European Travel Help

[jm459]

My daughter is going to Spain on Tuesday, with the intention of staying. Daughters being daughters, I am left with the leftovers, i.e, the problems. Is there any members in France / Spain who could help with information / advice. I have got to get her car / dog to Spain (Malaga).Probably leaving UK via ferry. Dover-Calais. I have never driven on the Continent. Any help would be appreciated( Don't need advice on the dog's documentation. It has a passport)

[Negative]

They drive on the right side of the road

Seriously: you're looking at a long drive (at least 2,000KM).
Most of it will be highway, but you'll have to pass through a couple of big (confusing) cities: you'll leave Calais and go to Paris, from Paris you'll want to go south to Bordeaux, then enter Spain and keep going south towards Madrid and keep going south to Malaga (I believe Malaga is one of the most-south points in Spain).
It's impossible to do this in one day (unless you can keep on driving for 20 hours straight at an average of 100km/h )...

You'll be driving through two totally different countries: France will have strict (traffic) rules and everybody will be following these rules, while Spain has traffic rules that nobody follows (traffic lights are only decoration, especially in the smaller cities).

I'd make sure to take enough cash (don't want to be stuck with your VISA in some small Spanish village that doesn't even have electricity, and you'll be travelling on some toll roads both in France and Spain), enough food and drinks (Spain this time of year is HOT), blankets (in case you'll have to sleep in your car... never know) and all that stuff...

Malaga is pretty touristic, so you shouldn't have a problem there...

Good luck!

[.:front2back:.]

It's impossible to do this in one day (unless you can keep on driving for 20 hours straight at an average of 100km/h )...

Me can picture it now jm flying down the street clocking 100km/h he get's pulled over by the local policemen. They ask why he was speeding and he replies with.
"It's alright i'm an AntiOnline member".
The policemen suddenly looked shocked, and they quickly tell him sorry for pulling him over as they didn't know he was a member..

Well i'm drunk so it sounded funny to me..

Oh and good luck with the moving Jm just tie the pooch to the car and keep on driving, just think the pooch will get some exercise and if you run outta petrol then you got something to tow the car with
"No Animals were injured in the making of this post"

cheers
f2b:.

[nihil]

Hi Jim,

Just remember that in France petrol = "essence" and diesel = "gas".............I once knew a sales director who did't and his car went like a coal fired kangaroo for some time afterwards

Cheers

[Shrekkie]

(traffic lights are only decoration, especially in the smaller cities)

LOL, but oh so true, and while you're at it, cover up your bumpers , cause they like to bumper-car-park over there.

petrol = "essence" and diesel = "gas"

beer = biere in france and cerveza in spain

[jinxy]

Jim
If you want to cut down on the driving, get a ferry to Bilbao. See the attached for basic route info. If you nead a route plan let me no and i'll run you one up with Auto route.

[MURACU]

I just asked a spanish college how he would do it. He agrees with negatives route. Paris--> Bordeaux -->spainish frontier --> Madrid ----> Malaga. The biggest question is how much time do you have for the trip? The trip through France should be relativly quick as the roads and motorways are fairly good and most french drivers respect the rules,except in paris where they can be fairly bad. Another thing to remember is drink is expensive in France especially in Paris but if you are driving that shouldnt be a problem .

[jm459]

Originally posted here by Negative

It's impossible to do this in one day (unless you can keep on driving for 20 hours straight at an average of 100km/h )...

Thank you for all your replies. There is no time limit on the journey. The objective is to get me / car /dog to malaga intact This is info returned from RAC route planner.
Total distance: 1823.5 miles (2934.6 km )
Total estimated time: 37 hours and 59 min
Don't drive tired. Plan a 15-minute break into your journey for every two hours you'll be on the road.
If you feel tired whilst driving stop at a service station for a coffee and take a short nap before continuing.
Average speed of 30 Miles/h on national and country roads.
Average speed of 60 Miles/h on motorways.
This does not take account of dogs needs, feeding, leaks etc, etc.
I seriously don't think this is a journey that I should undertake on my own, I could be gone for quite some time. Once again I feel Dad has been conned. It never fails, after all the promises to myself of "never again"