InvictaMoto's Family Travels

All change. Some small changes to the overnight stays have required a change to the routing.  The Parador de Gredos has been changed to another hotel nearer the main route between Madrid and Extremadura. The changes are really to make the trip a little smoother. This routeing is set to avoid toll roads and highways. As usual I have used Tyre to create the routing. Tyre  Route - avoiding highway & toll routing

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So with the car-hire dilemma sorted.  I went for the no-excess plan instead of the low rate and potential hassle route of the cheap hire and massive insurance risk. So back to the route.  As usual I have used Tyre to plan a route between the various stops and the airport. Having this in the TomTom doesn't preclude from going off-piste to look at things in the Rough Guide or on the hoof.   I know there are people that think that a paper map is all you need and technology only ruins the trip. Good luck to them.  Finding a hotel in a huge city and arriving right outside the front door is preferable to riding around for hours.  I have done both other the last 40 years of touring and believe me. The TomTom way is way preferable. So this is the base route: Anti-clockwise at the top from the airport to the Parador de Gredos and then clockwise around the Extremadura cities. There will be some autostrada as well.  Not all of it on ordi...

It's been a while since I updated this trip. Everything has been in place for quite a while and there was nothing much to do, apart from make sure the Advanced Passenger Information (API) was completed for both of us. Then as I was looking through the folder in my Yahoo email I to check dates and make sure that my Tripit itinerary was up to date (it feeds into Google Calendar!) I noticed that although I had a few car hire emails, I hadn't booked any. Car hire is always one of the biggest bugbears for me.  Flights are easy to book. They give you a price and you accept that and then check for the add-ons (rip offs?) such as baggage check and reserving a seat and you get a price.   But with car hire.  There are so many "insurances".  Very annoying.  I ran through a few of the online booking agencies and there are quotes as low as €40/£35/$50 for a week's hire for a small car like a FIAT 500 "Cinquecento". This includes legal insurance cover....