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In Europe having a GPS unit in your rental car can be a fantastic way to explore the continent. Cities like Rome, London, Madrid and Lisbon were not built on efficient grid systems like in America, so navigation is a problem for many. Reasons for this stem from the fact that you are in a city which is unfamiliar and may have road signs you do not understand, as well as the fact that Europeans tend to drive quite fast in cities. While a GPS won’t make the lights turn green for you (yet), it will help to alleviate some stress that can occur from driving on these confusing tiny roads.
There are generally two ways to go about renting a GPS unit in Europe. Most car companies provide, or at least offer GPS at the counter. You can request it locally when you arrive, or in advance. Most likely you will be given some kind of hand held unit that gets plugged into the vehicle. If you book certain cars, they may have GPS built in, however you need to talk to the rental company to make sure that the booking has a guaranteed GPS, otherwise it is subject to change.
The other way to go about it is to rent a GPS in the United States and take it with you before you leave. This guarantees that you will have GPS, and you can also take it with you on walking trips, as it will work without the car. While most batteries have less than a 6 hour lifetime, it is still useful if you are thinking about using a bike to get around. Obviously, you wouldn’t mount it to the handlebars, but it could be useful incase you get lost. Getting a handheld GPS unit is generally pretty easy, and most companies ship it out to you with return packaging included.
For me with GPS our vacation more enjoyable and fun. Happy vacation!
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