Best practices for a trouble-free trip?
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Friends,
I will be riding around the French Alps with a couple of friends during May. I am from the US, have not been to this part of France, and I don't speak French. So, I would prefer not to get lost!We will ride to a different hotel every few days and ride loops from that while we are there. We ride from Nice to Moustier-Sainte-Marie on 5/11; then to Nyons on 5/14; Le Puy en Velay on 5/16; Villard-de-Lans on 5/19; Crots on 5/22; then back to Nice on 5/25. (Pro tip: don't book your last night in Nice at the same time as the Cannes Film Festival, duh!)
I'm completely stressed that I will get on the road and I will have problems operating MRA. I use MRA here in Maryland and it usually works well but once in a while I have a problem that could be really stressful abroad.
Here is the question -- What can I do to have the best chance of experiencing trouble-free routing? I plan use MRA on a Pixel 6 as my primary GPS device. Based on what I have seen in the Forum, this is what I've done to prepare:
- Planned the routes using HERE and carefully placed each waypoint.
- Downloaded each route to the phone using MRA.
- Will run MRA off-line most of the time and I will plan on starting the route each day from the download screen.
- Will have my Garmin 396LM along so, whatever happens, I should be able to get to our hotel. I have also exported gpx 1.1 files to the Garmin so maybe I can use that to follow planned routes if I have trouble with MRA. (I have a question about that that I will put in the Track/Route section.)
Any other suggestions?
BTW, the routes we have made in the route planner are all marked public and should be visible under my username if you want to check them out. If you will be around the area when we will, feel free to let me know - an adult beverage would be in order. And if you pass a guy on the side of the road in the mountains with his helmet off poking at his phone and mumbling to himself, that's probably me trying to figure out how I got lost and what to do about it!
Thanks for any additional suggestions!
Vinnie
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@Vincent-Curren said in Best practices for a trouble-free trip?:
Friends,
I will be riding around the French Alps with a couple of friends during May. I am from the US, have not been to this part of France, and I don't speak French. So, I would prefer not to get lost!We will ride to a different hotel every few days and ride loops from that while we are there. We ride from Nice to Moustier-Sainte-Marie on 5/11; then to Nyons on 5/14; Le Puy en Velay on 5/16; Villard-de-Lans on 5/19; Crots on 5/22; then back to Nice on 5/25. (Pro tip: don't book your last night in Nice at the same time as the Cannes Film Festival, duh!)
I'm completely stressed that I will get on the road and I will have problems operating MRA. I use MRA here in Maryland and it usually works well but once in a while I have a problem that could be really stressful abroad.
Here is the question -- What can I do to have the best chance of experiencing trouble-free routing? I plan use MRA on a Pixel 6 as my primary GPS device. Based on what I have seen in the Forum, this is what I've done to prepare:
- Planned the routes using HERE and carefully placed each waypoint.
- Downloaded each route to the phone using MRA.
- Will run MRA off-line most of the time and I will plan on starting the route each day from the download screen.
- Will have my Garmin 396LM along so, whatever happens, I should be able to get to our hotel. I have also exported gpx 1.1 files to the Garmin so maybe I can use that to follow planned routes if I have trouble with MRA. (I have a question about that that I will put in the Track/Route section.)
Any other suggestions?
BTW, the routes we have made in the route planner are all marked public and should be visible under my username if you want to check them out. If you will be around the area when we will, feel free to let me know - an adult beverage would be in order. And if you pass a guy on the side of the road in the mountains with his helmet off poking at his phone and mumbling to himself, that's probably me trying to figure out how I got lost and what to do about it!
Thanks for any additional suggestions!
Vinnie
Hello Vinnie,
I assume the biggest problem you can have on driving in Europe is to drive in GB or Malta. Because there you have to drive on the wrong side of the road . OK, I know, the Britains believe they are on the right side.
Humor beside, what works with MRA in the US will works in Europe too. Consider the space of the European Union is half of the square of the US but contains 28 different states and 23 languages and we survive, also with MRA.
Now to some facts.
I do not know what contract conditions you have with your mobile provider being outside USA. Working with MRA complete offline is in my point of view not recommended.
May you got W-Lan at every Hotel to get a connection to your MRA Account. But when something happened on the road and you need to go to your planned routes or you want to create ad hoc a new route or change you need the connection to MRA.
(I know Basecamp an a small laptop is not to beat here)
So look for an add on to your contract or buy a time limited Sim for French network.
By the way, language, speaking english by the public is not so common in France like in Germany or Netherlands. So best is you or one of your friends is fine with French.
Consider like in the US, we have in Europe beside the German Autobahn (not everywhere there) speed limits and they vary and the unit ist Kilometer not Miles. Speed control with fixed cameras and mobile by laser is in France very usual and not limited to cities. Also on country roads you will see a lot of fixed cameras. But the contact, if happens with the police is not so dangerous like in US. Also, if a police car is following and like to stop you, you do not have the firework of red/blue lights in your mirror and this typical yelp sound. They present a written sign in mirrored Letters „Please stop“ and usually they pass you to stop in front of your vehicle. And usually in Europe every police car has two officers. They are, beside special operations, never work alone. What could happen too is a „routine check“ on the road most at a parking ground were the picked cars as much they can work with by random. So you will see 10-20 Policeofficers there, asking you standards like, please present your driver licence, car documents, have you drugs consumed and could direct request a test on suspicion reactions and technical checks, sometimes special checks on bikes regard to noise limits, additional not legal options. The other reason of such pick up places could be the laser speed check few hundred meters before by a more or less hidden officer or car with radar.
May you look on Youtube to see the difference of such traffic check routines in Europe. But you can be calm, as noticed, Police here in Eu is usually quite polite and not so quick with the guns, because of the very strict ownership of weapons in private hands.
By the way, I am German living close to Cologne, was on vacation with rental car in 2008 in Florida and in 2014 from NY to Montreal Toronto, Niagara Falls back to NY. Using Navigon and the succeder Garmin at that time.
Will be in August close to Bordeaux for 2 weeks now with MRA.A recommendation regard your Tour planning.
If you use for planning the Michelin layout map there is a feature. Roads with a spectaculare view, sightseeing options are beside the road colour red or yellow and for smaler ones in white, marked with a green line.
This option is also present on the Michelin paper maps. Here my recommendation. Direct after your arrival buy the orange or yellow Michelin region maps scale 1:200000 or 1:150000 like these ones.https://www.das-landkartenhaus.de/michelin-527-provence-cote-d-azur-franz
or this
https://www.das-landkartenhaus.de/michelin-local-341-franzoesische-riviera-seealpen
map No 341 and 340 perhaps 334
You will get those local region maps nearly at each bigger petrol station
And for your slowdown. You will never lost in space, sorry France.
I am traveling in France for decades now on vacation.
In France you will find the best road signs I have ever seen.
Each road sign at every road junction even in the nowhere has on top of the sign with the direction and name of next cities the number of the road.
In red N85 stand for bigger route nationale (is not a highway were you have to pay for, these are Autoroutes like A7) or yellow numbers and white number like D205 for country roads.
So if you are on a crossing e.g. D 123 with D205 you know exact on the map, where your are. These numbers are also on the Michelin maps.
Was happy with this system years before navigation with GPS, when I was biking with a race bike there. Was not nice, when you consider at the next village that you was wrong and had to bike 5 kilometers back. -
I always put destinations into favourites as well. You can then always re-route direct.
If you have time reviewing some of the roads on Gooogle street view can help avoid surprises
It will be a great trip. Even if some of the roads would fit comfortably in a single lane on a highway -
@Vincent-Curren said in Best practices for a trouble-free trip?:
Friends,
I will be riding around the French Alps with a couple of friends during May. I am from the US, have not been to this part of France, and I don't speak French. So, I would prefer not to get lost!We will ride to a different hotel every few days and ride loops from that while we are there. We ride from Nice to Moustier-Sainte-Marie on 5/11; then to Nyons on 5/14; Le Puy en Velay on 5/16; Villard-de-Lans on 5/19; Crots on 5/22; then back to Nice on 5/25. (Pro tip: don't book your last night in Nice at the same time as the Cannes Film Festival, duh!)
I'm completely stressed that I will get on the road and I will have problems operating MRA. I use MRA here in Maryland and it usually works well but once in a while I have a problem that could be really stressful abroad.
Here is the question -- What can I do to have the best chance of experiencing trouble-free routing? I plan use MRA on a Pixel 6 as my primary GPS device. Based on what I have seen in the Forum, this is what I've done to prepare:
- Planned the routes using HERE and carefully placed each waypoint.
- Downloaded each route to the phone using MRA.
- Will run MRA off-line most of the time and I will plan on starting the route each day from the download screen.
- Will have my Garmin 396LM along so, whatever happens, I should be able to get to our hotel. I have also exported gpx 1.1 files to the Garmin so maybe I can use that to follow planned routes if I have trouble with MRA. (I have a question about that that I will put in the Track/Route section.)
Any other suggestions?
BTW, the routes we have made in the route planner are all marked public and should be visible under my username if you want to check them out. If you will be around the area when we will, feel free to let me know - an adult beverage would be in order. And if you pass a guy on the side of the road in the mountains with his helmet off poking at his phone and mumbling to himself, that's probably me trying to figure out how I got lost and what to do about it!
Thanks for any additional suggestions!
Vinnie
You might find this helpful too.
https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/travel/how-to-ride-a-motorcycle-in-france -
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@Peter-Schiefer Peter, thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to write this extensive response!
I will have two mobile phones with me, one that I will purchase a local Sim for, and my primary phone, which has an account with Google that will provide seamless connectivity. I wanted to be prepared to operate offline because of what I expect will be flaky service in mountain passes, and experience I've had with MRA getting confused when mobile connectivity comes and goes.
Very helpful information about speed enforcement. I got caught in Barcelona a couple of years ago. We have that kind of enforcement here in the US, but mostly in urban areas and not nearly as widespread as you describe in France. So, we will watch our speed!
I have the paper Michelin maps you describe. That's very helpful information you have given me about signage, though. It will make it much easier to use the map!
And that is really an excellent suggestion to put our destination in Favorites! That hadn't occurred to me. I will put all of our hotel addresses in Favorites before we leave!
Thank you again!
Vinnie
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@Vincent-Curren
Vinnie,
regard to…
I wanted to be prepared to operate offline because of what I expect will be flaky service in mountain passes, and experience I've had with MRA getting confused when mobile connectivity comes and goes.The network connectivity for mobil vary a bit in Europe.
But as written before the EU is in square the half of US but we have a population of 440000000. By this the service with mobile network is nearly everywhere OK due to the smaler distances between towns and cities. Interruptions are possible but meanwhile rare. -
@Peter-Schiefer That's great to know, Peter, thank you!
Vinnie