The German word TREFFEN means “meeting” or “getting together” in the PCA context it means a bunch of PCA members, their friends and families coming to Germany to visit PORSCHE and do PORSCHE fun things like visiting the new PORSCHE Museum; touring the PORSCHE Factory; being amazed at the hot laps in Weissach (the PORSCHE top secret research center); driving on the AUTOBAHN and sensational mountain roads; visiting various countries; enjoying the Oktoberfest; and doing all that in the good company of like minded folks who want to have the experience of a lifetime and do things they could never do in the U.S. or on their own in Europe.

I use AT&T - my i-Phone or Blackberry works in Europe. Or you can use the Worldwide Cell Phone rental which provides excellent service: www.cellhire.com/affiliate/?dref=5676. If you are planning a lot of calls to the U.S. and you bring a laptop with a headset and a mike you might want to look into www.Skype.com – it is THE most efficient way to call home.

“She wants to visit the London Bridge, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace & St. Paul’s Cathedral?” Yes, we can help you with recommendations and/or reservations anywhere in Europe. We can also lay out a trip for you before or after the TREFFEN, including barge cruises in France; events on the Nürburgring, Hockenheim or Salzburg Ring race tracks. We generally do need to make those arrangements BEFORE you leave for Europe.

Yes. Bear in mind that some of the names we use in English for some destinations do not coincide what locals call their venues, for example: Nuremberg = Nürnberg; Munich = München; Vienna = Wien; Austria = Österreich; Germany = Deutschland etc. We had a trip to Vienna a few years ago and people complained they couldn’t find a single road sign pointing to Vienna. Of course not, the name for that city is Wien (pron. Veen).

We recommend that you arrive a day early, if possible, to get acclimated – especially if you come in from the West Coast. Some people take a nap upon arrival and some stay awake but go to bed early the day of arrival. The latter works well for me. The recommendation from physicians is that you should get as much daylight and exercise as possible after arrival, stay awake, have an early dinner and get a good night’s sleep. We provide more detailed information in our FYI trip information letter prior to departure.

We will pick you up at the airport in Stuttgart, provided you either have us arrange your travel or you give us your detailed itinerary at least two weeks prior to your arrival in Europe.

Look for a Hofmann Taxi representative with the Fast Lane sign – Hofmann at the Airport can be reached: 796 356 or 948 4409. If you arrive by train in Stuttgart the Steigenberger Hotel Graf Zeppelin is directly across the street from the Hauptbahnhof (main railroad station).

As much as you like!

On the TREFFEN trips you can leave “large” luggage at the hotel in Stuttgart and we take overnight bags for the driving portion. On the PORSCHE FEST (where we drive between 7 and 10 days), we have a luggage truck that transports your “large” luggage to the next venue where it is in your room upon arrival. Here you see Jörg Austen driving our luggage truck.

Read the customer comments and judge for yourself. Ladies love our trips. There are excellent opportunities to shop, the scenery is breathtaking and the hotels are romantic. It’s not unusual that two “buddies” come on the trip the first time and then come back the following year with their spouses/significant others. A PORSCHE trip also makes a fabulous “big” birthday, anniversary or other special event present.

The weather usually parallels the mid-Atlantic states in the U.S. You should go to www.weather.com to get a forecast for Stuttgart or the other venues we are visiting. When we drive in the Alps it gets chilly any time of year, so a windbreaker or leather jacket is advisable.

This is your vacation. Some of the 5-star hotels are more formal and there might be one or two evenings where I would wear a jacket (no tie) and the ladies might enjoy dressing up in that “little black dress.” But we have had participants who wear a jogging suit the entire trip, or jeans . . . you have to be comfortable. In general Germany is more formal than the U.S. Wear comfortable walking shoes. Some folks bring driving gloves or buy them in Germany. In any case, prior to the trip I will send you day-by-day attire recommendations.

All of our trips are escorted by linguistic guides. Peter Sontag was born in Austria and is fluent in German. Also most people in the under 50 generation in Europe are able to communicate in English. You won’t have a language problem.

Europe is 6 hours ahead of the East Coast and 9 hours of the West Coast. Noon in New York is 6:00 pm in Europe. All flight, train, bus etc. schedules in Europe are usually on the 24-hour clock. Simply deduct 12 hours to the times in the afternoon and evening to get to the pm times, i.e., 18:00 = 12 pm; 22:30 = 10:30 pm; 0:15 = 12:15 am.

U.S. or Canadian citizens do not need a visa to go to any of the European countries. All you need is a valid U.S. passport, preferably with more than six months validity before it expires. If you are a non-U.S. citizen, then please check with your respective consulates.

Fast Lane Travel, Inc. is the officially PCA-endorsed provider of the PCA Treffen® Program. Fast Lane Travel, Inc. is a Delaware Corporation and is also a bonded, insured, registered and licensed Seller-of-Travel Corporation. Peter Sontag is the President of Fast Lane Travel, Inc. and has been conducting PORSCHE trips for PCA members, friends and families for the last 35 years. In total, there have been over 3,000 Porsche Trip participants who have enjoyed our services. Of those approximately 500 Porsches (roughly $35 million worth) were picked up on the trips over the years. Everyone has been gracious, fabulous and loads of fun.

European Roads is owned and operated by Nicolas Bigosinski of Orlando, FL. Nicolas was born in France and has been designing trips to Europe that involve more intensive driving and are designed for the more experienced Europe traveler. Particularly the Monte Carlo, Castles & Wine in France trips are his specialty. Our two travel organizations are independent legal entities and are merely cooperating in referring customers to each other to offer the broadest selection of options and services. In order to sign up for a European Roads trip please contact nicolas@europeanroads.com or call Nicolas at 407 767 9055 – be sure to tell him Peter sent you. Thank you.

Yes, they usually have wireless access and you can buy access cards with specific time limits which usually run 1, 5, or 24 hours. The prices range from €12 to €24 for a 24 hour card.

Yes, hair dryers are provided.  For electrical converters, all you need are adapter plugs. Personal appliances are inexpensive therefore, for example, it's cheaper to buy a German curling iron than to carry a heavy transformer.

Yes, but the programs are in German, except CNN and BBC. They also typically have programs in Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and French.

No. Your valid United States or Canadian driver’s license will suffice. It is important to remember however that driving in Europe is VERY different from driving in the States. You will receive detailed instructions when you sign up for one of our trips. Remember, ONLY Germany enjoys the majority of their interstate highway system – the AUTOBAHN – with no speed restrictions. Bear in mind though, it certainly is not a free-for-all, because you must follow some very specific rules and etiquettes. FYI, the fatality rate is 2.4 times higher in the U.S. on our interstate highways than on the German Autobahn. The Autobahn is safer! I have published a copyrighted document entitled “12 Tips for a Safe and Enjoyable Trip from Fast Lane Travel, Inc.” which we share with you when you sign up for one of our trips.

Safety and your enjoyment is our top priority. Our trips are guided by professional PORSCHE drivers who pace the speed based on your abilities, comfort and, above all, safety. We segment our participants into three groups: up to 120 mph (slow); 120 – 150 mph (medium); 150 mph plus (fast). Only Germany has no-speed limit portions of their interstate system, called the Autobahn. We’ve had participants up to 86-years old doing just fine. Please read the “A is for Autobahn” and “I’m in Love” articles on this website plus the past participants’ comments to get a better feel for the experience. Our average travel speed on the Autobahn is approx. 120 mph – with the opportunity to go faster on certain long straight sections with little traffic. Speeds in excess of 180 mph have been reached briefly. There are strict traffic rules to be observed, however. We will brief you prior to getting into your PORSCHES.

Yes, if you purchase a PORSCHE. We had a father and 16-year old daughter pick up a Cayenne in Leipzig and we laid out a fabulous route for them. She drove all the way. The Factory PORSCHES can be driven by 18-year olds, except for the Turbos where you must be 23 years old. Car Rental companies like Hertz or Avis typically have a 25-year to 26-year old minimum age requirement on all of their “A” class cars. I do have access to smaller private car rental companies and we can get exceptions.

Yes, we can accommodate you with other cars such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes, BMW etc. We occasionally have also been able to get a TechArt or RUF Porsche Twin-Turbo for our participants.

The current U.S. Government policy appears to maintain a low value of the Dollar vs. other currencies. This policy helps our exports. For example, it puts Boeing in better competitive position vs. Airbus Industries. It also attracts visitors to the U.S. to come here and shop or buy U.S. assets, like real estate. On the other hand traveling to Europe is, therefore, much more expensive because it takes more Dollars to buy Euros. The Euro (€) was introduced on January 1st 1999 to further expedite the unification of Europe. Most European countries went along with it and gave up their currencies, some did not, like the UK, Denmark, Switzerland etc. In 1999 you could buy one Euro for $.86 vs. approx. $1.55+ today – meaning the Dollar is worth roughly 50% vs. 10 years ago. In other words, you pay almost twice as much for the same Euro today as on the day it was introduced in 1999. That means you roughly pay twice as much for everything but unfortunately you are not getting any more in return.

Germany has a VAT (value added tax) system currently at 19%. Anything you buy in a store or a service you receive the price has a 19% tax built in. In other words roughly 1/5 of all the money you spend goes to sales tax. In addition on certain commodities additional taxes are levied, like gasoline which in January 2010 sold for approx. $11.75 per gallon for premium 98 Octane fuel (which is what we need to fill up the PORSCHES).

I order them at least 3 business days ahead of departure from my local Bank of America branch. Exchanging Dollars at your U.S. airport or in Europe is expensive. In September 2009 I paid in excess of $1.70/€!

The hotels in Europe have this peculiar system where they don't quote the price for a room but they quote the price for a room based on double occupancy. For example if a “double” room costs €300 per night (€150 per person). Thus, trips are calculated on a per person basis, which include the cost of €150 per person per night in coming up with the total trip price. But the hotels' policy is that if only one person stays in that room they can't charge the full €300 because it would be unfair but they can't also charge only the €150 because they lose half the revenue. So they roughly split the difference and charge €225 Euros for the room if only one person stays in it. This is called the Single Supplement.

We encourage you to review the Terms and Conditions on the back of your invoice and under “legal stuff” on our website. Our policy has been to give you a full refund up until 105 days prior to the trip’s departure. There are exceptions imposed on us by certain premium properties that requires a non-refundable one night deposit a year in advance. After that we will apply the unused portion of your deposit to a future trip. Depending on the circumstances we’ve been very flexible with refunds. You might also want to take out travel insurance to cover medical contingencies or other issues that might prevent you from taking or completing the trip.

In our experience on average 5 - 10% of participants cancel prior to departure, mostly for business or health reasons. The cancellation rate for non-deposited reservations (which we permitted in the 70’s and early 80’s) is in excess of 85%. In order to secure accommodations in Europe we must reserve hotel space, restaurant reservations, PORSCHES, entertainers etc. They all require deposits and a participant head count, in some cases a year in advance! This can only be accomplished with deposits. For example PORSCHE Leipzig wants to know a year in advance exactly how many participants will be on the track a year later.

We prefer not to accept credit cards because the trips are so narrowly priced (Our goal is to break even on the TREFFENs) and the card companies’ fees in the 5% range are simply too high. Yes we do take AmEx, VISA or Mastercard but will charge your deposit in Euros. The charge will appear as NetHotels, Vienna, Austria. In our experience, we have never lost a participant because we only accept personal checks or wire transfers.

Yes. There could be further currency swings, certain venues could increase their prices, or the number of participants requires that fixed costs, such as busses, guides, entertainment, etc., be spread over a smaller number. In the past, price changes, were typically in the 5 – 7% range. We’ve had trips where prices went down or we added additional trip benefits. Since I never know the number of participants and cannot predict the currency swings, hedging is not an option. Each brochure and our correspondence clearly state the Euro price assumptions when each trip is designed and planned.

Yes. You can wire transfer Euro funds directly to our designee in Europe and, thus, eliminate the currency risk. Just let us know and we’ll give you the wire transfer instructions.

No, because participants come from all parts of the U.S. and overseas. A significant portion of participants also use their frequent flyer miles.

In Stuttgart we pick you up at the airport and channel you through customs. Since typically you are not importing anything to Europe and just bring personal effects there should not be a problem. Returning to the U.S. the duty-free limit is currently at $800 per person. My personal policy is that I declare absolutely everything that I buy or receive as a present when I return to the U.S. If you are over the $800 U.S. Customs usually charges 10% of the amount you are over. The only issue is that if you have a tight flight connection you may lose some time with the U.S. Customs paperwork.

The trip is all inclusive, so you only need money for incidentals, bar tabs, souvenirs etc. Most stores in the major metropolitan areas in Europe also take VISA, Master Card and AmEx. I would bring he equivalent of $100 per day cash minimum in Euros for incidentals.

Some people paint, some create sculptures . . . I create enjoyment. My goal is to provide the perfect travel experience to PORSCHE enthusiasts. Designing, organizing, managing and conducting these trips is an art, not a science. Responding to the various requests by participants, coordinating the interaction of the various service providers in Europe and nurturing the relationship with PORSCHE and PCA has been rewarding. I invest about 800 hours of my personal time to do this for the PCA. Read the participants’ comments and you see why I enjoy doing this. When you fly back home after one of my trips you will appreciate the thought, preparation, work and long hours that have gone into the creation of my “work of art” the Fast Lane PORSCHE travel experience because “it is my business to do pleasure.” Peter Sontag, President and Treffenmeister.

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