Husband can handle the stick-shift, and he can manage the left-side driving. We've been told to get a GPS (I think that's it). Do the rental cars come with these thingys or should we really buy one here and take it with us? (I am TOTALLY ignorant about them, as you can tell.) Any advice greatly appreciated, and thank you!
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9369 posts
It might be more cost-effective to buy one here (get one that comes with Europe maps) so that you can learn how it works before you really need it. Depending on how long your trip is, it could be cheaper to buy one than to pay an extra fee for it to be included with your rental. And you will know that you have it - what if you showed up at the rental counter and they didn't have one for you?
Posted by
Atlanta
1358 posts
If you're doing the GPS, take maps along, too. We depended too much on the GPS and got taken along some tiny cow paths when larger roads were nearby. There's lots of funny stories online about the same thing happening to lots of people in Ireland and UK. If the GPS tells you to take a tiny road, you can ignore it and it'll recalculate. That's when it'll come in handy to have already "broken it in", so you know how that works.
Posted by
Yorkshire
1336 posts
Hi,Uk road maps are excellent about £5 will get a decent one.
I'm a walker so love maps..that said I had to help an aunt set up a gps, and al it realy needed was to put in a start postcode and end post code.Saldy I ate a lot of humble pie, very helpfull.They can be had for about £50 here preloaded with uk OS(ordanance survey) maps.
You might also want to join a library if you are staying in an area, you get your card straight away no charge, and most have local large scale OS maps to use.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
A GPS now comes almost standard with a rental car in Europe. Without even requesting one, my last 3 rental cars have included a unit. All were easy to use.