Problems Driving and We Hadn’t Even Left The Car Rental

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After three years of long flights and a lot of moving around (see Not At All the Bangkok I Remembered, An Exciting New Country and We Just Wanted to go to Bed and The Immigration Controller From Hell, But Please Don’t Tell Her That), it was clear that we needed to head off a potential rebellion from the kids and go to somewhere closer to home this year. And this was even though one of them had included Disney World in Florida (see Sugar Coating and Pixie Dust) and another included Disneyland in Hong Kong (see Ending The Holiday With a Day for The Children).

We chose Lake Garda in northern Italy.

The flight was to Verona, where we would then pick-up a hire car and drive to Lake Garda. We were staying in the same hotel for the whole holiday, but having a car would still give us some freedom to move about. Hopefully, that way, everyone would be happy.

Things did not get off to a great start. We had a lovely new BMW estate car (so loads of room for us and all our luggage), but as we had never driven a BMW before, we couldn’t get our heads round the push-button start. Appallingly and embarrassingly, in the end we had to ask someone how to start the car. Push down on the break and then press the button, obviously. Shouting at it was, apparently, not the answer.

And there was more shouting and panic when it turned off the engine as we were stopped at some traffic lights and then seemed reluctant to start it again. And Italian drivers are not the most patient so those behind us were starting to get a bit agitated.

Once we got to the hotel, there was a welcome meeting – the usual excuse to pressure sell tours and excursions. They are useful, though, to get some ideas on where we could then drive in our car.

After that was done, it was late in the evening and time to go out for something to eat. We went to the restaurant in the hotel, which had a buffet. Again, that way, everyone would be happy, although it did have a bit of an ‘all inclusive’ feel about it.

One little hiccup, but so far so good.

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Photos

Hotel and Car
Outside the hotel after we eventually managed to start the car.