A word about Europcar and insurance — before you book your rental car, make sure to find out what the policy is if you decline their insurance. Not doing so was the first mistake my wife, JoAnn, and I made on a February-March 2012 trip to France.
We prepaid for five days and declined insurance because of our Visa card coverage, but when we arrived at the Europcar counter at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, we were told we would have to make a deposit of €800, sign a paper saying we would be responsible for up to €25,000 in damages and pay a fee of €85 for “inspecting” the undercarriage of the car when we returned it. The €85 is about what we would have paid for insurance, so they get you one way or another.
No more Europcar for me, even though we have booked cars with them for many years.
Our credit cards did not have the European chip-and-PIN technology, but the only places they were not accepted were on the peagé (toll roads) and in a couple of small shops.
Regarding the currency-exchange rate in Europe, the rate published in the newspapers at the time of our departure was €1=$1.31, but that was the rate between banks. In reality, when fees, etc., were added in, it was more like €1=$1.50.
The best place we found to exchange dollars for cash euros was the post office, though some wouldn’t accept 100-dollar bills because of widespread counterfeiting.
The night before our flight home, we stayed at the Best Western Charles de Gaulle Airport Hotel (1 Allee du Verger, 95700, Roissy-en-france, France; phone +33 1 3429 3000 or, in the US, 800/780-7234) for $209. The accommodations and our dinner at the hotel restaurant were excellent.
Though the hotel is less than two miles from the airport, it took nearly 45 minutes for the free shuttle to get there because of stops at five other hotels and bumper-to-bumper traffic.
This airport is a nightmare. The shuttle buses don’t drop you off at the airline, as is done at most airports. From the dropoff point, I’m sure JoAnn and I walked nearly two miles to the ticket counter, passport control, security checkpoint and departure gate. We budgeted three hours, total, and that was about right.
BILL KOFOED
Ft. Pierce, FL