Renting a car in London

I love driving. Car is much more than just a means of transport for me. Aside from giving me a sense of freedom and flexibility, it's a place to relax, enjoy the ride and a private conversation with my travel companions.

In spite of my special feelings towards cars, I have decided I didn't need to own a car in London. I don't go to work by car, so 70% of time it would just stand in the parking lot.

But from time to time I need to satisfy my need for driving, I do need 4 wheels and a steering wheel belonging just to me, as if only for the weekend. To go to Seven Sisters, to that Golf course in the middle of nowhere friends invited me to, to bring old fridge, shelf and a couple of chairs to the recycling center, go shopping to IKEA or just go for a nice drive to nowhere with a nice music.

I've tried several options of "temporary owning the car": car sharing club (ZipCar), taking a car from a friend, cheap rental, not-so-cheap rental. Let me share what I've learnt below.

For me the essentials of renting a car are:

1. car must be close to where I am. Taking 2 buses and a train (altogether 1 hour) to get to the closest rental office to pick it up and then repeat the same process to drop it - kills all the benefits for me.
2. car should be small (have you tried driving on residential London streets on a Land Rover Jeep? Walking is faster) but not too small. Under-1-litre cars do not feel like cars for me.
3. car should be in good condition - clutch comfortable, gears switching smoothly, breaks working properly,  tyres full, suspension not rumbling on every bump like it's about to separate from the car.
4. the whole rental experience shouldn't cost more than 100-150 GBP per weekend (incl insurance, fuel and - preferrably - parking)
5. A/C in summer
6. USB to charge my phone - I use Google Maps on my phone for navigation and the battery only lasts a couple of hours. 
7. some space in the trunk, preferrably, hatchback - when I take a car, I often make trips to either shopping mall or IKEA. This requires some storage space, hatchback allows for better expansion of that space. Doesn't have to be a lot, but Smart doesn't satisfy the requirements.

Non-essentials or "I don't care" things:

• manual vs automatic - I drive both.
• fuel type. I prefer petrol mostly because I am somewhat environment conscious, but come to think of it, using petrol is still harmful to the environment. As long as I know which fuel it is, I am good.
• color, "coolness", Parktronic, navigator in the car, TV in the car, all-digital-smart-vehicle type of stuffing - not needed.  I learnt to drive and owned cars when Parktronic was not in use, so it's more of a luxury than a necessity for me.

ZipCar

Car sharing by the hour was the first thing I tried. 

Car sharing is when there are cars parked in certain predefined locations, you can book a car by the hour in specific location. You must return it to the same location by the end of your booking. It's an "all-inclusive" option - insurance, congestion charge and even fuel is included. You get a fuel card to pay with, the only thing you are asked for is to keep the car neat and tidy, and refuel if level of fuel drops below 1/4 of the tank. The price is around 8 GBP per hour for a small and non-fancy car.

I had a membership discount, there were cars in the vicinity of where I live and I liked that the price is exactly what I see and can calculate by the hour. I used it for some time to drive to shopping malls from time to time and take my son to sports. Once I have taken it to go to Brighton. Big mistake. I did not pay attention to the mileage restrictions (60 miles per day, after which you start paying by the mile) and it cost me a fortune. Also, with time, "the vicinity" started feeling like too far from my house and tight schedule made me nervous.

So I started looking for other options.

Friend's car

That would be ideal. If someone had a car they did not use and I could pay for the fuel and maybe some symbolic maintenance fee. I'd buy insurance for myself (yearly ones are relatively cheap) and take it as needed.

I had a friend, who had a car here in London. She did not use it much and was happy for me to use it. The only problem was - the car was brought in from Germany. According to DVLA rules you can only use a foreign car in Britain for 6 months. After that you must register it with local authorities, which implies local insurance and potentially re-mounting the steering wheel from left to right (does anyone really do that!?). Many drive like this for years without being caught and could care less about registering, but, having given it some thought I realized, I was not ready to drive someone else's car like this. I even thought about bringing my Subaru from Estonia,  but then dismissed that idea as crazy. It would be even more expensive than buying a new car here.

Easy car

Around that time I considered option of easyCar.com. It's essentially easyJet in the market of car rentals. It's a system, which allows usual people rent their cars when they don't use them to others.
However, fast and simple calculation and research of the needed preconditions told me it was not worth it. Too expensive if I add all the insurance etc, and also some additional documentation was needed. Quick look at the offerings also showed that cars were not that good at all for the asking price. So I abandoned the idea.

Not-so-cheap rental

Since I needed and wanted to go our of city sometimes (yes, I do enjoy driving per se, so I would indeed prefer driving somewhere for 3 hours instead of taking a 1.5 hr train), I tested classic rental option. Again, I have some discounts with some rental companies, so I went ahead and booked a car via Enterprise. It is not cheap - about 200 GBP per weekend (Friday evening to Monday morning), but they were amazing. Easy booking on the site, good selection of cars and places for pickup, great service, good quality cars - it was well worth it.

I rented from Enterprise when I was in US. 2 hours into driving I realized that my tyre is flat. Refilling didn't help, so I called services next morning, and they put me a spare tyre.

"Limping" first car

I was able to drive back to rental office and they gave me another car with a full tank for free as a compensation for my troubles. The car was great, took me from San Fran to Los Angeles and I even dared to drive it on the beach.

Fancy second car

In London I tried Enterprise offices relatively close to my home at first. Unfortunately, it is only close if you drive - 10 mins from home. When you take buses to get there, it becomes an hour. I was frustrated. Then I remembered that one of the offices where I work is at Kings Cross, meaning there are plenty of rentals literally next door. And, important for London, they are outside congestion charge zone, which saves you another 12 GBP per day during working week.

So, I started booking rentals from Friday midday to Monday midday and driving home from work on Friday and driving to work on Monday morning. It turned out to be extremely convenient, but still expensive, because, in addition to rentals I also always bought full coverage insurance.

That is when I had a chat with someone at work who recommended buying a yearly insurance to cover all liabilities up to certain amount per year and using cheap rental companies. 

Cheap rental

Before I bought yearly insurance I tested cheap rentals. Between rentalcars.com and skyscanner.com I liked rentalcars.com better, although some say SkyScanner has cheaper options.

My first trial was not without disappointments. When I happily booked a crazy cheap option (49 GBP Fri-Mon from Kings Cross!), turned out that even CDW was not included, and I had to pay 3 times more (160 GBP total) to include CDW and full coverage). The offer was targeted at US citizens who apparently happen to have some US insurance which covers CDW here.

Lesson learnt, I started to read all the small print very carefully, and next attempts turned out pretty good. I got different rental companies every time, but, because the market is more or less established, you always get big and trusted players like Herz, Europcar, Budget - I had no problems with any of them.

So, I ended up buying a yearly insurance from insurance4carhire.com for 50 GBP covering excess on damage and theft up to £6,500 per year, worldwide. Personally, the way I drive, I might get some scratches on mirrors or bumper or wheels because I would brush the curb or would not fit nicely between two posts when parking. And it happens very rarely, so I feel safe.

I use rentalcars.com, they keep the clients by giving bonus points for each rental and providing discounts off advertised prices as you gather certain amount of points.

Enterprise has similar system of gathering points based on the amount you paid for the rental and when you accumulated enough, you can get a day or more of free rental by "paying with bonus points".

Tips and tricks

• Read the small print during booking! Check what is IN the price and what is not. CDW is a MUST! Lookout for mileage restrictions. Offers with restrictions are cheaper, but would only work for you if you do not drive far.
• On mileage restrictions: clarify with the rental if it is limited to per-day, or accumulated. E.g. if you have restriction of 100 mi per day and you drive 20 on first day and 180 on second - clarify if they charge you for 80 miles on second day or not. Usually they don't do it, but worth to double check.
• If company doesn't state it explicitly, know that by default, if the scratch is less the size of a credit card or not through paint, you should NOT be charged.
• Unless you are OK to spend some extra money, do not agree to s.c. "upgrades for just 12 pounds per day". Initially choose a car you are happy with and say "no" to selling. Sometimes they will upgrade you anyway because they only have big cars. :)
• Be picky about damage check at the beginning. Spend extra 10 mins and point out everything to them. The person checking the car when you return it will be someone else, so whatever this one says might not hold true.
• Check the trunk and interior when inspecting the car. People tend not to open trunk and back doors, and sometimes it's dirty there. Again, whoever checks the car later will not believe you that "it was like this".
• Rental price across the road from the airport is usually 1.5 times cheaper than in the airport, and both are way cheaper than price in Central London. Rentals outside, but close to the airport usually have free shuttle buses. Ask for it.
• When you feel you are being charged unfairly, don't be afraid to ask for manager. The agents inspecting the car and asking for your signature often would not call the manager or go to the manager and get back with "manager approved to not charge you this time".     

Conclusions

Between owning a car, using Uber all the time and renting a car when I really need it, renting turned out the cheapest and most efficient option for me. The cars I get are always new and I get to try different marks and models. Many times because rental offices have no cars left I get "free upgrades" just because bigger car is the only one they have left. :) Like this one below. It was supposed to be a tiny Vauxhall, but we got a big Renault with built-in navigator, Parktronic and all the fancy toys inside. Nice...  

And, by the way, this is my own car back in Estonia. I love her so much, couldn't sell her, so I use her every time I am coming to Tallinn.

Morning meditation at Kings Cross

I love coming to Kings Cross office in the morning and having coffee on the terrace with a view. I call it my morning meditation. I take a cup of latte, a bottle of water and head out.

It's quiet here at this time of the day. Too early still for the majority of this office's residents to come in. On the other hand it's too late for the commuters' crowd down below at Kings Cross, so the street below doesn't look like typical London rushing flow of people, but rather like a leisurely bunch enjoying the morning in the modern district being rebuilt in style.

London is hit by another heat wave again, so I immediately feel the warmth of the sun on my skin and squint against the bright sunlight. I put the coffee onto the parapet, inhale and exhale deeply as yoga teachers taught me years ago, to relax and "reset".

First I look around, enjoying the diverse landscape with UFO-shaped dome of Kings Cross railway station in front of me, intense greenery of Saint Pancras and Fitzrovia behind it, London Eye to the west and imagining the river somewhere behind it. To the east there is contour of the City in the morning haze and barely visible Canary Wharf farther behind. Shard sticks out next to the lower but still prominent St Paul's dome. I take it all in, along with the vast blue sky above all of that with feathers of white clouds spread over it here and there.

Being above the buildings it feels like being on top of a small mountain and looking at a panorama.  

I close my eyes, take a sip of morning coffee and focus on taste. Not too hot, not too cold with a touch of vanilla and cinnamon - great start of the day. 

Without opening my eyes I shift my attention to sounds, which are as diverse as the view. I know there is a construction site close-by to the east side - for many months sounds of drilling and banging dominate the soundscape of Kings Cross surroundings. There is another construction on the west side, but farther and smaller - the sounds are muffled and rare. 

In spite of Kings Cross being the major transport hub, it's not too loud. There are sounds of cars honking and accelerating at the crossroad, distant beeping of the pedestrian traffic lights, but other than that, it is relatively quiet. From time to time on top of all that there are shrieks of gulls gliding over the city.

I breath in and out again,  open my eyes and, recharged and with Kings Cross and Central London now inside me, ready to dive into work. 

Anniversary

London is immense.

1572 km2 of imperial buildings and victorian maisonettes, forests, parks, rivers, ponds, channels, theatres, banks, schools, universities, shops, landmarks.... endless list of everything.

Many things in London are "best", "largest", "leading", "biggest".

It is a center of banking, arts, education, transport hub and many many more.

London is overwhelming, flooding you with impressions, ranging from the unbearable traffic, air pollution and infuriating rush hours to breathtaking views and heart melting beauty of city gardens.

London is a constant mix of absolutely contrasting things, like harsh sound of speeding bike in the night and deafening chorus of early morning birds, like busy square in front of Buckingham Palace and quiet greenery of Green Park nearby.

London is diverse with Hampstead in West London being nothing like Canning Town in the East and not even like Greenwich in the South East,

 

with City of London and Canary Wharf with its torrents of business women and men in suits and office dresses being very much different from Covent Garden and Kings Cross, being so much not-office-style and nevertheless a home to many corporations.

London is intense with outrageously famous places, never ageing, with no expiration date and never making you bored.

Just when you thought you've seen it all and cannot be surprised any more, you see something and your eyes go wide in amazement and fascination and you stand there with your mouth open or eyes watering with tears of awe or delight at the scale, intensity or quality.

World famous museums and galleries are still filled with neverending crowds of tourists and locals, theaters full and tickets sold out for everlasting shows. Even those who never liked theatre become addicted, blown away with the quality of the plays.

Magnet for best performers, largest corporations, newest technologies, edge cutting science research bordering with magic, London and surroundings are boiling with endless resources, both money, working hands and outstanding brains, amazing ideas and great inspirations.    

Home to more than 8 million people of all nationalities and origins, London is extremely diverse.
Whatever or whoever you can think of, you have it here. There is an abundance of everything and yet a shortage of many things.

London teaches you plan weeks and months ahead and be ready to change your plans at the very last moment. London teaches you to cope with often unbearable speed of things happening and time flowing, and yet, be ready to wait... wait in queues and in traffic, for late trains and buses, tables in restaurants and tickets availability.

With so many people, so many happening and time flowing so fast you'd expect lots of aggression or rudeness on the streets. And yet, "sorry" and "thank you" are amazingly still the most often heard words, even with almost 40% of London population being foreigners, and thus, not having the inborn world-famous British politeness.

This people diversity keeps bringing in most interesting, funny and original ideas manifestations. London is full of hidden beautiful and surprising places, which are made such by people having created them.

You can hate it, be tired of it,  admire it, overwhelmed with it,  in love with it, adore it, long for it, intimidated by it, but never bored.

You cannot be indifferent to London.

On 5th of July it will be 2 years since I moved here. 

It still feels foreign and unexplored. It still feels like a whole unknown world to me.

Gone wandering.

I left London a week ago to go on vacation, wandering in the mountains and valleys of Bavaria and Austria.
I keep a separate storyline for this trip located at bavariaaustria2015.blogspot.com. Feel free to stop by and read!

A city that stole my heart

There is a small city 2 hours drive from London with a population of 163,000 where sometimes you think you are in England, sometimes - in France, sometime - in India, sometimes - in Barcelona and in general - in paradise. This city stole my heart today. This city is Brighton.

It became a city in 2000, when a town of Brighton was joined with a town of Hove and became a city of Brighton and Hove. It is located on the shore of the Atlantic ocean, on the south of England, overlooking the English channel.

I only tasted a resort piece of Brighton today, but it was so yummy and pleasant, I am sure I will come back for more.

The drive from London to Brighton took 2 hrs, just like Google Maps said, and most of the time it took to drive around London. Endless greenery, rolling hills and bright dots of sheeps on the grass - such was an enjoyable scenery we saw while driving south. Brighton met us with sun, fresh air and beautiful turquoise ocean.

We parked the car in one of the underground car parks and strolled down the cheering pier, full of food, drinks and attractions. Views were amazing.

It wasn't crowded, but the water was full with yachts, boats, water scooters and even a rocket-man!

After the pier we visited the Sea Life aquarium, conveniently located next to the pier and the beach and got lucky to enjoy a sharks and turtles feeding session. Then we took the ride on the Brighton Wheel. It promised at least 3 revolutions, but there was no queue at all, so we got 6! and even got bored, but still took some really nice pictures from above (pardon the glass reflections).

It was time to have lunch and we headed to the "restaurants quarter". During the day there we tried three different cafes/restaurants: Cafe Rouge, Bella Italia and Zio Peppe. The last one was slightly disappointing - the food almost had no taste, but the other two were quite good, especially Cafe Rouge.

Next on our list was Royal Pavilion. It caught our attention on our way to the beach leaving us wondering, what Indian? Marocco? palace is doing here. With a small garden behind it the pavilion, which was a seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales, it looks exotic and calm.

The Museum in one of the buildings promised a collection of amusing machines, of which we found only one

but it was still very amusing - built from hundreds of seemingly incompatible parts like teaspoons, toy kitten, an umbrella, badminton shuttle cock, a chest and teacup and many many other things.

Then we stumbled upon an exhibition of 50 world best wildlife photographers and enjoyed it alot as well.

After the museum we took the car and drove to the east of Brighton to discover Brighton Marina Village. Aside from 9 stressful floors of driving down the super-narrow passages of the car parking (I somehow managed to enter the parking building on the 9th floor, but the way out was only on ground floor), it was the most related and lazy part of the day. It reminded me of Barcelona marina, but cosier.

Closing the day, we drove even further east until Eastbourne only to gasp in awe and turn back north since the sun was setting soon. Eastbourne left us wanting to come back and enjoy Sussex more later.

  

Bonjour de Bordeaux

Today's post is a "guest" post from South-West France. I flew to Bordeaux for a short weekend break, aiming to land in a quiet and nice city with good food, good wine and lots of beautiful architecture.

I’ve got what I wanted, and more.

It’s funny, how trip to the airport to fly to continental Europe is twice as long as the flight to continental Europe itself. I took 2 buses to central London, then an intercity bus to Gatwick and only then did I actually fly to France.

Taking a train feels more like traveling from London to Bordeaux, but 6-8 hours is too much even for an introverted travel lover like me.

In Bordeaux it’s easy. Airport is small and deserted, so deserted in fact that it felt creepy for the first minutes, after London, packed with people.

But then the beauty of small city descends upon you - starting with the vineyards outside the airport walls, that you can touch and feel, to the bus, stopping at the airport door and taking you to the very heart of Bordeaux in mere 40 minutes!

(In Tallinn it is 10-15 minutes - noone can beat that!)

A bus ride from the airport gave me a glimpse of suburban life - clean, quiet, green and spacey. 2-3 floor apartment houses, areas of detached housing, flooded with greenery, blooming apple trees and evergreens. Wide roads, little traffic, parks, even forests here and there - very calming and nice. 15 minutes into the ride I suddenly realized - they drive on the right side of the road! My instincts are happy, my mind can relax.

So, I arrived happily to the Old Town of Bordeaux where we had an apartment rented for the weekend, just 100 m from the main shopping street, Rue de Sainte-Catherine. The apartment was very modest, but had everything in it needed for a 3 day stay. Hotels in France are said to be very expensive, or, if the price is OK, they are tiny. Apartments are a good tradeoff if you want something more comfortable and spacey, and is ready to exchange hotel breakfast for a morning coffee in the closest Patisserie or Brasserie (which feels like a very wise idea in France).

Central part of Bordeaux is beautiful to say the least. The city was called a "Sleeping Beauty" and "Pearl of Aquitaine" in the past. It has seen various stages of its life, but by now it is largely renovated and is elegantly nice.

Compensating the narrow streets between the 18th century architecture masterpieces, the riverside walk is very broad and majestic. 

Wide road with 2 lanes in both directions, spacious tram lines with trams running right on the green grass, wide walkway with flowerbeds and colorful lights and even more walkway right next to the river. 

The river Garonne itself is also wide in this area. The two bridges in sight crossing it look magnificent.

   

By the way one of the 4 bridges inside the city is known to be the longest span vertical-lift bridge where the whole middle section of it slides up on the four giant pillars. This looks mighty even when the bridge is down, I imagine the look is even better when the bridge is open.

The area around it, looking like docks in the past are being rebuilt - construction is going on everywhere around it and this is where the promenade starts (or ends).

The most famous landmark of Bordeaux (aside from it being one of the wine capitals of the world) is Place de la Bourse and its famous Mirror of Bordeaux - a small square covered with thin layer of water, that reflects the beautiful Place de la Bourse. Unfortunately, it is only functioning in summer, at the moment it is just a nice spot for rollers and bikers to do their tricks.

The city itself is very clean. Even on the meandering narrow backstreets, where historical buildings are not so much renovated any more, there is not much litter on the streets. I imagine this is conditioned by the relatively small number of people living here - just under 300,000 inhabitants without suburbs. Also, right now is not a tourist season, in summer the population of Bordeaux significantly increases. There are not so much cars, 3 tram lines, 18 bus lines, buses are hybrid, running on fuel and electricity, lots of bikes around. 

It is easy to bike here, I imagine, since there’s a lot of space and it’s not crowded, so people bike a lot. There are bikes as public transport, similar to London Barclay bikes in the center of the city, and people use them extensively. We also saw electric cars, parked here and there, which also seemed “rentable”. However, the center is so small, that walking is the best way of getting around if you are a tourist.

To say that Bordeaux architecture is beautiful is to say nothing. It is rich in details, yet not overwhelming or tasteless. Buildings are made from the sandstone, which is carefully cleaned regularly (at least on the frontline of the riverside), which makes them look bright and nice especially in the morning spring sun. 

But not only in daylight...

Bordeaux is also beautiful at night.

There are lots of trees in the city, which were not that obvious now, that it’s still early spring, but in summer, I imagine, the city is becoming very green and colorful. In Jardin Publique with its beautiful flowerbeds and an original sculpture made from the old tree, I found a blooming magnolia with no leaves at all just huge white and rose flowers.

Jardin Publique was a place where I had one of the most enjoyable cafe experiences - extremely green, with blooming magnolias and great tea that I enjoyed outside, covered in warm blanket on a cosy sofa.

Cafes and restaurants in Bordeaux are open from 8-11 AM until 2 PM and then from 7 to 11 PM, which is illogical for a person like me, having lunch around 2-3PM on weekend, but besides traditional french places with a french schedule there are also numerous coffee places and international eating spots that serve food and drinks all day long. 

Personnel do not speak English. Or maybe they do not want to. In any case knowing only “Bonjour”, “Merci” and “Au revoir”  and guessing words on the menu (English menu is non-existent, English translations on a French menu are rare, and Google Translate failed me completely without internet connection :( ), I still managed to eat and drink what I wanted and get smiles from baristas for my obviously very funny accent.  

Tea is good, coffee is even better, wines are pleasant, food is delicious. The only negative aspect I noticed is that everybody smokes. Women, men, teenagers - everybody is smoking everywhere.

On the other hand I saw lots of people with e-cigarettes around. I also noticed that people … look at each other and talk to each other, they are no so much immersed in their phones and tablets as you can see people in London (or any big city for that matter). Teenagers sitting in cafes chat, not message, people riding the bus look out the window, not into the phone. This makes the city feel very alive.

Living next to Rue de Sainte-Catherine, we walked down this street alot. Shopping aside, there are lots of fun stuff to be found. Like this guy...

... and macaroons paradise ...

 In another part of the city we stumbled upon a bus stop that puzzled us (the toilet picture here is for the sake of Ville de Bordeaux sign above, although it looks quite funny altogether).

To sum it all up, I loved Bordeaux and I have it now on my to-go list some weekend in summer, to indulge myself in greenery, take a wine tasting tour and a riverboat ride.   

For more information on visiting Bordeaux, there is a detailed wikitravel article for more thorough dive into the city.