A holiday that runs rings around the others

Li Xiaowei, 40, enjoyed beautiful views of Norway during her road trip last year. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Independence

Another who appreciates the independence that self-driving holidays deliver is Li Xiaowei, 40. She has done six such trips in six countries, including Greece, Israel and the United States with her husband and friends since 2006, she says.

"My husband and I love travel, and self-driving holidays give us exactly the kind of travel we want."

Li, a food security industry worker in Beijing, says independent travelers are limited in their choice of hotels because they ideally need to be close to a railway station, for onward travel, and the logistics of using such transport demands extra time.

Li recounts the time she and her husband bumped into an old lady in a small Greek town who cheerily looked at them and said "China?" At a time when far fewer Chinese were traveling overseas than are now, it came as a pleasant surprise to the couple. When Li began talking to the woman in English and she replied "No English" it became clear that China was one of the few English words she knew.

"In such situations you might not speak the same language, but you can often use body language," Li says. "We've had lots of little incidents like this when we get talking to locals. They're very small things, but the kind of things you never forget."

In Turkey, she says, they found the locals to be particularly hospitable and helpful, such as offering to take photos of tourists and ensuring those who were photographed were happy with the result.

Once, in Britain, after exiting a motorway they inadvertently failed to reduce their speed and were stopped by police. What delighted them was that the police simply gave them a gentle lecture on watching their speed and said it was their lucky day because had a speed camera caught them they would have been fined.

"It was really special. They were so nice," Li says.

Nevertheless, she says, "overseas, we Chinese need to respect the rules of the road, and that means, for example, giving way to other motorists on roundabouts and not pushing into queues."

One important thing in self-driving holidays is always to be aware of the time the legs of journeys need, and taking account of road conditions, she says. Given a choice between routes, she and her husband generally opt for roads that follow the ocean or wind through mountains, which will offer great scenery but will also demand more driving time.

Chinese traveling overseas also need to be keenly aware of where road tolls are payable, particularly if they are crossing into another jurisdiction, Li says.

A driver's license from the Chinese mainland is not recognized for obtaining an International Driver's Permit, which is recognized in many countries, but more countries are recognizing Chinese mainland licenses, and car rental companies will accept these so long as they are accompanied with a bonafide translation. Li says it is particularly important to have such documentation on hand if you are involved in an accident.