Advice for flying trips in France and Switzerland

US PG pilot, and I asked a pilot friend who had recently taken a European flying trip for some advice. He kindly sent me a thorough document on several random "good to knows" and thought others could add to it. Enjoy.

• Consider hiring a guide. It can be cost effective especially for a group. Even enlisting to a clinic that covers lodging can be a very effective way to maximize your flying time and not pay a lot more than otherwise. If you go to a new place do homework beforehand.

• Look at the coverage and price structure of your cell phone provider for the area you are traveling in. Consider buying a SIM. If your phone supports eSIM then buying an eSIM will be a lot more convenient. When buying a SIM or an eSIM ask if it will allow your cell phone to be a hot spot if that is something you need. In general, unlimited plans will not allow that. Some data limited plans may allow it, but that decision also may vary by country.

• Deciding to rent or not to rent a car depends on where you are going and what you plan to do. I would not rent a car in Switzerland. I would probably rent one in France or Italy unless I plan to stay in one place or have a guide. Hiring driver for retrieves is something I heard people do but I did not try it. Buying gas in France. In many cases at automated gas stations, you will see two charges on your credit card. One for the price of gas, another for some stupid hold for a rather large sum (between EUR 100-200). If you get transaction notifications on your phone, the notification for the hold looks like any other transaction. You are not going to know it is just a hold and you’ll wonder if someone just stole money from you. The hold will be lifted after a while but if not (rare situation caused by errors of some kind) then you will have to spend lots of time on the phone (never happened to me but I read about on forums). I preferred to buy gas from manned stations where I was able to pay with a credit card at an attendant.

• When traveling by train especially long distances make sure you buy the train tickets in advance. Two or three days in advance may be too late, all the trains and buses may be booked.

• If you have a lot of baggage and travel by bus pay attention to the luggage policy of that bus line. When travelling with a lot of luggage, in general trains may be a safer bet than busses but that may wary. By safer bet I mean is less likely to get in a situation where there isn’t enough space for all your luggage. That is less of a problem if you don’t carry a lot of stuff.

• If in Switzerland, make sure you have an SBB (national railway company of Switzerland) account. Consider a half fare pass. Also, get familiar with their easy-ride system. Basically, you hop in a train and swipe some button in their app. At the end of the ride, you swipe again, and you will be charged accordingly. Works across multiple trains, busses, ferries. Super convenient – you don’t have to buy tickets in advance and can change your mind mid-way. Just make sure you swipe again at the end of your trip. Otherwise, I assume you’ll have to make some phone calls and figure out how to get a refund for a possible overcharge.

• Make sure you have a power bank with you when traveling. 90% of my travel I used some QR code on my phone as a travel ticket so having your phone run out of power may be problematic.

• Pilot licenses. Travel insurance including accident and repatriation insurance. Third-party liability insurance. 
I was asked if I had one or more of those when I went to trainings or clinics. Nobody asked me about any of that in other situations. Even at trainings, people that asked me about it made clear they don’t need to see a proof and just wanted to hear me confirming that I have those.
I had all of those. Not having one of those may be a lot of financial trouble after an accident. It may also put you in breach of law after an accident. I read about situations where pilot licenses or third-party liability insurance were checked on an LZ but I never saw it and never heard anyone knowing about that firsthand. If it happens must be exceedingly rare.

• Pilot License. Consider getting a IPPI from USHPA. See: https://www.ushpa.org/page/travel. Also see: https://www.fai.org/page/recognition-and-use. A note about IPPI for USHPA members (this is a recent development, as of June 2023): IPPI "cards" are no longer issued. If you log into your USHPA account, you can print a new USHPA card which now has your appropriate IPPI rating on the card (in the lower right corner). You can also order a new plastic USHPA membership card which has that as well.

• Third Party Liability Insurance. Most European countries have a requirement around that. See https://www.fai.org/page/recognition-and-use. On that page each European country has a link where you can find their insurance requirements.