Always carry your driving licence and insurance documents with you and you MUST have a spare pair of prescription spectacles if you wear them whilst driving. You must also have a red warning triangle in your boot in case you break down. If this should happen, place the triangle about 10 metres (30ft) away from your car to warn other drivers you are there. Things that are courtesy here, are law over there. And make sure you adjust your mirrors - you'd be surprised how many people attempt to overtake in the path of a speeding Citroen just because their mirrors reflect the wrong bit of the road!

Driving in France - those guys tailgate, even if the road is perfectly clear, they want to be up your boot (trunk). I don't know about the German habits, but those I've passed on the road seemed to be a bit more courteous than the French.

If a continental driver flashes his headlights it means he is taking right of way. It is NOT a signal that he is giving way to you, as it would in Britain. Those guys do not give way, especially if they see a British numberplate.

Ireland is pretty much like Britain, except if you go over the borders, you may well be stopped (the borders we drove through in France/Belgium 2 weeks ago, weren't even manned let alone policed!). Now this is important. Do not joke with the Guarda. Do not piss those guys off. Be pleasant, polite and sociable, but do not make silly jokes. They do have a sense of humour, but their idea of a joke is to strip search every smart alec that cracks jokes about semtex in the boot. There may be a peace process in action, things may have been relaxed a lot, but there is still a small faction who refuse to stop.

Italy, I've never been to but am given to understand that the best way to drive in the towns is to shut your eyes and go. That's what everyone else seems to do. It may mean some modification to your car too, to connect the accelorator pedal directly to the horn.

Don't make the mistake of looking too much at the scenery when driving in the mountains. You'll lose concentration and end up as part of that scenery. Find an observation point, stop there and then look.

Hope this is useful to you ~ enjoy your trip!

LTS