Driving

Listing your car with FlightCar (www.flightcar.com) allows you to park for free at select airports and possibly earn a little money renting your car to other travelers. 

FlightCar lots are currently located at these airports: Boston Logan, Philadelphia, Washington Dulles, Baltimore, Austin, Dallas/Ft Worth, Denver, Seattle-Tacoma, Portland, Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego.

On the subject “Traffic Ticket from Overseas” (April ’15, pg. 39), I have two experiences to share.

• After enjoying a few hours of wandering around Siena, Italy, in September 2009, I returned to my rental car to find a ticket on the windshield. I looked around and saw a sign that said these parking spaces were reserved for cars with permits, something which, of course, I didn’t have.

In the article “Recommendations for a European Rental Car Journey” (Feb. ’15, pg. 43), the author provided tips and described some of the problems encountered while traveling with his wife by rental car in Western and Eastern Europe.

In 2014 I rented a car in Dubrovnik and visited several of the countries he mentioned, but I had no difficulties other than rain.

While I did not visit Kosovo, I did drive to Albania, Macedonia, Croatia and Serbia with no extra fees, needing no extra insurance and having no border difficulty. 

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British Columbia in September 2014.

I read the letter “Car Rental Security Deposit Not Returned in Full” (March ’15, pg. 23), in which a rental company later claimed there was damage to the vehicle.

For those of you renting, when receiving your car, whip out your smartphone or camera and deliberately walk around the car, taking a picture of each side, the hood and the top of the car. If you’re short, like me, open the door and stand on the frame to take a picture of the top.

My husband and I spent October 2014 visiting Chile and Argentina on a customized tour, and for three days in Santiago we had an excellent English-speaking guide whom we highly recommend.

José Manuel González Holley (Santiago, Chile; phone +569 96403238 or email josemanuelholley@yahoo.com) took us on a city tour, on day trips outside of Santiago, including private wine-tasting in the Colchagua Valley, and to Valparaíso and Viña del Mar. A very experienced guide, José is flexible and fun. 

Prior to our leaving for a 10-day visit to Greece in May 2014, our travel agent — with Travelive (US office in Bloomfield, NJ; 888/377-5483, www.travelive.com) — arranged for my husband and me to take a private two-day trip to Delphi and Meteora.

Partly because we were 70 and 80 years old, we didn’t want to deal with 40-plus others and possibly several languages on a bus tour, so we rode in a Mercedes on the two-day trip. The journey was an almost 500-mile round trip from Athens.

We enjoyed reading Steve Jones’ article with tips on driving in Europe (Feb. ’15, pg. 43). On the subject of needing a special vignette (sticker) to drive on Switzerland’s national highways, we would add that Austria also requires a vignette for any vehicle traveling on its motorways and highways. 

Unlike Switzerland, Austria offers vignettes for varied time periods: a 10-day pass for €8.70 (near $10), a 2-month pass for €25.30 and a 12-month pass for €84.40.