Never been abroad before!

TELLIT01

John259 wrote: »

I love the idea of a "novice driver in Europe"!

It takes about five seconds to get used to driving on the right, and that's it.

Giving that impression to anybody about to drive on the 'wrong side' of the road, and on the 'wrong side' of the car (if hiring) is a recipe for disaster. You need to concentrate much harder, certainly in the short term as the natural action in a car will have you looking/feeling in the wrong direction for mirrors, gears etc. You only have to think about the young man recently killed by an American driving on the wrong side of the road in the UK to understand how a small lapse in concentration can have disasterous results.

Grumpelstiltskin

elsien wrote: »

When I was a child living in Naples parents used to drive us back to England via the Mont Blanc tunnel and through France to the ferry. Took about a day and a half if I remember rightly but that was sleeping in the car while they alternated the driving.
There are much pleasanter ways of doing the trip, but I have no idea where your two weeks comes into it.

The 2 weeks comes from one week each way, not using motorways, not driving 8 hours a day, stopping to eat, look at interesting places, etc. etc.

benjus

Katiehound wrote: »

Credit card- Halifax clarity. Use for purchases not in ATM

Why not? Halifax Clarity is perfectly fine for use in ATMs. No card fees, just interest until it's paid off (which is usually an insignificant amount, bit of course you can just pay off the card using a mobile banking app as soon as the transaction hits the card.

Katiehound

benjus wrote: »

Why not? Halifax Clarity is perfectly fine for use in ATMs. No card fees, just interest until it's paid off (which is usually an insignificant amount, bit of course you can just pay off the card using a mobile banking app as soon as the transaction hits the card.

some of us don't have a mobile with apps, camera or anything else!! I always make sure I have some cash which I usually get from Tesco before I leave home.
Other than that I put all/everything on the CC when shopping/ eating out...

Katiehound

John259 wrote: »

I love the idea of a "novice driver in Europe"!

It takes about five seconds to get used to driving on the right, and that's it.

Not exactly! I wonder why all the signs remind you as you exit the ferry terminal. The Italians drive like they're on a race track for starters.
I would suggest more than a bit of caution- and yes, I've driven to Greece & back x 2 (but not recently!)

waamo

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

What you want is way too much for a novice driver in Europe.

Get a cheap flight into somewhere like Pisa, get your pizza and enjoy, but to get an authentic pizza you need to head to Naples, no chance of driving that far unless you are either experienced or have 2 plus weeks to spare so you can use the back roads rather than motorways.

Edit Rotterdam to Naples is approx. 1800 km.

I agree. A round trip of circa 3500 km or 2150 miles "in a few days" is an awful lot of driving. You will be stuck on motorways rather than slow, scenic back roads.

A budget airline flight will probably work out cheaper than fuel and road tolls too.

benjus

Katiehound wrote: »

some of us don't have a mobile with apps, camera or anything else!! I always make sure I have some cash which I usually get from Tesco before I leave home.
Other than that I put all/everything on the CC when shopping/ eating out...

Fair enough, but even if you don't pay it off until you get back, unless you're gone a long time the interest won't amount to much. It's certainly likely to be less than the 4% or so markup that Tesco will charge you.

martindow

John259 wrote: »

Good idea to drive, and see the countries en route. The journey is often far more important than the destination.

But some people prefer to stay in one place, occasionally venturing from the bar as far as the beach....

But driving for hours down a motorway you don't really see anything of a country apart from service stations.

zagfles

John259 wrote: »

Good idea to drive, and see the countries en route. The journey is often far more important than the destination.

But some people prefer to stay in one place, occasionally venturing from the bar as far as the beach....

But OP only has a "few days". We drove to Italy via Switzerland last year, and it was great, but we had a few weeks. Driving to Italy if you only have a "few days" is crackers - you'll see nothing but motorways.

zagfles

Katiehound wrote: »

some of us don't have a mobile with apps, camera or anything else!! I always make sure I have some cash which I usually get from Tesco before I leave home.
Other than that I put all/everything on the CC when shopping/ eating out...

For a short-ish holiday (under 3 weeks) getting cash from ATMs locally with the Clarity and paying it off when you get back would likely be much cheaper than using any UK BDC. The interest you'd pay will almost certainly be less than the markup in so-called "tourist rates".