Driving in England

I was fortunate on my two trips to have my friend's husband along who got elected to do all the driving.  He had never driven there before, but being a meticulous detail-oriented chap, he handled it quite well.  I came to appreciate the efficiency of roundabouts as compared to our intersections.  If you miss your turn, you can simply go round again until you get it right!  We stayed in London the first several days then picked up our rental car on the way out of town.  If you want the freedom of exploring the countryside from village to village, you pretty much need a car.  We booked our cars through Enterprise online before we traveled there.  A number of things are cheaper if you buy them in the US before traveling there (with the exception of changing currency).  Oh yeah, I found out the hard way that it's best to notify your bank before you travel if you're planning to use your bank debit/check card over there.  I got to Heathrow and tried to get cash from the ATM and was denied.  I had to call my bank and spent at least a half hour on the phone getting that sorted out, proving I was the owner of the card.

Great tips Barbara! Thank you!

Do they have insurance for drivers, in case of injury? Just thinking ahead! LOL!

Krissy:  Check with your own insurance company and health care provider to see what they will cover in the event of personal injury in the event of an accident--yours or others who are involved.

In the case of the Collision Damage Waiver (CDW), which fully covers damage and theft to the rental car and which rental companies offer as a supplement to the rental cost, you can waive those fees by charging your car rental on a VISA card. Here is their CDW car rental site: http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/benefits/bft_dmg_waiver_personal.html

Remember to always very closely inspect your rental car for previous damage and note it on the initial inspection form. Record every ding, dent and scratch before you accept the car. One problem I ran into on my last trip over was that I had to inspect my rental car in a torrential rain storm--and I mean of Biblical proportions! It was raining so hard that I had to actually run my hands over the hood, trunk, roof and sides of the car to find previous dents. And it is a good thing, too, because I detected a rather large half-moon dent in the hood that I wasn't able to see because of the heavy rain and the dark color of the car. Yeah, I ended up soaking wet, but when I brought the car back a month later, I was able to prove to the inspector that the dent had been there when I rented the car--he was skeptical until I produced my copy of the inspection checklist and he compared it to the original document. It pays to be really meticulous when it comes to documenting prior damage to a rental car!

You all are a life saver!!!! This is info I would never think of on my own!!!

Now if I had won that 300+ million Mega Millions, I would have taken you all with me!!