Deciding to purchase a new vehicle is usually a big decision in itself, but deciding to take European Delivery of a BMW adds an entirely new level of complexity. Is it worth it? Yes, absolutely … but I wouldn’t recommend going into this with the belief that everything will just ‘work out’. Planning is required to make your trip as enjoyable as possible.
I was disappointed in the resources available online, and even more disappointed in my BMW dealer’s lack of assistance to prepare me for this trip. Luckily, BMW North America does mail you some information that his helpful, but it does not cover everything. I took some notes on our trip and I hope that it might help others as they prepare.
Mobile Devices: Our society has become quite dependent on their mobile devices; specifically making voice calls, texting, GPS and using various applications that require Internet Access (data plan). As a frequent international traveler, I knew to contact my carrier before the trip to arrange for a special plan before I left. What I didn’t know is how important this would be once we started driving around Europe.We use AT&T, and while I’m not a huge fan of them in general, they do have a great plan called “Passport” [link]. The most basic plan is only $30 and provides unlimited texting, discounted international calling and 120MB of data for a period of up to one month.
Mind you, 120MB goes fast, and you should be diligent in switching data services on and off on your phone so you don’t accidentally use it by downloading unnecessary emails while you’re just driving across country. I’ll be honest, 120MB didn’t work for me, I had to call and upgrade my plan to the largest (800MB) data plan. I found that the most data intensive application was Google Maps and Apple Maps, of which was the most important app for getting around. For the cost of $120, it was money well spent.Most hotels have wifi for free or a modest fee … use this. Do your research from the hotels to save your precious data for other things that you are going to do on-the-fly while you are out and about.
Lodging Planning: Decide whether to book everything ahead of time (it means your trip is going to be highly dependent upon a pre-determined timeline) or play it by ear. We booked our first week ahead of time and decided to see how it would work out to just book our next hotels a few days before we were going to be there. We like this flexible approach to travel, although we wouldn’t recommend it for everyone.
We traveled in July, which we would consider to the be the peak of the vacation season and had no problem finding good hotels a few days before we were to arrive. Of course, our options were much more limited than if we had scheduled a month in advance, but not so much that we felt it impacted us.
Lodging Booking: We booked everything through Travelocity and used TripIt (by Concur) to track out travel on our phones. Neither app requires active internet as long as you sync latest bookings prior to going to a non-wifi zone.Read the Trip Advisor reviews, they are not only valuable, but also funny in a lot of cases. We found some older reviews to be less impactful, and mainly focused on ones that were made in the last year. It usually only takes reading a couple of 4/5-star and a couple 1/2-star reviews to decide if you want to stay some place.
Also, decide the non-negotiables ahead of time. One of our’s was free parking. Luckily, Travelocity has a filter for this that we could set when searching. As a frequent business traveler who rents a car I on travel, I know parking charges can add up very quickly. This non-negotiable also set the tone for the places we were going to stay — for the most part, they were not in the middle of town. This means we had to drive or take public transit to visit the sites … this was plenty fine with us, because we had a car and we wanted to drive it! I found that staying on the outskirts was very comfortable for us; not to mention much less expensive. We found some nice hotels for good prices and it was usually pretty quiet without the summer-break students partying next door.
Another non-negotiable we decided on was Wifi Internet access. This is imperative if you are going to be booking your trip along the way. Internet didn’t need to be free, because many times it would be a negligible charge like 2 or 4 euros/day. However, when a hotel came up as “free internet” in our search, it was a definite advantage for that hotel. Mind you, however, the quality of Internet is subjective, and in one case our hotel had a problem with their Internet Service Provider (ISP) and we had to use our data plan for the entire two days we were there.
As a note for Travelocity users, we had friends with us during the first part of the trip and I was booking rooms for everyone. I needed to change one of the rooms to less days because he was traveling out earlier than expected. I made the decision to cancel the one room online and then try to rebook it for less days immediately after. Not a good idea! Before I could rebook the room, it was already taken … someone must have been waitlisted. I had to book my buddy down the street in a fleabag hotel; it was cheaper, but not good at all. Call Travelocity if you have to make a change to a booking.
Baggage: Make sure your suitcases are going to fit in the car. We didn’t do this, but got lucky. We purchased two medium-sized, hard-sided suitcases from Costco and they fit in the M4 trunk quite well. We were able to add a carry-on bag and my laptop case in the trunk and it was full. Another carry-on had to go in the back seat.
If you’re picking up a 750li, you probably don’t need to worry about this. But if you’re buying a 2 or 3 series Bimmer, I would validate what you want to bring is going to fit in the car. I would especially caution if you are going to bring a “large” suitcase or two. It might be worth a trip to your dealer to test fit your luggage before the trip.
Photography: Have your photography solution in order before you pick up your car. It is a busy and emotionally overwhelming experience. Unfortunately, I had a new DSLR (purchased just for this trip), and after playing with all the options (to learn it) I inadvertently left it taking all pictures 2 and a half stops over exposed. All of my photos at BMW Welt are effectively junk. This was a huge disappointment. Just double check everything at the hotel the night before, and if in doubt, throw that thing in full “Auto” mode and don’t sweat it.
I ended up going back to BMW Welt at the end of the trip to re-take some crucial photographs.
Laundry: This may not be an issue for many of you, but for us it was; we planned to stay in Europe for 30 days, we would have to wash clothes at some point. Decide whether laundry is a requirement or not, if it is, you should plan accordingly. In all honesty, we had a hard time finding coin-op laundromats (maybe because we were staying in the outskirts). What we did instead was launder our clothes in the hotel room. Luckily, my wife being quite savvy in the domestic arts, thought ahead to bring a clothesline to hang in the hotel room so that clothes would dry why we were out seeing the sites.
Selfie stick: I shopped Amazon and bought this really cool one with a bluetooth trigger. When I got to Europe, the battery had died in the bluetooth trigger, so I searched gas stations to find a replacement batter. Then, after all that, I never used it. I cannot explain why, other than I always had my DSLR, so I never thought about it. In my opinion, it is a disposable item that you can purchase while you are in Euro if you desire. Many vendors are selling them on the street in the tourist areas.
Toll roads and local currency: Italy and France both have a ton of toll roads, but luckily, they are also both on the Euro. Make sure you get some Euros (small bills and coins) before you depart for these countries.
Credit Cards: ***Disclaimer: I don’t offer financial advice and what I share below are only recommendations based on our experience.
Most places will accept a credit card with or without a chip; however, they definitely prefer the chip. My wife’s Chase Sapphire card [link] had a chip as well as my Citibank double-cash card [link]. However, my Citibank double-cash card hit me with a couple of International Transaction fees, so I stopped using it. Chase assured my wife that her Sapphire card would not have that issue. I also have an older Chase United Club Visa which did not have a chip, but did not give me International Transaction Fees. Presumably, because of its lack of chip, it was refused at a couple of places, unfortunately, one of them was a toll booth; I had to use the Citi card.
Bottom line: research your best solution; International Transaction Fees can be significant, and the chip might be required, but not often.My recommendation is, if asked, process all transactions in the local currency. This will usually result in a better exchange rate (by your credit card provdier, not by the merchant’s bank).
Debit Cards: If you want local currency, check with your bank to see if your ATM card will work internationally. I was charged a small fee, but the exchange rate was so good it more than made up for it. In Germany, ATMS are called Geldautomats and are quite easy to find.
Pre-delivery travel arrangements: Getting picked up from the Airport in Munich to either go to your hotel or BMW Welt is covered by BMW and you should receive an email about this a couple weeks before your trip. If you chose to stay overnight before you take delivery, you will need to arrange for transportation from your hotel to BMW Welt.If you chose to turn in your car in Munich, the drop off is right at the Airport. It doesn’t get any easier, you just walk about 100 yards. If you chose another drop-off location, I would research what they have available as far as transportation to airport after drop-off, I’m sure they get the question often.
I will update this as I think of more items.
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