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Tags: Driving / Cars / Samoa Travel / → All Tags

Samoa Switches Sides Of The Road For Drivers

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.

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Tags: National Rental Car / Car Rental / Cars / Driving / One-Way Road Trip / Passenger complaints / → All Tags

Brits On An American Road Trip: A Dud Car Nightmare

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.

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Tags: Road Trips / One-Way Road Trip / Rental Cars / Driving / → All Tags

Brits On An American Road Trip: Five Top Tips

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.

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Tags: Dublin Field Trip / Ireland Travel / Dublin / Road Trips / Driving / → All Tags

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

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.

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

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.

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Tags: Rental Cars / Florida Travel / National Rental Car / Cars / Driving / → All Tags

Escape Florida With One-Way Rental Car Deals

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.

Related Stories:
·National Car Rental Offering Special Low One-Way Discounts, No Drop Charges and Unlimited Mileage [BusinessWire]
·Thanks To TerraPass Even The Worst Rental Car Can Be Green [Jaunted]
·Rental Cars coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: René Ehrhardt]

Tags: Rental Cars / Zipcar / Drinking / Driving / → All Tags

The Cult of Car Sharing Grows at Zipcar Open Bar

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.

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Tsvangirai Crash a Sad Reminder of the Dangers of the Road

Investigations are ongoing, but early evidence suggests that the car crash in rural Zimbabwe that injured Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and killed his wife, Susan, on Friday was an accident and not an assassination attempt. And while that might be good news for the political stability of the country, it nonetheless serves as a sad reminder that no matter where you are on the earth, your biggest risk of injury or death occurs on the road. The Tsvangirais were in an SUV when it was sideswiped by a truck, causing it to overturn several times. The driver of the truck, which was carrying American-supplied medicine for AIDS patients, apparently lost control after hitting a big bump.

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Tags: On Walkabout / Australia Travel / Qantas / Tiger Airways / Train Travel / Driving / → All Tags

Getting Out To The Aussie Outback

The Australian outback is a strange beast: Part desert, part simple empty land, it covers most of the country. But it's also, some say, one of the most beautiful places on earth, and we want to tell you how to get there.

The first thing to remember is that you can't just take a day trip to the outback, like many tourists plan. It'll take a day just to get there. The easiest way is to fly into Alice Springs, pretty much smack bang in the middle of the country. Aussie airline Qantas flies in from all major Australian cities and curiously, Tiger Airways has started up a Melbourne to Alice Springs route.

A great way to get into the Outback without flying is to take the Ghan Railway from Adelaide to Darwin via Alice Springs--a great way, but not a cheap way.

And for stubborn travelers who insist on driving into the outback themselves, the motto is to be prepared. Stock up on extra fuel, a lot of extra water, make sure your car's reliable and basically get a ton of advice or you'll risk frying up in the middle of nowhere. No matter how beautiful it is, you don't want it to be the last place you see.

Related Stories:
· And Now, An Even More Expensive Way to See the Desert [Jaunted]
· Won't Get Fooled Again [Jaunted]
· Australia Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: anniemullinsuk]

Tags: Australia Travel / Tourist Attractions / Attractions / Tourism Boards / Tourism Board Travel / Driving / → All Tags

Tourism Board Travel: How Do You Spell Wollongong?

The east coast town of Wollongong in Australia used to be good for not much more than a tricky spelling question at a pub quiz night. But the Wollongong tourist board is busy telling the world that the city is worth a trip when you're next visiting Sydney.

In their exact words, if you want to "mix a Sydney stopover with a stunning coastal drive and regional tourism experience" then Wollongong is the right place to go. They've created a 140 km, signposted scenic drive down the coast which has been named the Grand Pacific Drive which certainly does sound pretty, well, grand.

The route crosses the slightly scary Sea Cliff Bridge, and the Illawarra tree-top walk is also close by. Just right for a short-but-grand escape from bustling Sydney.

Related Stories:
· Wollongong Tourism [Official Site]
· Signs To Lure Overseas Visitors [South Coast Register]
· New South Wales Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: iansand]

Tags: Technology Travel / Cars / Driving / Green Travel / Rental Cars / → All Tags

Futuristic Travel: Road Trips Made Easy With Folding Car

Ever notice how the waiting areas at car rental offices almost never have seats? See, they'd prefer you fall asleep on your feet so you'll be more apt to sign your life away in case someone accidentally breathes on your car in the parking lot. Well, fear us, rental-car agencies of the world!

Or rather, fear scientists at MIT who have been working on a car you can check out as easily as an airport luggage cart.

The electric City Car, a two-seater just slightly smaller than a Smart Car, folds in half for parking and is easily rechargable. The team's even contemplating installing a joystick that would allow users to steer the car. A joystick! All that and it "promotes a socially responsible and more effective means of urban mobility."

Related Stories:
· City Car [Official Site]
· Rental Cars coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Smart Cities project]

Tags: Driving / Cars / → All Tags

Adventures of Link: Pedal to the Metal

This road trip contest we've been hyping has us fantasizing about the open road. Even though we still have to tap a vein to afford to fill the tank, sometimes there's no better way to travel than driving.

And when you do eventually have to park that ride and fly, there's a lot happening out there. From cell phone lots cropping up at airports to parking services that are worth a ride, taking the car will keep you smiling--even if your flight doesn't.

Related Stories:
· Philadelphia International Using Technology to Help with Parking [USA Today]
· St. Louis Getting a Cell Phone Lot [USA Today]
· Frequent Flyers Love The Parking Spot [NYT]
· Let Someone Else Do The Driving [Dallas Morning News]
· Or Skip The Car: Seattle's Expanding Bike Routes [Seattle Times]

[Photo: absolutwade]