Jay,

I would MUCH prefer flying myself around Europe, but have been
dissuaded from the notion by many people who have inferred that it is
quite impossible.

In these groups, you can finde a wealth of information on how possible
that is.


Please fill me in: What would I, as an American pilot, have to do to,
say, rent a plane in England, fly it to France, Belgium, Austria,
Germany, and back to England?

Do a check-out and rent it. Easiest would be to find an N-reg. Should be
very much doable in the UK. That would also enable you to fly IFR, if
you have the rating. You can fly a UK-registered plane with the FAA
certificate, however, I am not quite sure about crossing borders in that
case. You might need some kind of certificate conversion for that. We
can find out...

There are just two difficult things:

1. You'd have to study the regs a little, as they differ from country to
country and from the US.
2. You'd have to pay more than you are used to.

Other than that, it is by no means more difficult than for a foreigner
intending to fly in the US.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)