maps
We recommend that you invest in a top quality map or maps, or an atlas. You can
buy your map(s) domestically, from the likes of Amazon.com, or once abroad from a bookstore (present
in most airports) or service station. 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 get, remember the words
of Thomas Ottavi: "There are lies, damned lies, and then there are maps."
books
travel insurance
The rentals include insurance which covers theft of your
rented vehicle, but it doesn't include insurance to cover theft of
your belongings. IdeaMerge recommends you consider purchasing travel insurance
to cover, among other things, such an eventuality.
cell phones
Many cell phones (i.e., mobile phones, handies) now work overseas. Check with your
service provider in this regard. Otherwise, consider the following rental vendors:
mobile internet connection
motorhome propane, water, waste, electrics, etc
online driving directions & route planners
automotive measurement conversions
camping
your domestic drivers license
The minimum age limit for the motorhome and campervan rentals presented
by IdeaMerge depends on the vendor.
(Many vendors require that drivers have posssesed a valid domestic
drivers license for at least a year prior to the rental.)
In some cases there is a maximum age limit.
See the relevant Payments & Policies page.
Drivers must of course possess their valid domestic drivers license.
The USA motorhome and camper van rental
vehicles presented on the IdeaMerge Website are designed such that relative
especially to the laws of the USA
virtually all domestic drivers licenses suffice for operation of these
vehicles, even in nearly all cases where the inherent limits of the
license (i.e. relative to your domestic laws) would preclude the holder from
driving the vehicle in his/her own country. Which is to say, standard foreign
drivers licenses are translated by the laws of the USA such
that these licenses basically function in the USA as
standard USA drivers licenses.
To state this yet another way: In the USA the standard domestic drivers licenses of foreign states
are, in connection with foreign tourists, considered equal to a standard USA drivers license.
Therefore the foreign drivers license allows the holder to drive the same
range of vehicle types as does a corresponding USA license. This means, for instance,
that the 3500 kg permissible-weight constraint that applies to European
Union licenses in Europe is effectively raised in the USA to match the
USA standards, which are invariably so high that all the vehicles
represented on IdeaMerge's USA "Rates & Reservations" page may be driven
by a standard-European-drivers-licensed client. …
Nevertheless, you might be interested in researching the inherent limits of
your drivers license. To do so you can
check the back of your license and visit the Website of the
governmental agency that issued your license.
You can also see the following Wikipedia articles:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver's_license and, say,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Driving_Licence_codes.
international driving permit
The United States of America does not require of foreign drivers
an international driving permit.
However, if your domestic drivers license is not primarily or secondarily (i.e. in parallel)
written in English, the vendor does
require of you an international driving permit (IDP).
IDPs are available
for a small charge (about the equivalent of US$ 20) from the automobile club offices in the
client's country of residence (but not outside their country), and
a person need not be a member of such club to obtain the IDP from the club.
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.)
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.)
Web searches will bring up a host of Websites selling documents that conform
to the international driving permit 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 ...."
miscellaneous resources
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