Unto the pure, all things are pure

Thirty-five years ago, I traveled Europe on a rail pass as a student. Recently, we planned for a trip as a family of three. We almost bought the Eurail Pass - €576+€490x2 - but at the last minute we decided to drive. The main reason we found the Eurail Pass not suitable was that despite the high cost, nothing can be a be planned with any degree of certainty. In France, the number of seats available for Eurail Pass holders are limited and nobody could say how limited. With such unknowns, it was difficult to book hotels. The other main reason was that lots of time would be spent waiting at train stations to catch connections. As we flew into Amsterdam, we booked a Hertz car from Schipol Airport. The total rental bill for sixteen days worked out to only €483.96. Hertz Rental Record (ignore pen marks) Notice that there is a Location Service Charge of 18% or €61.01. I didn't see it till I got home. From my experience with Hertz in the US, this is usually because the car is re...

After five minutes on the famed autobahns , you get a full realization of the often quoted " you are more likely to die from an auto accident than an airplane accident " or " commercial flying is safer than driving ". First of all, the lanes are a bit undersized. For a saloon car, there is about a meter left on each side for most parts of the network. Next, the traffic is heavy! This is probably due to the complete lack of tolls. If you are on the outer lane to pass another vehicle, you have less than 10 seconds to complete your job, because that is the time when another vehicle will come charging down behind you. Tailgating is dangerous, but at the same time you hate to be traveling too "slowly". So passing often is a necessary evil. And it is a sheer act of terror. Most of the time, it is necessary to pass at about 130kph. At that speed, and with a high sided truck about a meter next to the right, the fluid mechanics sent my rental car sligh...