Advice Needed.
Sep 20th, 2006 by B.
In less than a month my in-laws & uncle in-law (Jim’s godfather) will be arriving from america. Thanks to extensive overtime & the massaging of holiday hours on Jim’s part, we’ll now be gone for the better part of three weeks. Picture it… trekking through europe with three uber-conservative-catholic-dubya-supporting (but very sweet) seniors, a moody teenager complaining about how there’s no internet in most of the places we’re staying, an antsy 6 year old and a chihuahua. All of us piled in a minivan with Jim driving 170 down the autobahn. Shoot me now. Ok, don’t shoot me, just heavily medicate me.
We’ll be spending 5 days in Poland, 2 in Berlin, 2 in Maastricht, Netherlands (Holland for north american readers), 5 in Paris, 1 in Stuttgart, 3 in Munich, 2 in Vienna and 1 in Prague.
The advice I need (other than to have my head examined) is where’s the cheapest place to find a rental car? As noted we’ll be looking for a van capable of holding seven people and a dog, and so far the best rate I’ve found is a little over 1,900. Yikes!
Second question… can anyone (Megan maybe?) recommend a good, fun beer hall in Munich? I’m at a complete loss as to where to go. We’re looking for the quintessential munich beer drinking experience… big long tables, buxomy waitresses in traditional bavarian garb, fun atmosphere.
Anyway, if you have any advice I’d really appreciate it.
yay, first commenter. er, except i have no advice as to where to get a car. sorry.
i could suggest, however, that when you do find a car hire place, hire two cars. pack yourself and the dog into one of them and drive very quickly in the general direction of italy. stay there for the duration of the in-laws visit and spend your time sitting in cafes sipping coffee, eating pasta and delicious pastries and flirting with italian men. wander around and take in the sights/sites. sleep as much as you like. that’s a holiday.
hehe, bon voyage!
And if you can’t follow Gaijin Girl’s advice get yourself some earplugs to tune them all out occasionally! That s one HELL of an undertaking your’re going for!
As for cars we always end up renting from Sixt. Unfortunately they have no Priceline-like options over here. Check also if Expedia.de is offering lower prices. Have Jim ask around and see if there is a company discount he can use, quite often there is. If I think of any others I’ll let chime back in.
If you’re coming to Munich you’ll have to go to Hof Brauhaus. It’s obligatory, who cares if it’s a tourist trap, it’s THE beer hall in town and you won’t get any more buxom than the busty ladies there. Plus there’s an oompa oompa band. I take all first time visitors there - they always love it - and there’s the bonus of drunk japanese tourists bowing themselves into a frenzy and trying on the local guys funny hats.
This has got me thinking of other options…I’ll collect my thoughts and get back.
Megan- Thanks! I’ll take all the suggestions you’ve got to offer. I figure keeping everyone busy is the key to sanity. Barring that, getting them shitfaced at beer halls & then taking the back to the hotel to pass out should buy me a little down time.
GG- I wish!! Maybe I should ditch them all and fly over to Tokyo…
b, there’s a futon with your name on it, mate!
I’ve had good luck with autoeurope.com - they seem to offer quite a few options, discount coupons, etc. Can’t wait to hear how it goes - we’ll be doing a similar entertain-the-in-laws routine next summer…
I’m still stuck on traveling with the puppy. But then, europeans seem to be much more dog friendly that us freakin’ Americans. Trust me. We travel a lot with our dogs and it can sometimes be a real bitch to find a place to stay.
We rented a car at the Munchen Flughafen. All I know id that reserving it ahead of time on the Internet made a ton of difference.
Regarding the beer hall, if it were September or October I’d be able to help you, but alas… Now if you were looking for a HOTEL within steps of the Octoberfest grounds I’d definitely be able to help you there (Uhland Hotel… fabulous!).
Carol
GOOD LUCK!
I might suggest Holiday Cars–http://www.holidaycars.com/
Your trip sounds like a huge adventure–a bit more than I might want to bite off–too many places, too little time for any one city in most cases.