Really Nice Vacations

I was thinking of a self-drive vacation to Germany sometime this year. Friends at Berlin were suggesting that it’s best to coincide with their Oktoberfest. Let’s see if the boss grant me the leave at that busy period. Until then, I will be doing my due diligence in checking out the do’s and don’ts of driving in the major cities of Berlin , Frankfurt , Köln and Munich. So far, these are some of the interesting stuff I found, I will add more update as and when my research digs up more juice.

Knowing to read the map is important but other than that, it is important to know the uniqueness of road usage, rules (written and unwritten) and basic courtesy observed by the German.

1. “Autobahn” means motorway in Germany.

2. “Ausfhart” means “exit”.

3. “Bundesstraße” means national roads. Yellow signages with black digit prefixed by an upper case “B” can be seen on Bundesstraße. “B” refers to “Bundesstraße” while the number is the identification of that stretch of the road. More important routes have lower numbers. Odd numbers are usually applied to east-west oriented roads, and even numbers for north-south routes. Bypass routes are referred to with an appended “a” (alternative) or “n” (new alignment), as in “B 56n”.

4. Other main public roads are maintained by the Bundesländer (states), called Landesstraße (country road) or Staatsstraße (state road). The numbers of these roads are prefixed with “L”, “S” or “St”, but are usually not seen on direction signs or written in maps. They appear on the kilometre posts on the roadside. Numbers are unique only within one state.

5. No Speed Limit - Although the autobahns in Germany are not subject to an overall speed limit (the blue speed limit signs, usually showing 130, are suggested maximum speeds), many stretches of autobahn are covered by signed speed limits, which are mostly closely observed by the Germans.

6. Driving license - Your local driver’s license may not be accepted in Germany. You will need to contact your local license branch and find out the steps you need to take to receive an international driver’s license.

7. Traffic lights - When pulling up to a traffic light you will notice that unlike the U.S. traffic lights which go from green to yellow to red and then directly back to green, German traffic lights will go from red to yellow and then green. More importantly, the ‘right on red’ rule does not exist in Germany . If you try to make a right turn when the traffic light is red you may find yourself in a major lawsuit.

8. Children in cars - children under 12 or 1.5 metres tall are not allowed to travel unless using an appropriate restraint.

9. Drinking and driving - Over 0.05 per cent and you could face fines, endorsement or even imprisonment, depending on the severity of the offense.

10. Fines - On the spot fines are issued. Just about every possible driving offence can be subject to a fine, even running out of fuel on the Autobahn! Ensure an official receipt is issued by the officer collecting the fine.

11. Accidents - If you are the first on the scene of an accident in which someone has been injured you are required by law to provide assistance. Whether you simply stop and call an ambulance (112) not (911), or you provide medical aid, you must do something to help the casualty.

I also did a quick check of the hotels in the 4 cities I wanted to visit. I would probably marked down some hotels that’s along the highways and those within the tourist hotspots. Many first time travelers will not know the importance of hotels near highways because they have not experienced the sudden fatigue that strike. Good luck if you were tired and were driving in the middle of a cold stormy night. All I could tell you is it will be a memorable experience that you won’t want history to repeat itself. I learned my lesson the hard way during my varsity day. So, I have bookmark-ed these sites for future research:

Berlin Hotels

Köln Hotels

Frankfurt Hotels

Munich Hotels

Stumble it!