATA offers IDPs
through the National Automobile Club.)
printed maps and GPS maps
Everyone wants a free map, but in addition to death and taxes at least
one further fact will always be generally true: free maps are
not good maps. And no matter what map you have, remember the words
of Thomas Ottavi: "There are lies, damned lies, and then there are maps."
books
travel insurance
cell phone rental
Many cell phones (i.e., mobile phones, handies) now work overseas. Check with your
service provider in this regard. Otherwise, consider the following phone rental vendors:
online driving directions & route planners
fuel
automotive conversions
tax-free, short-term auto leasing
motorhome & campervan rental
motorhome propane, water, waste, electrics, etc
satellite tv and the tour de france
camping
ferry travel
rail travel
intra-european flights
hotels
property rentals
independent auto insurance and registration
miscellaneous
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