Listen and say or just repeat
Germany's Romantic Road, the next leg of our journey, can't be done by train. It's best explored by rental car. We'll have this car for two days and drop it in Munich.
00:15 You can arrange your car rental before leaving home. Prices vary dramatically from month to month, country to country, and from company to company, so shop around.
00:23 Even if you don't plan on driving, bring your license. Your American license generally works just fine. It's fun, and it's easy, to rent a car on a whim. There's nothing exotic about driving in Europe.
00:38 While the British drive on the left, everyone on the continent drives on the same side as we do in the USA.
00:44 Filling the tank here, whether diesel or gas, is like filling the tank back home. Except it's Euros and liters rather than dollars and gallons. Figure four liters per gallon.
00:55 Don't overreact to Europe's high cost of gas. Over here, cars get great mileage, and distances are short.
01:04 Rental cars come with a basic insurance policy, but the deductible can be really high.
01:10 You can pay extra for zero deductible, for your peace of mind, but first, check with your insurance company at home to see how well you're already covered in Europe.
01:19 When driving, to cover long distances in a hurry, use the freeway.
01:23 This is Germany's autobahn. Like most of Europe, Germany's laced with these super freeways. And around here, fast driving is considered a civil liberty.
01:34 On the autobahn, you'll learn quickly — the fast lane is used only for passing. Cruise in the left lane, and you'll have a Mercedes up your tailpipe. Here and throughout Northern Europe, the autobahn is toll free.
01:49 In France and countries south of Germany, these super freeways usually come with tolls.
01:55 Learn some navigation basics. In Germany, "zentrum" means "center"
02:00 A giant letter "P" means parking. And this icon means autobahn. Color coding and arrows point you in the right direction.
02:11 And while many travelers go through their entire trips thinking all roads lead to the town of Ausfahrt, "ausfahrt" is German for "exit." This sign means traffic circle or roundabout.
02:24 Merge safely into the circle and take the exit for the direction you're heading. If you're not sure, relax take an extra loop, and explore your options.
02:38 Entering a new town — this is Dinkelsbuhl — it's safe to assume that the church spire marks the center. and the tourist office is nearby.
02:46 Old town centers are increasingly difficult to drive in — one-way streets or closed to cars entirely. Drive as close as you can and find a place to park.
02:57 Confirm you're parked legally. Your time's valuable. Just pay to park.
03:02 Know the key road symbols. They're the same throughout Europe. No parking anytime. No traffic allowed. Wrong way — don't enter. This means no cars or bikes from 8:00 till midnight.
03:15 No passing. And you know this one.
03:19 Make educated guesses. With this one, be ready for anything. I navigate by town names because road numbers on maps often don't match the signs.
03:28 Distances and speeds are in kilometers.
03:33 On this road, 80 kilometers an hour. a kilometer is 6/10 of a mile.
03:42
To change to miles, cut the kilometers in half, add back 10% of the original.
03:46 So, 80 kilometers per hour would be 40 plus 8 — 48 miles per hour.
03:52 Beware — photo speed traps can be really expensive.
03:56 And those with rental cars are billed by mail. Save time and avoid wasted car rental days by picking up and dropping off your car in different cities like Rothenburg and Munich.
04:08 When using a bigger company with many branches, you can generally do this anywhere in the same country for no extra charge. While dropping a car in a different country usually comes with a high fee, it can also be a great convenience.
Contrast it to British-British pronunciation, the example below
00:03 yes what's going on YouTube there's a red line revs I'm here driving through Germany on the Autobahn and I want to give you my top ten tips for driving in Germany
00:18 number one is going to be to always drive on the right-hand side I know it sounds simple and stupid but of course the first thing you need to you need to make sure you do so always stay on the
00:28 right-hand lane keep that in your mind and when you're coming into a roundabout turn right rather than what you're used to doing which is left if you coming
00:37 from a England ascetic I am and make sure you overtake on the left-hand side so first rule drive on the right
00:50 another thing to remember is to make sure that you overtake on the left-hand side and while you're overtaking if
00:57 you're driving your car from the UK if you have a right-hand drive car like I do you've got a bear in mind it's especially true for the B roads that
01:06 overtaking can be a little bit difficult because you're seated on the other side of the road from the oncoming traffic so
01:12 you've got to be careful you've got to make sure you know what's coming on the other side and it really helps to have a competent and confident passenger who
01:22 can basically have a look over and tell you if the space overtake or not
01:30 okay now if you're used to manual transmission like I am and if you are used to right-hand drive like me when you're in Germany and when you're in
01:38 Europe just rent and you're renting a car do yourself a favour and rent an automatic transmission vehicle that's going to save you the hassle of putting
01:48 your left hand into the door looking for the gear stick like I've been doing what
01:54 I've been traffic driving left-hand drive cars with manual transmission and if you are driving your right hand drive vehicle into Germany make sure you
02:10 put those stickers on your headlights which change the beam pattern and make them go to the right otherwise you will be blinding the oncoming traffic and
02:20 you'll be dazzling them and you could get stopped and fined as well so some of the modern cars do have a switch which allow you to change the beam pattern
02:28 from left into right hand but on the older vehicles like my mark one say at Leon here you have to put those stickers
02:35 on your headlights and in the night it does actually kind of restrict your visibility a little bit but you have to do it
02:45 delimits sorry to break the bad news to you but on the Autobahn there are speed limits there's only certain sections where you can drive as fast as you like
02:53 or as fast as you can and you've got to observe those limits to an extent if you're ten kilometres over it's not really going to be a problem but do
03:00 observe those speed limits on the Autobahn and especially those around town
03:09 of us who are used to avoiding cameras in the UK can see them from a mile off they're painted bright yellow the speed limits always right next to the camera
03:18 there's lines on the road which you know easy to slow down over in Germany the cameras are quite different they're a bit more hidden the darkened colour
03:26 they're not visible until the last moment the lines on the road aren't you know they're just a couple of lines or so and they almost always take a photo
03:37 of your face and of the driver so watch out for those cameras observe the limits you don't want to get flashed
03:47 joining the Autobahn from the slip road one thing you'll notice in Germany is that when you're joining people may not
03:54 always slow themselves down to give you sufficient space to join I think in England we're quite good at moving over
04:01 and allowing people to join the motorway and Germany is not always a case so be very careful on your approach to the
04:06 motorway in joining the motorway from the slip road can have a lot of fun in Germany driving
04:16 on the fast lane and the Autobahn on the parts where there's no speed limit but just remember no matter how fast you are
04:22 in Germany there's probably always going to be someone who'll be faster than you and the Germans do love to come right up the back of your vehicle and they'll put
04:30 pressure on you to move over to the side so don't hog the fast lane when this when it's clear on the on the right hand
04:37 side make sure you move back into the the middle lane and when someone's coming up your back make sure you move
04:43 over don't just hog the lane they don't like it at all now when you're driving around town you
04:52 want to really observe those speed limits the cameras won't give you as much leeway as they will on the Autobahn
04:58 and there are some quirks you're driving
05:00 around town in Germany firstly like I mentioned before remember you remember to stay on the right-hand side sometimes
05:06 you'll find that you're at a junction there's green light for you you want to make a turn but at the same time as its
05:12 as the lights of changed green pedestrians are also allowed to walk across the road so that's something that
05:17 we don't really have very much in the UK so watch out for that when you're when you've gone green for you make sure that
05:22 there aren't traditional processing as well when you're in town you want to
05:27 remember the Germans of the rule of Rick's Flinx which means basically the people coming from the right have have
05:35 the right of way over people who are on the left so sometimes if there's no
05:39 signs or markings on the road and there's someone coming from the right
05:42 they will have priority over over if you're under on the left you have to give way to the people approaching from the right
05:55 the Germans loves their rules and if you and they're very used to driving in the way that they've been taught and and you know in the way that they do and if you
06:06 do anything which is contrary to their usual customs and standards and rules and driving they get very confused and they don't know how to respond I better but you know I've got a few examples of
06:16 these but I want to keep this video short so just remember to stick to the rules otherwise you will confuse the locals and they may not know how to respond and they may not be able to
06:25 react in time to anything extraordinary
06:27 that you do on the roads see that's my
06:31 top 10 tips for driving through Germany
06:33 make sure that your safety the safety of pedestrians other drivers and also the safety of your passengers is your number one priority as you're vomiting through
06:44 Germany on the Autobahn just go into a pub with no speed limit make sure you
06:48 drive safe comment rate subscribe as well and ribs
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