I can't tell you how many times I ran into this problem (and consequently, couldn't wait to turn 21)

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan got together cruising tug boats with some advisers, looking into how to combat the drunk driving pandemic cruising tug boats in the nation. Of the dozens of recommendations made to the President, one was that the country should cruising tug boats institute a national drinking age of 21. Enter the National cruising tug boats Minimum Drinking Age Act, signed into law in 1984.
Of course, this is old news to nearly everyone in the country, and largely around the world. However, I m not going to talk about the general unfairness of this law. I m not going to talk about how you can do pretty much anything join the military, drive a car, pilot a plane, sail a ship, own many guns, buy a house, start a company, get married, get a job, quit high school, rack up thousands of dollars in debt, and do pretty much everything except rent a car before you turn 21.
All of those points are valid, and should be reason enough to get rid of this ridiculous set of laws. Instead though, I m going to tell everyone how this set of laws is impacting me, and hurting my ability to make money, perform my duties, and well, frankly, live a full life.
When I was in Chicago earlier this month, I was couch-surfing for much of the time. However, at one point I got sick and needed to camp in a hotel. HotelTonight cruising tug boats to the rescue. Now, before I complain too loudly, HotelTonight cruising tug boats is a lifesaver in this situation, especially the fact that it tells you how old you need to be to stay in a hotel.
In fact, most hotels cruising tug boats that I ve seen are either 18+ or 21+. It is immediately obvious why this is the case. You don t want people running away from home and staying in hotels when they re 15, and you don t want people who are 19 staying in hotels and drinking from the minibar.
That s well and fine, but there doesn t seem to be any specific set of laws on the books for hotels. In Illinois, it is very much a hotel-by-hotel decision. For example, I stayed in hotel rooms that had fully stocked cruising tug boats mini-bars, with the concierge knowing full well that I am 19. Other hotels, they wouldn t let me check-in at all. While other hotels also let me check, but made me wait outside the room while they took the alcohol away. Phew! Bullet dodged, society!
While that s the case in Illinois, I fully expect to be denied entry into hotels for ridiculous reasons in other states as well. Washington is the next testing area, with my trip to Seattle next month being the perfect opportunity to test the limits of the system. My hunch is that every state will be slightly different, and that the more expensive the hotel is, the looser they will be with the rules. Just a hunch for now, but you can be sure that I ll keep you all posted on this.
To be clear, I m a pretty good driver. That s not just me saying that either. I live in Florida, which has arguably the most dangerous drivers in America. (I mean, these people are insane, old, and license-less). In spite of this, I haven t gotten into an accident cruising tug boats or gotten a speeding ticket ever. It s because I like not crashing. Crazy, I know. Sure, it s not 40 years of safe driving, but it is something.
I get why companies are doing this, as younger drivers are clearly reckless and insane and want to lose hundreds cruising tug boats of dollars by crashing a car while drinking and dealing drugs out the window. I get that! However, what I don t get is how companies can just decide to discriminate on age and either deny service altogether or force a surcharge. It d be one thing if they were criminals, 16 years old, or had a history of accidents. Just a blanket cruising tug boats rule of under 25? That s a bit ridiculous.
This may seem like a moot point, and one that won t change, cruising tug boats but I really hope it does. My life would not only be greatly simplified, but it would also simplify the lives of hotel clerks, rental car agencies and law enforcement officials. I m not saying legalize alcohol for high schoolers, cruising tug boats but I am saying get rid of these ridiculous and outdated laws.
Before anyone cruising tug boats jumps down my throat and tells me that this will be the end of Western Civilization as we know it, let me point something out. There s an entire world outside of America that does not enforce ridiculous laws. (Okay, they enforce ridiculous laws. But, they aren t ridiculous laws based on age.)
Look at Europe. Get your license at 18 after months of training and you can immediately rent a car. Are you able to see over the bar? You can pretty much get alcohol everywhere. Want to stay in a hotel room? Show me the money, cruising tug boats show me the passport, and I ll show you the room key.
The hotel issue is quite different cruising tug boats from the car rental issue. Hotels protect themselves cruising tug boats from government penalties and fines by refusing those under 21. They probably realize it is quite silly, but it's the easiest way to get a "safe harbor" situation going. It's like schools outlawing expensive items so they won't have to deal with damage or "he stole my iphone" scenarios.
Rental cars are different. These companies have set the age at 25 based on a statistical model that may or may not be correct/outdated. It is their own decision and they probably don't even remember why they do it. Or they might actually show that, statistically, people under 25 are more risky.
The answer is to be found in the natural hunting grounds of this site. Entrepreneurs. Why not start alcohol free hotels? Or why not make a website listing those. Why not create a car rental place that does allow those under 25, perhaps with mandatory extra insurance to beat the statistics.
I remember I was able to rent a car from Alamo at age 21 (which cruising tug boats led to a really memorable road trip starting on my 21st birthday), but that was 20 years ago (sigh), so they've had plenty of time to change their rules since then.
Trevor: I can still remember your pain ( I'm an 'old fart' ). The being 25 for a car rental 'may' have something to do with car insurance. One of the big milestones of 'Adulthood' was hitting 25 and your car insurance rates were supposed to go down. When my Ex-Wife and I hit had both 25 our rates did go down a couple bucks or so. Then they promptly raised the rates the next term to cover their losses I guess.
As for the rest of the idiotic rules just for driving alone - local governments seem to have a field day with these. You can't drive with more than one other person who is under some magical age ( so much for being green and car pooling ), No driving before or after certain times of the day ( you can't work certain jobs [and pay taxes on said earnings]), etc.
These rules are extra interesting when someone from outside of the US lives in the US. I am from Norway where everything is allowed from age 18, except extra powerful or heavy vehicles and strong cruising tug boats spirits. Basically, you are in charge of yourself and your parents no longer have any say.
Then, at the of 19, I moved to the US for a year. In addition to everything mentioned in the article and comments, cruising tug boats legal documents were interesting. The university cruising tug boats insisted on sending everything cruising tug boats to my parents, even though both my parents and I told them that my parents had no authority to sign anything on my behalf. cruising tug boats I am curious what would have happened if I had ever broken any of my obligations and the matter had ended up in a courtroom...
In Nebraska you have to be 19 to sign an apartment lease, buy cigs or lotto tickets - or live off campus at the state university. Luckily, my parents agreed to co-sign on an apartment when I was 18, and I took a year off before starting college so I could live on my own. Now the university is building more and more on-campus "apartment style" housing - and the residential neighborhoods students used to live in are going downhill fast. We really need to de-institutionalize society and break the school-college/prison-corporation-nursinghome life cycle!
I rented a car aged 21 from Avis at DFW, on a British passport and drivers licence. Yeah, they surcharged me nearly to death, but that is to be expected. I was pretty cruising tug boats surprised that I WAS allowed to do this actually; driving on the "wrong" side of the road, never having cruising tug boats driven an automatic before, straight out into the Dallas rush hour? I'd say they were wise to expect a higher risk of me hitting something. I didn't, but that may have had more to do with luck than judgement...
Just to chime in on the car rental in Europe thing, I found that when trying to rent when I was under 25 that most rental agencies would allow it, but they whacked a hefty insurance surcharge onto the cost of the rental - A when I say hefty I mean almost doubling the rental cost in some cases!
"Look at Europe. Get your license at 18 after months of training and you can immediately rent a car. Are you able to see over the bar? You can pretty much get alcohol everywhere. Want to stay in a hotel room? Show me the money, show me the passport, and I’ll show you the room key."
That said, most shop keepers will deny teenagers or 12-year olds from stocking cruising tug boats up with beer, liquor and crackers. cruising tug boats Not many will deny a bottle of wine to those very same kids if it's purchased cruising tug boats alongside proper foodstuff, on the assumption they're buying groceries for their parents.
The same holds in bars and restaurants. A 12-year old can go to the counter and order two beers and a coke, and no one will blink -- the two beers are for his parents. If near-18 year olds are sitting around with clearly-18 year olds, they'll usually get away with ordering a beer. Have either order a beer alone, and they'll be told to order something else.
(Tobacco age restrictions are somewhat better enforced, in case you're wondering. I've never seen a 12-year old being denied to buy his parent's fix, but I've frequently seen late teenagers being denied the same thing.)
I can't tell you how many times I ran into this problem (and consequently, couldn't wait to turn 21). It got to the point that I would plan trips around hotels I could check into, or not travel at all unless I could convince someone else to tag along. That's not even taking into consideration deposits hotels require w