People think about driving whilst travelling and say to themselves, I’m not doing that, that will cost and arm and a leg. Granted hiring a car can cost a fortune but you need to weigh up the pros and cons. Also if you have your own car or have the ability to drive a hire car, then I would certainly use it.
Let’s look at two types of traveler for a minute; –
Does not have a car and relies on public transport
- Arrives at the airport and either needs to get a taxi or need picking up from the airport.
- Needs to look for local transport timetables.
- Figure out how to get to and from where they want to get to (then realizing that public transport does not go to where they want to go to).
- Look at hire car costs (then quickly dismiss these as it will cost you £50.00+ for a full day hire as they have not booked in advance)
- Has to stick to places to visit that has public transport links, or spend a fortune going through a local tour guide or hotel excursion.
- Has not fully finished seeing the sights but has to get that last bus or train home (or risk getting a taxi).
- Needs to spend another day getting back there to see what they missed (hoping that it wasn’t a one day only event).
Has a car whilst travelling
- No need to worry about airport transfers as has a car already and arrives in good time.
- Figures out how to get to chosen location (for activity or place of interest), but doesn’t have to worry about what time the first bus leaves and when the last train gets back.
- No additional costs, only fuel costs.
- No restrictions on where to go, if you see somewhere you want to go you just find out how to get there and go.
- No need to leave early because of the last bus or train at 9.00pm. As you have your car you can leave whenever you want. Therefore, not missing a single moment.
- Leaves you free to then explore another area where you are, no need to spend more time on public transport to go to the same place you went to 24 hours ago.
So its clear from the bullet points above, if you have your own car or can hire a car then do it. Just over the past 8 weeks some of the things we have seen. All the pictures taken were only taken because we have been driving our car or hired a car around. Had we used public transport we would never have found them.
So when planning your journey, seriously consider factoring the cost of hiring a car. So get out there and just drive, get lost, ask for directions and fully embrace the wonderful world that we live in.