If you are going to drive abroad I would advise you to think about getting/borrowing a Sat Nav, which is absolutely brilliant on holidays. It would be better to buy a set here before you go. Hiring these sets by the day can work out quite expensive and the costs soon mounts up. Sat Nav takes a bit of getting used to, if you have not used it before.
If you hire a set (provided the hire company has a set in stock) you have nothing to show at the end of your holiday. If you buy here before you go and bring it with you, you can use it again next year, and the year after, etc You can also use it here when you have to go somewhere you are unfamiliar with.
The are loads of advantages of having Sat Nav on holiday. Driving on the wrong side of the road, with unfamiliar signs and customs is stressful enough, without the added hassle of trying to get to your destination, often at night.
With a Sat Nav you can head off on a drive, anytime of the day or night, that you want. You can get totally lost, without worrying about how you are going to find your way home. On arriving at your base, you simply key your present destination in, as your home.
After that, when you have had enough exploring, you just press the home button, and the car will guide you straight back to your halldoor, even if you have cross the border to another country - Spain, Italy or wherever.
I have previously wasted gallons of fuel and spent many hours trying to get back to base. This is a huge cost in terms of time and money and frustration. The set will also tell you how long it's going to take to get to your destination. It will find petrol stations for you if you want, if you are running low.
It's also very forgiving, it gives you the directions in plenty of time. Driving on a motorway, you can also go into a sort of trance, on a long stretch. John Cleese telling you to "prepare to exit in 2000 meters" wakes you up in plenty of time. He then goes on to say something rude about Napoleon. At the start of a trip, when you have keyed in your destination, he will ask you if you want to avoid toll roads and motorways and if you want to go the fastest or shortest route etc
Sat Nav doesn't mix its right with its left. It doesn't make you angry or swear, when it gives you wrong directions. It doesn't try and direct you up a one way street. It doesn't get sulky, when you complain about its directions. If you do take a wrong turn, it simply recalculates the route to your destination, without commenting on what sort of a dipstick is driving the car, and hurling abuse that it has been storing up all day, and which it was sitting there seething, waiting for the opportunity to vent its spleen.
Driving round a foreign city centre, with impatient local drivers, looking for signposts, is not exactly my idea of fun. I drove right through the centre of Lisbon during rush hour last year and it was brilliant. The only thing of note that happened, was that when I was told to turn left after 100meters. I turned too early and drove straight into the yard of a bus garage. 4 cars followed me in. It must have looked funny. 5 cars driving gound in circles looking for a way out
Murt