Rental car companies add green machines

Some new travel products offer a quick solution to carry-on luggage restrictions. This year, Hefty began selling a flat-pack of 7 Hefty quart-sized OneZip bags, specifically labeled as meeting security guidelines. But editor Erik Torkells recently tested some great products for carrying liquids, which you may find much more useful. More: Learn how to pack right. One quick tip: The Feds post their list of prohibited and allowable carry-on items on the T.S.A. website.

A reader of this blog, Lyle Harris of Knoxville, asks for advice: We are planning a trip to Munich, southern France, and Paris for three weeks this September. Each person we ask has a different notion how best to travel. Some say combine rail and auto, some say auto only, some say rail only. What say you? We plan to take as many side trips as possible and see small villages and wineries. We are in our 50s and the couple we travel with are in their 70s and in relatively good health. We plan to hike and bike on occasion. Advice would be welcomed. Here's my advice about booking rental cars in Europe. Add your own two-cents by posting a comment below. Your itinerary promises a memorable trip. The stops in villages and wineries, and the hikes and bike rides, ought to be fantastic. Assuming that you are comfortable driving in a foreign country with foreign-language signs, a rental car will give you the most flexibility. In your case, a rental car will allow the four of you to avoid hauling your luggage on and off trains. (Another option is to choose a multi-sport tour company, such as Backroads, which will supply you with bikes and hiking guides and use supply trucks to tote your luggage from one stop to the next. However, such tour companies often charge high prices for their European offerings.) Usually, you can rent a car from a major car rental agency without needing to obtain an International Driver's Permit. But if you get in a car accident--especially in a rural area--having such a permit along with your driver's license may come in handy. Why? Because it may assure local authorities that you are a cautious driver. (In contrast, train travel may take away the worries of driving. If you decide to hit the rails instead, consider buying a multi-stop pass for inter-city rail from RailPass.com.) Here's Budget Travel's advice about rental cars. Try AutoEurope.com first. The service rents new cars via the major players, such as Avis or Enterprise, which is important should anything go wrong. Chances are you'll pay less at AutoEurope than at a mainstream agency because you are required to pay a deposit in advance. (But still look at the bigger companies, also, to compare). As a rule, AutoEurope is a top option for short-term rentals all over Europe. Renault Eurodrive is often a less costly option for longer-term vacationers abroad, meaning people who are staying at least 17 days in Europe and who plan to take out a short-term lease. Compare with AutoEurope's rates. Hope this helps! Enjoy your trip, and if you come across any good solutions to your problem while traveling, please let our readers know! And, hopefully, a reader or two will post their own suggestions. Earlier: Budget Travel's top tips for renting cars.

Corey Bauer, a reader of this blog, recently posted a question: Another option is a video ipod with a photo adapter. It will let you download the photos directly to your ipod.--Nansi. Got a dilemma we need help with....our teenage daughter will be leaving soon to be an exchange student to Norway for a year. What's the best way to store so many photos she'll take? Should she take a laptop to download them on? Or quite a few memory sticks or what?!?! Well, good news: We received a helpful tip from another blog reader, Jim Van Damme: On a short trip, I've gone to a library and emailed them to my Gmail account. You could also use email or file sharing sites to get them from your daughter, and burn to CD/DVD. You could snail mail them, download the photos, and mail them back. She doesn't need a computer for that. Meanwhile, a contributing editor of Jaunted.com, Paul Brady, offers this tip: I'd agree that Flickr's the way to go if a laptop isn't an option. But no one should pay $50 for 256MB of flash memory! You can snag a 2GB card these days for less than $40--just search NewEgg or look for specials at your local big box. (I'm quite happy with -178-100&CMP=OTC-Froogle">this card.) Vanessa O'Donnell offers this tip: Another option would be to use shutterfly. Photos can be uploaded in the same manner as Flickr but without the cost and prints can be ordered directly from the site. I've used shutterfly numerous times and frequently receive "coupons" from them for things such as 25 free 4x6 or 1 free 8x10 Meanwhile, Kyle offers this tip: You can use an iPod to store your photos. You just have to change its settings so that you can use it as a hard drive. (Check your user's manual on how to do this.) Note: You'll need to connect both the camera and the iPod to the computer via their USB ports, then transfer photos from the camera to the iPod. Went to Asia last year and transferred the day's pictures onto my ancient non-video 20g iPod using the hotel's computer. Didn't even have to pay since I wasn't using the Internet! (Repeated the experience this year in a different part of Asia, really expands how many photos you can take.) Earlier: My two cents' worth, here. Thanks to all the readers who posted comments!