Emma's home

[ritaxis]

Heavily drugged, still in pain, but playing Pokemon D&D with Frank and some of their friends. Doing really well. She has had pudding and hot and sour soup, which helps. Jason is being really helpful for her too. So's Frank.

The nice fellow and I and I had a screaming argument about whether to use a rental car or public transportation while in Europe. Any informed opinions?

On another front, who'se done voice posts while travelling? Is it a good idea?

Comments

[hrj.livejournal.com]

The transport question depends entirely on where you'll be, what you'll be doing, and how much you're willing to tailor your itinerary to your chosen mode of transportation. My experiences in Europe have involved both angles, although the times we had a car I wasn't driving yet. Some considerations:

In my experience, within major urban zones, a personal car is actually a liability, especially for the casual tourist. In addition to the standard difficulty of trying to navigate an unfamiliar urban space, you'll be navigating an unfamiliar driving culture, and then you'll have to deal with parking which will be as awful as dealing with parking in SF or NYC.

Also in my experience, the public transit in most European major urban areas is quite adequate for the task of getting where you want to go. And if you end up doing a little more walking than normal -- well, it's sightseeing.

Conversely, if your travel involves a significant amount of going from small town or rural site A to small town or rural site B (or even from major urban center A to small town or rural site B), and especially if your time is limited, then a personal car may be essential. The rail system is excellent (beyond excellent) for traveling between cities, or for traveling between any two served points if you don't have strict time constraints. But, for example, when I was traveling from Llantrisant in Wales to London, it took nearly a full 24 hours because there was only one bus a day between Llantrisant and Aberystwyth, and a limited number of trains from Aberystwyth to points east, and the scheduling meant an obligatory overnight stay in Aberystwyth. Since sightseeing was a major part of my purpose, this wasn't a problem, but if I'd been on a 7 stops in 7 days tour, it would have been.

Back on the public transit side: you will have many more interactions both with local people and with other travelers using public transit than a private car. Some will be good, some bad, but for most it will sum up far on the positive side. Many of my cherished memories from European travel wouldn't have occurred if I hadn't been using public transportation.

Ironically, the two times I've been in Europe with a personal car (2 separate sabbatical years for my Dad when I was a kid) were when we had all the time in the world (but with 6 people in the party, the personal car became more cost effective) whereas the two times I've been there without a car (a 3-month post-graduation trip and a 1-month conference+friend's-wedding trip) I was packing a lot more into the available time. But in the latter cases, I more or less tailored my itinerary to the transportation. There were things I simply didn't try to see because the enjoyment:time ratio wasn't high enough.

All in all, if at all practical, I'd strongly advise planning on using public tranportation and then adjusting your plans around that constraint. Not worrying about the mechanics of driving and navigation will make it easier to pay attention to, and enjoy, your surroundings. My two cents.

[annafdd.livejournal.com]

What hrj said.

Depends a lot on what you are doing and where you are going. Visiting rural areas - a car is essential. Going from largish town A to largish town B, car is probably a liablitly.

Public transport in Italy withing towns is pretty bad, while the train network is cheap and frequent. BUt alas this doesn't mean that you can use a car - just that you need to be patient. A car takes just as much time, and is a lot more stressful. People who complain about public transport in London (and there are) should just try going from one end to the other in Padova, pop. 300,000 if that.