Stata Moving Average Egen

Stata: Analisis Data dan Perangkat Lunak Statistik Nicholas J. Cox, Universitas Durham, Inggris Christopher Baum, Boston College egen, ma () dan keterbatasannya Statarsquos perintah yang paling jelas untuk menghitung moving averages adalah fungsi ma () egen. Dengan ekspresi, itu menciptakan rata-rata pergerakkan rata-rata ekspresi itu. Secara default, diambil sebagai 3. pasti aneh. Namun, seperti yang ditunjukkan oleh manual entry, egen, ma () mungkin tidak digabungkan dengan varlist:. Dan, untuk alasan itu saja, itu tidak berlaku untuk data panel. Bagaimanapun, itu berdiri di luar serangkaian perintah yang secara khusus ditulis untuk seri waktu melihat deret waktu untuk rinciannya. Pendekatan alternatif Untuk menghitung rata-rata bergerak untuk data panel, setidaknya ada dua pilihan. Keduanya bergantung pada dataset yang sebelumnya sudah tsset. Ini sangat layak dilakukan: Anda tidak hanya bisa menyelamatkan diri Anda berulang kali menentukan variabel panel dan variabel waktu, namun Stata berperilaku dengan cerdas mengingat adanya kesenjangan dalam data. 1. Tulis definisi Anda sendiri dengan menggunakan Menggunakan operator time-series seperti L. dan F.. Berikan definisi rata-rata bergerak sebagai argumen untuk menghasilkan pernyataan. Jika Anda melakukan ini, Anda tentu saja tidak terbatas pada rata-rata bergerak rata tertimbang (tak tertimbang) yang dihitung oleh egen, ma (). Misalnya, rata-rata bergerak tiga periode tertimbang rata-rata akan diberikan oleh dan beberapa bobot dapat dengan mudah ditentukan: Anda tentu saja dapat menentukan ekspresi seperti log (myvar), bukan nama variabel seperti myvar. Salah satu keuntungan besar dari pendekatan ini adalah bahwa Stata secara otomatis melakukan hal yang benar untuk data panel: nilai-nilai terdepan dan tertinggal ada di dalam panel, seperti logika yang menentukannya. Kelemahan yang paling menonjol adalah bahwa command line bisa agak lama jika moving average melibatkan beberapa istilah. Contoh lainnya adalah moving average satu sisi yang hanya berdasarkan nilai sebelumnya. Ini bisa berguna untuk menghasilkan harapan adaptif tentang variabel apa yang akan didasarkan semata-mata berdasarkan informasi sampai saat ini: perkiraan seseorang terhadap periode saat ini berdasarkan empat nilai terakhir, dengan menggunakan skema bobot tetap (A 4-period lag mungkin Terutama yang biasa digunakan dengan kuartalan kuartalan.) 2. Gunakan egen, filter () dari SSC Gunakan filter fungsi egen yang ditulis pengguna () dari paket egenmore pada SSC. Di Stata 7 (diperbarui setelah 14 November 2001), Anda dapat menginstal paket ini setelah beberapa menit kemudian membantu menjelaskan rincian tentang filter (). Dua contoh di atas akan diberikan (Dalam perbandingan ini, pendekatan menghasilkan mungkin lebih transparan, tapi kita akan melihat contoh yang berlawanan dalam sekejap.) Kelemahannya adalah numlist. Mengarah ke kelambatan yang negatif: dalam kasus ini -11 mengembang menjadi -1 0 1 atau memimpin 1, lag 0, lag 1. Fibre coef, numlist lainnya, perbanyak item tertinggal atau barang yang sesuai: dalam hal ini item tersebut adalah F1.myvar . Myvar dan L1.myvar. Efek dari pilihan normalisasi adalah untuk mengukur setiap koefisien dengan jumlah koefisien sehingga coef (1 1 1) menormalkan setara dengan koefisien 13 13 13 dan coef (1 2 1) normalisasi sama dengan koefisien 14 12 14 Anda harus menentukan tidak hanya kelambatan tapi juga koefisiennya. Karena egen, ma () menyediakan kasus yang sama berbobot, alasan utama untuk egen, filter () adalah untuk mendukung kasus bobot yang tidak sama, yang mana Anda harus menentukan koefisiennya. Bisa juga dikatakan bahwa mewajibkan pengguna untuk menentukan koefisien adalah sedikit tekanan tambahan pada mereka untuk memikirkan koefisien apa yang mereka inginkan. Pembenaran utama untuk bobot yang sama adalah, kami kira, kesederhanaan, namun bobot yang sama memiliki sifat domain frekuensi yang buruk, untuk menyebutkan hanya satu pertimbangan. Contoh ketiga di atas bisa jadi salah satunya sama rumitnya dengan pendekatan menghasilkan. Ada kasus di mana egen, filter () memberikan formulasi yang lebih sederhana daripada menghasilkan. Jika Anda ingin filter binomial sembilan-istilah, yang menurut para ahli iklim berguna, maka mungkin terlihat kurang mengerikan daripada, dan lebih mudah untuk mendapatkan yang benar daripada, Sama seperti dengan pendekatan menghasilkan, egen, filter () bekerja dengan baik dengan data panel. Sebenarnya, seperti yang dinyatakan di atas, ini tergantung pada dataset yang sebelumnya telah di-download. Tip grafis Setelah menghitung rata-rata bergerak Anda, Anda mungkin ingin melihat grafik. Perintah yang ditulis pengguna tsgraph cerdas tentang dataset tsset. Instal di Stata 7 yang up-to-date oleh ssc inst tsgraph. Bagaimana dengan subsetting dengan jika None dari contoh di atas menggunakan jika pembatasan. Sebenarnya egen, ma () tidak akan mengizinkan jika ditentukan. Terkadang orang ingin menggunakan jika saat menghitung moving averages, namun penggunaannya sedikit lebih rumit dari biasanya. Apa yang akan Anda harapkan dari sebuah moving average yang dihitung dengan if. Mari kita kenali dua kemungkinan: Penafsiran yang lemah: Saya tidak ingin melihat hasil apapun untuk pengamatan yang dikecualikan. Interpretasi yang kuat: Saya bahkan tidak ingin Anda menggunakan nilai untuk pengamatan yang dikecualikan. Inilah contoh konkretnya. Misalkan sebagai konsekuensi dari beberapa jika kondisi, pengamatan 1-42 dimasukkan tetapi tidak diobservasi. Tapi rata-rata bergerak untuk 42 akan bergantung, antara lain, pada nilai untuk pengamatan 43 jika rata-rata melebar ke belakang dan ke depan dan panjangnya minimal 3, dan juga akan bergantung pada beberapa pengamatan dan seterusnya dalam beberapa situasi. Dugaan kami adalah kebanyakan orang akan mengikuti interpretasi yang lemah, tapi apakah itu benar, egen, filter () tidak mendukung jika keduanya. Anda selalu bisa mengabaikan apa yang tidak Anda inginkan atau bahkan menetapkan nilai yang tidak diinginkan hilang setelahnya dengan menggunakan ganti. Catatan tentang hasil yang hilang pada ujung seri Karena rata-rata bergerak adalah fungsi lag dan lead, egen, ma () menghasilkan missing dimana lag dan lead tidak ada, pada awal dan akhir rangkaian. Pilihan nomiss memaksa perhitungan rata-rata bergerak pendek yang tidak dipalsukan untuk ekornya. Sebaliknya, tidak menghasilkan atau egen, filter () tidak, atau memungkinkan, sesuatu yang istimewa untuk menghindari hasil yang hilang. Jika salah satu nilai yang dibutuhkan untuk perhitungan hilang, maka hasilnya hilang. Terserah kepada pengguna untuk memutuskan apakah dan operasi perbaikan yang diperlukan untuk pengamatan semacam itu, mungkin setelah melihat kumpulan data dan mempertimbangkan ilmu pengetahuan yang mendasarinya yang dapat dibawa untuk menanggungnya. Planet yang Memandu Kami memasuki Saluran Utara yang memisahkan Eilean Shona dari Moidart di Sekitar satu jam sebelum HW, direncanakan sehingga akan ada banyak air (yang tidak selalu terjadi) dan kami tidak akan mengayuh sepeda melawan gerakan pasang-surut yang cukup besar. Pandangan melalui saluran tersebut dengan rapi membingkai salah satu siluet paling khas di pantai barat. . Sebuah sgurr Titik tertinggi pulau Eigg, yang memiliki kehadiran dari semua proporsi dengan tinggi 393 metre1289 kaki dan memberi kesan kapal besar berlayar di Laut Hebrida. Saluran Utara dibatasi di kedua sisi oleh lereng terjal dan curam yang jatuh tepat ke air. Di atas hutan di Bad an Dobhrain (Otter Bay), Lorna melihat gerakannya tinggi di atas tebing - bentuk bagus yang membentang sendiri dan melonjak tanpa susah payah di sepanjang garis nyaring - seekor Elang Ekor Putih (Haliaeetus albicilla). Sebuah keberhasilan konservasi, White tailed Eagle telah diperkenalkan kembali dari tahun 1975 - sebuah program yang berlanjut. Spesies ini diburu sampai punah pada awal abad ke-20 dan mungkin masih ada kurang dari lima puluh pasangan pengembangbiakan burung-burung besar ini di Skotlandia - yang selalu menjadi sensasi untuk melihatnya. Kami melihat burung itu bermanuver untuk menjaga agar tetap terlihat, kepalanya berputar saat berputar untuk mengendarai mobil. Perbedaan perilaku antara dua spesies elang yang ditemukan di Skotlandia adalah bahwa Golden Eagles biasanya akan terbang jauh untuk melihat jarak tertentu jika melihat manusia, sedangkan White tailed Eagle biasanya terbang cukup jauh untuk merasa nyaman dan kemudian akan sering mendarat kembali. Kami mendayung keluar dari Saluran Utara dan menuju laut terbuka Suara Arisaig dengan pemandangan ke pulau Rum di luar Eigg. Tepat di pintu masuk ke saluran yang saya tahu ada cukup banyak kayu apung yang hanyut di antara bebatuan - kita bisa menggunakan beberapa untuk api yang ingin kita nyalakan di perkemahan kita. Air pasang sekarang penuh yang akan dibuat untuk pendaratan yang sangat canggung di bebatuan sehingga kami mendayung, mencatat di mana kami bisa mendarat saat jatuh sedikit. Menuju ke utara menyusuri pantai, kami bermandikan sinar matahari sore yang hangat dan hanya angin sepoi-sepoi yang menggerakkan udara - malam itu adalah malam musim gugur yang sempurna dan meskipun hari Rabu memiliki hari yang cukup panjang, gerakan kami terasa mudah. Tempat perkemahan kami yang bisa dilihat dari jarak yang cukup jauh, kilau rumput hijau zamrud dan pasir putih yang mempesona di antara cokelat musim gugur yang kaya dari lereng heather dan bracken. Ada beberapa tempat yang lebih baik untuk berada di malam yang indah ini. Bayangkan Anda berada di tepi laut pada suatu hari ketika sulit untuk mengatakan di mana daratan berakhir dan laut dimulai dan di mana laut berakhir dan langit dimulai. Kayak laut memungkinkan Anda menjelajahi batas-batas ini dan batas-batas Anda sendiri dan memperluas cakrawala Anda. Kayak laut adalah gunung baru. Begitu kita mendapatkan tenda di sana tidak banyak waktu sampai gelap tapi Ian dan aku kembali ke air. Ian sudah berada di sini kira-kira tiga minggu sebelumnya dan melihat sebuah pohon gugur berukuran layak dicuci di bebatuan. Berbekal lipatan Silky Supper Accel, kami segera memotongnya menjadi beberapa bagian. Kami mengisi lubang tidur kami dan mengikat potongan-potongan yang lebih besar ke geladak belakang. Kami kembali ke laut sama seperti matahari adalah Come avevamo scritto sul blog del recente viaggio alle Isole Cicladi. La nostra tenda, i materassini ed i cuscini, hanno sofferto parecchio e non ce lavrebbero fatta a sopportare un altro lungo viaggio. Per la prossima estate alle Isole Ioniche e al Peloponneso si imponeva quindi un rinnovamento Per capire cosa offriva il mercato, abbiamo consultato diversi siti di produttori specifici e ben presto abbiamo individuato in Bertoni lazienda che poteva offrirci tutto il materiale che ci serviva. Bertoni ci ha concesso una sponsorizza per il materiale da campeggio, che arrivato proprio ieri. Siamo ora impazienti di testare il nuovo equipaggiamento e coglieremo la prima occasione utile per trascorrere qualche giorno di campeggio nautico, anche prima di partire per la Grecia. Questo quello che abbiamo scelto di portare con noi nel prossimo viaggio: Una tenda a igloo autoportante a tre posti, con ottime caratteristiche di tenuta allacqua ed al vento (cos riusciremo a lot asciutti e a non bagnare ogni cosa allinterno quando pove). Tenda a igloo Nordkapp 3 Karena materassini auto gonfiant i a sei tubolari, di materiale morbido e resistente (dormiremo bene anche se il fondo sar sconnesso). Kami mendayung jauh dari mulut Sungai Shiel di atas air asin untuk pertama kalinya dalam perjalanan ini. Di depan kami, Castle Tioram diterangi oleh sinar matahari sore kami mendayung di daerah ini cukup sering dan saya menyadari bahwa saat matahari tidak bersinar - kejadian langka di pantai barat Skotlandia: o) - kastil tampaknya surut ke latar belakang dan dapat Sulit untuk melihat saat mengayuh dari mulut Loch Moidart. Tidak ada kesulitan seperti hari ini dan kami mengarahkan lurus ke arah benteng dan pulau kecilnya. Benteng tersebut mengambil namanya dari Eilean Tioram (pulau kering) dan ini mungkin mengacu pada fakta bahwa di perairan rendah pulau ini terhubung ke daratan oleh ludah berpasir yang lenyap saat air pasang. Sebuah benteng yang dibangun batu dicatat di sini dari tahun 1200an, namun bangunan ini mungkin berasal dari abad ke-13. Untuk sebagian besar sejarahnya sebuah benteng Clanranald, Castle Tioram saat ini menjadi subyek kebuntuan antara pemiliknya yang ingin mengevakuasinya ke tempat tinggal pribadi dan Skotlandia Bersejarah (sekarang Historic Environment Scotland) yang ingin mengkonsolidasikan kehancuran dan melestarikannya untuk bangsa. Situasinya sulit tapi mungkin ada jalan maju menyusul negosiasi baru-baru ini - mari kita berharap demikian karena sementara perselisihan bergemuruh di kain bangunan runtuh. Di sisi pinggir laut pulau ini adalah pantai pasir dan karang pasir yang indah - lengkap dengan lengan berbatu untuk membentuk perangkap matahari. Makan siang kedua diajukan dan dilakukan dengan suara bulat. Kami melepas lapisan pakaian saat kami duduk makan siang di bawah sinar matahari yang hangat, Douglas membawa kesimpulan yang logis ini dan menikmati berenang di air yang dia laporkan hangat (untuk nilai kehangatan tertentu - dan dibandingkan dengan kedinginan yang dalam Loch Shiel). Kami bertiga bergabung dengan Douglas dalam melakukan drama restorasi Jura 10 tahun, bagaimanapun, kami tidak terburu-buru saat kami menunggu air pasang naik cukup untuk memungkinkan mendayung melalui saluran utara Loch Moidart. Ujung tenggara Eilean Shona masih mengandung bekas luka dari badai musim dingin yang parah beberapa tahun yang lalu yang meniup pohon, menelanjangi cabang dan bahkan mengangkat lapisan tipis rumput di garis pantai. Wed meninggalkan sebagian lapisan kita di bawah sinar matahari sore yang hangat dan saat kami melewati Pulau Riska dan memasuki bagian dalam Loch Loch Moidart, lapisan bangunan awan pedalaman rendah dalam kehangatan mulai menghasilkan efek yang tidak biasa. Lampu bolak-balik dan bayangan - pada awalnya terbatas pada area yang sempit. Namun melebar secara bertahap untuk mencakup sapuan pohon, air dan bukit yang berlapis-lapis cahaya. Tranistory dan tidak biasa, foto-foto saya tidak benar-benar melakukan keadilan terhadap efek bolak-balik dan hanya berlangsung beberapa menit sebelum awan bergerak cukup untuk mengubah pemandangan. Kami mendayung menuju apa yang tampak sebagai sudut tertutup Loch Moidart, tapi di mana kami tahu Saluran Utara terletak di antara matahari dan bayangan. Dengan senang hati kami umumkan bahwa Kokatat Watersports Wear akan menjadi sponsor utama dalam acara Storm Gathering USA 2017. Kokatat mulai membuat pakaian olahraga dan perlengkapan dayung pada tahun 1971 dan sejak saat itu menjadi salah satu merek pakaian dan peralatan kayak laut yang paling terpercaya. Internasional. Saat ini, lebih dari 90 penjualan global Kokatats dihasilkan dari pakaian dan aksesoris yang diproduksi secara lokal oleh penduduk lokal di Arcata, CA. Baik Helen dan Mark telah menjadi Duta Merek Kokatat sejak 2008, dan sepanjang semua perjalanan mengajar dan perjalanan kami, kami menemukan bahwa Kokatat adalah pakaian mendayung terbaik dan paling tahan lama di dunia. Kokatat juga telah mendukung baik pertemuan Gathering Inggris Storm Gathering dan Storm Gathering USA sejak tahun 2008, dan kami merasa terhormat untuk terus terhubung dengan produsen berbasis Humboldt yang hebat ini. Tahun ini, Kokatat akan membuka pabriknya kepada peserta simposium, memberikan wawasan unik tentang bagaimana semua dilakukan di balik layar. Jeff Turner, Manajer Penjualan Penjualan Kokatat akan berbicara pada hari Sabtu malam tentang sejarah perusahaan dan dampaknya yang terus berlanjut pada komunitas olahraga dayung. Kokatat juga menyediakan beberapa hadiah utama untuk undian acara termasuk Anorak Passage, OuterCore Habanero Liner, PFD Poseidon, paket Tactic dan reservoir hidrasi, dan kaos lengan panjang Woolcore. Jadi sekarang saatnya masuk ke air bersama Storm Gathering USA 2017 dan Kokatat bulan Maret ini di Trinidad, CA. Sampai jumpa lagi Storm Paddlers OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA yang merangkul unsur-unsur di atas air dan di pegunungan Dengan senang hati kami umumkan bahwa Kokatat Watersports Wear akan menjadi sponsor utama dalam acara Storm Gathering USA 2017. Kokatat mulai membuat pakaian olahraga dan perlengkapan dayung pada tahun 1971 dan Sejak saat itu menjadi salah satu merek pakaian dan peralatan kayak laut yang paling terpercaya secara internasional. Saat ini, lebih dari 90 penjualan global Kokatats dihasilkan dari pakaian dan aksesoris yang diproduksi secara lokal oleh penduduk lokal di Arcata, CA. Baik Helen dan Mark telah menjadi Duta Merek Kokatat sejak 2008, dan sepanjang semua perjalanan mengajar dan perjalanan kami, kami menemukan bahwa Kokatat adalah pakaian mendayung terbaik dan paling tahan lama di dunia. Kokatat juga telah mendukung baik pertemuan Gathering Inggris Storm Gathering dan Storm Gathering USA sejak tahun 2008, dan kami merasa terhormat untuk terus terhubung dengan produsen berbasis Humboldt yang hebat ini. Tahun ini, Kokatat akan membuka pabriknya kepada peserta simposium, memberikan wawasan unik tentang bagaimana semua dilakukan di balik layar. Jeff Turner, Manajer Penjualan Penjualan Kokatat akan berbicara pada hari Sabtu malam tentang sejarah perusahaan dan dampaknya yang terus berlanjut pada komunitas olahraga dayung. Kokatat juga menyediakan beberapa hadiah utama untuk undian acara termasuk Anorak Passage, OuterCore Habanero Liner, PFD Poseidon, paket Tactic dan reservoir hidrasi, dan kaos lengan panjang Woolcore. Jadi sekarang saatnya masuk ke air bersama Storm Gathering USA 2017 dan Kokatat bulan Maret ini di Trinidad, CA. Sampai jumpa lagi Storm Paddlers Hubungi kami secara langsung jika Anda masih ingin menghadiri acara tersebut. Masih sekitar satu jam sebelum langit mulai menjadi lebih ringan. Hujan telah berhenti untuk saat ini, tapi langit hanya abu-abu, awan kental dan tidak ada alasan untuk berpikir bahwa kita benar-benar bisa melihat matahari pada titik mana pun hari ini. Semuanya setidaknya sedikit lembab, sedikit dingin, dan ramalan untuk beberapa hari berikutnya mengharuskannya turun di bawah titik beku lagi. Musim semi belum bermunculan di sini, tidak cukup. Sebagai bagian dari proses penulisan ulang buku panduan kayak, saya telah melihat beberapa hal dari tahun lalu yang saya tulis tentang daerah itu. Shades of Gray adalah buku yang terbit pada saat antara buku panduan South Sound dan North Sound dan telah sedikit seperti perjalanan waktu untuk melihat daerah ini lagi melalui deskripsi saya 20 tahun yang lalu. Ada tempat-tempat yang telah tumbuh dan berubah dan yang belum, seperti beberapa hal tentang diri saya telah berevolusi sementara hal-hal lain tetap konstan. Ada beberapa perbandingan yang menarik. Saya tidak tahu persis mengapa saya memasukkan salam kuno ke matahari di halaman pengabdian di awal buku ini, tapi saya melakukannya. Dan pagi ini, sebelum hari benar-benar dimulai, aku merasa lega. Ini perlu dicetak ulang di sini.830 Lihatlah sampai hari ini: Karena ini adalah kehidupan, kehidupan kehidupan yang sangat. Dalam kursus singkat Lie all the verities dan realitas eksistensi Anda. Kebahagiaan pertumbuhan, Kemuliaan tindakan, Kemegahan pencapaian Adalah pengalaman waktu. Untuk kemarin hanyalah mimpi Dan hari esok hanyalah sebuah penglihatan Dan hari ini lumayan, bikin Kemarin mimpi kebahagiaan Dan setiap esok sebuah visi harapan. 21 Februari 2017 Berjalan di Bukit dan Berperahu Laut di Skotlandia Kami meninggalkan Eilean Fhianain dengan angin sepoi-sepoi yang cepat di punggung kami - salah satu alasan yang saya pilih dalam perjalanan ini adalah angin yang didominasi angin timur yang diperkirakan - akan berada di punggung atau kawin kami. Terlindung di pantai barat. Pandangan terakhir kembali ke pegunungan Loch Shiel. . Dan kemudian terus maju sepanjang hamparan air yang tidak cukup Loch Shiel dan isnt belum sepi Sungai Shiel. Air dangkal dilapisi dengan rawa garam, ini adalah tempat yang tepat untuk unggas air dan penyebar pakan dan untuk beristirahat. Berbicara tentang memberi makan dan beristirahat. Kami mendarat di dekat dermaga di Acharacle untuk memeriksa pilihan makan siang pertama. Acharacle (Torquils ford) dinamai untuk pemimpin Norse yang terbunuh di sini bersama dengan semua orangnya dalam sebuah pertempuran dengan Somerled, Lord of the Isles di tahun 1120. Orang-orang jago menemukan air terlalu dalam untuk menyeberang dan mereka terbunuh membuat keadaan terakhir. Dekat tempat ini Kami menyusuri jalan kecil yang mengarah dari dermaga kayu ke toko-toko desa. Di mana kami memiliki pilihan untuk makan di Acharacle Tearoom atau membeli makan siang untuk makan di luar Roti. Saat kami mengenakan pakaian mendayung kami - dan tetap saja pagi yang menyenangkan - kami memilih untuk makan di luar Roti. Roti kopi dan Foccaccia sangat direkomendasikan oleh pengulas Anda Acharacle adalah pemberhentian praktis di area ini, ia memiliki beberapa pilihan makanan, toko, dan toilet umum dengan keran di luar untuk mengisi air. Dipicu dan diendapkan, kami kembali ke perairan, kapal-kapal kami ditarik bersamaan dengan arus yang sekarang terlihat ke arah jembatan jalan melengkung tiga yang indah di atas Sungai Shiel, yang dibangun pada tahun 1935. Pijakan pendukung jembatan bersih dari air yang Tentu saja tidak terjadi pada perjalanan musim dingin kami, dan arus sungai juga sangat kurang. Tak lama setelah jembatan jalan, sungai menyempit dengan cepat dan berayun menjadi ngarai yang berbatu. Pada akhirnya, jembatan tua melintasi sungai pada titik tikungan sembilan puluh tikungan kiri. Dibangun oleh Thomas Telford pada tahun 1804, terlalu sempit untuk membawa kendaraan bermotor dan diganti sebagai jembatan jalan dengan versi 1935. Anda bisa berjalan dari jalan menuju jembatan ini dan melewatinya, tapi sisi selatan adalah milik pribadi. Di bawah jembatan adalah sebuah jalan kecil yang cepat dimana airnya membentang di atas rak berbatu - dengan lebih banyak air di sungai ini bisa menjadi menarik, namun karena tingkatnya cukup rendah, kecepatannya tidak lebih dari kecepatan aliran. Yang cepat menandai akhir dari bagian yang sempit, air melambat dan sungai menjadi lebar dan dangkal. Bukit berhutan membuat latar belakang yang indah ke bagian perjalanan yang sangat santai dimana kami bisa mengikuti arus dalam arti harfiah. Jika membuat perjalanan ini ketika tingkat airnya relatif tinggi, bagus untuk mengetahui bahwa ada beberapa titik jalan keluar yang potensial untuk memungkinkan pelabuhan di sekitar air pasang surut di mana sungai bermuara ke laut. Yang pertama ada di sebuah stasiun pengukuran yang ditandai dengan kabel yang melintasi air di atas - kami menggunakan ini selama perjalanan musim dingin kami saat sungai itu cukup penuh. Poin kedua adalah petak rumput datar kecil yang menonjol ke sungai, yang oleh Douglas, Lorna dan saya gunakan untuk mendarat dan membawa perahu kami ke jalur di samping air Mike menemukan tempat yang lebih jauh lagi, tapi setelah itu hanya ada satu Pilihan segera di atas air terjun - rindukan dan youre berkomitmen. Kami memasang kapal-kapal di troli yang kami bawa khusus untuk bagian ini dan dilalui sepanjang jalur perkebunan melalui hutan pohon beech dan pinus - meskipun menarik perahu ini adalah bagian yang sangat menyenangkan. Sekali lagi troli (tiga model Ekspedisi KCS dan satu model Lomo) membuktikan nilai dan kesalahan mereka. Jalan memutar yang pendek untuk melihat pasang surut sangat berharga - jika hanya untuk menilai apakah Anda merasa itu bisa saja didayung. Penurunan dari sungai ke laut adalah hasil rebound isostatik, terus naiknya tanah di bagian Skotlandia ini setelah pelepasan es dari zaman es terakhir. Kejatuhan itu sendiri dipengaruhi oleh dua hal yaitu jumlah air di sungai dan ketinggian air pasang - secara sederhana, saat air pasang surut, sungai tersebut semakin turun. Tidak ada kesempatan di sini, kami merasakan kecenderungan sedikit pun untuk menjalankan jatuhnya kayak laut yang sarat dengan muatan penuh. Ini adalah jatuhnya di tingkat sungai yang relatif rendah namun juga surut. Dan ini adalah musim gugur di perjalanan musim dingin kami dengan lebih banyak air di sungai tapi pasang lebih tinggi. Segera di luar titik di mana sungai berakhir, kami sampai di tepi Loch Moidart. Kami membawa perahu kami menyusuri sepetak tambal sulam untuk menempatkan mereka, untuk pertama kalinya dalam perjalanan ini, ke dalam air asin. Hmmmm, saya yakin saya sudah menulis posting tentang tanggal peluncuran yang direncanakan. Entah bagaimana, sekali lagi: Peluncuran pertama saya untuk navigasi keliling Amerika Utara saya akan berlangsung pada hari Sabtu, 25 Maret 2017, 9:00, Perahu Eddie Vine Boat di Golden Gardens Park , Seattle, WA. Semua paddlers dan teman-teman sangat dipersilahkan untuk bergabung dengan saya di mil pertama saya di Puget Sound. Setiap dayung termotivasi yang suka menghabiskan waktu dalam perjalanan saya lebih dari beberapa mil di sebelah saya juga dipersilakan mengirimi saya e-mail yang disukai oleh Ladies. Gambar itu berasal dari navigasi keliling Selandia Baru tahun 2007, di mana saya senang dengan bantuan dua orang teman untuk melewati dumper8230 yang sangat besar di foto terakhir, John terlihat sedikit terkejut saat melihat ke mana saya pergi, saya berada di dalam pancuran kecil itu. Sebuah update mengenai dayung antik yang indah bertanggal sekitar tahun 1860. Awalnya terdaftar sebagai dijual di situs pelelangan Straight Auctioneers and Appraisers (23 Mei 2009 katalog Past Auction), dayung tampaknya telah dijual kembali meskipun Antique Associates di West Townsend, Inc. Dengan membolak-balik halaman Seni Tradisional Amerika Serikat AAAWTs dayung identik, yang sebelumnya terdaftar sebagai Woodlands Canoe (Ottawa), kini telah diidentifikasi sebagai Probably Maine, Kemungkinan Penobscot. Hutan Indian Canoe Paddle Mungkin Maine, Kemungkinan Penobscot, Circa 1860 Chip, takik dan goresan dekorasi berukir, birch bergerigi, noda merah menipis - SOLD Dayung ini juga telah ditampilkan dalam katalog pameran bertanggal. Menyenangkan semangatnya. Katalog koleksi seni India Amerika oleh Ewing, Douglas C (1982) menggambarkan dayung ini di halaman 384, piring 473. Baik katalog pameran dan daftar Tangga sebelumnya menampilkan etchings yang halus di satu sisi permukaan pegangan - sebuah segitiga Etsa dengan motif linier berpuncak pada pola bulat melingkari motif berlian. Tonjolan bulat kecil terjadi di sepanjang sisi pegangan kira-kira setengah titik di mana kerang pegangan turun ke poros. Daftar baru memiliki closeups dari pegangan tapi hanya menampilkan bagian atas. Untungnya, daftar itu juga mencakup dekorasi di sisi lain, yang sebelumnya tidak terdokumentasi sesuai pengetahuan saya. Pola ini menampilkan beberapa gulungan di bagian atas dengan chip yang diukir takik diukir dengan pola border. Kami sudah bangun dan sekitar awal di perkemahan kami di tepi Loch Shiel, udara dingin penyerahan dini hari mengingatkan bahwa musimnya akan kembali. Itu dingin daripada dingin meskipun dan tidak ada rasa perlu untuk mendapatkan pindah ke pemanasan. Matahari pagi mulai terbenam di atas perbukitan di tepi timur danau saat kami selesai berkemas, meski pantai kami tetap teduh. Pada saat kami siap, awan pagi mulai terbakar. Dan tampaknya akan menjadi hari musim gugur yang menyenangkan. Setelah jarak pendek kami sampai pada twist sempit yang menandai akhir Loch Shiel yang tepat, dan perubahan pemandangan yang berbeda. Rabu telah melakukan perjalanan melalui pemandangan pegunungan yang kasar dan liar, di depan terbentang rendah dengan pandangan yang lebih luas ke arah laut. Tebal yang sempit saat loch menemukan jalannya dari pegunungan hampir diblokir oleh sebuah pulau kecil - moraine terminal gletser yang membentang di Loch Shiel. Eilean Fhianain (Pulau Finans) mungkin kecil dan tidak spektakuler dari kejauhan, namun memiliki banyak minat dan sejarah dan tidak mungkin kita melewatinya tanpa menjelajahi sedikit pun. Finan adalah orang suci Celtic awal yang diyakini hidup dari sekitar 520 sampai 600AD. Rincian hidupnya tidak pasti tapi sepertinya dia mengikuti Columba dari Irlandia dan menjadi Abbas sebuah vihara kecil di pulau yang dinamai menurut namanya. Dia diyakini telah banyak menginjili Argyllshire, namun mengingat bahwa namanya tumbuh subur di seantero Skotlandia - dan juga Glenfinnan dan Kilfinnan yang jelas, ada Pameran St Finzeans di Perth dan Finzean sejauh Aberdeenshire, dia pasti memiliki Bepergian secara luas Dikenal sebagai Finan si penderita kusta dari penyakit yang menimpanya, dia tampaknya telah menyukai pulau-pulau kecil di atas lochs dia juga tercatat sebagai pendiri di Inisfallen on Lough Leane di Irelands County Kerry. Finan meninggal, diperkirakan, di Clonmore di Irlandia asalnya. Rabu mengunjungi Eilean Fhianain pada perjalanan musim dingin kami di tahun 2014 dan menemukan tempat itu sebagai permata tempat. Kunjungan itu dilakukan dengan sinar matahari yang cemerlang, pencahayaan yang sangat berbeda ini, namun tempat itu tetap memiliki kedamaian. Kami melewati batu nisan yang nampak sangat tua namun sebenarnya abad ke-18. . Dan berhenti untuk mengagumi salib yang memperingati Rev Charles McDonald, pastor dari keuskupan Argyll dan the Isles. Saya tidak memperhatikan kunjungan kami sebelumnya, namun banyak pohon di pulau itu adalah pohon Rowan, pohon perlindungan. Sisi kolom beruang patung halus dalam gaya Celtic yang khas, dan ada perbedaan yang jelas antara pelapukan di sisi barat salib yang menghadapi cuaca yang berlaku. . Dan wajah-wajah timur yang lebih terlindung, binatang-binatang yang mengejar ekor dan ular-ular yang saling terkait masih lega. Catatan: Teman kita Leif telah menunjukkan bahwa tubuh ular tampaknya membentuk huruf V dan M - akan sangat menarik untuk mengetahui apakah ini merupakan pola pikir yang disengaja atau kebetulan dan jika disengaja dengan apa yang mewakili huruf-huruf tersebut. Kapel yang hancur di dekat titik tertinggi pulau itu memiliki lempengan altar utuh, di balik salib batu yang sangat tua yang menempati ceruk, dan benda berbentuk kapal kayu yang disepuh oleh korban kurban kecil. Penggeledahan di kantong kami menghasilkan beberapa koin untuk ditambahkan ke jumlah tersebut. Tapi lonceng yang menangkap imajinasi - dilemparkan dengan mulus ke dalam perunggu, telah terbaring di sini selama hampir sebelas abad. Butuh beberapa saat agar bisa tenggelam. Diproduksi pada abad ke-10, ia bertahan sepanjang hiruk pikuk sejarah yang panjang. Saat ini dengan rantai kecil, orang bisa melihat dengan jelas tanda di pelat altar tempat bel terbaring. Tidak hanya lonceng yang masih utuh, tetap berfungsi sepenuhnya - video Douglas yang menjadi anak tangga menangkap nada yang jernih. Jika bel St Finans adalah permata pulau, alam telah menyediakan beberapa miliknya sendiri. Sungguh menakjubkan betapa sering dinding gereja yang hancur dipenuhi dengan bunga biru dari Toadflax berdaun Ivy (Cymbalaria muralis), di sini berkembang terjalin dengan pakis. Kami terus menyusuri pulau dari kapel yang hancur dan Lorna menemukan sebuah lemparan kuburan yang luar biasa yang tersembunyi di bawah rerumputan. Kami membersihkan rumput sedikit untuk ditemukan. . Gambaran yang sangat pasti tentang mortalitas yang diukir di batu. Tampaknya pendahulu kita sama sekali tidak segan menggambarkan kematian dengan cara ini - sebuah kuburan yang menakjubkan jika sedikit mengejutkan mata modern. Saat kami berjalan kembali ke kapal, kami melewati sebuah kuburan yang jauh lebih baru, tertata rapi dan dihiasi bunga, didukung dengan semak yang dipecat dengan warna musim gugur yang intens. Pulau kecil ini telah terbukti layak eksplorasi kedua - dan di masa depan kunjungan baik berhenti di sini lagi tanpa diragukan lagi. Kami kembali ke air saat angin sepoi-sepoi bertiup, membersihkan awan dengan cepat. Pegunungan terbentang di belakang kita, dan di depan ada sebuah sungai dan laut. Keanggotaan kami adalah smallbut thats oleh desain. Masing-masing penjelajah kami adalah pemimpin yang diakui di bidangnya masing-masing dan membawa ketrampilan unik untuk grup tersebut. Apakah seorang instruktur bersertifikat, pemandu komersial, atau anggota terbaru kami, seorang fotografer profesional, masing-masing bersemangat tentang eksplorasi, mendorong batas-batas mereka, dan kemudian membagikan pengalaman itu kepada orang lain. Saya tidak yakin siapa yang awalnya mengatakan ini, tapi satu konstanta adalah perubahan dan itu pasti sudah terjadi pada saya akhir-akhir ini. Tidak ada kekurangan proyek menarik untuk meresap ke gigi tapi semakin sibuk, semakin sedikit waktu yang harus kutulis tentang proyek-proyek itu. So8230. Saya kira saat ini untuk mencapai pengalaman di Triathlon, bersepeda, kayak laut, berenang dan kehidupan di Dataran Tinggi Skotlandia OMM adalah acara maraton gunung yang luar biasa yang menantang untuk dipotret. (*) COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ikuti berita terkini di handphone anda http://m. antaranews. com Baca Ketentuan Versi Cetak Beritahu Teman Beri Komentar Ikuti di Twitter! Jadi saya berharap itu cukup menantang untuk balapan Namun, foto di samping berasal dari fitur tambahan yang sangat saya ingin lihat. Donnie Campbell (pria di depan kamera saya) mencoba menjalankan 24 gunung Munro dalam 24 jam - Round Ramsay yang terkenal. Tentu saja aku tidak menjalankan semuanya. Aku menutupi ujung-ujung tempat Donnie sampai di jalan dan berhenti sebentar untuk mendapatkan persediaan. Kamera GoPro saya terus berlanjut di tangan pelari dukungan Donnies. Saya juga memiliki tugas menyenangkan untuk melakukan wawancara dengan Charlie Ramsay. Orang yang merancang tantangan itu. Ada klip kecil dari fitur ini di bagian akhir trailer di bawah ini. 19 Februari 2017 En blogg om padling og annet friluftsliv i (hovedsakelig) Vesterlen Saya dag skulle jeg egentlig p trugetur i marka. Har en rencana om ikke telanjang padle i r, nemlig. Disse trege kajakkene man sitter cepat saya har fjernet semua kondis, noe m gjres med det. Orang-orang yang saya dag var det s drlig sikt ute, di jeg fant det bedre ta en padletur langs fjra, da vet jeg i hvert jatuh hvor jeg er. Dessuten var trrdrakten enklere f p enn gammelt turty som har krympet mistenkelig mye. Hjemme var det ikke et vindpust, ellers fint. Det var mye fugl se i dag. Gesek flokker rfugl, skarv, teist, rn, mker s klart, og fjreplytter. Dessverre verken praktrfugl eller alkekonge. N er det lenge siden jeg har sett dem. Pitstop yang empuk memberi Verholmen. Dro videre noks tvert, var det lite finne nya hal. Jeg kom p di Vikya jo er en 10 p skjret-post, s jeg satte kursen dit. Blgehyden kte fra 0 til 15 cm, mer skal det ikke til fr tempoet mitt ker. Alt er bedre enn peise flatt. Posten er i boks Dette er en annen furuklynge p ya. Neste gang jeg skal campe aku hengekye p ya, tror jeg sannelig di jeg skal prve disse dia. De s kule ut. Laki-laki kemudian melakukan til venstre i bildet, det m da vre dagens rn Joda. Og da jeg padlet bittelitt videre dukket det opp en rn i et tre ogs. Det nesten bankir se rn dia p ya. P enden av ya ble det nok en pitstopp, med kakao nya. Den jarang tingen oppi er tangpinne som jeg brukte untuk rre ut pulveret. Sto fint saya stil til kakaoen. (Spork var glemt hjemme.) Etter ha rundet Vikya satte jeg kursen til Jennestad Handelssted. Det var hit nok vann til komme seg bawah brua, pria dia har de jammen satt opp en sperre Slipp meg inn Niks. Nuvel, ser ut som det ligger en del is s det hadde vel ikke blitt s mye padling uansett nya. Det kom sigende noe nesten svart inn fra siden. Hm. Tenkte jeg det ikke. Rart di skyer med sn er mer svarte enn kritthvite. Pria sn var det. Mye sn ble det. Orang-orang yang melakukan hal itu, lebih baik. Jeg kom ikke s langt opp dia, dessverre. En eller annen geng skal jeg komme meg s langt opp di jeg fr padlet di bawah hovedveien. Pria det ble ikke saya dag heller. Vinter-kamo p kajakken. Wohoi. Et glimt av nesten bl himmel Pipipipiiip. Fjreplytt. S nesten ti stykker tilsammen p turen tror jeg. N gikk det sm elinger p andre siden av sundet, laki-laki de ndde ikke meg. Krysset ikke sundet saya dag siden det var tidvis s tette byger. Bortover mot brua var det jo nesten s det klarnet opp, rett og slett. Dette skulle bli et kult bilde med veldig flott lys, pria det skjnte ikke kameraet helt. Lavvoen i hvert jatuh penere saya vinterdrakt. Da jeg gikk aku mendarat di sana dan segel di rumahnya, dia duduk di tempat tidur, di tempat jeg hadde hrt. Kanskje ikke s rart, untuk lille vinden hadde snudd s jeg hadde et vindpust rett inn i rene det siste stykket. Kom saya mendarat saya pasang, fr dene nye elingen p tur inn nordfra. Fin tur, dessverre fikk jeg ikke invitert noen med, siden jeg trodde jeg skulle noe helt annet til jeg begynte kle p meg drakten. Nuvel, neste gang kanskje. Tidak, tidak apa yang menempel kepala ke tubuh burung punah. Tapi dayung baru dari gearlab saya menyukainya dari tiga ombak dalam satu minggu (minimal untuk mendapatkan Anda melalui minggu kerja) dan merasa saya akan terus menyukainya. ) Lihat link vid di bawah ini (untuk yang penasaran, klipnya tercampur dalam hari tapi tidak di antara hari hari dan ya, saya surfing 2 kapal sabtu pagi gtgtgtgt saya hanya membenci sirip surfing saya terjebak di dangkal Bank pasir saat air pasang turun) Saya hampir tidak percaya bahwa sudah sebulan sejak saya harus membantu mengatur dayung dengan teman-teman dari Sebago dan North Brooklyn Boat Club untuk pergi melihat segel yang dipilih Swinburne Island di pelabuhan bawah sebagai musim dingin mereka. rumah. Itu akhirnya menjadi dayung yang benar-benar menakjubkan, tidak ada angin sama sekali dan tak lama setelah kami berangkat, salju mulai turun cukup banyak sehingga kompas datang sangat berguna. Ketika kami sampai di Swinburne, segel penasaran sedang menaiki kepala mereka keluar dari air tenang yang berkaca-kaca untuk memeriksa kami di semua tempat. Gagang bantalan tali kurung itu lucu seperti itu, mereka tidak akan terlalu menyenangkan jika anjing laut itu tampak sangat tertarik untuk tertarik. Menonton paddlers sebagai paddlers dalam menonton segel. Orang-orang North Brooklyn adalah orang-orang yang pertama kali menyarankan perjalanan itu, dan selain melihat anjing laut, mereka tertarik untuk melihat Coney Island Creek (khususnya Yellow Submarine) dan mendapatkan jarak tempuh yang sedikit, jadi kami meluncurkan dari Kaiser Park di Ujung barat Coney. Ini berarti menyeberangi pelabuhan yang lebih rendah dari Pulau Coney ke Pulau Staten sedikit jauh di bawah Verrazano Narrows, yang membuat sebuah perjalanan membutuhkan keterampilan menengah yang solid dalam kondisi baik. Anda melintasi saluran pelayaran utama, arus pasang surut bisa sangat kuat, dan jika angin bertiup, Anda bisa mendapatkan bangunan yang sangat besar dengan sangat cepat saat Anda berada di luar sana. Perkiraan kami pada bulan Januari adalah untuk angin yang cukup banyak, yang luar biasa (dan sebagian mengapa saya sangat ingin mewujudkannya) masalah cuaca utama kami adalah rendahnya jarak pandang yang disebabkan oleh salju, yang dapat kami tangani. Tantangan utama lainnya dengan versi dayung itu adalah bahwa Swinburne dan Hoffman tidak ramah terhadap takeout, jadi siapa pun yang ingin pergi bersama harus yakin bahwa mereka akan merasa nyaman di kapal mereka selama perjalanan berlangsung. With all of that, the group that ended up coming along was limited to more experienced paddlers. Fortunately for those who wouldve liked to come but didnt feel comfortable with that days float plan, Steve H. (Sebagos Paddling Chef, Ive blogged about many great paddles with him, love paddling with him) decided that it would be fun to run a quieter version of the same trip, launching from Staten Island and cutting out the whole channel-crossing ringmarole. Hed first tried to do it the day after the longer one in January (I was fine with that, I kind of liked the idea of two levels of paddle going on the same weekend) but hed decided to try just a day or two before the weekend, and I guess people already had plans, because it didnt go off. I was hoping he would give it another try, and when the weather forecast starting showing some really nice weather for the Presidents Day weekend, he did This time he got the notice out much earlier in the week, and we had a great crew go out today. It was a special treat to paddle with Sebago commodore emeritus Phil G again - he and his wife moved out of NYC a few years back and he now primarily paddles with the excellent Yonkers Paddling and Rowing Club. and we all miss him at Sebago - and he brought his signature Fig Newtons to share, just like the good old days So much fun. The weather was amazing, the sky was a glorious blue with wispy clouds, the sun sparkled on the surface, the water wasnt quite glassy this time but I dont think the winds even got up to the low end of the 7 to 11 kts Id seen when I checked the forecast last night, and yes, the seals were as inquisitive about us as theyd been in January. In fact when we rafted up for an on-water lunch break, they seemed to get especially curious - we dont know if they were more comfortable with us when we were all sitting still in one place, or if the noise of our hulls bumping together got their attention, but it seemed like all through that break, there were always at least two or three little round heads in sight, and they got a little closer than theyd been when we were underway. We paddled about 5 miles all told and were on the water for about 2 and a half hours - with the cruising speed of a trained kayaker generally being about 3 knots per hour, that will tell you how much time we spent just sitting and looking What a wonderful day. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day. Click any picture for a slideshow view. For more, click here to visit my Flickr album. En el terreno de la esponsorizacin, hay dos modos de patrocinio, a proyectos o a personas. Desde el ao pasado. cuento con el patrocinio de Fun Run kayaks. en lo referente a las embarcaciones, colaborando con la marca para eventuales mejoras de sus productos. Ahora se completa el proceso con la esponsorizacin de Omei en lo referente al equipo personal. Poco hay que decir de Omei, una institucin y referente en kayak, unos apasionados de esto de palear, que empezaron construyendo embarcaciones en un garaje en 1980, y que con el paso de los aos han ido ampliando instalaciones y lneas de negocio. Actualmente su baza ms fuerte es la importacin y distribucin de kayaks y equipamiento, de marcas de reconocido prestigio, con ms de 100 puntos de venta de sus productos en Espaa. Con Patxi, en las instalaciones de Lezo. A lo largo de los aos he gastado bastantes chalecos. Hasta ahora he usado modelos especficos de kayak de mar, siempre de alta gama (me gusta lo bueno, es un problema que tengo). En estos momentos sin embargo he cambiado a un modelo de aguas bravas muy tcnico, pues tiene una distribucin de volmenes muy buena, y es perfecto para maniobras y meterse en los, por su comodidad. Eso si, prescindo del arns, pues los remolques largos y cortos en mar no lo precisan, al usar mis propios cabos. Los buenos chalecos de mar tienen un espacio destinado al walkie, que suele ser un bolsillo especfico, con salida para la antena y adems la opcin de llevarlo fuera en algn enganche multiuso (cuchillo walkie etc. ). En mi opinin la radio, como elemento de seguridad que es, debe estar accesible en todo momento y utilizable con una mano, pues es muy posible que necesitemos la otra para otras cuestiones. Adems, el mayor problema que tenemos los kayakistas en el uso del VHF es nuestra poca altura sobre el agua. Independientemente de la potencia de salida de nuestro equipo, el alcance y la recepcin est fundamentalmente condicionadas por la altura de la antena, pues las ondas de radio se propagan de manera que hay comunicacin entre dos puntos si no hay ningn objeto entre ellos. Basta con que tengamos olas para tener problemas. Por eso, la antena debemos llevarla siempre lo ms alta posible. Para mi, el sitio est en la hombrera del chaleco, lado izquierdo preferiblemente, pues esquimoteo normalmente por la derecha. Los chalecos de aguas bravas no suelen tener espacio para fijar el walkie, por lo que hago esta entrada para mostrar una de las muchas maneras que hay de preparar un sistema para llevar nuestro equipo de radio. Soy bastante manitico con el material, normalmente, cuando estreno chaleco, lo primero que hago es ajustarlo a la mayor comodidad, y le doy un par de puntadas a las correas para que ya no se muevan. El chaleco lo llevo muy alto, necesito la cintura libre para los movimientos en las maniobras y espacio para que el cabo de remolque que llevo en su bolsa a la cintura no tropiece con el chaleco y moleste. Pues bien, entrando ya en materia, lo ms simple para disponer de un enganche para la patilla del walkie es usar una hebilla sencilla de la medida adecuada. Puede ser metlica o de plstico. Hay diferentes formas de sujetar la hebilla a la hombrera, para mi la mas limpia es utilizar una cinta cosida a la hebilla, que fijamos por detrs de la hombrera hacindola pasar por el mismo canal de las cintas del propio chaleco. La cinta negra de la hebilla la cosemos por detrs, a la propia cinta de la hombrera. Podemos ajustar la longitud a nuestro gusto. Todo queda recogido, sin posibilidad de enganchones. En nuestra hombrera izquierda ya tenemos una pieza plstica en donde entra la patilla del walkie, y queda a la altura que mas nos conviene. An nos queda una ltima cosa. Para asegurar que el aparato no se mueve de su sitio, aunque estemos dando volteretas bajo una ola orillera con mala leche, lo mejor es disponer un poco ms abajo de la hebilla de un anillo de cabo elstico. Para mi el dimetro ideal es 4 mm, la longitud ser la que de un buen ajuste al cuerpo del walkie, una vez en tensin. Para evitar nudos, lo mejor es coser el cabo elstico, cubriendo el empalme con un trozo de funda termorretractil, que nos asegura una buena terminacin. De todas maneras el empalme no se ver pues queda detrs de la cinta. Si somos muy mijitas, un par de puntadas aqu tambin lo dejan en el sitio para siempre. Se puede ver el resultado, sin walkie, que estticamente no es malo. El anillo de cabo elstico queda recogido cuando no est en uso por debajo de la hebilla grande de la cinta. Con el walkie sujeto, la situacin es muy accesible y no molesta en ninguna maniobra. Moidarts Loch Shiel is a wild place with steep slopes falling to the straight to the water - a typical glacial form. Native deciduous woods of Oak, Rowan, Birch, Alder, Aspen and Holly clothe the lower slopes on the western shore. The eastern shore has dense conifer forests in the upper part of the loch and mixed woodland farther down. We kept to the western side and enjoyed warm sunshine and rich autumnal colours as we made our way down the loch. Passing Glenaladale, the view extended through very clear air to the hills at the head of the glen. It was near here that Douglas, Mike and I had camped on our late winter trip in 2014. That had been a particularly cold evening and we all added camp chairs to our kit afterward - theres a lot to be said for getting ones beam end off the ground when winter camping We were passed by the Glenaladale estate launch near the mouth of the river as it set out to cross the loch carrying the estate stalkers. October is the end of the Stag stalking season and a time for estates to realise much of their annual income from guided stalking. Looking up, we caught sight of the distinctive shape of a Golden Eagle circling in a thermal above a patch of sunlit hillside. Douglas caught a nice image of the bird as we watched it rise effortlessly, circling coil over coil until it crossed the summit of the hill. We could clearly see the up-tilt of the wings and the tail feeling the air as the eagle soared. For all the power and impressive size of a White Tailed Eagle, the grace and mastery of a Goldie in flight is a better spectacle, I think. In all likelihood it was searching for the gralloch - the intestines and stomach of the deer which had been shot. The carcasses are usually brought from the hill but the gralloch is left. All afternoon there had been an almost stroboscopic effect as bright sunshine alternated with fast moving clouds and one such cloud bank obscured the sun as we approached the tiny Eileanan Comhlach (possibly Islands of the Council or Meeting-place . small islands were often used as neutral meeting points in places where friction existed between neighbouring clans as any attempt at ambush was limited). The lighting we experienced in this spot on our winter trip had been quite different on that day the islands had appeared to float on the water in the exceptionally calm conditions. Today couldnt match those conditions. . but as we watched, a gap in the clouds allowed the sun to light up the island - it seemed to glow against the darker background. One possibility for our evening camp had been a bay on the western shore of Loch Shiel, but last time wed passed there had been cattle grazing there. We discussed the options and decided to head for a bay on the eastern shore. Although wed not previously been there we felt wed find some suitable spot to pitch our tents. Crossing the loch gave a long sight-line back up towards Glenfinnan from where wed set out some hours previously. The wind began to drop in the late afternoon and we slowed down to enjoy the colours of the trees, the sun warm on our backs. With the breeze now gone, the sounds of rutting Red Deer stags became more noticeable an atmospheric and wonderful autumn sound. Despite the fact that evening was rapidly approaching we felt no need to rush and stopped frequently just to absorb the wonderful light and sound show all around - it was a great evening to be out on the water. We reached the bay wed seen on the map with an hour or so of daylight remaining. We found the only difficulty in finding a camping spot was choosing between a number of possible options Decision made, we pulled the boats a little way out of the water (no tide here, though the level of the loch can change a bit) and pitched our tents. One of the advantages of camping in October is that there are no midges - a still evening in July or August on this spot would be a much less comfortable experience Prior to dinner we spread out to collect firewood, which we added to some of the logs wed stowed in our boats. to make a small but hot fire, around which we gathered to cook our dinner. As we intended to be out on this trip for just two nights there was space in our boats for plenty of food options. Dinner on this evening consisted of an aperitif (a beer or glass of wine according to preference), a main course of home-made venison casserole, then potatoes baked in the embers of the fire and served with butter and salt, followed a little later by a dessert of pears, poached in brandy and served with clotted cream. Sat around our fire, we listened to the stags roaring from the hillsides above us and from across the loch - a roaring fire in one sense. We enjoyed the warmth of the fire long into the evening before retiring to our tents as the temperature dropped. I slept deeply, waking just once when a stag bellowed from the opposite shore. An Oregon Coast Blog and Kayaking Journal Somewhere in the Arizona desert, I pull the white whale to a crunching stop on a patch of roadside dirt, on the crest of a small hill, north of Paulden Arizona. What are we doing out here Is something wrong Hey Whats going on Stars, I say. We have stopped to see the stars. The MyCanoe is a foldable, origami-style plastic canoe designed for easy storage and transport. This 148242 68243 canoe folds up in a similar style to the more familiar Oru Kayak, and it packs down into two cases. The first case, created in part by parts of the canoe, measures approximately 37 inches wide by 25 inches high and 8 inches deep. The second case is soft sided. It measures about half the height of the other case. Both cases easily fit inside the trunk of a compact car such as a Toyota Corolla. The entire package weighs about 52 pounds and has a claimed capacity of 400 pounds. I had a chance to perform a first look review of the MyCanoe last fall. The MyCanoe is constructed of a double-layer marine-grade polypropylene. To picture what it looks like, think plastic corrugated cardboard. Because the hull needs to fold to fit into the case, about every few feet there8217s a crease in the plastic. While some of the creases were easy to fold others tended to require a bit of force. After I left it set up into the winter months, the creases were hard to bend back into the folded position. In the fall when the temps were normal it seemed to bend back into place just fine. The lesson is don8217t leave it set up for a long period into the winter. To make the canoe, you unclip two plastic side release buckles and then pull the canoe8217s ends out from the folds. It8217s hard to describe how this exactly works, because the engineering needed to get everything to fit is amazing. It becomes the shape of a hull in the minute it takes you to pull it apart. Just check out the picture to see it unfolded. To help form the shape, you pull several cam buckle straps until the hull firms up. After the rough shape of the hull takes shape, the sides of the carrying case becomes the canoe8217s floor. Then you put in four metal ribs. We used the included rubber mallet to help hammer the ribs into place. A deck folds into place at each end and a stiffener is slotted on the deck. Next, you need to assemble the gunwales. The gunwales are a thicker plastic connected together with a metal wire. You assemble them like you8217d assemble tent poles. The gunwales snap into place of the edge of the hull and are held in place with velcro straps. As you work down the hull, you continue to assemble the gunwales. We tore a velcro strap off when assembling our demo unit by pulling on it to make the hull conform into shape. We later learned an easier method of assembly (watch the video first) and we learned that the velcro isn8217t there to pull on. The final step is creating the seats and clipping them into the ribs. The setup process was straightforward, especially after watching the video. It took us about 45 minutes the first time. The next time was about 30 minutes. They claim 10 minute setup time and I could see achieving those numbers with practice. I took the canoe apart and packed it up without help and found that it was harder than setting up the canoe. Due to a crazy busy travel schedule last fall, I wasn8217t able to get the canoe on the water before the lakes froze up. I hope to get another demo unit in the spring to test out. The hull shape looks fine, but until I paddle it I won8217t know. As far as a first look, I liked the canoe. Thought it was an interesting concept and look forward to being able to paddle it. The biggest thought I kept having while assembling and disassembling the canoe was when are they going to launch a Yost-designed solo canoe Right now, MyCanoe is in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign. After a few days, it8217s close to fully funded. There are great prices available in the rewards, so if you think you might want to buy one make sure you consider the campaign. Disclosure of Material Connection: MyCanoe sent me a demo canoe for this review. They are also an advertiser on this website. A snowy day in NY Harbor, heading back to Coney Island after visiting the seals at Swinburne Island. Visibility was limited, but we knew where the channel was, we made a securite call before crossing, and we werent about to play chicken with the big guys cause we know they cant stop. Everything went fine and it ended up being an amazing paddle. With both commercial and recreational boating traffic growing across the countrys waterways, though, interactions dont always go this smoothly. The National Transportation Safety Board has recently come out with some recommendations, and I thought I would take a break from the pretty pictures that Ive mostly been posting of late and share a link to the NTSBs press release. which includes a link to the full report (80 pages but much of that is appendices). Interesting read - one thing that I did notice about the full report is that lack of training actually wasnt a factor in the ferry-kayak incident thats mentioned at the beginning of the report, but it did draw attention to the general issues caused by increasing numbers of boaters in the harbor, which have been the subject of many a lively debate among New York harbor users for pretty much the entire time I have counted myself among that group. Thank you to both Nancy Brouse at the New York City and Hudson River Watertrail Associations, and Carolina Salguero at PortSide NewYork for sharing the information - I think I saw the information from both of them within about ten minutes of each other Added note later - excellent suggestion from an engineer friend for low-vis situations like the one we were in in the photo above, received after I shared this on Facebook: Some advice, there are a couple of vessel tracking apps the can be run on smart phone. All though larger vessels choose to avoid low visibility conditions, they are often caught by closing weather while underway. These apps will show you who your sharing the channel with. You also have a bette chance of radio contact since you can now call the vessel by name. I use vesselfinder . I did know you can look at ship locations online but not having a smart phone myself, I never wouldve thought of using an app as an on-board tool when out in murky conditions. Good stuff, thanks Tim About this site This site collects news from the planet of paddling. If you want your blog added to the paddling planet, write to Ren Seindal with a link toyour blog. The only requirement is that a substantial part of the blog is about sea kayaking and that the blog has an RSS or Atom feed. 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Moto Europa quot O highway I travel, do you say to me Do not leave me Do you say Venture not mdash if you leave me you are lost Do you say I am already prepared, I am well-beaten and undenied, adhere to me O public road, I say back I am not afraid to leave you, yet I love you You express me better than I can express myself. quot mdash Walt Whitman, Song of the Open Road Many countries require of you, the foreign driver, no license apart from your domestic driver39s license. However, certain countries require of certain non-resident driver39s an international driver39s license (IDL), otherwise known as an international driving permit (IDP), in addition. You should contact the relevant tourist office, consulate or embassy to determine whether a country requires you to carry an IDL while driving. A good secondary indicator in this respect is the IDL webpage posted by the UKs Automobile Association. Basically an IDL is a means by which police in a foreign country can know mdash in terms of translations in nearly a dozen different languages mdash that your domestic drivers license is indeed recognized as being valid by the proper authorities in your country. (See the excellent article at Drivers .) The local office of your auto club (AAA, CAA, etc.) sells IDLs for about US3620. If you need an IDL, take your license, two passport-sized photos and the requisite cash to the club office. (Though for about US366 the club may snap Polaroid photos for you.) Ten minutes later youll be able to legally drive on any European road mdash assuming youre at least 18 years of age. If you plan to operate a motorcycle in Europe, be sure to have the auto club certify your qualification to do so. The USAs AAA now has a Webpage whereby drivers licensed in the USA can obtain an IDL: AAAs application for IDL. Web searches will bring up a host of websites selling documents that conform to the model delineated in annex 10 of the United Nations Convention on Road Traffic (1949) but according to Article 24 of that convention, a truly valid IDL is one which is issued. by the competent authority of another Contracting State or subdivision thereof, or by an association duly empowered by such authority. The US State Department says it has empowered only the American Automobile Association (AAA) and the American Automobile Touring Alliance (AATA) to issue IDLs. (The AATA offers IDLs through the National Automobile Club .) The right to drive in European Union (EU) countries is based largely on the possession of a driver39s license issued to a person living permanently in a country that has ratified the Geneva or Vienna convention agreements on road traffic. Australia, Brazil, Canada, Israel, New Zealand, South Africa, the USA, and many other countries mdash including Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan (Republic of China, ROC), Singapore and South Korea mdash have ratified one or both of the aforementioned traffic agreements. Most European countries mdash notable exceptions being Austria, Italy and Spain mdash do not also require an international driver39s license (IDL, IDP) of persons who hold a driver39s license from such ratifying countries. However, if there is no English in such license, a notarized translation or else an IDL is typically required. Vehicle rental companies, in relation to the motoring insurance they offer, may and often do impose driver39s license requirements that are different than those imposed by the relevant government. For instance, such company might not require an IDL in a country that does require an IDL or they might require an IDL in a country that does not require an IDL. China (People39s Republic of China, PRC) has ratified neither of the aforementioned convention agreements on road traffic. Therefore a proper IDL cannot be obtained in relation to a China (PRC) driver39s license. Morever, in Finland and Sweden a China (PRC) driver39s license cannot be used as a basis for driving legally. In Norway and most if not all of the rest of Europe, on the other hand, a China (PRC) driver39s license is sufficient if the license includes English translation or is accompanied by a notarized translation of the license into English. A holder of a China (PRC) license should contact the relevant consulates to determine whether the nation in which she plans to drive accepts their license as a legal basis for driving. The following countries in Europe require that vehicles using certain of the nation39s roads bear a special one-off road tax sticker or vignette . Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Switzerland. Switzerland requires such vignette on its expressways. You can buy the Swiss vignette for 40 SwF at Swiss National Tourist offices, Swiss Customs posts (the border), Swiss post offices, or Swiss garages. (However, check whether your rental vehicle already has a valid vignette on it from a previous renter, in which case you don39t need another vignette.) At the border you can pay in SwF, EUR 163s and USD. You can also pay inside the Customs office onsite by credit card. The vignette is valid until the end of the January of the year after you buy it, is non transferable, and should be thoroughly affixed to the windshield. If you buy it from the person stationed for this purpose outside the office (who accepts only cash), they will insist on affixing the sticker. If you buy inside the office you can affix the sticker yourself. You must obtain a separate vignette for a trailer or caravan. If your vehicle doesnt bear a properly affixed vignette and the Swiss police catch you driving on an expressway , youll be subject to a 100 SwF fine mdash on top of the vignettes cost. Expressways offer the only hope for speedy and level motor travel through mountainous Switzerland. Still, its not absolutely necessary to use the expressways there I abstained on one trip. You have to ask yourself this: Why do I want to travel quickly and horizontally through Switzerland Carefully study your map to determine if you want a vignette. See Wikipedias Vignette page for more about such vignettes and road taxes. Never leave the ownership papers (called a quotGrey Cardquot) or the insurance papers alone in the vehicle. In fact, you should make photocopies of these papers and of your domestic drivers license and IDP and then stash them in the same safe place (a neck pouch or money belt, for example) you keep the copies of your passport and birth certificate. If youre missing one of these documents when police pull you over, youll be fined on the spot. If youll be driving someone elses vehicle, you should get written permission from the owner. In Portugal, however, you must obtain an Autorizacao certificate also to get one, contact your local motoring club or a Portuguese tourist office or embassy, or stop in a European vehicle-registration office. Again, make and stash photocopies of these documents. Health and Security Buying travel insurance is the closest thing to buying a guarantee for a hassle-free trip. Such coverage can include personal liability, personal accident, hospital benefit, medical expenses, evacuation, money loss, baggage loss or damage, travel delay or interruption, cancellation, legal expenses, and loss of passport expenses. A friend of mine took ill on her trip and spent ten days in a British hospital besides the fact that her regular health insurance covered the bills, she got about US36150 a day from her travel insurance. Of course you must determine for yourself if the risks justify the costs. Beware of package travel insurance plans that span health, baggage, autos and the like: they usually duplicate insurance that you already have and contain too many exclusions. Check if your current health care covers you abroad, and bring along any medical insurance claim forms you may need. Also check how your credit cards may cover you. Baggage insurance benefits for lost or stolen articles tend to be lousy mdash covering up to, say, US361000 only and excluding items like cameras, jewelry and currency. Airlines may automatically cover each passengers luggage to a similar degree. Motor vehicle rental and leasing companies also offer baggage insurance. As such, develop a list of the areas in which you are now not adequately covered. Next, call the travel insurance companies I list below. Determine if these companies can offer a piecemeal, customized package. I recommend that you consider purchasing the insurance from a company thats underwritten by an insurance company in your home country: this will ease the settling of any claims when you return home and, sorry to add, will cover the costs of transporting your body home if you meet your end abroad. Regardless, determine (1) if youre covered for personal effects left unattended in a locked motor vehicle (specify if youll be traveling in a camper van), (2) the maximum coverage of any single article, and (3) if sports activities such as skiing or hang-gliding are covered. The International Travelers Hotline of the United States Centers for Disease Control will tell you what inoculations you may need for a particular destination. Consider bringing a record of all your inoculations in case you decide to continue on to less developed areas of the world. Bring your eyeglasses prescription its possible youll lose your glasses. Hostellers andor Students To stay in hostels that are affiliated with the Hostelling International (HI) organization, you should have an HI membership card. The International Student Identification Card (ISIC) entitles students under 26 years of age to big discounts on everything from museum entry to ferry passage it may also provide limited travel insurance. Be sure to get this card if you qualify. Miscellaneous Campers should consider getting a Camping Card Internationale (CCI)sponsored by the FIA, the AIT and the International Federation of Camping and Caravaning (FICC) and commonly called a quotCamping Carnetquot. Some campgrounds require that one CCI per campsite be deposited with the office. Some demand either a CCI or a passport. (Though you should carry your passport with you at all times.) For campground managers, the CCI amounts to a guarantee of payment: if you damage anything andor leave without paying, the campground will turn in your card and eventually receive compensation. For you, the Carnet provides several million SwF worth of insurance against any damages you might accidentally cause to the campground and in some cases it entitles you to discounts. If youll be hostelling, camping, or staying with families or friends, consider bringing some of your favorite recipes, or researching recipes that are representative of the areas youll be traveling to. If bicycling, write down the make, model, and serial number of the bicycle. Driving Across Borders In Europe Until recently vehicles attempting to drive across a European national border were required to bear near the rear license plate a regulation nationality sticker designating the country in which the vehicle was registered. This is no longer a requirement. As I described in the Why Drive chapter, in most cases border-crossing is a quick and hassle-free process. Although potentially youre subject to passport checks and searches of your person and vehicle upon crossing a border, often you can zip across the borders of Northern European countries without even slowing down. Most countries in western Europe have signed the so called Schengen treaty, leading to open borders. Crossing a border from one Schengen country to another Schengen country is usually like crossing from one U. S. state to another. For instance, when driving from Germany to the Netherlands the border is signified only with a blue square sign bearing the European Union circle of yellow stars around Nederland in white characters. No border check point. Even Switzerland, which is not a member of the European Union has signed the Schengen treaty and has open borders. In other cases where border check points are still in place, youll likely be required to slow down and stop before the guards simply wave you through. A circular sign reading quotDouane Zollquot is a signal that you must stop. If you do encounter a border check point, most likely youll just queue-up in your vehicle, wait a minute or two, hand each passengers passport to the guard when you reach the station, flash a smile, wait a moment until the guard returns the passports, and proceed forward a couple hundred meters to the border check point of the next country (where youll repeat the process). Sometimes the guards will want to see your vehicles registration and proof of insurance. Sometimes, even, your vehicle will be searched. If youre chosen for a search, follow the Customs officers directions and chalk it all up to experience its not too time consuming or nerve-wracking mdash unless, of course, youve got illegal substances or items with you. It goes without saying that you should never bring illicit drugs or weapons across borders. If youre transporting hitchhikers or others who havent had the opportunity to gain your trust, politely and up front make it known to them that they must get out at the border and lug their things across on foot. If your vehicle has significant cosmetic damage to it, point it out to the Customs officials and have them note it on your passport otherwise upon exiting the country you might be suspected of having been in an accident in that country and fleeing your associated responsibilities. If a country requires you to declare your vehicle with Customs, youll probably be obliged to pay customs duty and tax if you leave the country without the vehicle. Heres a trick to be aware of. If several fuel stations are clustered on your side of a border, fuel is probably more expensive in the next country fill up before crossing. The auto clubs of many countries maintain offices at the borders. These offices may sell everything from auto insurance to maps to guidebooks. Finally, note that many border crossings close overnight, from, say, 8:00 or 9:00 p. m. to 7:00 or 8:00 a. m. but most stay open until 10:00, 11:00, or 12:00 p. m. in the summer. Fuel In Europe In many countries the price of diesel is about 20 percent less than that of gasoline. However in some countries this difference is much smaller, and in a few countries mdash namely Latvia, Slovakia, Switzerland and the UK mdash diesel tends to be slightly more expensive than gasoline. Nevertheless, diesel engines are about 25 percent more efficient than gasoline engines. Therefore in most countries you end up saving some 3015040 percent on your fuel costs if you drive a diesel rather than a gasoline-powered vehicle. Diesels run smoother once they are up to speed, and they perform better in the mountains. Though not naturally as powerful (i. e. capable of accelerating) as gasoline engines, many diesels are boosted by turbo chargers to make up much of this difference. Environmentally, diesel engines are superior in some important respects, inferior in others. All told, diesel engines are now just slightly less harmful to the environment than are gasoline-powered engines. Sure diesel smells but gasoline smells, too Over half the new cars sold in Europe are now diesel and high-quality diesel fuel is of course available wherever gasoline is sold, the pumps being on the same service islands as the gasoline pumps. Some stations even provide disposable gloves which customers may don to pump fuel. Make sure you do not mistakenly pull up to a truck diesel pump. The size of the nozzles for the truck pumps versus the car pumps is different. A truck fuel nozzle is too big to fit into a cars diesel fuel pipe, and the flow rate is much greater. LPG (i. e. propane) pumps always occupy their own island. A diesel nozzle is considerably wider than either a leaded gasoline nozzle or the even smaller unleaded gasoline nozzle and indeed will not fit into either such tank. Consequently a gasoline nozzle will fit into a diesel tank. Therefore, be careful not to put gasoline into a diesel tank. Even a liter of gasoline added to the tank of a modern diesel car can cause irreversible damage to the injection pump and other components due to its relatively low lubricity. In some cases, the diesel car so abused has to be scrapped because the cost of repairs exceeds its value. (Diesel in a gasoline engine mdash while creating large amounts of smoke mdash does not normally cause permanent damage if it is drained once the mistake is realized. Similarly, older diesels using completely mechanical injection can tolerate some gasoline, which has historically been used to thin diesel fuel in winter.) A green pump holds unleaded gasoline or else diesel, a blue leaded gasoline. Diesel pumps are sometimes colored black, sometimes green. Diesel pumps are chiefly signified linguistically, either with the very word diesel or with one of the equivalents: gas-oil, gaz-oil, gasolio, gasoacuteleo, dieselolie, mazot, motorina, or nafta. Visit the Irelands Automobile Association (AA) website for an up-to-date listing of fuel prices. (Remember, 1 US Gallon 3.79 Liters.) Note how cheap fuel typically is in Andorra and Luxembourg relative to surrounding countries how its much cheaper in Spain than in France how its more expensive in Switzerland how its much cheaper in Ireland than in the UK and how it gets progressively more expensive from Germany to Denmark to Sweden to Norway. Fuel in Andorra is typically much cheaper than fuel in either Spain or France. Fuel is much more expensive at stations along the expressways. Supermarkets along main roads at the edges of towns sell the cheapest fuel in France, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. In France the main supermarket chains are Mammoth and Intermarche in Germany the main chain is Spar in the Netherlands its Mamoet. The governments of Italy and Spain and Eastern Europe regulate fuel prices all stations have the same price, so dont waste your time shopping for fuel in these countries. Pump your own fuel or habitually check that the attendant doesnt cheat you. (Make sure he zeroes the pump before he pumps your fuel.) If you pay with a credit card, make sure the receipt is accurate. Some stations require that you pay not inside at a counter but outside at a booth upon driving out of the station area. (Although increasingly you can pay by inserting a credit card in a machine near the pumps.) If this is the case and a line of vehicles forms at the pay booth, you may have to wait to pump your fuel until the person who preceded you at the pump pays for theirs. Especially when dealing with such setups, note the total fuel charge on the pump so the attendant at the booth cant overcharge you sometimes the attendants depend on your honesty and let you quote the total to them at the booth. In hot weather, fill up early in the morning or late in the evening when the air is cooler: the fuel will be more dense then, and thus youll get more fuel for your Euro (or whatever). You might make it a practice to fill up when the fuel level dips to a quarter of a tank, but fuel stations are so plentiful that the chances of unexpectedly finding yourself low on fuel and far from a station are very low. If, however, youre careless enough to come close to running out of fuel, try the following technique: accelerate very slowly to 33 kph turn off the ignition and move the gear to neutral let the vehicle slow to 8 kph start the engine and repeat. This trick can double or even triple fuel efficiency but its a trick that wont work if your steering wheel locks when the ignition is off, and it can be dangerous and illegal. European Roadsigns And Signals The STOP sign ever so familiar to North Americans is used throughout continental Europe and the world mdash and it even reads quotSTOPquot in English. (In the UK, however, the ubiquitous roundabout obviates the need for widespread use of the STOP sign.) The world also uses the same Yield sign as North America. The Red light stop, green light go convention is used everywhere as well. A solid or flashing amber light precedes the red light and green light in most areas. This light signals that a red or green light is imminent. If you have the option to eventually turn right (or left in Britain or Ireland) at a stop, a green arrow that points right may light simultaneously with the main red light thats stopping traffic from moving straight ahead. This green arrow means you can make a yielding right turn. Turning right when both these lights show red is against the law. In other words, no right turn on red. A protected left turn is indicated only when on the left side of the intersection a green signal arrow points left a green arrow pointing left on the right side of the intersection signals a yielding left turn is permitted. In many areas traffic signals are turned off or flash yellow at night. Usually in such cases signs are in place next to the signals and these then control the situation. While fully operating, however, traffic signals override signs. The same set of standardized road signs are used all over Europe. These signs are essentially graphic rather than linguistic in nature. As such, their meaning tends to be easy to understand. Of course the meaning of some signs is less obvious than the meaning of others. On the International Roadsigns subpage Ive placed images of the more important and confusing signs. (I do this separately so you dont have to sit through their download every time you access this chapter.) Diamond signs indicate priority. Red triangles are warnings. Red circles are restrictions. Blue circles are requirements. Squares and rectangles give guidance. Note the signs which show two arrows pointing in opposite directions. If one of these arrows is red, it means the traffic traveling in that direction must yield to traffic traveling in the other direction. The color red on a European road sign signals negative information such as a warning or prohibition. For another instance check out the sign that means No bicycles. You may encounter a similar circular sign showing a bicycle on a blue background. This sign designates a bicycle path. As used on the road signs the color blue is positive in that it signals an obligatory action or some feature mdash such as a bicycle lane, a rest stop or a parking garage mdash that you can take advantage of simply put it says do rather than dont. A level train crossing without barriers is indicated by the three subseqeunt triangle signs atop a diagonally hashed post. The first sign in the sequence bears three red diagonal hashes representing the three multiples of 80 meters (240 meters) remaining until the crossing. The other two are set at 80 meter intervals approaching the crossing and as such bear two hashes and one hash, respectively. A flashing red beacon andor continuous bell warns of an approaching train. When the way is clear, the beacon changes to white or amber, andor the bell ceases. You must turn off your vehicles headlights when waiting at a crossing. As in North America, dashed center lines mark passing zones while solid center lines denote no-passing zones. But while in North America yellow markings separate opposing traffic flows and white lines separate traffic moving in the same direction, in Europe white lines are used in both cases. Sometimes painted in regular succession amidst the dashed lines are fat arrows which curve slightly and point toward one lane while otherwise pointing almost straight ahead in the direction of that same lane. These arrows tell vehicles traveling in that lane that their passing zone will soon come to an end. A thick white orthogonal line at an intersection indicates where you must stop when you are in fact required to stop a thinner dashed version indicates where you must yield when in fact you must yield. Diagonal white lines filling a space outlined in white indicate a portion of the street where vehicles are prohibited. In road construction areas on most highways and superhighways the left lane is usually limited to a vehicle width of 2 meters or less (indicated by signs). If a driver (of a motorhome, say) ignores that limitation and uses said lane, heshe may be liable for any consequent damages. Usually such damages to the vehicle itself would not be covered by the collision damage insurance attaching to the vehicle whereas the damages to third-party property (at least outside the vehicle) would be covered by the third party liability insurance attaching to the vehicle. Similarly, some road toll plazas (in Italy and France especially) have certain lanes for passenger cars only there are signs indicating the maximum width if a driver ignore those signs, the driver is liable for consequent damages. Cities usually post street signs not on poles at the corners but on placards attached one story up on buildings. Note that street names in some areas are apt to change frequently along an otherwise continuous avenue of concrete, and main routes may go unsigned while the intersecting and relatively minor cross streets are fastidiously labeled. Driving In Europe You should familiarize yourself with and try to adhere to the rules of the road of each country, but dont sacrifice the proper state of mind in the process. Ironically, I think the best way to nurture the right attitude is to tone down your dependence on memory, to let the environmental stimuli flow into you unimpeded by too many worries, to react naturally and to trust your reactions, to make mistakes and to not dwell on them, to throw off the great weight of fastidiousness, to exercise the old adage: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. In other words, go with the flow be cool blend in with traffic and revel in the fact that youre truly participating in a different culture, that youve effectively become, for a short time at least, a citizen of Europe. When in Paris do as the Parisians and park on the sidewalk. When in Scandinavia, if you notice everybody else driving with their lights on mdash even in bright sun mdash youd better too. Its easy. OK, but now youre on the road in, say, France, and you think you may be on the wrong road. Youre getting nervous because you want to stay off the toll roads. Blue signs marked with the letter quotAquot indicate Autoroute p233age (toll) roads while green signs with the letter quotNquot indicate non-toll Route National highways. No problem: just follow the signs in green, the signs that indicate the non-toll highways. At times, youll note, the signals seem ambiguous because one sign bears both blue and green sections listing A and N roads respectively. quotHow can I be on both an A and an N road at the same timequot youll ask yourself. Such signage means only that youre on your way to both types of road, that the road youre on is not a toll road eventually youll have the option to enter either the toll road or a non-toll road. Sometimes after following a green-only or a bluegreen sign, a blue-only sign will appear unaccompanied by possible turnoffs. Dont worry: eventually another green sign will direct you to a non-toll road before you have to pay. This all sounds simple, and it is. Just keep following the last sign you saw. Keep following the last sign you saw. Keep following the last sign you saw. Sorry, but I feel the redundancy is justified. Its easy to get flustered and worry that you missed an important turn. But the keen state of mind that youll be in, coupled with the excellent nature of the roads and signage, will render quite small the chances of actually missing such a turnoff. Be astute, but trust yourself and the road design and signage. In a word, relax usually it all comes together in the end. The wisdom of this simple approach has been apparent to me time after time throughout my travels. Ive slowly learned not to get flustered when there isnt a meaningful sign placed every one kilometer. This is more than a prudent approach to driving its an attitude, an attitude that will greatly increase the pleasure you draw from your trip. You are, after all, on the road you should be singing songs and talking like Kerouac. And, as I first described in the Why Drive chapter, history has assured that navigating to the cities and towns and sights is much more of a song than you might expect. First, most of the European languages youll encounter are cognate with English so it tends to be quite easy to read signs which give directions. Whats more, each city and town grew from an old town center. In this center, of course, lie most of a towns attractive sites and accommodations. Everything falls into place if you follow the ubiquitous signs to the town center or simply head toward the tallest church spire. Most of the signs denoting town centers bear variations of the word center, such as quotCentro, quot quotCentrum, quot quotCentre Ville, quot quotCentro Citt224,quot or quotZentrumquot in many parts of Germany the word is quotStadtmitte. quot Furthermore, on the way to the center of town youll see tourist information boards or signs indicating the direction to the tourist office. Most such signs read quotiquot for information in France, however, they read quotOffice du Tourismequot or quotSyndicat dInitiativequot in the Netherlands they read quotVVVquot sometimes they bear a lone quot. quot Another way to get your bearings when entering a town is to follow the signs that point to the train station. Both the signs and the stations they point to are ubiquitous in Europe. Look for signs reading quotGare, quot quotEstacion, quot or some variation of the word station. Many guidebooks use the train station as the origin for their directions to sights and accommodations. Furthermore, the famous and (here we go again) ubiquitous Hostelling International sign (see it above) tends to be nearby, pointing the way to the nearest hostel. In most cases hostel proprietors have placed these signs in a series and with a frequency designed to lead all but the most clueless along the best route to the hostel door. Often, a tourist office operates out of the local train station. At the very least youll find city maps dispensed inside or a single city map displayed on a large public board just outside. Perhaps whats more important, many of your fellow travelers at the station will be more than happy to give you the scoop on the best places to stay, the best sights, and the best places to hang out. Moreover, the parking lot will be at your disposal mdash often free of charge: you can just leave your vehicle in the lot and continue on foot or by metro, bus, or taxi. Since governments tend to build train stations near places of interest and since business people who cater to travelers tend to locate their establishments around either train stations or places of interest, you probably wont feel compelled to stray too far from the station. To leave a city either follow the signs that indicate the road or the city you want to travel on or to or follow the signs that bear words meaning quotall directionsquot or quotother directionsquot. Youll note when checking the expressways on your map that they often have two different numbers designating them. One is the national designation and the other mdash with the quotEquot prefix mdash is the Europe-wide designation, which simply provides for continuous numbering between countries. European police dont seem to enforce speed limits with the same gusto as do North American police. The fast lane is usually just that mdash fast. The countries hungriest for speed are Germany and Great Britain, where fast-lane speeds of 120 mph (200 kmh) and 85 mph (142 kmh), respectively, are common. As Im sure youve heard, no speed limit exists on many sections of the famous German Autobahnen. In contrast to Germany and Britain, traffic in Norway seems to crawl along. Generally, traffic flows about 10 mph (17 kmh) faster than traffic in North America. The roads are good enough to handle the high speeds, but if you dont fancy yourself a Euro Speed Racer or if your vehicle simply cant keep up, you wont be alone: plenty of Europeans drive 55 mph in the slow lanes or amicably signal or pull onto the shoulder so speedier drivers can pass. Many countries define speed limits in terms of quotbuilt-upquot areas. A built-up area is indicated by a sign, placed along the road at the community boundary, that bears the name of the community. The end of a built-up area is indicated by a black slash across a twin of this sign. If when outside a built-up area the police nail you for speeding, they wont pull you over immediately instead, theyll radio one of their colleagues wholl pull you over at a convenient spot down the road. You need to familiarize yourself with the ways drivers may signal to you. If someone driving in the opposite direction blinks their vehicles headlights, it means that police are lying in wait ahead. On the open roads someone who wants to pass may come up behind you with their vehicles left blinker (right blinker where driving driving is on the left) andor headlights flashing (if on the continent) if youre on a single-lane highway, signal with your vehicles right directional (left directional where driving is on the left) when you think its safe for them to pass. European truckers use the same blinker signal to let you know its safe to pass them. If the truck driver sees danger ahead hell engage his trucks left blinker (right blinker where driving is on the left). Two quick beeps on the horn means quotThank you. quot Although I cannot recommend you interpret such signals as I describe above, you may soon come to trust them. In any case, if you act on these signals and my description of them, you do so at your own risk. Indeed, in Germany the flashing of headlights to indicate a desire or determination to pass is forbidden and may even lead to prosecution. Similarly in the British Isles it a good idea to flash your headlights to indicate you want to pass, as this is likely to offend the driver ahead of you better just express a sense of urgency by using your indicator and hovering significantly near behind the vehicle and somewhat toward the center of the road mdash but without tailgaiting. Throughout Europe youre expected to sound your horn before taking a blind curve on a narrow rural or mountain road. Otherwise, use the horn as a last resort. Motorcyclists often signal their Hellos to other bikers and Thank yous to other motorists (earned for instance by a car that moves over to give more room for the cycle to pass) by slowly pressing out their right leg. Youll encounter tunnels in mountainous areas. Be sure to turn on your vehicles headlights before entering a tunnel police tend to lie in wait on the other end, nailing drivers who havent lit up. Norways tunnels are so long theyre unnerving youll feel like Starbuck being shot out of the Battlestar Galactica, and youll think to yourself, quotGee, even Superman woulda had a hard time digging these tunnels. quot By the way, driving with headlights on decreases by 30 percent your chances of being in a collision with another vehicle mdash thats why its required at all times in Scandinavia. And police are bound to go easier on drivers thoughtful enough to light up. Tolls are typically charged for using the larger tunnels in Europe. Moreover, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain have extensive toll road systems on their expressways Belgium, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands, on the other hand, do not. For details on all the various road toll systems and instances in Europe, please see theaaallaboutcarsoverseaseuropeantollsselect. jsp . To use toll roads, you must, upon entering the system, pay at a booth or else get a ticket by pushing a red button on a drivers-side ticketing machine. Sometimes the ticketing machine controls a barrier other times theres no barrier. If you go through an unbarred control point without getting a ticket, youll be charged the maximum toll at the next exit. So they can further prosecute violators, many toll stations use automatic cameras to photograph any vehicle that passes through a pay booth without paying. If you travel through mountain tunnels or over passes which charge a toll, note that many offer discounted return fares for travelers wholl return within a certain period, usually 72 hours. Where two roads of equal priority intersect, you must give way to traffic coming from your right. In France this rule once applied to all roads, thus supplanting any notion of a priority road fortunately this is no longer the case. These days long stretches of European roadway are clearly marked as priority roads, andor the approaches to and intersections with priority roads are clearly marked with warning signs and with Yield and STOP signs or signals. Since they dont really intersect with other roads, all expressways (variously called autoroutes, autobahns, motorways, etc.) have priority. In towns a priority road often branches and makes complicated turns. In such cases a sign often identifies the priority road with a fat line opposed to thin lines which indicate lesser roads. Only on occasion will two roads of equal (unmarked) priority intersect and oblige you to exercise your knowledge of what in France is called quotpriorit233 224 droitequot or quotpriority on the rightquot. Sometimes this runs rather counter to intuition. Take the case of an uncontrolled quotTquot intersection of two equal roads. You might think traffic on the through street of the quotTquot would have priority. But, no, traffic on the right must be yielded to. (Left-turning vehicles, however, should always yield in this situation.) quotHey, look kids. Theres Big Ben, and theres Parliament, quot exclaims driver Chevy Chase mdash starring as Clark Griswald, the well-meaning but bumbling patriarch of the pathetic Griswald clan mdash in a scene from the 1985 movie European Vacation. The scene unfolds early one day in the familys rented car as Clark attempts to navigate a London roundabout. quotKids. Big Ben, Parliament, (again),quot he repeats the second time around. quotKids. quot quotWe know, quot they retort in unison. Quot. Big Ben, Parliament. quot Dusk finds the Griswalds little car circling on the same roundabout, all passengers but Clark fast asleep. quotIts amazing, quot Clark says to himself in hysterical disbelief. quotI cannot get left. quot Roundabouts: those circular intersections where stop signs are nonexistent, and everyones at everyone elses mercy, and you have to join the flow if you want to go mdash and you could, in theory, go around forever. The word roundabout is actually of American origin. American Logan Pearsall Smith, one of the members in the 1920s of the BBC Advisory Committee on Spoken English originated it. Before he suggested the change, traffic circles in Britain were called gyratory circuses. (Smith also wanted to call traffic lights stop-and-goes.) To many of us North Americans, though, roundabouts epitomize European motoring. The popular American imagination elevates few elements of civil engineering to the level of enigma, but it has done so with roundabouts. In fact many non Europeans assume that if roundabouts are such a puzzle, so must be the rest of European motoring. You know by now that this assumption is unsound. But what is the deal with roundabouts anyway Although in most cases you dont need to stop when entering a roundabout, you must yield to traffic thats already on it. A sign bearing a circle of three counterclockwise arrows indicates such a roundabout. Though increasingly rare, some roundabouts arent graced by such a sign and thus make it incumbent for you to exercise the aforementioned priorit233 224 droite rule in other words, traffic on these roundabouts must yield to traffic entering. Regardless of signage, it should be immediately obvious if the traffic on or entering the roundabout is or is not waiting for you to enter. Once on the circle, you can go around indefinitely until you figure out which exit you want to take. Youll get the impression that youre skating around that old roller rink you used to go to as a kid. Indeed, youll become a bit giddy. Youll quickly come to like these little rinks: they allow you to make unhurried decisions as your vehicle is moving, and they reduce the number of stops you must make. If two lanes enter a roundabout, you should stay in the inside lane, engaging your vehicles inside blinker until you identify the exit you wish to take and until you pass the exit immediately before that one. Once you reach this point you should engage your vehicles outside blinker, move into the outside lane, and exit the roundabout. England and France employ the most roundabouts. Most countries empower their police to collect fines on the spot from violators. If the police require that you pay them, make sure you get a receipt and if possible, make sure the nature of the offense and the amount of the fine as described on the receipt match the actual offense and the amount you paid. Police in France, Germany and Italy use roadblocks to conduct random checks of vehicles and drivers. Blood alcohol limits in Europe are given in milligrams (mg), so thats how I list them for each country. Note that a blood alcohol limit of, say, 80 mg is equal to a limit of 0.08 percent or 0.8 grams per liter. Radar-triggered cameras are increasingly used to enforce speed limits by photographing the license plate of an offending vehicle. The ticket is posted within a few days to the name and address on the registration. If its a rental or tourist-lease, the company will get the ticket and charge you. If its a foreign-registered vehicle, well, just wait and see. The photo used to accompany, but in several cases love affairs were thus exposed so now youll have to visit the police station to garner the evidence. Whereas the key first threshold for police officers who might write a ticket on the spot is reported to be a speed 10 percent over the limit, its said that along highways the cameras are only triggered by vehicles going more than 20 kmh over. Furthermore, its rumored only half the photos are unambiguous enough to result in a ticket. If you trigger one of these cameras youll probably see the flash. Signs usually warn drivers if such an apparatus is permanently mounted along or above the road. But often theyre mounted in unmarked police cars parked on the roadside or median, and in such case of course no signs attend. On The Other Side The main trouble that most North Americans face when driving in the British Isles is that they must drive on the left side of the road. Not only is the traffic flip-flopped, but the steering wheel is on the other side of the vehicle mdash and the gear shift is at your left hand instead of your right. (Although the shifting pattern is the same and the accelerator is still at the right foot, with the brake pedal off to its left.) Its virtually impossible for a North American to practice driving this way before arriving in a country where left-side driving is the norm the best we North Americans can do is use mental imagery to shed the right-side-of-the-road mindset. Yet the adaptability of the human brain is remarkable. In a matter of days a North American or continental European driving in the British Isles (or, for that matter, a Brit or Aussie or Kiwi driving on the continent) can supplant the mindset he or she assumed over a whole lifetime. It reminds me of an experiment in which scientists asked a man to wear a contraption that inverted his vision. He agreed. At first, the upside down world confused the man so that he stumbled around and could hardly feed himself. Within a week, however, he was functioning normally. When the scientists finally took the contraption off the mans head, the rightsideup world seemed upside down to him. Again he stumbled around and could hardly feed himself. This went on for years mdash no, just kidding in a couple of days the man readjusted to the conventional world. If the human mind can adapt so quickly to the inversion of the whole world, surely youll adapt to sitting on the right side of a vehicle, shifting with your left hand, and driving on the left side of the road. Not only will you quickly adapt, but the benefits of driving will counteract the anxiety youll experience in the transition period. In the meantime, the right attitude can minimize both this anxiety and the real danger that fuels it. Be cool. Gunakan waktumu. Most Brits and Irish, experienced in motoring on the continent, empathize with and are thus tolerant of disoriented foreign drivers. When someone does honk at you, open your smile like a jackknife and wave at the irritated bloke like a bloody fool. Who cares Remember, all will be OK as long as you dont hit anything. Soon youll be zipping around like Jackie Stewart. The whole experience will make for good stories when you get home, and the youll feel a genuine and justified pride in your accomplishment. I must reiterate that it is legal to drive left-hand-drive vehicles (steering wheel on the left, gear shift on your right) in the British Isles and right-hand-drive vehicles on the continent, but it makes it virtually impossible to safely pass other vehicles unless you have an astute and trusted navigator in the passenger seat or unless the drivers seat is high enough to let you see over the majority of vehicles. The headlight beams should be adjusted before you make the switch. Naturally you can buy a headlight conversion kit in Europe. The kits contain specially shaped adhesive black plastic which sticks to the glass and alters the direction of the beam. As I enthusiastically related in the Why Drive chapter, you should be able to find free-of-charge parking all over Europe. Some neighborhoods, however, reserve free parking mdash or all parking mdash for residents. In such areas the residents vehicles bear an official sticker. Check the other vehicles around yours to see if they all bear the same sort of sticker in the same place on one of the windows. No parking zones along streets (for instance, near bus stops) are often indicated by a zig-zag white line painted on the street. Parking meters and quotpay-and-displayquot schemes are common. A pay-and-display scheme requires you to pay at a central machine (some machines ask you to punch in your vehicles license plate number too), press a button (usually the green one, the others are for local residents whose vehicles bear special permits), receive a ticket that lists a time-of-day limit commensurate with the amount you paid, and display the ticket in readily visible spot on the dashboard (on the side closest to the curb if on the street). Most of these machines account for periods of the day when parking is free, so you can pay at night for the first hour or two after 8:00 or 9:00 a. m. the next day. In event of a defective machine you should use the parking disc I desribe next. You may then park for the maximum duration normally permitted at that location. Figure Driving.1 A pay-and-display machine in Germany. Literal translation: Parkticketmachine: Here parkticket take. Figure Driving.2 A parking disc placed on a dashboard. Many cities in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland enforce Blue Zones or short-term parking areas which limit parking to an indicated duration, usually two hours. The marking of these zones varies from country to country. Before parking in a Blue Zone you must obtain special tickets or a disc from a tourist office, police station, or tobacconist. Sometimes you must buy the tickets or disc, but usually theyre given free of charge. In fact most rental companies include a disc or quotblue cardquot in their vehicles. When using a ticket, you write on it the date and time of your arrival (Europeans write the day number before the month number and use the military convention for noting times) and then display it on the side of your vehicles dashboard closest to the curb. Discs, on the other hand, either bear a clock face and a set of unmechanized clock hands which you can set to show the time of your arrival (Figure Driving.2 above) or they actually function mechanically as clocks (see dotoni. ch). You may round-up to the next half-hour. If, for example, you arrive at 9:40, you can indicate 10:00. In lieu of these items a simple note left on your dashboard may suffice. Its worth noting that during my first extended motor tour of Europe I was unaware of such zones I never bought tickets or obtained a disc, and I never suffered a penalty mdash and I parked in many cities and towns which supposedly enforce Blue Zones. Maybe I was lucky. If youre unsure about whether you should obtain a ticket or disc, check the dashboards of the other vehicles in the area to determine if other drivers feel its necessary. If you do get a parking ticket and you do feel compelled to pay it, most countries offer a rather ingenious way to do so. Take the ticket to a tobacconist, purchase a tax stamp (called a quottimbre fiscalquot in France) in the proper amount, affix the larger of the tax stamps two sections to the ticket, and, using a regular stamp, mail the tax-stamped ticket to the address indicated on the ticket. Note that wheel clamps are coming into wider use. Most parking garages and lots employ one rather clever pay-for-parking scheme. Upon entering, you receive a time-stamped ticket. Just before you leave, you take the ticket to a central processing machine and place it in a slot. The machine then prompts you to insert the appropriate amount of cash. (Many of these machines accept coins only so its a good idea to check this upon leaving your vehicle behind.) Insert the cash and the machine returns any change along with the ticket, which now bears the time and a certification of payment. Finally, you must present the ticket to the attendant or insert it in a machine to leave. For the safety of their female customers, its quite common in Europe for parking garages to reserve the most well lit and frequented area of the garage for women who are not accompanied by a male. This area usually corresponds to the first level of the garage. Look for signs reading, for example, Nur Frau (German for Only Woman). As I mentioned in the Why Drive chapter, Barcelona harbors amazing car parks. When you drive in, an attendant directs you to continue into a chamber. Once you properly align the vehicle in the chamber, you exit both the vehicle and the chamber. Finally, the attendant closes the chamber, and the vehicle is hydraulically moved to some secret, subterranean vault. Be sure to remove your luggage when you remove yourself from the chamber: I once didnt and had to recall my car, drive it out, and pay before being able to re-park it. Theft And Safety Most theft in Europe is of the petty variety, rarely involving assault: the thief does not want a confrontation. Thus, by using your head you can prevent almost every potential crime. For example, dont let people listen in or somehow note your phone card or credit card number. Watch your credit card after giving it to a clerk: you dont want the clerk to make extra imprints. Review all charge slips before you sign them. And be careful with your charge card receipts: they have the card number on them too. In fact, you should destroy old carbons, billing statements, and other records that bear your account number. Dont flaunt your money or act too much like a tourist. You know how foreigners stand out as targets for crime. Dont compromise your trip, but dont unnecessarily make yourself a bigger target. Be discreet when doing your thing in banks, at ATM machines, or at exchange booths. Take note of the people around you. Try to blend in and look confident. If you have a shoulder bag, wear the strap across the shoulder opposite the side on which the bag hangs. Be careful in crowded places such as those around street performers and on metros and buses: pickpockets love crowds mdash especially crowds ripe with tourists. Beware at beaches. If two people approach you, one speaking to you and the other hovering around, go on red alert: the speaker may be trying to distract you while the other person nabs an item. And never fall asleep with a valuable next to you. Move in groups when its convenient. In no way is the danger great enough that you should modify your itinerary just be smart, thats all. The further south you go the more you need to be aware of your possessions and personal space. Beware of young vagrant children and their adult cohorts who hover around and pickpocket travelers. Such thieves may walk into you with an open newspaper or large flat box held extended from their waste, wave a newspaper in your face, or throw a baby doll into your arms to distract you while their accomplices rifle through your pockets. Other thieves may approach you with flowers or some other triviality to sell simply brush them off mdash and dont feel bad about it. Ive even heard of tourists being glopped with mustard then quotassistedquot by ostensibly helpful bystanders who in fact did the glopping and who point to the sky and claim the stuff is bird doo while they wipe it off and swipe what they can. No matter, if youre aware of their presence and have taken simple security precautions, thieves will leave you alone. Thefts from vehicles occur with alarming frequency in Spain and Southern Italy. Regardless of where you are, leave nothing of value in the vehicle. Leave the glove compartment open and emptied. If a rear seat pulls down to offer access to the trunk, pull it down mdash and leave the trunk empty. If you must leave something of value in the trunk, however, lock that seat so it cant be pulled down. If possible, lock the trunk from the drivers side lock so it cant be popped open without the key. If your vehicle has a hatchback, remove the shield that conceals the empty trunk. Consider leaving the front passenger door open to allow thieves easy access: otherwise, theyll break a lock or window. Essentially, make the scene look as if some other thief has been there already. If you drive into the larger cities, consider parking in front of embassies and banks where security may be better, or in an area where traffic police are working. Throughout Europe, parking ramps offer safer haven than the streets but they may not be worth the cost. The rate of theft of vehicles themselves is high in the city of Prague and in Poland. Consider parking in small towns outlying the larger cities. You can take the extremely cheap trains into the metro area. Thieves concentrate where the tourists are, and the tourists usually arent in the small towns. Turning your wheels all the way to the curb may also help. Some thieves are more aggressive than those Ive mentioned so far. Keep your vehicles doors locked when driving, and keep the vehicle in gear at a stop. If someone points to your tires as if indicating that the tires are flat, dont get out to look. If someone bumps you mdash especially if they bump you repeatedly mdash think twice before unlocking the doors and getting out of the vehicle. Rather, turn on your vehicles hazard lights to signal that youre not fleeing, and drive slowly to a well-populated and well-lit place. Beware if you pick up a rental car at Madrids airport. The rental companies there park their vehicles in unprotected and unsupervised areas. As a result, thieves have learned to puncture the tires, wait outside, follow exiting vehicles, and rob them when the unsuspecting driver pulls over with a flat. Always be wary of an offer of roadside help extended by anyone other than a uniformed police officer or civil guard. If a person stops to help, ask them to call the police. Conversely, dont you stop to help a stranded motorist: in the more marginal parts of Europe, roadside brigands are known to feign car trouble then steal your vehicle andor rob you when you stop to help. Lock away your baggage overnight, and lock the door to your room as well. When staying in a hostel, take a hint from nature and sleep with your valuables between your legs. Out of sight is out of mind dont unnecessarily tempt thieves. Passports are a valuable commodity on the black market mdash keep yours secure. If you travel in a couchette on an overnight train, tie the door shut: thieves payoff conductors, put sleeping gas into compartments, and proceed to pilfer the unconscious occupants possessions if youre not careful, youll wake up minus one suitcase or backpack but plus one big head ache. Italian trains have become infamous for such robberies. If something of yours does get stolen from your person, vehicle, or room and if you have some form of insurance to cover the theft of the item, make sure you get a police report at the next convenient opportunity, if you know what I mean. And dont give up items for lost if they are stolen. Often thieves are only after cash and will dump wallets and other articles. Many are nice enough to throw the wallet mdash including credit cards mdash in a mailbox. The post will check your identification and deliver the wallet and contents either directly to your embassy or to the police who will forward it to your embassy. And police stations in Europe are often rife with stolen articles waiting to be claimed. If youve written your address on your articles, they may conveniently show up at your embassy like your wallet. Overheating In hot weather check the radiators water level frequently. If the water level is low but not below the bottom of the header tank, you can immediately add water. If, however, the water is below this level, you should allow the engine to cool before adding water: otherwise you may damage the cylinder block. If the radiator is overheating, let it cool before very carefully and slowly opening the radiator cap. If you arent careful, a rush of steam from the radiator may severely burn you. High engine temperatures resulting from some combination of a high ambient temperature, an ineffective cooling system, and extreme strain on the engine from, say, a steep ascent, can vaporize fuel in the lines, the pump, or the carburetor, causing the engine to stop. If such a stall occurs, let the engine cool off before trying to restart it. Breakdowns And Accidents If youve rented or leased a vehicle, your contract should entitle you to some form of roadside service. Regardless, chances are that the local motoring club will come to your aid. As I detailed in the Documents chapter, most of the European clubs belong to one of the two international touring organizations, either the F233d233ration Internationale de lAutomobile ( FIA ) or the Alliance Internationale de Tourisme ( AIT ) and thus are obligated to reciprocate their benefits to members of likewise-affiliated clubs. If you dont belong to an affiliated club, you can buy temporary membership in any number of European clubs. Even if you arent reciprocally or directly a member of these clubs, theyll still come to your aid mdash for a charge. In the country-by-country descriptions, I include the address and phone number of all automobile clubs, and I note if theyre affiliated with the FIA andor AIT . If youre battery is dead and its in a manual transmission vehicle, you can get the vehicle started again by quotpopping the clutch. quot To do this, push in the clutch and hold it, put vehicle in second gear, have the vehicle pushed up to a speed that matches the speed associated with the second gear, then let the clutch out and turn the key. The energy of the turning axle is translated into the engine where the alternator transforms it into enough electric power to start the vehicle. Get a receipt for any service you must pay for: your automobile club, rental or leasing company, or dealer may reimburse you if you do. Always secure a cost estimate before submitting your vehicle for maintenance. In many areas, emergency phones are in place along major roads. Laws, unless I note otherwise in a countrys description, require you to call police to the scene of any accident that involves you and that results in damage to a vehicle or person. However, sometimes mdash especially in the South mdash the parties involved can settle such damages on the spot. Such settlements are facilitated by the European Accident Statement. This form mdash found in the glove compartment or in the pocket on the drivers side door of most rental vehicles mdash provides a standard format on which to draw a diagram of the accident, note the information about the vehicles and drivers involved, and note other important facts about the accident. All drivers involved sign the form and receive a carbon copy they then send a copy of their copy to their rental or leasing or insurance company. Of course you should carefully consider your insurance coverage before settling accidents without involving the police. Note that you should never sign a statement that you cant read insist on a translation. European Ferries Its not unusual for European ferries to sport plush seats, televisions, cinemas, pools, saunas, nice restaurants, bars, live entertainment, casinos, childrens playrooms, duty-free shops, and exchange bureaus. The food served aboard ferries is expensive, however consider bringing your own sandwiches and drinks. Also expensive is the merchandise in the duty-free shops mdash except for the tobacco and alcohol, that is. In good weather you can stroll or sunbathe on the decks, throw bread to the playful gulls, and snap dramatic photos. Cabins come in economy, standard, and luxury classes of varying capacity: single-berth, double-berth, triple-berth, and quad-berth. You can pay for a single berth in a multiple-berth room, but the ferry company retains the right to assign roommates. For some people the comfortable chairs or pullmans coaches may suffice as makeshift beds on overnight routes. Some budget travelers who embark on their first overnight sailing of the Mediterranean opt to sleep on the ferrys deck to save some cash. Bad idea . Summer nights on the open Mediterranean are surprisingly mdash and painfully mdash cold. Many sources preach that you should book your ferry passage in advance if you plan to transport a vehicle across a principal ferry route during the high season. This is true, but the proper definition of quotadvancequot may surprise you. Remember the fecundity of the unexpected that a motor vehicle allows to blossom Most bookings entail high cancellation penalties, so booking ferry passage too far in advance stunts this important factor. Wait until you arrive overseas and settle into your trip before you make any quotadvancequot booking for ferry passage mdash if you book at all. Besides, passage booked through domestic brokers is more expensive than passage booked directly with a ferry company. Many offer a simplified price structure, constant throughout the year, for tickets purchased outside Europe. Even during high season you may be able to pull up at the port unannounced, stop into the office, and succeed in securing a spot on the next ferry. However, dont expect this method to work as well as, say, flying standby: the high cancellation fees associated with ferry bookings oblige people to fulfill their reservations. But the ferries always have enough room for foot passengers I recommend that foot passengers do not make a booking. In at least two cases, however, you should definetly book ahead. First, if vehicle-passenger fares are cheaper than foot-passenger fares, you need to book ahead and declare then the passengers wholl be making the crossing with you. If you dont do this, the ferry company will require your passengers to pay foot-passenger fares mdash which are more expensive. This policy discourages drivers from offering passage to hitchhikers or other foot passengers in exchange for cash. Second, if you plan to secure a cabin on an overnight ferry, definitely reserve the cabin and your passage in advance. When reserving space for your vehicle, you must describe the type of vehicle, its license number, its length, and its height mdash including any roof luggage or equipment. Fares or quottariffsquot charged by a particular ferry company for a particular sailing might depend on the time of day, the day of the week, the time of the year, the age and organizational affiliation of the passenger, and the size and type of vehicle being transported. Overnight sailings long enough to allow for a good nights sleep tend to be more expensive than long daytime sailings whereas short daytime sailings tend to be more expensive than short nighttime sailings. Holiday and weekend (usually defined as Friday afternoon to Sunday) sailings tend to be more expensive than normal weekday sailings. And peak summer sailings are, of course, more expensive than shoulder and low season sailings (except for those sailings around, say, Christmas). Fares also depend on whether a passenger is in a vehicle or on foot, and on whether hes a child, youth, student, senior citizen, handicapped person, HI member, holder of a rail pass, auto club member, soldier, or diplomat. Finally, the fares for vehicle transport depend on the size (length, height, width) andor type of vehicle or combination of vehicles. Most ferry companies calculate return (two-way) fares using the single fares applicable at the time of the passengers departure instead of those applicable at the time of their return, simply doubling these fares or taking roughly 10 to 20 percent off the sum. Some companies, however, compute return fares as the average of the outward and inward single fares or offer them at single mdash or even lower mdash rates providing you return on a specific scheduled but unpopular sailing or on the same day. Several groups of ferry companies have joined up to offer quotLandbridgequot tickets that cover passage from, say, Ireland to Britain to France to Ireland or from, say, Britain to the Netherlands and from Denmark to Sweden, both legs being return. Its usually cheaper to buy such a ticket than to buy separate tickets to achieve the same end. After widdling down the selection of ferry services, contact the remaining few. Begin each inquiry by explaining to the ferry representative your planned date or dates of ferry travel. Ask about the sailing schedule for that day or days. Ask if the different departures during the day charge different fares. Ferries tend to service relatively short routes many times a day. On the other hand, ferries may service relatively long routes only once or twice a week. The frequency of ferry service also varies with the season: more ferries ply the waters in summer than in winter, and some may halt service altogether in the off season. If you definitely need a two-way ticket, be sure to ask for return fares. If not, ask how the company calculates return fares. If youre arranging passage for a large group, ask about special group rates. Describe the height and length of your vehicle and, if its a large van or minibus, the number of seats it has. Ask if any special offers applying to your type of vehicle will be in effect around your planned dates of travel. If youre under 26 years of age, ask if the company offers youth discounts. If youll be traveling with children, note the age range for which childrens fares are valid. If youre a student, determine if the company offers student fares if they do, ask what documents (ISIC, for example) they require as evidence of your student status. If you consider yourself a senior citizen, determine if the company offers reduced fares for seniors and if the company considers you a senior. (You may need to be a member of a certain senior citizen organization.) Handicapped persons, ask if youre entitled to a discount. Hostellers, ask if discounts apply to card-carrying HI members. Railpass holders, ask if you qualify for a discount or free passage. Members of auto clubs, determine if reductions apply to you and your family. Soldiers and diplomats, ask if reductions apply to you and your family. In all cases, ask if the discounts apply to both persons and vehicles. Reductions are not cumulative, so opt for the one that gives you the greatest discount. Be sure to determine what cancellation charges apply. If pertinent, ask whether the company allows stop-overs. If stop-overs are possible, note how far in advance you must declare your intention to stop-over and what embarkationdisembarkation fees apply. Finally, ask how early you must report for check-in plan to arrive at the port at least one hour before a scheduled departure. Signs depicting car-bearing boats radiate for miles around a ferry port, so its easy to find the dock. And note that its usually illegal to carry containers of spare fuel on ferries. Quite a few ferries do, however, allow you to carry tanks of propane. Channel Tunnel The Romans mused over the idea. Napoleon in 1802 approved a Channel Tunnel project designed for stagecoaches and to be ventilated by chimneys rising above the waters surface. The British made an abortive stab at it in 1880. Ground wasnt seriously broken again in this respect until 1987. Some US3615 billion and seven years later, the finished product of over 15,000 workers ran 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Cheriton (near Folkestone), England, to Coquelles (near Calais), France, 37 of those kilometers through chalk marl, the roof just 25ndash45 meters below the seabed. The Chunnel is the second longest rail tunnel in the world, the longest being the tunnel under Japans Strait of Tsugaru. Not just one tunnel, the Chunnel consists of two large parallel train tunnels serviceable through a third parallel tunnel between them. Thats right, train tunnels: you cant drive your vehicle straight through. Instead, after paying at a toll booth and passing through frontier controls, youll be directed to drive onto a long train mdash Le Shuttle mdash along with other cars, as well as buses and trucks. There are four shuttles, one departing every fifteen minutes during peak times, every hour during the night each can carry up to 180 cars and is confined to the Chunnel and its approaches. Thus the Channel Tunnel allows up to 720 vehicles per hour to come off Englands M22 motorway, drive onto a shuttle, ride piggyback under the ocean, roll off the train, and roll onto Frances A16 or A26 autoroute, or vice versa. Of course connections to lesser roads are accessible as well. Unless passengers want to stretch or use the toilets, theres no reason for them to get out of their vehicles: the chambers are brightly lit, sound-proofed and air-conditioned but extremely spartan, and while enroute Customs officials walk from vehicle to vehicle, checking passports. Motorcyclists, however, travel in a special compartment, separated from their cycles. The whole process, including the embarking and disembarking, takes an average of only one hour mdash compared to three if you employ a conventional ferry to achieve the same end. Fares are charged per vehicle, no matter the number of passengers, with four sets according to the time of year. Advance booking by phone or internet for a specific scheduled service is by far the best and cheapest way to obtain passage. You can turn up and pay at the time of travel, but that will be expensive and you may not find space on the next shuttle at busy times. If you have a reservation, you can turn up two hours before departure (or two hours late) and you will usually be given a choice of the next departure or to wait for your booked one. Hence theres little need to worry about getting to the terminal at exactly the right time. For people without a vehicle to transport, 394-meter-long quotEurostarquot trains run through the Chunnel at 300 kmh (186 mph) non stop between London and Calais, Lille, Paris and Brussels. The London-to-Paris trip, for instance, takes just three hours instead of the grueling six associated with ferry passage, and the standard class approximating a typical airliners business class, complete with reading lamps and footrests. There are nearly 30 trains in each direction each day. Tickets can be bought in advance or on the day of travel. Its said that travel through the Chunnel mdash protected by anti-terrorist security measures similar to those at international airports mdash is at least 20 times safer than conventional rail travel, which in turn is much safer than ferry or car travel. If youre curious about the construction of the Chunnel, you should check out the Eurotunnel Exhibition Center at Cheriton, near Folkestone. Besides a large operating model of the link, theres an observation tower giving a birds-eye view of the Folkestone terminal. A simulator makes it possible to quotdrivequot a tunnel construction train. You can view an audio-visual show. And you can inspect a full-size mock-up of a shuttle.