got my IDP from AAA today

For new readers: see more at http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/rental-car-requirements.

Good job.
I know. The IDP as big as your passport, but that is only to remind you that when you drive you need to carry your passport as well in case the police stops you for a routine check (which is not uncommon in Italy).
You also need your Virginia Driver's License. Don't leave home without it.

I got mine a month ago from AAA and it was $25 including photos for a non-member.

Just don't get Euros from them - they quoted $67 for 100 Euros.

kj ... $167 US for 100 Euros? ..No Thanks

100€ for $67 is a steal. That would be too good to be true.

At the official exchange rate today 100€ would be $109.

not sure he is saying that. sounded more to me like $167 for 100 euros ...

Thinking he meant 67 EUR for $100.

AAA sells $100 "travel packs" of currency. You receive what they consider to be $100 US worth of the currency you are buying in paper currency. But even that sounds a bit off. I would expect 70 to 90 EUR even though they don't repack the packets every time the rate changes. Maybe these were left over from when the rate was higher. :-)

OOPS!!! Mark's right, they quoted 67 Euros for $100.

Sorry everyone - chalk that up to senior dyslexia or too much multi-tasking.

Just bought Euros...no charge if you buy $200

No charge except for the horrendous exchange rate. My local AAA told me that their rate stays the same until they sell the packs they already have - at the time I asked, it was something like $1.58/Euro when the real rate was just over $1.20.

Back to the IDP...I wish it was the size of my passport. It's just enough bigger that it puts a strain on zipping my money belt. Length is not the problem. It's the width.

We get one every time we go. That's partly because we might decide to rent a car, partly because they are cheap and partly because that annual photo is more current than the driver license and passport ones.

It's not an issue for my husband because he looks like a polar bear in a snow storm in every picture: old very pale white guy with white hair, white beard, rimless glasses and white T-shirt in front of a white background. But I look different in every picture, so I always hope the most current one will bear some resemblance to me!

I don't bother to put an IDP in my money belt. It's not such an important document to be safeguarded like money or passport.
I take 2. The current one and an old one from a previous trip, in the unlikely event I lose the current one.
Once I have the rental car, I keep it inside the car with the rental contract.

ya true Roberto, you don't need to carry it .. just put in the glove box with the rental/lease papers ... not needed for walking :-) ... Lo your husband fits my description Lol

RE: AAA @Susan of Dalton, MA; We had this discussion on this forum before before. You are correct, at AAA $200.00 is free and the exchange rate in Massachusetts AAA offices is good/comparable to the going rate. Apparently, other states' offices have different rules, and they are not as good. We just appear to have the best AAA offices in Mass. Wray

Got mine yesterday at AAA for $15. Got my pictures taken at Costco for about $6 (great that they do passport photos in some stores now!).

"It's not an issue for my husband because he looks like a polar bear in a snow storm in every picture: old very pale white guy with white hair, white beard, rimless glasses and white T-shirt in front of a white background. But I look different in every picture, so I always hope the most current one will bear some resemblance to me!"

But Lo, he's gotta be easy to find in Tucson ;-)

What I'm hoping for is a photo that doesn't look so much like me (sigh)...

And just for fun...after getting my first look at an IDP, I was pretty underwhelmed. I don't know what DLs of other countries look like, but it just doesn't seem that difficult to 'translate' an American DL. The are two dates - one within 1-5 years in the future, and one 18-80 years in the past. A name. Height and weight. I'd think anyone looking at it could figure it out...but then again...maybe not.

I highly recommend that anyone who has a passport, driver license or IDP picture that doesn't look a lot like them, keep having pictures taken until it does.

True story:

My 1st passport renewal picture was really bad. How bad was it, Lo? It was so bad that the passport control guys in Moscow in the early 80's almost didn't let me leave, even though I was with a largely German tour group. I had to point to the scar on the chin of the person in the picture and to the one on my chin before the guy would stamp my passport and let me go through.

sorry, Lo. though my college room mate (and companion on my first international trip, which included sleeping on the floor on the ferry to Ireland to save the cost of lodging for one night) always says the goal is to not too to GOOD in your photo, so that it matches your rumpled travel weary self..........