Jaunted - Tag: driving

Samoa Switches Sides Of The Road For Drivers

kjb — 2009-09-09T09:15:46-05:00

As of Monday morning local time, the country of Samoa made quite the change to the way the country moves around. Instead of driving on the right side of the road, they decided to switch things up and drive on the left side. Not since the 1970s has a country shook things up like this, and we’re just glad we didn’t have a visit planned there this week.

To help things go as smoothly as possible, the country is taking a couple days off, as government officials felt that a two-day holiday would ease people into the traffic train wreck. There’s also a three-day ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages, because you know knocking a few back would not help things out at all. So far so good it seems, but that might only be because everyone is still on vacation.

Los Angeles: Brits On An American Road Trip: A Dud Car Nightmare

londontown — 2009-08-19T13:04:37-05:00

Planning a road trip? HotelChatter contributor London Town is on one from LA to New York at the moment. Some top tips from a week on the road…

If there’s one thing we Europeans know about Americans, it’s that you love your cars. We also know that your customer service is second to none (tell us to have a nice day when we’re over here, and our cold little British hearts will melt all over you).

So we were pretty confident about hiring a car for our road trip in the land of the free. We’ve done it before—we drove from Chicago to Nashville earlier in the year with Avis, and that worked out just fine. This time we were going further, though—LA to New York, to be precise. National came through with the least extortionate one-way fees, so we went with them.

Big mistake. We arrived at LAX late on a Wednesday night, jetlagged and extra cranky as United had managed to mislay our bag for a whole two hours, and at first we were pleasantly surprised at the ease of the pick up service. We literally signed the contract, and were told to choose a car and drive off. We chose a nice red Chevy and headed off. It wasn’t until we reached the interstate that we noticed it kept pulling to the right, trying to drive us off the road.

Brits On An American Road Trip: Five Top Tips

londontown — 2009-08-17T15:14:36-05:00

Planning a road trip? HotelChatter contributor London Town is on one from LA to New York at the moment. Some top tips from a week on the road…

Don’t plan ahead too far
On our last road trip, we planned our stops by the day, which made for guilt aplenty when we made unscheduled stops, and crazy-fast driving to make up the time. This time, we’ve sussed out accommodation options for where we want to be, and where we’ll likely be, and called from the road in the afternoon. As a result, we’ve had plenty detours and we’re all the better for it (if a week behind schedule).

Don’t rely on GPS
Yesterday, we asked our GPS to take us through Texas from Abilene to Austin, via Crawford, to stalk George Bush. It swore that the fastest route would go on the interstate through Fort Worth and take nine hours. Luckily, we looked at a map that showed that that would be like doing two sides of a triangle, ditched the GPS and went cross country. It took five hours.

Dublin: 'Stay Left!' And Other Tips For Driving in Ireland

cmb — 2009-08-07T16:24:31-05:00

All this week, Jaunted contributor CMB will be giving us notes on her Dublin Field Trip. Any questions or suggestions? Let us know.

Returning from our trip to Ireland last week, everyone wanted to know, “what’s the biggest difference between Ireland and the U.S.?” Here it is, drum roll please… they drive on the left. Disappointed? Yeah, we were too but it is a major difference and a tricky one for Americans in tiny rental cars. Luckily for you, we made plenty of mistakes driving on the wrong side of the road so that now you can learn from them.

First, even in if you rent a GPS with your rental car (they run around €5 a day), buy a map; better yet, buy two maps, one for the whole country and a separate one of Dublin. For whatever reason, the GPS always seems to go rogue at the worst possible time so it’s a good idea to have a backup plan.

Most rentals in Ireland are manual transmission. You will pay more for standard transmission but if that is what you drive at home, buck up and pay the extra money. It is difficult enough pulling out of the airport trying to remember what lane to be in, let alone trying not to stall, this is no time to be cheap. Outside of Dublin, there are roundabouts everywhere, remember traffic coming from the right-hand side has the right of way.

What Is With Rental Car Prices These Days? The NYT Investigates

kjb — 2009-06-29T11:32:19-05:00

Just when we finally thought it safe to book an affordable flight, hotel, and rental car, a New York Times story gets us all disappointed over rates. Apparently, despite the deals elsewhere, rental car costs are going up. One consulting group notes that in May, the average weekly rate for a car booked seven days in advance went up almost 75% from the previous year.

Although the demand for rental cars is down, the car companies are responding by not ordering new cars and selling off the really old ones. In the past, drivers were greeted with a low-mile cream puff, often with a new car scent, but now they are usually stuck in something with many more miles on the odometer. Unfortunately, it’s just simple supply and demand, and less rental cars mean we’re stuck paying more for the dogs that are left.

FL: Escape Florida With One-Way Rental Car Deals

kjb — 2009-06-16T11:02:12-05:00

If you’re dreaming of your own One-Way Road Trip after ours got you all hot and bothered for beignets and alligators, now is your chance. National Car Rental is offering one-way rental car deals out of Florida to cities across the country. There’s no drop fees or mileage charges, so get booking and start driving.

With the National Drive Out program, you’ll be able to leave from many cities in Florida for as little as $10 a day for economy cars and only $12 per day for full-size cars. Feel free to drop your car in Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, or Tennessee, among other states.

For those looking to head elsewhere, $17 per day rates are available for trips as far away as North Dakota and Colorado. These rates are also available for much of the Northeast, just in time for those that need a ride back to their summer homes. The deal is available though July 18, and you can keep your car for a maximum of 21 days. Just hit up their website or give them a call at 800-CAR-RENT.

[Photo: Ren� Ehrhardt]

New York: The Cult of Car Sharing Grows at Zipcar Open Bar

JetSetCD — 2009-04-01T14:20:01-05:00

There is only way to go about drinking and driving in New York City, and that is apparently the Zipcar Open Bar way. Kicking off a series of monthly Zipcar member parties last night on the Lower East Side, Zipcar invited its NYC-area posse to get together over the goodwill of car sharing and trade some road trip stories.

We, however, were most attracted by the promise of free drinks upon flashing your Zipcard at the bar and the offer of $75 in driving credit for you and a friend if they sign up then and there.