I’m sure you all are thinking “certainly she did not rent another car” after the aggravating situation with rental car number one. Well, yes I did. After traveling by train to Berlin and then onto Nuremberg with a start point of Munich I just had to have my own space. This time I did things a bit different by booking online and reading all the fine print. I prepaid which saved me a few dollars and had an instant confirmation email .
My oldest grandson is on this adventure with me and we arranged to pick up the vehicle at 2 pm the next day, giving us an easy morning without having to rush around.
At 6 am an email was sent to me explaining that in order to pick the vehicle up at the Central Rail station as the booking stated I had to check in online by 9am. There is not an office at that location so the car would be delivered there. When I woke up at 8:55 and read this alert, I could not help but think “more confusion, not again”. I tried to call the toll free line in Europe but after pressing many numbers and getting many robots I hung up.
Then I had a bright idea of replying to the email and asking if I could still get the car if I checked in late. Suprisingly the reply was quick and it said “YES” but do it right now.
Just after 1PM we walked over to the rail station and followed the directions in the confirmation email to the customer service desk for the trains. The clerk did not seem to understand why I was asking for a car at the train station but a manager assisted and quickly brought my plastic bag of keys right to me. Just when I thought we were out of there she said we had to wait the extra few minutes until the clock strikes 2PM.
Next, we were off to the assigned parking spot, and there sat the little bug. We loaded up, and I turned the key ready to hit the road for Strasbourg and nothing happened. 
Looking at what I might be doing wrong I noticed the car had a manual transmission. Good grief, I haven’t drove one like this in many years. I also knew that in my order I said I would take what was available, and with that thought I pressed in the clutch.
So, off to the motorway without an automatic transmission or navigation but the freedom to stop wherever and whenever made us happy campers.
The trip was stressless until Sunday as I prepared for the “return inspection“. I made sure I shook the grass off the floor mats and removed all the paper maps and candy wrappers. The return was booked for the Munich airport location. It was very busy but orderly. We pulled up to the inspection station, got out of the car, the attendant hopped in and within two minutes printed me a receipt and said “have a great day”. This man did not have the equal mindset of the last inspection attendant I dealt with who was a total jerk.
That’s it friends, easy as can be 🙂
Alice
Word of the day/equal
I’m glad it was a lot better this time! 😀