boscomantico wrote:
I think the idea of Ibra is a bit of a nonsense, at least concerning hotels near airports to “avoid” taxis
@boscomantico, technical stops on a long flight?
Alternate airports?
boscomantico wrote:
I think the idea of Ibra is a bit of a nonsense, at least concerning hotels near airports to “avoid” taxis.After all, we are flying not to visit hotels (or at least only very rarely), and then, it’s usually not “airport type” hotels. We usually fly to visit cities, events, museums, people, etc.
Of course, I will take taxi or drive later to visit around but the priority after landing is putting my stuff (and my back) in hotel or rental car nearby, so that was my question
boscomantico wrote:
Would be interesting to hear what “negative” experiences Ibra has had exactly and where
The last one was in Suamur, no Uber and we called taxis for 1h with no luck (I have two baby car seats, few heavy bags), as it turns out there was a hotel near airport, so I booked it with my phone, we called taxi while in the hotel
Renting a car is what makes life easier and fun but it has to be available on arrival at the airport: getting a car delivered from city center to airport on weekends at 200E with random GA landing timetable and potential cancellation tend to be a hassle
boscomantico wrote:
foldable bikes are an option
This was the way I have done it in the past
In Germany we have a genious car rental service. It’s “app2drive”. There are lots’n lots of airfields where you will find one or two of these small Fiat 500 or similar. A list is here:
Agree with @boscomantico. In addition to his points, I can recommend almost all Swiss airfields (even the smaller ones), as they are connected with the excellent Swiss public transportation within 1000 m.
Ah, and in Germany (and even some places in Austria and the Netherlands) there is App2Drive for car rental at (smaller) aerodromes. Cheap and very convenient. Unfortunately, they reduced their offer at many airfields a lot in the last years, but still, if airfields offer App2Drive, it is the way to go! Edit: @UdoR posted it right before me! 
I highly recommend Semur-en-Auxois (LFGQ – not to be confused with Saumur LFOD). The airfield is within 15 minutes walk of the center of this beautiful small medieval town. There are multiple hotels and nice restaurants. I had a good experience at the the Hôtel de la Côte d’Or; the hotel manager’s husband is a commercial pilot operating from the local airfield, so they understand GA and can organize a car pickup from the airfield.
Another option is Nuits-Saint-Georges LFGZ. There is a rather fancy hotel right next to the airfield (Château de la Berchère).
boscomantico wrote:
After all, we are flying not to visit hotels (or at least only very rarely), and then, it’s usually not “airport type” hotels. We usually fly to visit cities, events, museums, people, etc.Now, one could argue that after a long and hard days’ flying (but is it usually really that long and hard??) one first just wants to “crash” into some hotel, get a night’s sleep, and then do one’s program the next day. But even that doesn’t make much sense to me. At the very least, on these days, one wants to go out for dinner somewhere nice (and not have it at a sterile airport hotel). So, the issue of getting into town (or whereever) is still there and must be solved right after arrival at the airport anyway.
I’m totally with you. Regardless how long or exhausting flying day was (my more exhausting one was 9 hours hand flying and out of it 4 hours in solid IMC), I want to end up in the city where I can walk to the restaurant for a nice dinner and walk to the cafe in the morning, starting to do things that were purpose of the flight. My FO doesn’t allow different scenarios
Frans wrote:
Ah, and in Germany (and even some places in Austria and the Netherlands) there is App2Drive for car rental at (smaller) aerodromes. Cheap and very convenient. Unfortunately, they reduced their offer at many airfields a lot in the last years, but still, if airfields offer App2Drive, it is the way to go! Edit: @UdoR posted it right before me!
I found that recently, some stations that had been closed for some time are now equipped with cars again, .e.g. EDLE.
Yes. but several have not returned. I wish Sylt would.
But then Fehrbellin has just got one two weeks ago. Good for people visting Berlin and coming from the northwest.
In UK, I found Turo website/application which looks brilliant along App2Drive…
I was planning to land and go take an Uber to rent from nearby Avis for an upcoming trip to UK, well they close early on weekends, they don’t deliver and don’t leave the keys and likely had very regid terms for booking cancellation
So, I went ahead and booked one car with Turo for 4 days, agreement with owner: get it delivred to my landing airport (or alternate airport 60km away subject to weather and changes of my times), cancellation is free untill 2h before my pickup timseait has two child seats installed already and all paperwork was checked before hand
Peer-to-Peer car rental on those flexible terms seems ideal but now it seems to cost twice more than actual flight from France to UK, let’s see if it works better than my previous attempt with 1 day rental of OuiCar in StNazaire
I rented with Turo in my recent trip to UK, very happy they are super flexible:
We also stayed at the hotel near Southend on first night as it was convenient before going by car to central London on the next days…it was less faff than my previous hassle of finding taxis or running against clock traditional car rentals, especially in cold winter with two babies !
