Duplicating National Lampoon's European Vacation Movie

@martha

April Fools Day is still four months away:) LOL
I suggest you head to the French Riviera. More details at this blind hot link:

http://tinyurl.com/pydphps

martha, I see from your other post that you have previously been to France. What is it about the driving there, in Germany and Italy that upsets your husband so? From Germany to Italy (I haven't seen the movie) is either via Switzerland or Austria. Is he worried about driving there too?

Without seeing the movie, I have driven and taken trains in most countries in western and central Europe. I never had much of a problem either way. I've also never driven with more than one child in the car for any distance.

What problems do you expect people to have experienced?

Can you give an idea of where you live so that we can draw parallels?

We live near Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He is afraid of the road signs, getting lost and unable to speak the language. We were in Italy and Greece last month and the road signs looked similar to ours in the USA. I also checked with the rental car and they offer GPS units for the areas we will be traveling.

"We are duplicating the movie as much as possible" - so you plan to stay in a horrible hotel in London, spend hours going around the same roundabout and knock down Stonehenge?? :-)

"We will not be driving while in the UK due to obvious reasons played out in the movie" - It was only a movie, it is not that hard difficult driving in the UK, BUT DO NOT DRIVE IN CENTRAL LONDON (or Paris, or Rome). Only the Griswolds would do that.

If you are duplicating the film, you are going London --> Paris --> Germany --> Italy. It is not specified in the film how they get from one country to the next. The best way from London to Paris is Eurostar, much too sensible and comfortable for the Griswalds.

Don't be afraid of driving in France or Germany, millions do it every day, just learn the road signs and laws first. Most road signs are symbols (so you don't need to understand the language) and mostly the same in all countries. Click here for the UK official road signs. And take a phrase book for each language (whether you are driving or not).
What you will not be able to do is to take a hire car "from Paris to Germany to Italy", unless you take it back to France again. International one way car hire has a large drop off charge, because they have to drive the car back to the country of origin. much better to take a train or fly from Paris to Germany and from Germany to Italy and just hire for your trips out of cities.

You need to decide where in Germany you are going, that is your decision. It is not said in the film where they are supposed to be, I read somewhere that the "German" scenes in the film were actually filmed in a village in Südtirol, which is the German-speaking part of Italy¨!

I hope you enjoy your holiday. I like your sense of fun.

Thank you Chris

Hi Martha, I haven't watched the movie in a while but I would bet that if your husband can navigate I-71 in northeast Ohio, he can handle whatever traffic problems he may encounter in Europe! Maybe you could agree to set aside the transportation issues and use the wonderful train system in Europe. That would make it a fun vacation for everyone.

See this short video of the film's locations, then and now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kheq6UZ_vWg

Thank you Chris, Nigel, and Donna!

You'll encounter toll booths, so being prepared to pay and continue onward will make your journey smooth. You'll encounter roundabouts, and Rick Steves' guidebooks give helpful tips on handling those. You'll need an International Driver's Permit (available thru AAA in the USA) for driving in Italy.

The biggest sign to note is for speed limits, which is a black number (representing kilometers per hour) inside of a red circle. To minimize headaches during your drive (and possibly after you get home, when some people report receiving tickets and fines in the mail), don't speed over there. Stop signs are a familiar red octagon. Traffic lights are sometimes in unexpected positions along the curb and/or suspended overhead.

Your husband may not want to duplicate the German slap-dancing scene, unless he's that kind of guy ;-)

@Nigel - in the movie, Stonehenge was not surrounded by a fence, and when tapped with the back of a car, a domino effect occurred.

good for you, Martha. even in the US, when I encounter a round about.....even if I am alone in the car I announce out loud " look kids, Big Ben, Parliament!!!!"
I also tell my nieces that eventually I will show up at their houses with a jello full of cat kibbles and a angry cat in a gift box.

"[W]hen I encounter a round about.....even if I am alone in the car I announce out loud "look kids, Big Ben, Parliament!!!!" -- Hey, who doesn't? ;)

Sounds like a fun trip, Martha, but I do hope you're not planning to be kidnapped at gunpoint.

If you can drive in the US you can drive in most countries in Europe. I usually try to avoid driving in those where they drive on the wrong side of the road and those with wild and undisciplined drivers. Examples: southern Italy, Greece and so and especially their big cities (Naples, Athens). Certain different things in Europe: manual gear shift, everything with metric, international traffic signs (learn them all, most Americans don't know them as I found out while driving with my friends around Europe). In most countries you cannot turn right on red light. Police there has more rights then here. They can stop you for whatever reason or none. Levels for alcohol while driving are much stricter than here, some countries have zero tolerance. In most countries police is stopping you differently than here. They pass you and then show you to get to the shoulder and stop. Their speed traps are more sophisticated than here. You don't see them. They are in hiding, check your speed, if too fast they radio ahead and different group of policemen are waiting there stopping every speeding car, sometimes you see quite a long line of offenders waiting to be cashed in. Most country roads are quite narrower than here. For most freeways you need a sticker. If you drive on them without it - hefty fine. The rest of freeways are toll roads. I am thinking about more differences but nothing is crossing my mind right now. Maybe later.

I have had no significant trouble driving in any country of Europe, but do advise avoiding a few of the biggest cities, including Naples on that list. See several of Rick's driving tips articles plus this one for Britain.

Thank you all for the great advice. We definitely will not duplicate every scene in the movie but will follow their journey throughout Europe. My children are 29 and 31 so I will see if they are up to the challenge of driving. I do not think my husband will give on this issue but we could have plenty of drivers without him joining in on the challenge. I have no problem driving in Washington DC (son is a police officer in DC) so I'm up for the challenge, now lets see if I can get the others on board too. As soon as our children (sons and spouses) opened their Christmas gifts (luggage and a DVD of the movie), the first thing they shouted was "Look Big Ben, Parliament". I will continue to explore this website to gain more knowledge before our adventure begins.

Even if you won't be driving in the UK this time, note that they still do post speed limits and distances in miles, and gas is dispensed in (imperial) gallons, even though many of their other weights & measures are done in metric. Paris to Italy will be all metric, all the time.

Cyn, in the UK, speed limits and road distance signs are in still miles (30 MPH = 50 KPH = Speed limit in towns), but fuel (petrol, diesel) is sold in Litres and has been for many years. It currently costs about £1.16 per litre (click here for current fuel cost in most European countries). The only other thing still not metric is pints of beer in pubs.

Note gas is what comes through pipes or in gas canisters for cooking and heating homes, vehicles are fuelled by petrol or diesel.

You will have trouble finding the un-named German town featured in the movie, since I believe this portion of the film was actually filmed in South Tyrol in Italy.

Hi Chris F - well, I mixed up my petrol and my beer - might not be the first time that's happened ;-)

"We are duplicating the movie as much as possible."
But hopefully not including getting into a brawl at a biergarten.

Except the German word for six is pronounced "zechs".

Or you could replicate If It's Tuesday This Must Be Belgium (1969), "Worldwind Tour #225, a nine country, eighteen day bus trip from London to Rome," with a busload of crazy but basically good-natured American tourists.

Brush up on the essential road signs. (i.e. Einbahnstrasse is one way street in Germany. One confusing to Americans is the German yellow triangle sign. To us, it means yield, to them it means a priority road and you have the right of way, just the opposite!
Unless you are going 100 mph on the autobahn, stay out of the left lane or they will be right up your rear!

Not German but European and not triangle but square standing on one corner. Otherwise I agree. It tells you that you are on the main road and don't have to yield to vehicles coming from the right. I wish we have something like that here in the US.
Usually 100 miles per hour is not enough to stay in the left lane. My speed on Autobahn is about 100 mph and quite often somebody drives significantly faster turning high beams on to get me out of the way even when I myself am already passing slower vehicle.

Speaking of driving on the German Autobahns: One of the more challenging things about driving on the Autobahn is when there are only 2 lanes (in each direction), which is common between urban areas. Maybe you're doing a sedate 90 or 95 mph, so of course you're in the slow lane. I guess trucks are required to go at a much slower speed (maybe 70 mph), so the trucks are all in the slow lane where you're driving. If you're doing 90, you're coming up on the trucks at 20 mph faster than they're going, so you have to keep a careful watch and be ready to pass them. To pass the trucks, of course you have to get into the fast lane. You look in the side-view mirror and see a car in the fast lane but he's way back and your judgement, carefully honed over a lifetime of driving at 65 or 75 on US interstates, tell you, "I have plenty of time to pull into the fast lane and pass that truck and get back into the slow lane." So you pull into the fast lane, you're doing 90 mph, and before you're even past the truck, that car that looked way back in your mirror, well he's been closing on you at 120 mph and he's right there on your bumper flashing his lights, and irritated wondering why you're not with the program. because he's closing on you at 120. That's if you're lucky. If you're not, his Mercedes could be in your trunk or back seat.

I'm now stuck with a vision of you and various kids and in-laws wearing cheap berets with your names embroidered......stifles a giggle

Are you making a video too? I mean of the trip! :-)

I think your vacation idea is adorable!

I would let your husband be the passenger/navigator if he is afraid to drive there. If you can drive in DC you can drive in Europe. It allows you so much freedom to travel when and where you want. Just go for it.

Also, if you drive in England just get an automatic and it will make it loads easier, but in Germany a manual is the only way to go.
Have fun!