Re: European Car Rental?

[Mr. Castleman:]

1.) I've done a little research on German car rental agencies. Most of them
seem to want "advance permission" to take a car into "eastern europe".
Since airfare is much cheaper to Berlin than to Prague, I was thinking
about renting a car in Berlin and driving the rest of the way- looking at
my very dated map (it still shows E & W Germany, it looks like there's an
autobahn to Dresden, and two lanes country roads the rest of they way. Can
anyone comment about the feasibility or advisability of this.

The motorway link between Dresden and Prague is shown as being under
construction in my 2004 A.A. Europe road atlas--it's possible it will
have been finished by the time you travel. The relevant route
designations are A13 in Germany and D8 in the Czech Republic. You can
find current information on the D8 here:

http://www.rsd.cz/rsd/rsd.nsf/0/AEECAD76680A01B9C1256DBF002CCEF0

Possibly it is translated into English elsewhere on the site.

2.) What would be a good European car for two people to rent? I'm
uncomfortable in my sister's tiny Celica, and it seems an SUV like I drive
at home would be expensive and ackward, and it seems secure trunk space
would be good. Would something like a manual Camry be a good choice for
Euro driving? I like autos, but I know how to drive a stick, and it seems
those are more available in Europe.

A Camry would be a bit big--the C280K I rented was about the same size
as a Nissan Altima, and was the smallest kind of car available with
automatic transmission (at least from Europcar U.K.). For cost reasons
it makes sense to rent as small as possible. Keep in mind that the
checked luggage limit on intra-E.U. flights is generally 20 kg per
person.

3.) Do people tend to know English in places tourists would visit, like gas
stations, museums, restaurants, airports, border crossings? A person I knew
from work who's been there warned me this would be a problem specifically
in the Czech Republic, but that seems at odds with information I've found
online. Besides Berlin-Prague the other area on the continent I'd
specifically thinking of is Paris and northern France, but having never
been on the continent I'd consider other areas if I got a good deal on
airfare.

English is a very common second language in Europe generally, but it's
always wise to learn enough of the language to give yourself the
ability to leave it to the native's initiative whether he switches to
English. This is partly for politeness, and partly also to expand your
ability to "read" your surroundings. Multilingual exhibit labels are
not all that common even in major, world-famous museums, and the places
that have them tend to be unrepresentative, "touristy" spots.

At border crossings the immigration inspectors hardly ever talk. In
the E.U. generally, a U.S. passport by itself is accepted as proof that
(1) you have enough money for your stay and (2) you don't speak the
local language well enough to respond to detailed questioning in the
native language without turning the inspection into a long-drawn-out,
otiose process. The U.K. is the major exception--they are perfectly
capable of questioning you for 20-30 minutes about your finances, means
of support while you are in the U.K., etc. with time out to discuss
your answers with the Chief Immigration Officer for that port of entry.

.

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