You drive like crazy
It seems like the most convenient thing to do. Why bother having to sort through bus and train schedules on your trip when you could just rent a car and go where you want when you want? Hold up there a minute, Skippy, make sure you know what this entails or you could be dealing with more hassle than you’d ever anticipated. If you’re from Canada and heading down to California for Disneyland, for example, then I wholeheartedly encourage a car rental. You’re familliar with the makes and models of the cars on offer, you know the basic road rules, as they’re the same up here, and you can read the street signs. These three criteria are not going to be met everywhere, though, so I recommend doing a little online research before you even consider getting behind the wheel.
First off, the majority of rental cars internationally are standard transmission. You need to specify an automatic at time of booking, and be prepared, they’re usually a higher price due to their uniqueness. So if you can’t drive stick and don’t want to wind up like those Amazing Race contestants repeatedly stalling out in the middle of traffic and enduring the wrath of the locals, you have two options: either practice a bit before going (driving your cousin’s borrowed standard around parking lots for a few hours is so much cooler than learning all the bad hand gestures the hard way on your trip) or cough up the extra cash and get one you can drive.
Similar to this is the “check which side of the road your chosen country drives on” rule. I’ve had clients who were perfectly capable of driving standard, but kept missing gears in New Zealand as they were shifting with their left hands while remembering to drive on the right side of the road. This is also why renting a car in London to drop off in Paris is not possible, as your steering wheel is not going to magically switch sides mid-ferry crossing, and there are a lot of people out there that think the side the wheel is on dictates the side they should drive on. A client asked me that once, if they could follow the French or the English road rules while in France with an English car. I am not making this up. Luckily, I didn’t have a car rental company that would allow him to do this itinerary, so I was spared from having to explain to him that the French don’t like cleaning up after hundreds of tourists killed in head-on collisions near the port of Calais.
Similarly, if you can’t read the street signs, or understand the basic laws of the road, don’t drive. When in destination you’re subject to local laws, and ignorance is not a legal defense. Legal matters aside, by driving yourself you also have to navigate yourself to your destination, so learning the local words/signs for things like “stop”, “road closed” and “if you drive down this road you will be shot” are a good idea. I’ll get you started. “Ausfhart” is German for “Exit”. There, I’ve just saved you hours of driving down the Autobahn, giggling to yourself and wondering why all roads lead back to the town of Ausfhart while the city you’re looking for never appears.
Then there’s the little matter of practicality. Some places it’s actually more inconvenient to have a car than take public transport, particularly if you’re spending a prolonged time in a major city centre. London is a great example of this, where just driving into the city centre will cost you GBP$7 per day as a congestion charge. Then there’s the horrendous lack of parking, high traffic congestion combined with the crazy streets that can change names every block or just stop for no reason (not kidding about this, taxi drivers have to study maps and test-drive the city for years before they get their license – passing a test ominously called “the Knowledge”), and when you add it all up it’s enough to have you thrown up your hands in exasperation and abandon your Hertz in the middle of Trafalgar Square in favor of the Underground. At least on the train you know you’ll eventually wind up at your destination.
All this being said, a car rental can be a great way to get from one place to another, moving at whatever pace you choose to, as long as it’s under legal limits. It gives you the freedom to buy that ten-gallon jug of drinking water on sale at Target because you know you don’t have to carry it all the way back to your hotel carefully balanced on your head. You can reach so many off the beaten path places that major transportation links might not get to. So rent away – I have some great rates! – but make sure it’s the perfect decision to make your dream trip all you want it to be 