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First time travel in Europe

The one thing on peoples minds when they are first going to venture into Europe is the dreaded thought of driving on the ‘wrong' side of the road. Most people's first venture is to travel into France, so here are a few tips on what to look out for.

First and foremost to remember is to take things more slowly, and ignore those that go belting past you as soon as they are off the ship or train, they may well have done it all before. The idea is to get to your destination in one piece and not necessarily in the shortest possible time.

You will probably be straight into a town when you arrive, so keep a sharp lookout at road junctions for traffic lights, they may not be as prominent as you would expect them to be in this country. They could well be situated on a gantry above the roadway with a smaller set at driver height on the side of the road. The lights sequence is slightly different to this country in that they go direct from red to green without amber in between. The sequence from green through to amber and red is the same.

Another point to draw to your attention is going around roundabouts . This may sound like commonsense, but be careful to treat them as having two lanes and keep strictly to the outside lane. Too often you see people in this country effectively switching lanes, starting in the ‘outside' lane then cutting across to the ‘inside' lane and then switching back to the ‘outside' lane, and always remember that you have indicators, even if you are only turning left at a roundabout.

Then there are speed limits, they are in Kilometres per hour. The police would not hesitate to give you an on-the-spot fine if you exceed them.

Plan your journey ahead with a good up-to-date map and write yourself a ‘crib' sheet noting down the towns you will be passing through or by, together with the road numbers, also note the major towns ahead of your route as these are sometimes the only signposted indications. You have two choices, to go by the toll routes which are distinguished by the word ‘Paege', or to take a more leisurely drive and go by the National roads which are prefixed by an ‘N'. Going by this method whilst the towns may be very busy, once out of them the going is generally easy, even the minor ‘D' roads are usually of good quality, sometimes better than the English ‘A' roads. If you think you are losing time you can always switch to the ‘Paege' for a short distance.

If you need an overnight stop you can always use the ‘Relais Routiers'. These provide a very basic accomodation and there is usually a meal available. The meal maybe a set one with no choice, but is normally very good.

Finally, remember to use the few words of pleasantries in their language, you will be surprised just how far they will get you.

Have a good, safe journey.

Article by Frank Hiscox