Navigation (What the guidebooks don't tell you)

A few driving tips gleaned from 5 weeks of driving in France and Switzerland outlined here for your amusement or education.  Fortunately, everyone drives on the right, so at least you don't have to contend with that issue.  It means you have to wave your sword out the left window and brandish it with your left hand, but c'est la vie.

First, get yourself a good, high resolution road atlas.  There are many roads in many directions and many towns and villages.  Trust me.  You will need a road atlas.  Not a road map.

Second, get a navigator.  You may think you have a good sense of direction but it will be of little use and will not equal having a live person in the passenger seat with their nose glued to the pages of the atlas (Did I mention the atlas?), making decisions.  This navigator should be able to infer significance from subtle clues linking the atlas to the reality in front of you.  Being comfortable with indecision and uncertainty are helpful attitudes, for both navigator and driver.  Such attributes will be put to the test in heavy traffic, especially where everyone is moving at higher speed.

Switzerland makes almost no use of route numbers other than on their few big highways, and then seemingly only as an afterthought.  This may seem of little importance until you experience trying to find the names and locations of towns you don't know, all in German.  It's not especially user friendly, let's say.

France, on the other hand, makes liberal use of route numbers.  There are "A" roads (usually toll), "N" roads (usually good, usually wide, sometimes multi-lane divided), and lastly, the "D" roads.  These can be much like "normal" roads and are definitely scenic, but they also may be very narrow.  What can I say?  Rent a small car.

Despite using route numbers, France almost never gives you advance warning about which route number is turning what way up ahead.  That information will not be revealed until you are actually "at" the intersection.  At a roundabout, for example, there will be a sign in advance, but it will only show which towns can be accessed from each exit on the roundabout.  Frustration in Switzerland with relying only on this information is duplicated here too.  Try to know in advance which towns you are headed towards and hope they are in the list provided on the signs, otherwise, get comfortable with making quick decisions and hope someone else isn't right on your tail, aiming for the same exit. 

That said, many of the intersections are in the form of roundabouts.  It's quite possible to simply go around and around the roundabout, keeping to the inside lane, until you feel confident about which exit choice you are about to make.  It may seem an odd thing to do.  Silly-looking, even, but you won't see these people again, so do what you have to do.

Avoid cities.  You will drive through many small towns and villages, but cities are to be avoided like the plague.  Streets are narrow, convoluted and clogged with vehicles.  If you must visit a city, and there are many interesting cities to visit, find a place to strategically park and then walk.  The interesting bits of these cities are usually pretty compact, so walking is a great option.  And besides, walking is good for you.

Although the "A" roads can be a quick way to get places, their traffic jams can be truly awful.  Kilometers of barely moving vehicles can make quiet, narrow country lanes and villages seem very tolerable.  Avoid Monday mornings.

Travel time means more than distance.  What with the villages, the traffic, the corners, the hills and switchbacks, getting anywhere will take far longer than you would think.  The only solution to this is to use the "A" roads.

Lastly, a sense of humour and adventure will be beneficial.  Despite the best efforts of navigator and driver, mistakes will be made.  One of you will realize that somehow, you are on the wrong road. Sometimes the best discoveries are made when those accidents happen.  Sometimes the road less traveled has just been missed by everyone else. "Carpe accidentum" and make the best of it.  Remember, you can always turn around or you can keep exploring.